Eli5: What is the difference between ‘web’ and ‘website’?
In: 0
The ‘web’ is the entire, world-wide, interconnected group of computers. A ‘website’ is a single piece of that web — a smaller collection of data (html files, for example) that is sent by one of those computers to your computer.
edit: Actually, the entire, interconnected group of computers is the ‘internet’. The ‘web’ is a data-based construct overlaid on the internet.
The ‘web’ is the entire, world-wide, interconnected group of computers. A ‘website’ is a single piece of that web — a smaller collection of data (html files, for example) that is sent by one of those computers to your computer.
edit: Actually, the entire, interconnected group of computers is the ‘internet’. The ‘web’ is a data-based construct overlaid on the internet.
Web is a way to refer to the total realm of all websites vs. website referring to a single one.
Web is a way to refer to the total realm of all websites vs. website referring to a single one.
The World Wide Web (“the web”) is the collection standards that define how computers may use the global network we call the Internet, to connect to each other (TCP/IP, DNS, TLS), exchange information (HTTP), and how that information may be presented (HTML, CSS, JavaScript). You could also include the ecosystem and de facto standards we’ve built on top of that, like web browsers, search engines, APIs etc.
A web site is a particular instance of a computer on the web (a server), that is prepared to accept requests for information from another computer (the client). One could think of it as an application which is interacted with via the web. That is of course an abstraction, many websites are hosted using multiple servers in different ways, but ultimately your computer is talking to another computer on the internet to receive a web page.
TL;DR the web is the whole interconnected system that allows computers to request and send specific types of data over the internet, a website is a specific instance of computer serving that data.
Imagine the Web as your local mall. Websites are the individual shops… Other things like walkway, lifts, escalator, info desk, etc are part of the mall’s (the web) infrastructure.
Latest Answers