Are you running a business, and you want to create a website or blog for your business? This article is for you. Our goal here is to provide knowledge on everything you need to know if you own or thinking of owning a website for your personal or business use.
First Know what a Website is.
Website is a collection of related web pages, that includes information, multimedia content, typically identified with a common domain name and published on at least one web server. It can be viewed with the help of Web Browsers.
These websites are accessible via a public Internet Protocol (IP), by referencing a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) that identifies the site.
Key terms to understand
Web Browser: It’s a software installed on your computer or mobile phone that displays the web page from the web server based on your URL request. Some famous web browsers are Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox.
Web Pages: It’s similar to a simple text file. But the texts are encoded with HTML tags. These tags are simple instruction that tells the web browser how the web page should be displayed on the browser. Example: When you see a website with nice design and content it’s because of these HTML tags. These Web Pages should be placed in a web server.
HTML: HTML stands for Hyper Text Markup Language. A “markup language” is a computer language that describes how a web page should be formatted. If all you want to do is display a long string of black and white text with no formatting, then you don’t need HTML. But if you want to change fonts, add colors, create headlines and embed graphics in your page, HTML is the language you use to do it.
Web Server: Web Pages are stored in Web Servers. Web Servers are computers which run 24×7, whose job is to respond to a browser’s request for a web page and deliver it through the internet. Pages hosted on a web server can be displayed to anyone all over the world. This is called Web Hosting. It is like a hard drive that stores your website files and images. In order to host your page on a web server, you need to pay a hosting charge. Some famous hosting providers are Dreamhost, Hostgator.
Domain Name: A domain name is your website name. A domain name is an address where Internet users can access your website. A domain name is used for finding and identifying computers on the Internet. Computers use IP addresses, which are a series of number. However, it is difficult for humans to remember strings of numbers. Because of this, domain names were developed and used to identify entities on the Internet rather than using IP addresses. Example: knowlab.in
URL: uniform resource locator (URL) is the address of a resource on the Internet. A URL indicates the location of a resource as well as the protocol used to access it. Example: https://knowlab.in/story-about-a-king-with-four-wives-has-a-really-deep-meaning-about-life/
IP Address: An IP address is a number identifying of a computer or other device on the Internet. It is similar to a mailing address, which identifies where postal mail comes from and where it should be delivered. IP addresses uniquely identify the source and destination of data transmitted with the Internet Protocol. IP address of google is 216.58.216.164. You can type google.com or 216.58.216.164 to view the Google’s search home page.
DNS: Short for Domain Name System or Domain Name Service, a DNS is an Internet or network server that helps to point domain names or hostnames to their associated Internet Protocol address. Without a DNS to resolve a domain name or the proper rights, users would have to know the IP address of each of the web pages or computers you wanted to access.
Learn how the URL works
Using a network connection, including connecting to the Internet, computers connect to each other to transmit data between them and communicate with each other using the TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol).
Each website should have a domain name. You can buy the domain name from your web hosting provider or from a separate provider specialized in domains names. Sometimes web hosting providers offer you a domain name along with your hosting account. [For Example, our domain name is www.knowlab.in]
When you host your web pages on a web server then hosting provider will give you an IP address, through that you can access your web pages. [Our IP address is similar to 69.72.169.242]
When a user wants to visit Knowlab, they can type “https://knowlab.in” into the address bar of their browser. Once that domain name has been entered, it is looked up on a Domain Name System (DNS) where it is translated into an IP address that is more easily interpreted by a computer (e.g., 216.58.216.164). Using that IP address, your computer can then locate the Computer Hope web page and forward that information to your browser. Below is a visual example of how DNS works.
Simply this is how a website works
- – The web server receives the request for a web page sent by your browser.
- – The browser connects to the server through an IP Address; the IP address is obtained by translating the domain name.
- – In return, the server sends back the requested page.
Who Monitors the Internet: ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) is the private (non-government) non-profit corporation with responsibility for IP address space allocation, protocol parameter assignment, domain name system management, and root server system management functions, the services previously performed by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA). The main role of ICANN is to make the Internet run smoothly all over the world. This is more commonly known as “universal resolvability.” ICANN plays a pivotal role in maintaining the Internet as we know it and continues to mold and evolve the Internet of tomorrow. Anytime you register a domain, ICANN gets a small piece of the fee, and oversees your domain to help maintain the security of the web.
Whois is a widely used Internet record listing that identifies who owns a domain and how to get in contact with them. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) regulates domain name registration and ownership. Whois records have proven to be extremely useful and have developed into an essential resource for maintaining the integrity of the domain name registration and website ownership process.
What is in a Whois record?
A Whois record contains all of the contact information associated with the person, group, or company that registers a particular domain name. Typically, each Whois record will contain information such as the name and contact information of the Registrant (who owns the domain), the name and contact information of the registrar Registrar (the organization or commercial entity that registered the domain name), the registration dates, the name servers, the most recent update, and the expiration date. Whois records may also provide the administrative and technical contact information (which is often, but not always, the registrant).
Author: Vinoth George C is a freelance tech columnist from New Delhi, India. He likes to learn and create new tech concepts and aspire to build a technology that exceeds our humanity.
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