Web Hosting - Introduction

How does the Internet work? How can I have my own Web Site?
What is a Web Host? What is an Internet Service Provider?

What is the World Wide Web?

• The Web is a network of computers all over the world.
• All the computers in the Web can communicate with each other.
• All the computers use a communication protocol called HTTP.

How does the  WWW work?

• Web information is stored in documents called web pages. 
• Web pages are files stored on computers called web servers.
• Computers reading the web pages are called web clients.
• Web clients view the pages with a program called a web browser.
• Popular browsers are Internet Explorer and Firefox.

How does a Browser Fetch a Web Page?

• A browser fetches a page from a web server by a request.
• A request is a standard HTTP request containing a page address.
• An address may look like this: http://www.example.com/default.htm.

How does a Browser Display a Web Page?

• All web pages contain instructions for display.
• The browser displays the page by reading these instructions.
• The most common display instructions are called HTML tags.
• HTML tags look like this <p>This is a paragraph.</p>.

What is a Web Server?

• The collection of all your web pages is called your web site.
• To let others view your web pages, you must publish your web site.
• To publish your work, you must copy your site to a web server.
• Your own PC can act as a web server if it is connected to a network.
• Most common is to use an Internet Service Provider (ISP).

What is an Internet Service Provider?

• ISP stands for Internet Service Provider.
• An ISP provides Internet Services.
• A common Internet service is web hosting.
• Web hosting means storing your web site on a public server.
• Web hosting normally includes email services.
• Web hosting often includes domain name registration.

Summary

If you want other people to view your web site, you must copy your site to a public server.