What is website development?
Website development refers to the work that goes into building a website. This could apply to anything from creating a single plain-text webpage to developing a complex web application or social network.
While web development typically refers to web markup and coding, it includes all related development tasks, such as client-side scripting, server-side scripting, server and network security configuration, ecommerce development, and content management system (CMS) development.
Why is web development important?
You might be a business owner hiring a freelance developer to build your website, a marketer pitching a vision to your development team, or a student learning about development as a career. Regardless of who you are or why you’re reading this guide, understanding the basics of website development can be helpful in this technology-driven world.
The internet isn’t going away anytime soon. In fact, it’s become a portal and primary method of research, connection, education, and entertainment in the world. As of 2019, there are 4.2 billion global internet users. That’s more than half the world’s population, and these folks are using the internet for a vast variety of reasons.
What’s the one thing those reasons have in common? They require a website, and each website requires a skilled web developer.
Web development is also a rapidly expanding industry. Between now and 2028, the employment of web developers is expected to grow by 13%. That’s much faster than most other technology careers.
Web Development Basics
- What a Website Is
- What an IP Address Is
- What HTTP Means
- What Coding Is
- What Front-end Means
- What Back-end Means
- What a CMS Is
- What Cybersecurity Is
Now that we’ve defined web development, let’s review some web development basics to better acquaint you with the topic.
1. What a Website Is
Websites are files stored on servers, which are computers that host (fancy term for “store files for”) websites. These servers are connected to a giant network called the internet … or the World Wide Web (if we’re sticking with 90s terminology). We talk more about servers in the next section.
Browsers are computer programs that load the websites via your internet connection, such as Google Chrome or Internet Explorer. Your computer is also known as the client.
2. What an IP Address Is
Internet Protocol is a set of standards that govern interaction on the internet.
To access a website, you need to know its IP address. An IP address is a unique string of numbers. Each device has an IP address to distinguish itself from the billions of websites and devices connected via the internet.
The IP address for HubSpot is 104.16.249.5. You can find any website’s IP address by visiting a site like Site 24×7 or by using Command Prompt on Windows or Network Utility > Traceroute on MacBooks.
To find your device’s IP address, you can also type “what’s my IP address” into your search browser.
While you can access a website using its IP address, most internet users prefer to use domain names or by going through search engines.
3. What HTTP Means
HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) connects you and your website request to the remote server that houses all website data. It’s a set of rules (a protocol) that defines how messages should be sent over the internet. It allows you to jump between site pages and websites.
When you type a website into your web browser or search for something through a search engine, HTTP provides a framework so that the client (computer) and server can speak the same language when they make requests and responses to each other over the internet. It’s essentially the translator between you and the internet — it reads your website request, reads the code sent back from the server, and translates it for you in the form of a website.
4. What Coding Is
Coding refers to writing code for servers and applications using programming languages. They’re called “languages” because they comprise vocabulary and grammatical rules for communicating with computers. They also include special commands, abbreviations, and punctuation that can only be read by devices and programs.
All software is written by at least one coding language, but languages vary based on platform, operating system, and style. There are many different types of coding languages…all of which fall into two categories, front-end and back-end.
5. What Front-end Means
Front-end (or client-side) is the side of a website or software that you see and interact with as an internet user. When website information is transferred from a server to a browser, front-end coding languages allow the website to function without having to continually “communicate” with the internet.
Front-end code allows users like you and me to interact with a website and play videos, expand or minimize images, highlight text, and more. Web developers who work on front-end coding work on client-side development.
We’ll unpack more about front-end development in the next section.
6. What Back-end Means
Back-end (or server-side) is the side that you don’t see when you use the internet. It’s the digital infrastructure, and to non-developers, it looks like a bunch of numbers, letters, and symbols.
There are more back-end coding languages than front-end languages. That’s because browsers — at the front-end — only …