Web page

A web page (or webpage) is a document on the Web that is accessed in a web browser.^[1] A website typically consists of many web pages linked together under a common domain name. The term "web page" is therefore a metaphor of paper pages bound together into a book.

Each article on the Wikipedia website is a distinct web page. The URL is visible in the browser's address bar at the top.

Navigation

Main article: Web navigation

Each web page is identified by a distinct Uniform Resource Locator (URL). When the user inputs a URL into their web browser, the browser retrieves the necessary content from a web server and then transforms it into an interactive visual representation on the user's screen.^[2]

If the user clicks or taps a link, the browser repeats this process to load the new URL, which could be part of the current website or a different one. The browser has features, such as the address bar, that indicate which page is displayed.

Elements

The home page of NASA from 2008

A web page is a structured document. The core element is a text file written in the HyperText Markup Language (HTML). This specifies the content of the page,^[3] including images and video.

Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) specify the presentation of the page.^[3] CSS rules can be in separate text files or embedded within the HTML file.

The vast majority^[4] of pages have JavaScript programs, enabling a wide range of behavior.^[3] The newer WebAssembly language can also be used as a supplement.^[5]

The most sophisticated web pages, known as web apps, combine these elements in a complex manner.

Deployment

From the perspective of server-side website deployment, there are two types of web pages: static and dynamic. Static pages are retrieved from the web server's file system without any modification,^[6] while dynamic pages must be created by the server on the fly, typically reading from a database to fill out a template, before being sent to the user's browser.^[7] An example of a dynamic page is a search engine results page.

See also

• Single-page application
• Progressive web app
• Web Components

References

1. "Web page – definition of web page by The Free Dictionary". Archived from the original on 23 April 2021. Retrieved 23 April 2021.
2. "Behind the scenes of modern web browsers". Tali Garsiel. Archived from the original on 18 April 2018. Retrieved 21 April 2018.
3. Flanagan, David (18 April 2011). JavaScript: the definitive guide. Beijing; Farnham: O'Reilly. p. 1. ISBN 978-1-4493-9385-4. OCLC 686709345. JavaScript is part of the triad of technologies that all Web developers must learn: HTML to specify the content of web pages, CSS to specify the presentation of web pages, and JavaScript to specify the behavior of web pages.
4. "Usage Statistics of JavaScript as Client-side Programming Language on Websites". W3Techs. Retrieved 27 February 2024.
5. "The State of WebAssembly 2023". Scott Logic. 18 October 2023. Retrieved 18 April 2024.
6. Melendez, Steven (10 August 2018). "The Difference Between Dynamic & Static Web Pages". Chron. Archived from the original on 20 March 2019. Retrieved 20 March 2019. Static by definition means something that does not change. The first pages on the World Wide Web were largely static and unchanged, delivering the same information about a particular topic to anyone who visited. In some cases, sites may evolve slightly over time but are still largely static, meaning that they only change when manually changed by their creators, not on a regular and automated basis.
7. "Definition of: dynamic Web page". PC Magazine. Archived from the original on 17 January 2017. Retrieved 20 March 2019. A Web page that provides custom content for the user based on the results of a search or some other request.