Types of Website

• Static Website

  A static website contains Web pages with fixed content. Each page is coded in HTML and displays the same information to every visitor. Static sites are the most basic type of website and are the easiest to create. Unlike dynamic websites, they do not require any Web programming or database design. A static site can be built by simply creating a few HTML pages and publishing them to a Web server.

  Since static Web pages contain fixed code, the content of each page does not change unless it is manually updated by the webmaster. This works well for small websites, but it can make large sites with hundreds or thousands of pages difficult to maintain. Therefore, larger websites typically use dynamic pages, which can be updated by simply modifying a database record. Static sites that contain a lot of pages are often designed using templates. This makes it possible to update several pages at once, and also helps provide a consistent layout throughout the site.

• Dynamic Website

  Dynamic websites contain Web pages that are generated in real-time. These pages include Web scripting code, such as PHP or ASP. When a dynamic page is accessed, the code within the page is parsed on the Web server and the resulting HTML is sent to the client's Web browser.

  Most large websites are dynamic, since they are easier to maintain than static websites. This is because static pages each contain unique content, meaning they must be manually opened, edited, and published whenever a change is made. Dynamic pages, on the other hand, access information from a database. Therefore, to alter the content of a dynamic page, the webmaster may only need to update a database record. This is especially helpful for large sites that contain hundreds or thousands of pages. It also makes it possible for multiple users to update the content of a website without editing the layout of the pages.

  Dynamic websites that access information from a database are also called database-driven websites.

• E-commerce

  E-commerce (electronic-commerce) refers to business over the Internet. Web sites such as Amazon.com, Buy.com, and eBay are all e-commerce sites. The two major forms of e-commerce are Business-to-Consumer (B2C) and Business-to-Business (B2B). While companies like Amazon.com cater mostly to consumers, other companies provide goods and services exclusively to other businesses. The terms "e-business" and "e-tailing" are often used synonymously with e-commerce. They refer to the same idea; they are just used to confuse people trying to learn computer terms.