how sites work

by Workshop, 8 July 1998

what is a web site?
A web site is a collection of files that are stored on a computer that is connected to the Internet. This collection of files includes text files (called HTML files) that determine the content of the web site, and possibly other sorts of files such as image files which contain pictures for the web site and sound files which contain sounds to be played on the web site.

how does someone find my web site?
The web site will have an address given to it that allows other people on the Internet to connect to your web site and view it. This address for your web site is rather like the street address for your house.

The address and postcode for your house is unique and allows the post office to send letters directly to your letterbox. The address for your web site works on the same principle. This web address is known as a URL (Universal Resource Locator). When someone enters the URL for your web site, a copy of the files in your web site is sent back to their computer over phone lines and other physical connections around the world.

what is the Internet?
The Internet is essentially a chain of computers that allow people to communicate electronically around the world, and the World Wide Web is a collection of Internet sites that contain pictures, video, sound and interactivity.

When you visit a site, you are actually traveling to another computer, where the web page you are looking for is stored. This computer is known as a server and its behaves almost like a phone exchange, connecting your computer to the Internet and managing the communication your computer will have with other computers on and around the Internet.

By using your PC and a modem, you connect directly to your ISP (Internet Service Provider) server over a telephone line and your ISP's server connects you to other servers both locally and around the world.