Shopping on line can be easy, simple and save you lots of money. It can also take a lot of your time, frustrate you, and result in unwanted purchases. Now the same can be said for regular high street shopping, but with the vast opportunity presented by the Internet it will pay you to spend a few minutes reading this and understanding how to better optimize your Website shopping experience:
1. Compare - without doubt the biggest advantage that the Website offers shoppers today is the ability to compare thousands of Website at a time. This is a great thing, but not necessarily all the time! Too much can be daunting at times so take advantage of the great comparison sites and where possible let them do the hard work for you.
2. Research - if it has been said it will be on the internet. Ignorance is no longer a justifiable reason for buying the wrong thing. Take the time to research in detail everything that you could possible want to know about
3. Testimonials - don't know anybody that has bought a Website? Wrong! If the Website is good the internet will let you know. Use the Internet as a friend and get testimonials before you buy.
4. Questions - Got a question about Website then search the Forums, FAQ's, Blogs etc. Don't be afraid to ask .....
5. Reputation - Never heard of the company selling Website? Don't worry, no reason why you should know every company in the world, but you know someone that does! Use the internet to find out what people are saying about Website and build up a picture of their reputation for sales, returns, customer service, delivery etc.
6. Returns - still worried that even after all of the above your Website wont be what you want? Check out the returns policy. There is so much competition now that someone, somewhere is bound to offer the terms that you are comfortable with.
7. Feedback - happy with your Website then let people know, after all you are depending on others people input in your buying decision, so why not give a little back.
8. Security - check for the yellow padlock on the Website site before you buy, and the s after http:/ /i.e. https:// = a secure site
9. Contact - got a question about Website, or want to leave a comment then check out the sites contact page. Reputable companies have them and respond.
10. Payment - ready to pay for your Website, then use your credit card or PayPal! Be aware of companies that don't accept them, there may be genuine reasons but given the huge amount of choice you have when buying online there is no reason at all not to buy via credit card or PayPal.
A
website (alternatively,
Web site or
web site) is a
collection of Web pages, images, videos or other digital assets that is hosted on one or several
Web server(s), usually accessible via the
Internet,
cell phone or a LAN.
A Web page is a document, typically written in
HTML, that is almost always accessible via
HTTP, a protocol that transfers information from the
Web server to display in the user's Web browser.
All publicly accessible websites are seen collectively as constituting the "
World Wide Web".
The pages of websites can usually be accessed from a common root
URL called 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
Web traffic flows between the different parts of the sites.
Some websites require a subscription to access some or all of their content. Examples of subscription sites include many
business sites, parts of many
news sites, academic journal sites, gaming sites,
Internet forum, Web-based e-mail, services, social networking website, and sites providing real-time stock market data.
History
The first on-line website appeared in 1991. On
30 April 1993, CERN announced that the World Wide Web would be free to anyone. A copy of the original first Web page, created by Tim Berners-Lee, is kept here.
Overview
Organized by function a website may be
It could be the work of an individual, a business or other organization and is typically dedicated to some particular topic or purpose. Any website can contain a
hyperlink to any other website, so the distinction between individual sites, as perceived by the user, may sometimes be blurred.
Websites are written in, or dynamically converted to,
HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) and are accessed using a
software program called a Web browser, also known as a HTTP client. Web pages can be viewed or otherwise accessed from a range of computer-based and Internet-enabled devices of various sizes, including Personal computer, Laptop, Personal Digital Assistants and Mobile phone.
A website is
Web hosting service on a computer system known as a web server, also called an HTTP server, and these terms can also refer to the software that runs on these system and that retrieves and delivers the Web pages in response to requests from the website users.
Apache HTTP Server is the most commonly used Web server software (according to Netcraft statistics) and Microsoft's Internet Information Server (IIS) is also commonly used.
A static website is one that has web pages stored on the server in the same form as the user will view them. They are edited using three broad categories of software:
- Text editors. such as Notepad or TextEdit, where the HTML is manipulated directly within the editor program
- WYSIWYG editors. such as Microsoft FrontPage and Macromedia Dreamweaver, where the site is edited using a GUI interface and the underlying HTML is generated automatically by the editor software
- Template-based editors, such as Rapidweaver and iWeb, which allow users to quickly create and upload websites to a web server without having to know anything about HTML, as they just pick a suitable template from a palette and add pictures and text to it in a Desktop publishing-like fashion without ever having to see any Character encodings in HTML.
A dynamic website is one that has frequently changing information or collates information on the hop each time a page is requested. For example, it would call various bits of information from a database and put them together in a pre-defined format to present the reader with a coherent page. It interacts with users in a variety of ways including by reading HTTP cookies recognizing users' previous history, session variables, server side variables etc., or by using direct interaction (form elements, mouseovers, etc.). A site can display the current state of a dialogue between users, monitor a changing situation, or provide information in some way personalized to the requirements of the individual user.
There is a wide range of software systems, such as Java Server Pages (JSP), the
PHP and
mod perl programming languages, Active Server Pages (ASP) and ColdFusion (CFM) that are available to generate dynamic Web systems and dynamic sites. Sites may also include content that is retrieved from one or more databases or by using
XML-based technologies such as RSS (file format).
Static content may also be dynamically generated either periodically, or if certain conditions for regeneration occur (cached) in order to avoid the performance loss of initiating the dynamic engine on a per-user or per-connection basis.
Plugins are available to expand the features and abilities of Web browsers, which use them to show
active content, such as
Macromedia Flash, Macromedia Shockwave or
applets written in
Java (programming language). Dynamic HTML also provides for user interactivity and realtime element updating within Web pages (i.e., pages don't have to be loaded or reloaded to effect any changes), mainly using the Document Object Model and JavaScript, support which is built-in to most modern Web browsers.
Websites as businesses
Turning a website into an income source is a common practice for web-developers and website owners. There are several methods for creating a website business which fall into two broad categories.A website is a useful way to expand on traditional forms of business.
1. Online Information BusinessesSome websites offer no products at all but provide
Free content with income coming from clicks the visitors make on advertisements (see
Contextual advertising). There is a wide range of monetizing used on such sites and the sites themselves are actively traded and bought and sold as
going concerns.
Guides have been published which explain how to create such a business. See links at bottom of page.
2. Online RetailWhile most business websites serve as a shop window for Bricks and mortar business businesses it is increasingly the case that some websites are businesses in their own right. These websites are fully self-contained businesses entities offering, for example, immediate downloads of
retail software on payment of the product's price via their shopping cart.
Guides have been published which explain how to create such a business. See links at bottom of page.
3. Online Services BusinessesIt offers a lot of services in every field, such as, tourism, economic, politic, social welfare.
4. Auction WebsiteAuction websites are similar to real auctions in that a bidding process between buyer and seller occur for a fixed period of time.
Spelling
As noted above, there are several different spellings for this term. Although "website" and "web site" are commonly used (the former especially in British English), the
Associated Press Stylebook,
Reuters,
Microsoft, academia,
Publishing,
The Chicago Manual of Style, and dictionaries such as
Merriam-Webster use the two-word, initially capitalized spelling
Web site. This is because "Web" is not a general term but a shortened form of
World Wide Web. As with many newly created terms, it may take some time before a common spelling is finalized. (This controversy also applies to derivative terms such as "Web master"/"webmaster" and "Web cam"/"webcam").
The
Canadian Oxford Dictionary and the Canadian Press Stylebook list "website" and "web page" as the preferred spellings. The
Oxford English Dictionary began using "website" as its standardized form in 2004.
Bill Walsh (author), the copy chief of
The Washington Post's national desk, and one of American English’s foremost grammarians, argues for the two-word spelling with capital W in his books
Lapsing into a Comma and
The Elephants of Style, and on his site, the Slot.
Types of websites
There are many varieties of Web sites, each specializing in a particular type of content or use, and they may be arbitrarily classified in any number of ways. A few such classifications might include:
- Affiliate: enabled Web portal that renders not only its custom Content management system but also syndicated content from other content providers for an agreed fee. There are usually three relationship tiers. Affiliate marketing (e.g., Commission Junction), Advertisers (e.g., Ebay) and consumer (e.g., Yahoo).
- Archive site: used to preserve valuable electronic content threatened with extinction. Two examples are: Internet Archive, which since 1996 has preserved 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.
- Blog (or web log) site: sites generally used to post online diaries which may include discussion forums (e.g., blogger.com, Xanga).
- Corporate website: used to provide background information about a business, organization, or service.
- Commerce site or Electronic commerce 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, such as MySpace.
- 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 engineering, Web design and the like.
- directory (databases) 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.
- Employment site: allows employers to post job requirements for a position or positions and prospective employees to fill an application.
- Erotica websites: shows sexual videos and images.
- Online game: a site that is itself a game or "playground" where many people come to play, such as MSN Games ,Pogo.com and Newgrounds.com.
- Geodomain refers to Domain name system that are the same as those of geographic entities, such as cities and countries. For example, Richmond.com is the geodomain for Richmond, Virginia.
- Gripe site: a site devoted to the critique of a person, place, corporation, government, or institution.
- Humor site: satirizes, parodies or otherwise exists solely to amuse.
- Information site: contains content that is intended to inform visitors, but not necessarily for commercial purposes, such as: RateMyProfessors.com, Free Internet Lexicon and Encyclopedia. Most government, educational and non-profit institutions have an informational site.
- Java applet site: contains software to run over the Web as a Web application.
- Mirror (computing) site: A complete reproduction of a website.
- News site: similar to an information site, but dedicated to dispensing news and commentary.
- Personal homepage: run by an individual or a small group (such as a family) that contains information or any content that the individual wishes to include.
- Phish site: a website created to fraudulently acquire Information sensitivity, such as passwords and credit card details, by masquerading as a trustworthy person or business (such as Social Security Administration, PayPal) in an Telecommunication. (see Phishing).
- Political site: A site on which people may voice political views.
- Pornography (porn) site: a site that shows pornographic images and videos.
- Rating site: A site on which people can praise or disparage what is featured.
- Review site: A site on which people can post reviews for products or services.
- 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 (e.g. rotten.com).
- Warez: a site filled with illegal downloads.
- Web portal: a site that provides a starting point or a gateway to other resources on the Internet or an intranet.
- Wiki site: a site which users collaboratively edit (such as Wikipedia).
Some websites may be included in one or more of these categories. 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 dedication from the owner to a particular
celebrity.
Websites are constrained by architectural limits (e.g., the computing power dedicated to the website). Very large websites, such as Yahoo!,
Microsoft, and Google employ many servers and load balancing (computing) equipment such as Cisco Systems Content Services
Network switch to distribute visitor loads over multiple computers at multiple locations.
In January of 2007, Netcraft, an
Internet monitoring company that has tracked Web growth since 1995, reported that there were 106,875,138 Web sites with domain names and content on them in 2007, compared to just 18,000 Web sites in
August 1995.
Prizes
The
Webby Awards are a set of awards presented to the world's "best" websites, a concept pioneered by
Best of the Web Directory in 1994.
See also
References
External links
- Internet Corporation For Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)
- World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)
- The Internet Society (ISOC)
A
website (alternatively,
Web site or
web site) is a
collection of Web pages, images, videos or other digital assets that is hosted on one or several
Web server(s), usually accessible via the Internet,
cell phone or a LAN.
A Web page is a document, typically written in HTML, that is almost always accessible via HTTP, a protocol that transfers information from the
Web server to display in the user's
Web browser.
All publicly accessible websites are seen collectively as constituting the "World Wide Web".
The pages of websites can usually be accessed from a common root
URL called 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 Web traffic flows between the different parts of the sites.
Some websites require a
subscription to access some or all of their content. Examples of subscription sites include many business sites, parts of many news sites,
academic journal sites, gaming sites,
Internet forum, Web-based e-mail, services,
social networking website, and sites providing real-time
stock market data.
History
The first on-line website appeared in 1991. On
30 April 1993, CERN announced that the World Wide Web would be free to anyone. A copy of the original first Web page, created by
Tim Berners-Lee, is kept here.
Overview
Organized by function a website may be
It could be the work of an individual, a business or other organization and is typically dedicated to some particular topic or purpose. Any website can contain a
hyperlink to any other website, so the distinction between individual sites, as perceived by the user, may sometimes be blurred.
Websites are written in, or dynamically converted to, HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) and are accessed using a software program called a
Web browser, also known as a
HTTP client. Web pages can be viewed or otherwise accessed from a range of computer-based and Internet-enabled devices of various sizes, including Personal computer, Laptop,
Personal Digital Assistants and Mobile phone.
A website is Web hosting service on a
computer system known as a web server, also called an HTTP server, and these terms can also refer to the
software that runs on these system and that retrieves and delivers the Web pages in response to requests from the website users.
Apache HTTP Server is the most commonly used Web server software (according to Netcraft statistics) and Microsoft's Internet Information Server (IIS) is also commonly used.
A static website is one that has web pages stored on the server in the same form as the user will view them. They are edited using three broad categories of software:
- Text editors. such as Notepad or TextEdit, where the HTML is manipulated directly within the editor program
- WYSIWYG editors. such as Microsoft FrontPage and Macromedia Dreamweaver, where the site is edited using a GUI interface and the underlying HTML is generated automatically by the editor software
- Template-based editors, such as Rapidweaver and iWeb, which allow users to quickly create and upload websites to a web server without having to know anything about HTML, as they just pick a suitable template from a palette and add pictures and text to it in a Desktop publishing-like fashion without ever having to see any Character encodings in HTML.
A dynamic website is one that has frequently changing information or collates information on the hop each time a page is requested. For example, it would call various bits of information from a database and put them together in a pre-defined format to present the reader with a coherent page. It interacts with users in a variety of ways including by reading HTTP cookies recognizing users' previous history, session variables, server side variables etc., or by using direct interaction (form elements, mouseovers, etc.). A site can display the current state of a dialogue between users, monitor a changing situation, or provide information in some way personalized to the requirements of the individual user.
There is a wide range of software systems, such as
Java Server Pages (JSP), the PHP and
mod perl programming languages, Active Server Pages (ASP) and ColdFusion (CFM) that are available to generate dynamic Web systems and dynamic sites. Sites may also include content that is retrieved from one or more databases or by using XML-based technologies such as RSS (file format).
Static content may also be dynamically generated either periodically, or if certain conditions for regeneration occur (cached) in order to avoid the performance loss of initiating the dynamic engine on a per-user or per-connection basis.
Plugins are available to expand the features and abilities of Web browsers, which use them to show
active content, such as
Macromedia Flash,
Macromedia Shockwave or
applets written in Java (programming language).
Dynamic HTML also provides for user interactivity and realtime element updating within Web pages (i.e., pages don't have to be loaded or reloaded to effect any changes), mainly using the
Document Object Model and JavaScript, support which is built-in to most modern Web browsers.
Websites as businesses
Turning a website into an income source is a common practice for web-developers and website owners. There are several methods for creating a website business which fall into two broad categories.A website is a useful way to expand on traditional forms of business.
1. Online Information BusinessesSome websites offer no products at all but provide
Free content with income coming from clicks the visitors make on advertisements (see
Contextual advertising). There is a wide range of monetizing used on such sites and the sites themselves are actively traded and bought and sold as going concerns.
Guides have been published which explain how to create such a business. See links at bottom of page.
2. Online RetailWhile most business websites serve as a shop window for Bricks and mortar business businesses it is increasingly the case that some websites are businesses in their own right. These websites are fully self-contained businesses entities offering, for example, immediate downloads of
retail software on payment of the product's price via their shopping cart.
Guides have been published which explain how to create such a business. See links at bottom of page.
3. Online Services BusinessesIt offers a lot of services in every field, such as, tourism, economic, politic, social welfare.
4. Auction WebsiteAuction websites are similar to real auctions in that a bidding process between buyer and seller occur for a fixed period of time.
Spelling
As noted above, there are several different spellings for this term. Although "website" and "web site" are commonly used (the former especially in
British English), the
Associated Press Stylebook,
Reuters,
Microsoft, academia, Publishing,
The Chicago Manual of Style, and dictionaries such as Merriam-Webster use the two-word, initially capitalized spelling
Web site. This is because "Web" is not a general term but a shortened form of
World Wide Web. As with many newly created terms, it may take some time before a common spelling is finalized. (This controversy also applies to derivative terms such as "Web master"/"webmaster" and "Web cam"/"webcam").
The
Canadian Oxford Dictionary and the Canadian Press Stylebook list "website" and "web page" as the preferred spellings. The
Oxford English Dictionary began using "website" as its standardized form in 2004.
Bill Walsh (author), the copy chief of
The Washington Post's national desk, and one of American English’s foremost grammarians, argues for the two-word spelling with capital W in his books
Lapsing into a Comma and
The Elephants of Style, and on his site, the Slot.
Types of websites
There are many varieties of Web sites, each specializing in a particular type of content or use, and they may be arbitrarily classified in any number of ways. A few such classifications might include:
- Affiliate: enabled Web portal that renders not only its custom Content management system but also syndicated content from other content providers for an agreed fee. There are usually three relationship tiers. Affiliate marketing (e.g., Commission Junction), Advertisers (e.g., Ebay) and consumer (e.g., Yahoo).
- Archive site: used to preserve valuable electronic content threatened with extinction. Two examples are: Internet Archive, which since 1996 has preserved 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.
- Blog (or web log) site: sites generally used to post online diaries which may include discussion forums (e.g., blogger.com, Xanga).
- Corporate website: used to provide background information about a business, organization, or service.
- Commerce site or Electronic commerce 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, such as MySpace.
- 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 engineering, Web design and the like.
- directory (databases) 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.
- Employment site: allows employers to post job requirements for a position or positions and prospective employees to fill an application.
- Erotica websites: shows sexual videos and images.
- Online game: a site that is itself a game or "playground" where many people come to play, such as MSN Games ,Pogo.com and Newgrounds.com.
- Geodomain refers to Domain name system that are the same as those of geographic entities, such as cities and countries. For example, Richmond.com is the geodomain for Richmond, Virginia.
- Gripe site: a site devoted to the critique of a person, place, corporation, government, or institution.
- Humor site: satirizes, parodies or otherwise exists solely to amuse.
- Information site: contains content that is intended to inform visitors, but not necessarily for commercial purposes, such as: RateMyProfessors.com, Free Internet Lexicon and Encyclopedia. Most government, educational and non-profit institutions have an informational site.
- Java applet site: contains software to run over the Web as a Web application.
- Mirror (computing) site: A complete reproduction of a website.
- News site: similar to an information site, but dedicated to dispensing news and commentary.
- Personal homepage: run by an individual or a small group (such as a family) that contains information or any content that the individual wishes to include.
- Phish site: a website created to fraudulently acquire Information sensitivity, such as passwords and credit card details, by masquerading as a trustworthy person or business (such as Social Security Administration, PayPal) in an Telecommunication. (see Phishing).
- Political site: A site on which people may voice political views.
- Pornography (porn) site: a site that shows pornographic images and videos.
- Rating site: A site on which people can praise or disparage what is featured.
- Review site: A site on which people can post reviews for products or services.
- 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 (e.g. rotten.com).
- Warez: a site filled with illegal downloads.
- Web portal: a site that provides a starting point or a gateway to other resources on the Internet or an intranet.
- Wiki site: a site which users collaboratively edit (such as Wikipedia).
Some websites may be included in one or more of these categories. 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 dedication from the owner to a particular
celebrity.
Websites are constrained by architectural limits (e.g., the computing power dedicated to the website). Very large websites, such as Yahoo!,
Microsoft, and Google employ many servers and
load balancing (computing) equipment such as
Cisco Systems Content Services Network switch to distribute visitor loads over multiple computers at multiple locations.
In January of 2007,
Netcraft, an Internet monitoring company that has tracked Web growth since 1995, reported that there were 106,875,138 Web sites with domain names and content on them in 2007, compared to just 18,000 Web sites in August 1995.
Prizes
The Webby Awards are a set of awards presented to the world's "best" websites, a concept pioneered by Best of the Web Directory in 1994.
See also
References
External links
- Internet Corporation For Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)
- World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)
- The Internet Society (ISOC)
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