Website

Updated: 09/12/2023 by Computer Hope

A site or website is a central location of web pages that are related and accessed by visiting the website's home page using a browser. For example, the Computer Hope website address URL (uniform resource locator) is https://www.computerhope.com. You can access any web page on our website (like this one) from our home page. The image shows how the Computer Hope website looked in 2021.

How to open a website

To view a website requires a browser (e.g., Internet Explorer, Edge, Safari, Firefox, or Chrome). For example, you are reading this web page using a browser. Once in a browser, you can open a website by entering the URL in the address bar. For example, typing "https://www.computerhope.com" opens the Computer Hope home page. You can use a search engine if you don't know the URL of the website you want to visit.

When was the first website created?

Tim Berners-Lee built the first website at CERN and launched it on August 6, 1991. You can still visit and browse the first website.

How many websites are on the Internet?

As of January 2023, depending on which survey or hosting company is referenced, there are approximately 1.9 billion websites. Many of these websites are unused or not visited by people, but the websites still exist and are included in the count.

What is the difference between a website and a web page?

A website refers to a central location with more than one or several web pages. For example, Computer Hope is considered a website with thousands of different web pages, including the page you're reading now.

URL or Internet address

In the above URL example, the website is computerhope.com and the web page is "url.htm."

Note

A web page does not need a file extension like .htm or .html to be a web page. Many sites are designed to show a default page in a directory (e.g., index.html) or set up to have no file extensions.

Tip

See our web page definition for a breakdown of all the elements that help make up a web page.

Who creates websites on the Internet?

Any business, government, organization, or person can create a website on the Internet. Today, the Internet consists of billions of websites created by millions of people. You can even create a website or blog on the Internet. See the below types of websites section for a list of the categories of websites.

How to start in HTML and web design.

What can you do on a website?

On most websites, you read the information on each web page. If there are any interesting hyperlinks, you follow those links by clicking or tapping on them to find more information or perform a task. You can also listen to music, watch videos, shop, communicate, and more on many websites.

What things to do when bored on the Internet.

Types of websites

There are billions of websites today that can be broken into one of the following categories. Realize that a website can fall into more than one of the following categories. For example, a website may be a forum, webmail, blog, or search engine.

Archive website

An archive website is a site that keeps a record of the contents of one or more other websites. The Internet Archive is the best example of an archive website.

Blog (weblog)

A blog is a website often created by an individual to keep a list of entries that interests them. See our weblog definition for a full description, services used to create a blog, and related pages. A microblog website is another popular form of blogging website that limits the number of characters someone can post in each blog entry. Twitter is an example of a social networking website for a microblog.

Business website and corporate website

A business website or corporate website is created to provide account information and access to customers, partners, clients, and potential customers.

Community website

A community website is a website or section of a website that helps bring the visitors visiting the site together using chat, forums, or another form of bulletin board.

Content website and information website

A content website and an information website are created to display unique content, often related to a specific category. For example, Computer Hope could be considered a content site with computer-related content. Other categories could include a political website with content relating to politics or a political view or a religious website with information about a specific religion.

Dating website

A dating website helps connect people interested in meeting or dating other people. Most dating websites require a small fee, a description of yourself, and often ask questions to help find people that best match your interests.

Dynamic website

A dynamic website is a website that uses a database and server-side scripting to help dynamically generate the content on the website. WordPress sites and other CMS (content management system) solutions make it easier for anyone to have a website without knowing much about HTML (hypertext markup language) or programming. See our dynamic website page for further information on dynamic and static websites.

E-commerce website

An e-commerce (electronic commerce) website is any site created to sell online goods or services. Amazon is an example of an e-commerce website. An e-commerce website may be broken down further into one of the following subcategories.

An affiliate website is a website created to sell third-party products. For example, Amazon has an affiliate program for anyone to link to their site and make a commission when products are purchased. An affiliate website should not be confused with an e-commerce website.

An auction website is a website that allows other people to sell their goods or services. For example, eBay is one of the most well-known online auction websites. See our online auction page for further information and examples.

A classified ads website is a site that allows anyone to list goods or services, usually for free or at a small cost. Craigslist is an example of a classified ads website.

A crowdfunding website is set up to help support a business, person, or another cause by making a one-time or monthly payment. An example of a crowdfunding website is Kickstarter.

Educational website

An educational website is any website containing content that aids in learning. It could be a school website, a library website, a homework assistance website, or other tools for gaining knowledge online.

Gaming website

A gaming website is any website that features games that can be played on the website. Often these online games are created using HTML5, Flash, or Java. Gaming websites should not be confused with gaming content websites with content relevant to gaming with no actual games to play on the website.

Government website

A government website is a department, local, or state government site that was created to help inform the public about government business and services. A local government website may also be set up to help promote tourism.

Tip

In the United States, a government website has the domain suffix .gov. In the United Kingdom, they use .gov.uk.

Help and Q&A website

A help website and questions and answers website is where anyone can post questions, and other users help answer those questions. A full list of help websites where you can ask questions is on the link below.

Where can I ask a question on the Internet?

Malicious website

A malicious website is any website set up to infect another computer or collect personal data. For example, a malware website is created to infect any visitor with malware, spyware, or a trojan horse. These types of sites could have an infected download and, if downloaded, infects your computer.

Other common malicious websites include phishing websites. These sites are designed to look like other official sites (e.g., your bank), hoping that they can phish sensitive information such as your username and password.

Fake news websites are another type of malicious site created to appear as a legitimate news source to help spread fear and lies.

Media sharing website

A media sharing website is any website that specializes in allowing visitors to share one or more types of media. For example, YouTube is a site for sharing video media. SoundCloud is a site for sharing music. Flickr is a place to share photos. DeviantArt is a page for sharing art.

Mirror website

A mirror website is a complete duplicate of another website used when a website becomes overloaded. It helps with a website's speed in different parts of the world. See our mirror definition for further information. Also, although similar, a mirror site should not be confused with a scraper website or a CDN (content delivery network).

News website

A news website is dedicated to giving the latest local or world news. A news site may also be dedicated to a specific topic. For example, many computer-related news websites are dedicated to discussing the latest computer and technology-related news.

P2P website and Torrent website

A P2P website and Torrent website are sites created to list available torrents that can be downloaded using a file-sharing program.

A warez website is similar to a torrent website, except that it stores and hosts music, video, and software that anyone can download to their computer. A warez website describes a site where copyrighted material is illegally downloaded.

Personal website

A personal website is created by an individual that talks about their life, family, and life experiences, and maybe contains a résumé. Today, many people create personal websites as a blog or use social networking websites to store information about themselves.

Personality website

A personality website covers an individual, such as an artist, celebrity, influencer, musician, author, or another person. These websites are set up by someone affiliated with the person, such as a publicist, agency, or fan of the personality.

Portal

A portal is a website or service that offers a broad range of services, such as e-mail, games, quotes, search, news, and stocks. See our portal term page for further information.

Review website

A review website is any site that focuses on reviews about a product or service. For example, Yelp allows consumers to review businesses in their area. Other review sites may review other things, such as movies or products. Also, many e-commerce sites have reviews from people who've purchased their products.

Secure website

A secure site or secure website is any website that transmits data securely (encrypted). Secure websites are identified by looking for a lock next to the URL or a URL starting with "https" instead of "http."

School website

A school website is a site created to represent a local school or college. School sites have an overview of a school, giving students and parents a place to log in and review grades and other school-related information.

Scraper website

A scraper website is a website illegally stealing (scraping) another website's content. Doing this could allow the person to generate advertising revenue if enough traffic was driven to the scraper website. However, these sites are against all advertisers' TOS (terms of service) and, when caught, are blocked by the company providing the advertising. A scraper website should not be confused with a mirror website set up with permission.

Search engine website

A search engine website is a website dedicated to helping people find information on the Internet. Google is an example of a search engine website. See our search engine definition for further information on search engines and related links.

A social networking website connects users with friends, family, celebrities, groups, and organizations. The service is usually free because the website may collect and use the users' information. Facebook and Twitter are examples of social networking websites. See our social networking definition for other examples of social networks and further information.

A social news website is a site that generates its content from its members and once posted, all other members can vote if they enjoyed or liked the story. Reddit is an example of a social news website that allows everyone to post almost anything. It is a great place to find things that interest you the most on the Internet.

Static website

A static website is designed using only HTML and doesn't change or update automatically. See our dynamic website page for further information on dynamic and static websites.

Unsecure website

An unsecure site or unsecure website is any website that does not transmit data securely (encrypted). Unsecure websites are identified by looking for a URL starting with "http" instead of "https." When on an unsecured website, be cautious with transmitted information that could be intercepted and read with a man-in-the-middle attack.

Webcomic website

A webcomic website is a site that posts a comic strip daily, weekly, or monthly.

Webmail website

A webmail website allows a person to view, send, and receive e-mail without installing software. An example of a webmail program is Gmail. See our webmail definition for other examples, information, and related links.

Wiki website

A wiki website is created using Wiki software and is often edited and updated by more than one person.

Should I use "website" or "web site" when writing?

Both versions are technically correct. However, most style guides (e.g., Microsoft Manual of Style and The Associated Press Stylebook) suggest website (one word) instead of web site (two words) in all forms of writing.