What is Web Development?

A website today is more than just a destination on the internet. Many individuals operate their business online only such as Ebay and Amazon.com. These companies rely on their websites for pretty much everything from marketing to order fulfillment.

The look and aesthetics is only a small part of a well developed site, you can categorize it more into design which is a part of development but the real development usually starts after you have the design established.

You can have two websites look exactly alike but are completely different in their abilities and how they are function. The platforms they are built on, technology being used and how well optimized. In so many words there a quite few options on how to develop a website.

Static vs. Dynamic

A static website is just that, it doesn't change or do anything other than sit idle and presents the design. It has not interactivity and is used for information purposes only. Also the information on the website hardly ever changes. It consists of text and images that linked to together to form a page.

A dynamic website is the total opposite it functions completely different than it static counter part. There is a lot involved a database and a lot of scripting that call on the database. The database houses all the information and content and the scripts on the server execute the various functions.

It is called dynamic because the way it executes its calls. Each time the website is pulled up a series of scripts are put in motion creating the website that you see on the backend you may have tracking information, creating a user session, activiting modules, displaying certain information such as latest news, products or images.

Let's take myspace or facebook which are the most popular social networks in the world.

When you go to the main page, everybody sees the exact same login page, but what will make it different is the login that you provide which triggers a huge series of events and eventually displays the page that you have created. The template, your friends, your comments, you blogs, your images and photoalbums and so on have to be called and displayed and that is what is called web development.

• Platforms
  Windows, Unix, Linux, Apache, Red Hat, Novell, FreeBSD and so on are all called platforms all of them differ and some are derivatives.
• Databasing
  Mysql, MS Sql, Coldfusion, Oracle, Postgresql, etc are all databases some operate better on certain platforms and some are better for different functions and sizes.
• Applications
  PHP, ASP, Javascript, AJAX, Ruby on Rails, Perl, CGI, Actionscript are all languages and applications to program scripts to make the website functional

Those are just a few things that go into developing a website, there is really no right or wrong way but more so what you are trying to accomplish and how. Each options has pro and cons and you have to assess each project separately to determine what would be best.

Digital Media Concepts & Solutions works with clients to assess their needs and requirements to summon a solution that will provide all the necessary components to make your website successful.

Our team is very well experienced in all aspects of development to ensure your website will deliver the results that you are looking for.