What are web pages?
A web page (also written as webpage)
is a document that is suitable
to act as a web resource on the
World Wide Web. In order to graphically
display a web page, a web browser
is needed. This is a type of software
that can retrieve web pages from
the Internet. When accessed by
a web browser it may be displayed
as a web page on a monitor or
mobile device. Typical web pages
are hypertext documents which
contain hyperlinks, often referred
to as links, for browsing to other
web pages.
The term web page usually refers
to what is visible, but may also
refer to the contents of the source
code itself, which is usually
a text file containing hypertext
written in HTML or a comparable
markup language. Most current
web browsers include the ability
to view the source code. Web browsers
will frequently have to access
multiple web resource elements,
such as style sheets, scripts,
and images, while presenting each
web page.
A website will typically contain
a group of web pages that are
linked together, or have some
other coherent method of navigation.
The most important web page on
a website is the index page. Depending
on the web server settings, the
index page can have any name,
but the most common names are
index.html and index.php. When
a browser visits the homepage
of a website or any URL pointing
to a directory rather than a specific
file, the web server serves the
index page. If no index page is
defined in the configuration or
no such file exists on the server,
either an error or directory listing
will be served to the browser.
Websites and the web pages that
comprise them are usually found
with assistance from a search
engine, but they can receive traffic
from social media and other sources.
On a network, a web browser can
retrieve a web page from a remote
web server. The web browser uses
the Hypertext Transfer Protocol
(HTTP) to make such requests to
the web server. The web server
may restrict access to a private
network (for example, a corporate
intranet).
A static web page is delivered
exactly as stored, as web content
in the web server's file system.
In contrast, a dynamic web page
is generated by a web application,
driven by server-side software,
running on the client-side (on
the web browser), or both. Dynamic
web pages help the browser (the
client) to enhance the web page
through user input to the server.*
