SECTION TWO
2. How a website works
This section seeks to briefly explain how a website works. The guide will cover five topics in this section, What is a browser, hosting a website on a server, what a domain name is, what HTML is and what a CMS is.
A browser is an application (or program) that is run on a user's home computer. The most common browser is Microsoft's Internet Explorer. Other common browsers are Netscape Communicator, Mozilla, Mozilla Firebird (now called FireFox), Apple's Safari, and Opera. There are many others not mentioned here as well. Most browsers are free and should be updated to the most recent version for the best compatibility with most websites. You can update your browser by visiting the company's website and downloading and installing the new version.
The browser is the tool that allows the user to connect to and browse the internet for various websites.
All websites are located on a server somewhere. A server is simply a computer that is dedicated to providing files or services to other computers instead of being used by a person like you to perform tasks like create or print this document. Hosting means that the files that make up the web site (often simple text files) are stored on that server like you might store your Microsoft Word or Excel files on a hard drive or diskette.
A server that hosts a website must be permanently connected to the internet so anyone can access the files when they so desire. It is also desirable to have that server protected from power and data loss. This is why websites are often hosted by companies with many servers who provide hosting as a service. The hosting company then takes care of the service and protection of the servers so the website administrator doesnt have to.
The domain name is the familiar 'call sign' that people type in to their browser's address bar in order to access your site. Think of it like your home mailing address. The domain name is some letters (and possibly numbers) that indicate where on the internet to find your site. Another name for the domain name is URL.
There is an international organization that tracks all the existing and requested domain names in order to prevent duplication and make sure that computers can find each website by translating each domain name into 'computer speak' and pointing computers in the right direction.
Because that organization requires money to operate, and because of the laws of supply and demand, the process of requesting and being granted your own domain name (called registration) costs money. Various companies provide this service for varying amounts of money. All of them lease domain names to companies and individuals on a yearly basis, requiring new payments every year in order to continue leasing the domain name.
HTML files are special kinds of text files that are stored on servers. These files are then sent to any user's browser over the internet and then rendered (interpreted and displayed) by that browser on the user's computer. The HTML file uses a kind of code to tell the browser what text to display where, how links should be followed, any special formatting that should be applied, etc. All browsers use HTML.
Some parts of your new Postnuke-enabled website allow you to inject your own HTML into your stories and other texts. If would benefit you to know a little HTML! Here is one of literally thousands of HTML beginning tutorials on the internet: http://www.htmlgoodies.com/primers/basics.html. You can google to find more if you like!
CMS is an acronym for Content Management System. CMS is the newest and most efficient way to manage a website. CMS automates much of the difficult parts of managing a website by using special server-interpreted code to integrate the use of a database. This database allows the website administrator to dynamically manipulate their site to look like they want, often simply using a web browser! Many very big websites use some type of CMS to manage their websites (CNN, ESPN, Wall Street Journal, etc.)
Your site makes use of the Postnuke CMS. Postnuke uses PHP as the server-interpreted code and MySQL as the database. It isn't important that you understand what these new acronyms mean. Their explanation is simply beyond the scope of this guide. If your website continues to work as expected, you shouldn't need to know much about these technologies!