1.2    Different Types of Websites

At this point, I want to provide a brief overview of what common types of websites exist today and how they are created. Separating the website types isn’t that easy at first because they also depend on the goal and the technology approach, and some types overlap each other. Leaving aside the technology approach, the types can be roughly divided into six categories:

1.2.1    Web Presence

A web presence can either be a private website or a web presence of companies, associations, authorities, business people, and so on. In the case of companies, cities, and nonprofit organizations, the term corporate website (also informational website) is often used. Especially in the business world of smaller companies or self-employed people, it’s good form to be present on the web with information, offers, contact options, and so on with a web address. Even in times of social networks such as Facebook, many private individuals still create and maintain their own homepage. Most of the time, you can find more details about the person and their interests there. However, at the moment, especially among younger people, the private website is going out of fashion and is being replaced by Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Larger companies, associations, lawyers, artists, restaurants, doctors, craftsmen, authors, and so on are often represented on Facebook in addition to a web presence. As a rule, the primary purpose of such websites is to provide information to visitors.

Required Knowledge for a Web Presence

To create private websites or web presences for companies, associations, and so on, a good knowledge of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript is useful if you want to create the website manually. Especially when it comes to the web presence of smaller companies or public figures such as artists, lawyers, and so on, the code should definitely be free of errors. As mentioned, this is predominantly only true if you create a static website. Corporate websites of companies in particular contain dynamic elements such as news or contact forms in addition to static content. Now, many companies and individuals use ready-made (dynamic) content management systems (CMSs) such as WordPress for their web presence. Once such a system is set up, more in-depth knowledge isn’t necessarily required because web-based software is used and formatting can be implemented in a similar way to a Microsoft Office application. However, HTML and CSS knowledge is useful and helpful here as well.

1.2.2    Blog/Online Magazine/Portfolio

Blog, derived from the combination of web and log, is a website with entries that are usually sorted chronologically and separated from each other. The person who runs the blog is often referred to as a blogger.

Often, a blog is also the homepage of a web presence, where visitors can read the latest posts and up-to-date information about a particular topic, company, and so on. Likewise, moderated comments and discussions for and with visitors or sharing of posts on social media are possible. This category also includes so-called magazine websites, which usually also contain many current articles, photos, and videos, in addition to being informative and educational. What the magazine industry used to be, online magazines are now.

Here, the terms web presence and blog are often mixed up with each other. Many companies or individuals often use a ready-made system such as WordPress or Drupal for their web presence. In addition to a blog, you can also find the usual information on these websites, such as contact options, offers, and much more. However, such blog systems aren’t suitable for every company. Thus, in more discreet professions such as those of lawyers and doctors, you’re more likely to find a simple web presence. Many smaller businesses, such as handicraft companies or private individuals, don’t have the time required to maintain a blog on a regular basis. It doesn’t look good when you visit the website of a company whose last blog entry is already a year old. This makes people wonder whether the company still exists at all.

By the way, blog culture (or net culture) isn’t a trivial topic that can be dealt with here in a few lines. For example, blogs can still be divided into different typologies and then again into different operators (individuals, corporations, artists, etc.). The official blog of a company, for example, is referred to as a corporate blog (corporate website). Even Twitter has coined its own term with microblogging.

However, blogs and online magazines essentially differ from web presences or corporate websites in that they not only inform visitors about the company or the individual but also regularly present new and relevant content with added value. To create a blog or magazine website, you have two options: install blog software on a server or web space, or use a ready-made hosted solution. Installing blog software such as WordPress on a server or web space is much more flexible because here you can extend the blog with many more existing modules and templates. If there’s no suitable module available, you can program one yourself.

This category also includes portfolio websites for designers, photographers, artists, and creatives, where they can present their work visually. This often involves installing website themes with minimalist designs for blog software (e.g., WordPress). The amount of text is often significantly reduced on such websites.

What Are PHP and MySQL?

PHP is a scripting language whose syntax is similar to that of the C programming language and is mainly used for creating dynamic websites and web applications.

MySQL is a relational database management system that’s mostly used for dynamic web presences on the internet in connection with the Apache web server and the PHP scripting language.

For the installations, however, certain requirements must be met on the server or web space (e.g., access to PHP and a MySQL database), and a basic knowledge of this is an advantage if things don’t work out right away with the installation. With a hosted solution such as www.blogger.com or www.tumblr.com, you don’t have to bother much about this and can usually start blogging right away after a quick signup and template selection.

Required Knowledge for a Blog

Here, too, knowledge of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript is advantageous to be able to take various fine details into your own hands. CSS knowledge especially is extremely helpful because you can often change the complete web design with it. Generally, the posts of such blogs are created using web-based software. This is a web application that runs in the browser and is usually quite easy to use, like an office application for text creation. With such blog systems, you only have to worry about the content. The layout, saving, adding, and archiving of blog articles is done for you by the blog system. If you’re already a developer and familiar with PHP and MySQL, for example, or if you want to learn programming in the future to write your own modules, you’ll definitely need more in-depth knowledge of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

1.2.3    E-Commerce Websites: Stores without Opening Hours

As online shopping is becoming increasingly popular, it’s no surprise that many companies want to be represented with a web store. The advantages are quite obvious: open around the clock, less personnel costs, no costs and rent for the store and the facility, and a couple more reasons.

In practice, ready-made software is used for a web store because it requires much less effort to update or maintain the product catalog, for example. Even more importantly this web store software has already been tried and tested many times and is therefore much more secure, which is particularly important when it comes to the payment process.

Thanks to ready-made web shop software, such an online store can be set up quite quickly by anyone. However, there’s a long list of legal requirements here that you must follow strictly for the store to be legally valid. This starts with the obligation to publish legal data, general terms and conditions (GTC) must be present, the cancellation policy mustn’t be missing, correct information on delivery time and prices and much more. If you’re a layman setting up an online store, you might still want to consider a lawyer for advice.

Depending on the functionality of the web shop, software can be quite expensive (e.g., for an online store). In this context, you need to assess what’s worthwhile for you. The solutions range from complete solutions offered by hosting providers to professional web store software for installation on a server or web space. Here, prices vary from free to five-figure amounts. Often, specialized software such as Shopify, Magento, or WooCommerce is used for this purpose.

Required Knowledge for a Web Store

The web store is usually operated via an access-protected user interface (UI; usually via the web browser), which is similar to a CMS for a blog. For this reason, the same applies here as for a blog: knowledge of HTML and CSS isn’t absolutely necessary, but it’s an advantage if you want to present the product in a better way.

If, on the other hand, you want to create an e-commerce website yourself, then in addition to HTML, CSS and JavaScript, working knowledge of a server-side language such as PHP or Ruby on Rails is necessary. The handling of databases must also be mastered here.

It isn’t suitable and doesn’t make sense for everyone to set up and open their own web store right away. This depends on what you want to sell and the size of the business. For those who only want to sell a handful of products and are new to the e-commerce world, it may be sufficient to offer their products at www.ebay.com, for example. You should keep in mind that once the web store has been set up and a lot of money has been invested, you first need visitors to your online store. However, a visitor alone is far from being a buyer.

1.2.4    Landing Page/Microsite

A landing page usually consists of only one web page, which is aimed at a specific goal of having visitors perform a specific action (call to action). This would be, for example, starting a test phase for a product, buying a product, or simply contacting us. The goal of such a landing page is to present visitors with all the elements of a product on one page so that they become potential customers. Furthermore, such pages are highly optimized for search engines in order to reach targeted audiences via social media campaigns or search engine advertising.

Often the term microsite is also used as a synonym for a landing page, but that isn’t quite correct, as a microsite is rather an informational website, which consists of a few pages and deals exclusively with a specific topic. This concept is frequently used by companies to specifically promote a single product on a separate domain, rather than placing the product within an extensive corporate website.

Required Knowledge for a Landing Page/Microsite

You can theoretically create a landing page/microsite using HTML and CSS. But here, too, there are web construction kits, special plug-ins, and themes for a CMS available that do all the work for you. However, JavaScript technologies such as React or Angular also represent viable solutions for developing a landing page/microsite.

1.2.5    Web Platform: Building Your Own Social Network

Web platform can be used generically for the other types of websites. I use it here for websites that registered users not only can read but also to which they can add their own content online via a web browser. The functionality is often provided by a CMS. Typical social networking platforms such as Facebook, Myspace, and so on or wiki software (e.g., as used by https://en.wikipedia.org) are also included. Particularly in the commercial sector, such platforms can achieve much better customer-oriented support and, in smaller to larger companies, also a fruitful exchange of experience and knowledge beyond departmental boundaries.

The basic idea of such a web platform is usually that the content is enhanced with texts, images, graphics, and more through the collaborative work of registered users to provide a collection of useful information. Even if the content is created by other users, a moderator is indispensable for managing and reviewing the content.

Required Knowledge for Web Platforms

The same applies here as before for the web store and the blog. In addition, the required knowledge depends on whether you’re a user or a moderator of such a web platform. With HTML knowledge, you can better structure the content to your own liking and design it using CSS. However, that depends on the platform you use. Some platforms allow the use of HTML elements only under certain conditions. If you plan to develop your own web platform, the knowledge of HTML alone is no longer sufficient. Then more extensive knowledge of development in a server-side web programming language such as PHP, Ruby, Python, or JavaScript technologies (now also possible server-side) such as React or Angular is required.

1.2.6    Web Apps

Web apps are basically ordinary web applications that resemble desktop applications. These are internet applications with many interaction options, such as you would find in an ordinary desktop application. Such applications don’t necessarily have to run in a web browser. The benefits of such applications over classic web applications include improved usage and, with appropriate technology, faster performance.

Required Knowledge for Rich Internet Applications

In the past, external technologies in the form of third-party plug-ins, such as Flash Player, Java Virtual Machine (JVM), Silverlight, AIR, and Flex, were the preferred solutions for creating such web apps. Meanwhile, web apps can also be created using classic web technologies such as HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and Ajax without any plug-ins. Ready-made HTML/JavaScript-based frameworks and libraries, such as Angular, React, Ext JS, and Google Web Toolkit, are available for this purpose.