What is web technology?
The term web technology includes the creating and designing of a website or web application and making it available on the internet. Websites are created using markup languages like Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML) and JavaScript (JS). Also, for designing, the Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) language is used.
To make your website available for access on the internet, a two-step process is involved. The first one is getting a domain; dot com (.com) is the most popular domain name. The second is hosting your website, for which you need a hosting server where all the required files and databases are stored and managed. Once you get these two, your website would be live.
What is web development?
Web development is a part of web technologies, which generally means creating a website or a web application for the internet or intranet (a private network). It involves writing the code in markup languages like HTML and scripting languages like JS by a web developer. CSS is used for beautifying websites. These days, creating a website has become quite easy, even if you are not a web developer. There are many open-source websites on which you can easily create your own website using the available themes and user-friendly tools. Some of the open-source websites are listed below:
- WordPress
- Wix
- Go Daddy
- Shopify
- Weebly
- Squarespace
Web designing
The process of building and maintaining websites is called web designing. The different aspects of web designing are front-end coding, layout design, color and font, wire frame, graphic design, web page interactions, user interface (UI) and user experience (UX), animations, etc. Some of the important aspects are discussed below.
Front-end coding
Front-end coding is meant for the screen appearance of the website to the user. This includes the structure of the website and sections and action buttons created on the page. Apart from the above listed open-source websites, various programming languages are used to perform front-end development. The programming languages are as follows:
- HTML
- CSS
- JavaScript
HTML
HTML is an abbreviation for the markup programming language Hyper Text Markup Language. The text in this coding is written between a pair of tags, called opening tag and closing tag. The tags are written in between a pair of inequalities. <h1> is an opening tag for header one, and the closing tag for header one is </h1>. The content that is to appear on the screen is written in between the pair of tags.
Some common tags used in HTML are as shown in the table below.
| Tags | Use |
| <html>.....</html> | The entire HTML document is written in between the pair of tags |
| <head>.....</head> | The header of the website |
| <body>.....</body> | The body structure and the content to appear on the screen |
| <div>.....</div> | Division to be done in the body structure |
| <title>....</title> | The title of the website |
| <h1>.....</h1> | First-level heading (the heading list goes from h1 to h6 in the descending order of size) |
| <p>.....</p> | Any text content to be written in between the pair of paragraph tags |
| <hr> | Creates a horizontal line |
| <b>.....</b> | Makes the content bold |
| <i>.....</i> | Makes the content italic |
| <br> | Line break |
| <table>.....</table> | To insert a table in the document |
The general format of HTML coding is:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<body>
<h1>My First Heading</h1>
<p>My first paragraph.</p>
</body>
</html>
An HTML code is generally written in Notepad and the file is then executed on the browser to view the appearance. However, many advanced text editors are available in the market for free in which the code can be written separately and then the CSS can be incorporated. Some of the commonly used text editors are notepad++, atom, eclipse, etc.
CSS
CSS stands for Cascading Style Sheet. It is used for describing the presentation of a document or a website written in HTML. By using CSS, the presentation of a website can be modified easily, anytime, and for that, you need not do modifications to the existing coding. CSS deals with font size, font color, size of divisions, outer line, inner line, margin, etc. Generally, you can say that CSS complements the HTML code in terms of presentation. CSS coding could be done along with the HTML coding in Notepad, or in case of using an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) or any of the advanced text editors, a separate tab for CSS could be created. CSS is marked to particular elements and tags of the HTML code. It helps to maintain uniformity throughout the website content as well as allows to do specific changes using selectors and identifiers. Selectors and identifiers are both defined in a specific format as per the need and are taken into use as and when required. For content-heavy dynamic websites, styling should be done in an advanced text editor. So, the styling could be done in a separate tab.
JavaScript (JS)
JavaScript (JS) is a high-level programming language. It uses curly bracket syntax and object-oriented programming. Alongside HTML, CSS and JS is the core technology of the world wide web. It is a programming language that conforms to the European Computer Manufacturers Association (ECMA) script specification. For web page behavior, the most used technology is JS. All major web browsers use the JS engine to execute the code in the user’s device. JavaScript is a platform-free language that makes the web page appearance consistent through all the devices and operating systems because of its cross-platform feature. This technology sets up a direct connection between the web server and the device, and the website’s appearance remains unchanged.
The core functionality of JS is to provide enhanced user interface. JavaScript is a client-side scripting language. When a browser loads a page, it contains a built-in interpreter that reads and executes any JavaScript code it finds. JavaScript is used by web designers in a variety of ways; validating fields in a form is one of the most popular application of this. JS is not only used and client-side but also at server side that results into an interactive interface.
User interface
The interaction between a user and a device using a web page and a web application to access the content is called the user interface. The aim of the user interface is to derive a smooth interaction between the user and the device, in which the control is at the user’s end.
The primary methods used in the user interface design include prototyping and simulation. Interaction specification, interface software specification, and prototyping are the three stages to be followed while defining the user interface for a system.
- Common practices for interaction specification include user-centered design, in which the device is expected to have a clarity by analyzing the set of words entered by the user. Persona is the second parameter for interaction specification that could be managed using artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms in the web page design. AI also helps the web application to understand the activity and recommend or search according to the user’s requirement. The web developer should invest proper time and planning in doing it.
- Common practices for interface software specification use cases and surveys to provide familiar responses.
- Common practices for prototyping are based on libraries. The use of global and local libraries of web application and web browser improves consistency and efficiency.
User experience
User experience is the result of the user interface, which means how the interaction between the user and the device takes place. User experience (UX or UE) is the most important feature of web technologies on which all the companies are focusing. UX based web development and modifications are done usually in the post-beta version of any web app. Some companies conduct an advanced survey and provide the requirements to the web developers to get an enhanced user experience. It is eventually linked to the traffic that gets generated on web pages; the more enhanced the user experience, the more traffic and surfing time you get on your website.
Web domain
A website domain is an autonomous authority to control the site within the internet. Each website that is going to be live on the internet independently needs a domain. It represents an Internet Protocol (IP) resource. The other benefit of a domain name is you need not write numbers in terms of the address of a website.
Domain names are formed according to the procedures of the Domain Name System (DNS). The most commonly used domains are .com, .net, .org, etc. Also, domain names are not case sensitive. The website having a web domain name makes a URL (Uniform Resource Locator) by which the path of a specific web page can be located.
What is web hosting?
A service that offers storage space and manages all the required files for a website in a repository that can be accessed from anywhere is called a web hosting service. The files are kept in a web server, and the server is managed by the web hosting services. Once a web development operation is done, and the website is ready to go live on the internet, you will need a web-hosting service that will make some charges as per the need of storage and time to manage your file repository so your website can be live all the time. There are many famous web hosting services at very low prices and free in some cases. Some of the web hosting services are:
- GoDaddy
- Blueost
- Hostinger
- Dreamhost
- Greengeeks
- Inmotion
- GitHub
Common mistakes
You can get confused while understanding the functionalities of a web server and web host. A web server is basically a storage device that stores all the required files to run a website. It is the global repository of all the required files. Web servers facilitate the running of a website along with its required files all the time. The service providers that manage the web server and all the files are called Web Hosts. A web server is the subordinate of the services offered by a web host. A web host is an important part of web technologies, which maintains the server and provides the required space for the files of a website.
Context and applications
This topic is significant in the professional exams for both undergraduate and graduate courses, especially for
Bachelor in Computer Science
Bachelor in Computer Application
Bachelor in Information Technology
Bachelors of technology in Information Technology
Master in Computer Science
Master in Computer Application
Related concepts
Web Hosting
Web Designing
Web Development
Domain Name System
Web Server
Practice questions
Q. 1 Which of the following is not a programming language for web development?
(A) HTML
(B) CSS
(C) Java
(D) HTTP
Correct Option: (D)
Q. 2 HTTP is an abbreviation for:
(A) Hypertext Transfer Protocol
(B) Hypermark Transfer Protocol
(C) Heypervalue Transmit Protocol
(D) None of the above
Correct Option: (A)
Q. 3 Web domain represents …………….. resource.
(A) URL
(B) Internet Protocol
(C) Secure
(D) HTTP
Correct Option: (B)
Q. 4 HTML stands for:
(A) Hyper Text Monitor Language
(B) High Test Mark Language
(C) Hyper Text Markup Language
(D) None of the above
Correct Option: (C)
Q. 5 Which of the following is a web host?
(A) GoDaddy
(B) Dot Com
(C) Dot In
(D) Dot Org
Correct Option: (A)
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