Searching the internet is second nature to most of us. Every day we consult countless websites to find information, but do we ever stop to ask what is a website and how does it really work?
Your Website’s DNA
Before we dive into technological terms, consider this: humans are kind of like websites. Humans have eyes, ears, legs, and arms while websites have text, images, videos, and buttons. On the surface, it’s pretty straightforward, but if you look deeper, humans and websites are both governed by a code. For humans, it’s our DNA. For websites, it’s HTML, which stands for Hypertext Markup Language.
This code uses tags — directions encased in command prompts, like — to tell your web browser how to display the web page. In other words, HTML is a language that web browsers understand, interpret, and convert in order to display information that is understandable to you and me.
HTML files can then be uploaded to a web server, so any internet-connected computer with a web browser can find them.