A web page is a single online document. The World Wide Web was originally conceived of as a collection of interlinked documents. The web page, then, is the basic unit of content on the web.
Web Page Content
Each web page has one, single, unique URL (Uniform Resource Locator) that identifies and defines it. The content of a web page might include many different types of media:
- Text
- Video
- Audio
- Images
- Application features
The main content of the web page is a document written in HTML — HyperText Markup Language. The HTML is the source code of the page — you don’t ever see it directly, but it tells your browser what to display.
If you are curious — right-click within the viewing-panel of your browser while looking at a website. Click the menu item for “View Source.” This will let you see that the underlying HTML document looks like.
Web Page Resources
The HTML document contains links to other resource which your browser will need in order to fully display the page properly:
- Images, videos, audio, and other forms of media.
- Stylesheets, which tell the browser how to make the content look (for example, what color the text and background should be, or how large the photos should be on the page).
- JavaScript files, which contains code for running application features and other dynamic functionality on a page
Within the text content of a web page, there are often links to other pages. These are not always links to other pages on the same site — a link might go anywhere. Most web pages have additional material on them that is not part of the main content of that specific page:
- Site logo
- Navigation
- Side bars
- Footers
Even though this additional material is visible on any particular page, it is not part of the “resource” that constitutes that page’s content.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between a website and a web page?
- A web page is a single document or piece of content at a particular URL.
- A website is a collection of web pages sharing a particular theme and design, together on a single domain.
What is a home page?
People use “home page” to mean two different things:
- The main page of a website
- The starting page for your own personal web browsing experience
Main Page of a Website
The home page of a website is a web page that serves as the “front door” of the site. It might have things like:
- A welcome message
- An index or table of contents for the site
- A list of recently added content or other updates
- News about the organization or person that runs the website
- Instructions for using the site
- Navigation menu
- Information about the site or the site owners
Personal Start Page
You can set up your browser to show you a specific page the first time you open it up. This is sometimes called your “home page” or “start page.” You might want to set it up to show you:
- Your favorite news site
- Your email
- A search engine, like Google