Static vs Dynamic Websites

When browsing the internet, you would typically access one of two website types: static websites, and dynamic websites. Identifying which type of website you are using is very easy. In this article, we will be going through them both and understanding the main differences between them

What Is A Website

While this section might seem too simple for the majority of people, it is still a good idea to go through it.

A website is a set of pages that you typically access through a web browser like Google Chrome or Firefox. It will usually include some text and some images. Some websites might have cool animations, other might have multi-page forms.

A website is typically used for either (or both) of these two purposes. The first being that the website owner is trying to present an idea. This can be a blog, a landing page, or even a page that showcases products. The second purpose is to try to make the user do certain actions. This is kind of like Facebook or Instagram, where you access the website using the URL, then either create, comment on, or like a post. E-commerce websites have this purpose as well, they want the user to view the products, add to their cart, then checkout using their details.

Static Websites

A static website is a type of website that is used to simply display information, without having any changing or “dynamic” content. Everything is static.

Blogs are a type of static website. They contain text and images to convey an idea or discuss a topic. Static blogs do not contain forms or data entry in them.

A static website contains a specific number of pages that have been created by the website developer. For example, a blog might have these pages:

/home
/blog
/article-1

The home and blog are pages that do not change depending on the user. The home contains the data about the website, and the blog is a manually-typed list of the articles (there are better ways to do it nowadays, but the concept remains the same). The final page (or set of pages) is the article itself. There might be one or more article pages, but each one has its own HTML page and content that is unchanging.

In essence, static websites are used when you only want to display some data, and does not offer much interactivity or the usage of a database.

Dynamic Websites

A dynamic website is a type of website that typically offers actions for the user to perform. On Instagram it might be uploading an image. On Facebook it might be replying to a post. On Amazon it might be reviewing a product. All of these actions are completed on that website with the idea that there is something to be done from their side as well. For example, when you upload an image on Instagram, the website will start displaying it to the accounts that follow you.

A dynamic website is typically connected to a Back-End server to control what happens when an action is performed, like if you searched something on Google, and a database that keeps track of the data, like the products listed on the Amazon website. These two attributes make up a dynamic website.

Dynamic websites also include job posting websites where you can fill up a form to send an application, chatting websites where you talk to other people, and even “Contact Us” pages that you see on company websites.

Website vs Web Application

While we should have explained this earlier, it is better to go through it now since you know the difference between static and dynamic website.

A web application is basically a dynamic website. When we want to give a description to websites like Facebook or Amazon, we say they are Web Applications, and not websites.

On the other hand, when we say “website” we typically are talking about a static website, such as a blog or a portfolio.

Conclusion

This was a small and short article but it includes information that anyone in the field of software should know.