The three basic components of a website are the domain name, hosting, and code.  In this post, I’ll explain these in basic terms so that you can understand what you’ll need and why you need it.

Domain Name

Think of the domain name as your street address.  If you’re trying to tell people where to send a letter or how to get to your house, you give them your address.  The address itself is not your house – it’s just a series of words and numbers that help you get there.  A typical domain looks something like this: http://www.mydesigngarden.com.  If we continue the analogy of an address, you could think of http:// and www. as the country and state, .com as your city, and mydesigngarden as your street address.  For most people, the http:// and www. are going to be the same, so you really don’t have to worry about them at all.  The two parts of your domain that you need to choose are the name (mydesigngarden) and the extension (.com).  I’ve got another post that talks about how to choose your name and also one that discusses the your options for the extension.

Once you’ve chosen your domain and ensrured that it is available, you need to register your domain to stake your claim. This usually costs between $10-$20/year paid to a company that specializes in this called a “registrar”.  This is where the analogy falls apart because that fee entitles you to the name only, but does not pay for what you put on there.

Web Hosting

If the domain name is your address, then the web hosting is the property that your house sits on.   Web hosting is basically space the space on a computer where your code is stored.  While all of the different domain registrar’s offer basically the same service, what you get with different hosts varies dramatically.  The cost of web hosting depends on many factors that you can read about in my article on choosing a web host.

Code

Now you have an address and some land – but nothing on it.  What I am calling code is what is underneath what you see in your web browser.  Code includes markup languages such as HTML, programing languages such as PHP, stylesheets known as CSS and scripts such as javascript.

Most websites use XHTML for at least a portion of their code.  XHTML is a more advanced version of HTML and basically tells a broswer (such as firefox) how to render the data in your website.  It used to be that web developers also used HTML to control how your content looks in the browser, but as websites became more sophisticated they began to move away from that and the presentation of your content is now controlled by CSS (cascading style sheets).  Think of XHTML as the foundation and framing of your house and CSS as the drywall, cabinets, and decor.

Many websites use php and other programming languages to add interactice functionality such as web forms and communication with a database.  Javascript is used for visual effects such as image slideshows.  PHP and other programming languages are like the plumbing and electricity, while Javascript is kind of like the TV & Microwave.

Those are the main elements of a website, but don’t forget all of that would look like gibberish without the web browser that reads, interprets, and creates what you actually see when you are browsing the web.   Maybe the browser is like the people – there’s no point to having a house if nobdody lives in it.

I hope this was helpful to you in understanding the basics of how websites work.   Do you have any questions or is there something major that I forgot?  Please comment below.

The following are some of my favorite sources for high quality cheap stock images.  You’ll find a lot of repeated stock on these sites, so if you find one you like, search some of the other sites to see if you can find the photo for less on a different website.

istockphoto.com
Istockphoto is the big daddy of all the inexpensive stock photo site.  They were bought by Getty Images (a premium stock photo site) a few years back.  They’ve raised their prices a lot since then, but they have good quality control and an excellent selection.

bigstockphoto.com

Unsatisfied with the stock images of massage available, Shonna went the extra mile and hired a professional photographer to do a shoot of her and a client. The resulting images in black and white are unusually striking and elevate the final look of the website to a new level.  The header image is one of these, cropped to emphasize the poetry of hands on flesh.

The background image of the streambed, rocks, and flowers is one she took herself and used on her business cards. When I saw her cards, I immediately knew we needed to use the image on her site as well. The image size was not quite as large as would have been ideal for a background. I used the offset filter in photoshop as well as the clone stamp tool to create an image that would tile seamlessly.