Key highlights
- Understand what is a website, and how it functions from end to end, including how browsers and DNS server work together to deliver content to internet users.
- Learn the technical role of HTML, CSS and JavaScript and how they contribute to building and rendering interactive web pages.
- Explore web hosting services types. Learn the difference between shared, dedicated, cloud and managed WordPress hosting.
- Know why mobile optimisation matters. See how CSS media queries help websites adjust to any screen size.
- Uncover what powers modern websites web developers, APIs and search engines work together to make them dynamic, personalised and easy to find.
Websites play a central role in daily life, linking people to information, services and online experiences across the internet. From social media and eCommerce to blogs and portfolios, websites serve many functions for website owners and developers alike.
But what is a website, really? How does it work? And what happens when you type a web address into your browser?
This guide answers those questions and explains the entire process in simple and technical terms. It covers domain names, web development, web server communication and IP addresses.
This guide is designed for beginners, curious learners and aspiring developers who want to understand how websites work and expand their tech knowledge.
What is a website?
To understand how websites work, you must first understand what a website is. Essentially, website is a set of web pages located on a server. These web service pages have text, images, videos and interactive elements. They aim to provide a seamless user experience.
There are several websites ideas. They facilitate social interactions, internet commerce and information provision. Most publicly accessible websites are designed to be available to anyone with an internet connection.
When a user with an internet connection enters a website address into their browser, it involves many steps to retrieve and display the page. The Domain Name System (DNS) translates a domain name into an IP address. This lets the browser find the website’s server.
Once connected, the server delivers HTML code, CSS files, JavaScript files and other resources that make up the webpage.
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Technical insight: Websites are hosted on physical computers, often called servers, provided by web hosting providers. These servers store all the resources to run the website. When a user enters a web address, they ensure that the server can send the files needed to display the page.
What are web pages?
Web pages play a significant role in contributing to the overall web development process. These are individual documents that create a website. Each page is written in HTML and accessed via the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), displaying content like text, images and videos.
For example, a homepage may display company information, while a product page may showcase individual products with descriptions and images.
The page elements of a web page are controlled by CSS files, which define the layout, colour scheme and fonts.
JavaScript enables interactive features like animations, form validation and dropdowns, enhancing user engagement. Together, these components make web pages both functional and visually appealing.
Technical insight: A web page’s structure is defined using HTML code, while its appearance is styled using CSS files. JavaScript files handle interactive features, allowing users to engage with the content dynamically. These files are loaded from the server and displayed in the browser.
The role of web hosting
Today, every website needs a place to live on the internet. This is where web hosting comes in.
A web hosting service offers the server space and technology required to store and deliver website files on the internet. Without hosting, a website’s web pages wouldn’t be accessible to users over the internet.
When a website is hosted, its files including HTML code, CSS files and JavaScript files are stored on a physical computer called a server.
When users access your website, the server delivers all the resources needed to load its pages. As your hosting provider, we make sure the server stays connected to the internet and is always accessible to your visitors.
Types of hosting services:
- Shared hosting: Multiple websites share server resources. While cost-effective, this setup is best suited to smaller websites. For better performance, our managed WordPress hosting optimises resources for faster load times, greater reliability and easy scalability. Build and launch impressive WordPress sites effortlessly with intelligent, adaptive tools.
- Dedicated hosting: A dedicated server hosts a single website. It has more significant resources and performance. This is suitable for larger websites with high traffic.
- Cloud hosting: Website files are stored across multiple servers in a cloud network, ensuring better scalability and uptime. This makes it an excellent choice for website agencies that manage multiple clients and need reliable performance. For more control, our VPS hosting provides dedicated resources and full customisation for growing websites. It’s a powerful solution for businesses and agencies needing enhanced security and performance.
Technical insight: Web hosting ensures that a website’s files are available 24/7. The server is responsible for responding to user requests and sending back the HTML code, images and other resources needed for the browser to display the web pages.
How do websites work?
Understanding the basics of how a website works can help you appreciate the complexity behind the scenes.
Whenever someone types a website address into their browser, it starts a series of actions to retrieve and display the site’s page content.
1. DNS query
When a user types a domain name (e.g., www.bluehost.uk), the browser sends a DNS server request to look up the corresponding IP address. The Domain Name System server acts as an address book, matching the domain name to the correct IP address.
2. Connection to the server
After locating the IP address, the browser requests the server hosting webpage. This server stores all the resources to load the website. It has HTML code, CSS files and JavaScript files.
3. Fetching website files
The server responds to the browser’s request by sending back all the necessary files, including HTML code, CSS files and images. These files are essential for rendering the page content in the browser.
4. Rendering the web page
Once the browser loads the files from the server, it processes the HTML code to create the webpage structure. The browser applies CSS files to style the page and executes the JavaScript files to enable interactive features like forms or pop-up windows.
Technical insights: This whole process involves several elements working together. The web browser first contacts the DNS server to resolve the domain name. It then connects to the hosting server, fetches the resources and displays the web page. This happens in milliseconds, making it appear seamless to the user.
What is a server and why is it called the phonebook of the web?
The Domain Name System (DNS) is a crucial website component. It converts domain names into IP addresses so computers can locate and communicate with each other.
Without DNS, users must remember complex IP addresses instead of simple domain names.
The DNS server searches several servers for the IP address connected to a domain name entered by a user until it locates it.
This process involves several steps, as the DNS system is distributed across various servers worldwide.
Technical insights: The DNS comprises multiple layers, including root servers, top-level domain (TLD) servers and authoritative DNS servers. Each layer directs the web browser to the correct server, ensuring that the website address is resolved quickly and accurately.
What is the browser’s role in displaying websites?
Once the browser receives the response data from the server, it must process and display the web page. Browsers interpret the HTML code and render the page elements according to the instructions defined by the CSS files and JavaScript files.
- HTML parsing: The browser reads the HTML code to create the webpage’s structure, identifying headers, paragraphs, images and other elements.
- CSS styling: The browser applies styles defined in the CSS files to make the page visually appealing, determining the layout, colours, fonts and other design elements.
- JavaScript execution: If the webpage contains JavaScript files, the browser executes these scripts to enable interactive features like drop-down menus, forms and animations.
Technical insights: Browsers use rendering to convert HTML code and CSS files into a visual web page representation. This ensures that users see a fully functional and styled webpage when they access the site.
Why is mobile optimisation important?
As more users access websites via mobile phones, websites must be optimised for smaller screens. This is where responsive design comes into play.
Responsive design ensures that a website’s layout adjusts automatically based on the device being used, whether it is a tablet, mobile phone or desktop computer.
Technical insights: CSS media queries are used by websites with responsive design to determine the screen size and modify the layout accordingly. This guarantees a smooth experience for users, irrespective of the device they use to visit the same website.
Static vs dynamic websites: What’s the difference and which one suits you best?
Before building a website, understand the two main types static and dynamic as they affect how your content is delivered and managed.
| Feature | Static website | Dynamic website |
| Content | Same for all visitors | Changes based on user actions or data |
| Technology | Built with HTML and CSS only | Uses server-side scripting (e.g. PHP, Python) and databases |
| Customisation | Not personalised | Personalised content based on user behaviour or input |
| Hosting requirements | Basic hosting setup | Requires more server resources and database access |
| Speed | Loads quickly due to simple structure | May load slower due to real-time data processing |
| Best for | Portfolio and catalog sites, brochure sites, simple landing pages | eCommerce site, user dashboards, content-heavy or interactive websites |
| Example | A personal portfolio with static images and text | An online shop that recommends products based on purchase history |
Websites are typically categorised as either static or dynamic, depending on how their content is delivered to users.
- Static websites: These websites deliver the same content to every visitor. The page content is pre-built and stored on the server, meaning there’s no need for server-side scripting.
Example: A basic portfolio website showcasing static images and text remains the same for all users.
- Dynamic websites: These websites deliver content that changes based on user interactions or real-time data. The server generates dynamic content on the fly, often pulling data from a database.
Example: An eCommerce website shows different product recommendations based on the user’s previous purchases.
Technical insights: Dynamic websites use server-side programming languages like PHP, Python or Node.js to generate real-time page content. These websites often rely on databases to store and retrieve the data necessary to customise the user experience.
What is the role of search engines in website discovery?
Search engines like Bing, Yahoo and Google are essential for helping users discover websites.
These platforms crawl and index web pages, making them searchable for users based on the content they seek.
For a website to rank well in search engine result pages, it must be optimised for search engines using Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) techniques.
What are the SEO best practises?
- Keyword optimisation: Ensure that your web pages contain relevant keywords that users might search for. This significantly improves the chances of appearing in search results.
- Page speed: Optimise the speed at which your web pages load. Faster websites often rank higher in search results.
- Mobile-friendliness: Due to search engines giving preference to mobile-friendly content, websites perform higher in search engine rankings.
- Yoast SEO plugin: If you’re using WordPress, the Yoast SEO plugin is a powerful tool for improving on-page SEO. It helps optimise your content for keywords, checks readability and provides suggestions to enhance overall search engine optimisation performance.
Technical insights: Search engines use bots (or crawlers) to crawl websites and index their content. The bots analyse the HTML code, metadata and internal linking structure to determine a website’s relevance to specific search queries.
What is the role of web developers in building websites?
Web developers today are responsible for building and maintaining websites. They work on websites’ front-end (what users see) and the back-end (the server, database and application logic).
Their job is to ensure that the web pages are functional, visually appealing and easy to use.
- Front-end development: Front-end developers focus on the user-facing part of the website. They use HTML code, CSS files and JavaScript files to create interactive and visually appealing web pages.
Example: A front-end developer ensures that a website’s navigation menu works seamlessly on both desktop and mobile devices.
- Back-end development: Back-end developers handle the website’s server side, ensuring that the server processes requests efficiently and retrieves the necessary data from the database.
Example: A back-end developer ensures that user data is securely processed and stored when a user submits a form.
Technical insights: Front-end development involves building the user interface, while back-end development focuses on the server, database and application logic. Together, front-end and back-end development ensure that a website functions smoothly.
What is the role of APIs in website functionality?
Many modern websites use APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) to connect different services and features.
An API allows one system to communicate with another, allowing websites to pull data from external sources or integrate with third-party services.
Example: Could integrate an API to show weather updates to pull live weather data from a third-party provider and display it on the homepage.
Technical insights: APIs allow websites to request and receive data from other systems. This ensures that dynamic content is always up-to-date and relevant to the user.
How do mobile apps and websites work together?
In the age of mobile applications, websites and apps often work in tandem to provide a seamless user experience. While websites are accessed via a browser, mobile apps provide a more tailored and personalised experience.
For example, an eCommerce business might offer both a website and a mobile app. Users can browse products on the website, while the mobile app provides push notifications and personalised offers.
Technical insights: Both mobile applications and websites often pull data from the same servers using APIs. This ensures that the user experience is consistent across platforms, regardless of how they access the content.
How do websites handle user data?
Users interact with websites and often input personal information, such as login credentials, shipping details or payment information. Websites must handle this data securely to protect user privacy and prevent unauthorised access.
Websites use secure connections (such as HTTPS) to encrypt the data transmitted between the browser and the server.
Additionally, many websites store user data in databases, ensuring that it is securely processed and retrieved as needed.
Technical insights: Websites use encryption protocols like SSL/TLS to secure user data during transmission. Server-side validation and database security measures are also implemented to protect user information from being compromised.
Final thoughts
The answer to ‘How does a website work?’ involves many layers of technology, from web pages to hosting. To truly understand what a website is, it’s important to see how these components work together. Whether it’s one page or a full site, the process involves your internet, device, browser and the web address you enter.
Though it may seem complex, the sequence of HTML tags, servers and browsers makes web access efficient. Understanding how the web works can help website owners, web developers and curious users gain technical knowledge.
With tools like Bluehost WonderSuite, creating websites is more accessible for everyone, regardless of technical skills. We make building and managing a professional site simple for everyone.
FAQs
A website sends a user request to a web server via their browser. The server responds with an HTML file and various resources, which the browser processes and displays. This involves translating the web address to an IP address and retrieving the response body.
First, with a stable internet connection, the browser sends a request to the web server. It uses the domain registrar to match the web address to an IP address. Then, the server sends the HTML file and other assets, which the browser processes, displaying a collection of web pages.
The DNS translates a web address into an IP address, so the browser can find the correct web server. This allows the server to send the HTML file and other content, displaying a collection of web pages. DNS ensures websites work by enabling access via an internet connection and is managed by a domain registrar.
When you access an online page, the browser sends a request to a web server, which responds by delivering the HTML file and other content. The whole process involves translating the web address into an IP address and retrieving the webpage.
A website has three main parts: the domain name, which a domain registrar manages; the web server, hosting and storing the site’s files and the HTML files, which are the content you see when visiting the site.
Yes, websites often cost money. For example, as a website owner, you pay for domain registration, web hosting and possibly a web developer for design and other technical aspects. Free options do exist, but they have limited features. Bluehost offers affordable hosting packages. We include a free domain for the first year and easy WordPress integration. You’ll also get reliable customer support, making it a great choice for launching a website.
