How This Website Stuff Is Done
I wrote this for a friend and just thought I'd share it incase it helps anyone to understand the basic of websites. It was originally a short email answering a few questions but because we ended up bouncing too many emails to each other I wrote it all up as a sort of article to help him.
He wasn't asking the exact 'technical' steps of setting up a website but just the overall structure of how it all gets online and what he should be looking for when he's thinking about setting up. Anyway this is what I ended up writing that helped him understand it a little better. I neatened up our orginal conversation but answered all his questions. I hope this helps someone on this forum because it helped my mate.
Website Basics
Just like your own unique home address where you live, you need a unique online address where your information or resources can ('live)' be stored for your business or service so others have a place to visit to access those resources.
This address is often referred to as a Uniform Resource Locator, 'URL' for short, 'domain name' or more commonly known as a 'website address.' So anytime you hear the technical terms URL or Domain Name it just simply means 'Website Address'.
Therefore to get your own website address you will need to search for companies that allow you to register your own domain name. This means that you are able to choose the name of your website address and register it for your own use. Once this process is complete, no one in the entire world can register that particular name. If attempts are made to do this it will show up as registered or taken, regardless of which company the registration is being processed through. For example if my domain name or website address is mywebsite.com no one else in the world can register a website with that same name.
The cost for registering a domain name depends on the domain registration company and is often billed monthly, yearly, or even every 2 to 3 years depending on what the company offers.
What Is The Domain Registration Process?
The actual process is like any other transaction online. It is almost exactly like buying any other product except that it is not tangible, in other words you are not waiting for a delivery because everything is online. Therefore you wait for your web address to be prepared by the registration company and made accessible to you.
You asked, "Now that my web address has been registered how do people get to see my website?" Well actually by registering a web address you still have no website. Why? Because you've got no where to display it. All you have done so far is bought a web address which is just a name that does not link the visitor to anywhere. For visitors to see your website you need to have a place to store the files. This place is called 'Web Space'.
What Is Web Space?
Web space is a bit like the memory on your own computer but on a much larger scale. Companies will have bought lots of computer servers that contain massive amounts of memory. These companies will rent out the memory on their computers in return for a monthly or yearly fee, just like renting out an empty room in a hotel. The memory that you rent will be used to store your web files. In other words they will host the files that make up your website on their computer memory. This is your web space. These companies are often referred to as 'Web Hosts'. So when you are looking for somewhere to store your web files to make your website live to the world, you are looking for a 'web-hosting company.'
Again, the cost for registering web-space depends on the web hosting company and is often billed monthly, yearly, or even every 2 to 3 years depending on what the company offers.
Connect Your Web Address To Your Web Space
At this stage when visitors type in your domain name or web address nothing happens but now that you have registered some web space too, you must connect the two together so that when your visitors type in the name of your website they are directed to your web space where your web files are stored. These files are displayed for your visitors to see as ...... 'Your Website'
To answer your question, "OK but hold on a minute, so how do I actually get my files on to that web space?"
Sending Files To Your Web Space
Your web files are sent from your home computer to your web space by using a program called FTP. This stands for 'File Transfer Protocol' and often comes as a software program created by many different companies but the standard layout is similar in all of them and is quite simple to understand in a relatively short space of time. FTP programs display a window, split into two seperate sections. One side will display a list of all the files on your computer that you will be sending to your webspace. This side is referred to, in technical terms, as your 'Local Server or Local View', it just means, 'the files on your computer'. The other shows the location and contents of your web space and is known, technically, as the 'Remote Server or Remote View'. To send files from your local server, (your computer) to your remote server, (your webspace) you simply drag and drop the content from one side of the screen to the other just like moving files from one folder to another.
For the FTP programs to work you will need a password, user name and private details of where your webspace is located. These details are sent to you when you register for your webspace. This whole process of sending your files from your computer to your webspace is called 'Uploading'. So a combination of a registered web address, web-space and web-design or web files and uploading, result in having a ......... website !!!
He wasn't asking the exact 'technical' steps of setting up a website but just the overall structure of how it all gets online and what he should be looking for when he's thinking about setting up. Anyway this is what I ended up writing that helped him understand it a little better. I neatened up our orginal conversation but answered all his questions. I hope this helps someone on this forum because it helped my mate.
Website Basics
Just like your own unique home address where you live, you need a unique online address where your information or resources can ('live)' be stored for your business or service so others have a place to visit to access those resources.
This address is often referred to as a Uniform Resource Locator, 'URL' for short, 'domain name' or more commonly known as a 'website address.' So anytime you hear the technical terms URL or Domain Name it just simply means 'Website Address'.
Therefore to get your own website address you will need to search for companies that allow you to register your own domain name. This means that you are able to choose the name of your website address and register it for your own use. Once this process is complete, no one in the entire world can register that particular name. If attempts are made to do this it will show up as registered or taken, regardless of which company the registration is being processed through. For example if my domain name or website address is mywebsite.com no one else in the world can register a website with that same name.
The cost for registering a domain name depends on the domain registration company and is often billed monthly, yearly, or even every 2 to 3 years depending on what the company offers.
What Is The Domain Registration Process?
The actual process is like any other transaction online. It is almost exactly like buying any other product except that it is not tangible, in other words you are not waiting for a delivery because everything is online. Therefore you wait for your web address to be prepared by the registration company and made accessible to you.
You asked, "Now that my web address has been registered how do people get to see my website?" Well actually by registering a web address you still have no website. Why? Because you've got no where to display it. All you have done so far is bought a web address which is just a name that does not link the visitor to anywhere. For visitors to see your website you need to have a place to store the files. This place is called 'Web Space'.
What Is Web Space?
Web space is a bit like the memory on your own computer but on a much larger scale. Companies will have bought lots of computer servers that contain massive amounts of memory. These companies will rent out the memory on their computers in return for a monthly or yearly fee, just like renting out an empty room in a hotel. The memory that you rent will be used to store your web files. In other words they will host the files that make up your website on their computer memory. This is your web space. These companies are often referred to as 'Web Hosts'. So when you are looking for somewhere to store your web files to make your website live to the world, you are looking for a 'web-hosting company.'
Again, the cost for registering web-space depends on the web hosting company and is often billed monthly, yearly, or even every 2 to 3 years depending on what the company offers.
Connect Your Web Address To Your Web Space
At this stage when visitors type in your domain name or web address nothing happens but now that you have registered some web space too, you must connect the two together so that when your visitors type in the name of your website they are directed to your web space where your web files are stored. These files are displayed for your visitors to see as ...... 'Your Website'
To answer your question, "OK but hold on a minute, so how do I actually get my files on to that web space?"
Sending Files To Your Web Space
Your web files are sent from your home computer to your web space by using a program called FTP. This stands for 'File Transfer Protocol' and often comes as a software program created by many different companies but the standard layout is similar in all of them and is quite simple to understand in a relatively short space of time. FTP programs display a window, split into two seperate sections. One side will display a list of all the files on your computer that you will be sending to your webspace. This side is referred to, in technical terms, as your 'Local Server or Local View', it just means, 'the files on your computer'. The other shows the location and contents of your web space and is known, technically, as the 'Remote Server or Remote View'. To send files from your local server, (your computer) to your remote server, (your webspace) you simply drag and drop the content from one side of the screen to the other just like moving files from one folder to another.
For the FTP programs to work you will need a password, user name and private details of where your webspace is located. These details are sent to you when you register for your webspace. This whole process of sending your files from your computer to your webspace is called 'Uploading'. So a combination of a registered web address, web-space and web-design or web files and uploading, result in having a ......... website !!!