How the Web Works

You can build many different website without writing any code at all. However, you need to write code if you want to customize things further or create a new type of site. This tutorial will cover what websites are and how you can create them. It is intended for anyone who wants to learn about the non-programming aspects of building websites.

Visiting a Webpage

When you visit a website, everything usually loads quickly and the page is displayed. But a lot is going on behind the scenes. Read the cartoon below to find out, and click on blue links for more info.

You should now be familiar with the basics of the internet:

• Domain Name lookup - The "internet" needs to lookup domain names like Amazon.com to find their IP address. See Domain Names to find out more.
• IP address - the actual machine address of a website. You don't usually need a unique IP address, so many web hosts will share the IP address they give you with other websites.
• Web servers are simply computers that run websites. You don't need to setup your own server, you can use one from a web host. See this chart to choose a web host.
• Browsers, such as Chrome or Firefox, are used to view web pages. Static files are sent over to the browser, and the browser can run additional JavaScript code.
  

Go on to the next pages to learn how to create your own website!