Website

A website, Web site or WWW site (often shortened to just site) is a collection of Web pages, that is, HTML/XHTML documents accessible generally via HTTP on the Internet; all publicly accessible websites in existence comprise the World Wide Web. The pages of a website will be accessed from a common root URL, the homepage, and usually reside on the same physical server. The URLs of the pages organize them into a hierarchy, although the hyperlinks between them control how the reader perceives the overall structure and how the traffic flows between the different parts of the site.

Types of websites

There are numerous types of websites, each specializing in a particular service or use. A few types of websites include:

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• Archive site: used to preserve valuable electronic content threatened with extinction. Two examples are: Internet Archive which since 1996 preserves billions of old (and new) web pages, and Google Groups which in early 2005 was archiving over 845,000,000 messages posted to Usenet news/discussion groups.
• Business site: used for promoting a business or service.
• Commerce site or eCommerce site: for purchasing goods, such as Amazon.com.
• Community site: a site where persons with similar interests communicate with each other, usually by chat or message boards.
• Database site: a site whose main use is the search and display of a specific database's content such as the Internet Movie Database or the Political graveyard.
• Development site: a site whose purpose is to provide information and resources related to software development, web design and the like.
• Directory site: a site that contains varied contents which are divided into categories and subcategories, such as Yahoo! directory, Google directory and Open Directory Project.
• Download site: strictly used for downloading electronic content, such as software, game demos or computer wallpaper.
• Game site: a site that is itself a game or "playground" where many people come to play, such as MSN Games, Pogo.com and the MMORPGs Planetarion and Kings of Chaos.
• Information site: contains content that is intended merely to inform visitors, but not necessarily for commercial purposes; such as: RateMyProfessors.com, Free Internet Lexicon and Encyclopedia.
• News site: similar to an information site, but dedicated to dispensing news and commentary.
• Porn site: a site that shows pornographic images and videos.
• Search engine site: a site that provides general information and is intended as a gateway or lookup for other sites. A pure example is Google, and the most widely known extended type is Yahoo!.
• Shock site: includes images or other material that is intended to be offensive to most viewers.
• Vanity site (or "personal site"): run by an individual or a small group (such as a family) that contains information or any content that the individual wishes to include.
• Weblog (or blog) site: site used to log online readings or to post online diaries; may include discussion forums.
• Web portal site: a web site that provides a starting point, a gateway, or portal, to other resources on the Internet or an intranet.
• Wiki site: a site which users collaboratively edit (such as Wikipedia).

Many websites are a mixture of types. For example, a business website may promote the business's products, but may also host informative documents, such as white papers. There are also numerous sub-categories to the ones listed above. For example, a porn site is a specific type of eCommerce site or business site (that is, it is trying to sell memberships for access to its site). A fan site may be a vanity site on which the administrator is paying homage to a celebrity.

Related Topics:
White paper - Porn - Fan site - Administrator - Celebrity

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Many business websites have the appearance of s—that is, an advertisement that can be strolled around. Some websites act as vehicles for users to communicate with other people via webchat.

Related Topics:
Advertisement - Webchat

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Websites are constrained by architectural limits (e.g. the computing power dedicated to the website). Very large websites, such as Yahoo!, Microsoft, Google and most other very large sites employ several servers and load balancing equipment, such as Cisco Content Services Switches or F5 BigIP solutions.

Related Topics:
Yahoo! - Microsoft - Google - Cisco - Switch - F5

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