day 1 - Making a website

There's many reasons to make a website

because it's fun
because it's a valuable skill
because it's a freeing experience
it has never been easier

What is a website?

A website is a collection of webpages, images, and other files stored on a server and accessible via the internet through a unique address called a domain name.

Websites are built with three languages:

HTML the structure (the skeleton)
CSS the visual style (the skin)
JavaScript the interactivity (the muscles)

The address: domain names and DNS

A domain name is the human-friendly address for a website, the part you type into your browser, like google.com. It's much easier to remember than what's underneath: an IP address, a string of numbers like 192.0.2.146 that identifies the actual server where the website lives.

So how does your browser know which IP address matches the domain you typed? It uses the Domain Name System (DNS), basically the internet's phonebook. You type google.com, the DNS looks it up and hands back the matching IP address, and your browser knows exactly where to go.

What actually happens when you visit a page

Your browser asks the DNS for the IP address behind the domain name.
It sends a request to that server: "can you send me this website?"
If the server agrees, it replies with a 200 OK and starts sending the website's files in small chunks called packets.
Your browser reassembles those packets and displays the page.

Want to go deeper?