Static vs Dynamic Website

Before I dive into static vs dynamic, let's take a moment to talk about what a website even is.

So...What is a Website?

A website is a collection of many web pages, and web pages are digital files that are written using HTML(HyperText Markup Language). To make your website available to every person in the world, it must be stored or hosted on a computer connected to the Internet round a clock. Such computers are known as a Web Server. - geeksforgeeks.com

Basically, any time you are surfing the web, you are viewing websites. Websites have their own unique address or location, known as a domain. Domains are the urls that end in .com, .org, .net, etc.

There are endless possibilities for websites, but in general, there are two types: Static and Dynamic.

What is a Static Website?

As the name suggests, a static website has information that is the same for all users at all times. Examples of static websites include resume websites, portfolio websites, brochure websites, one-off landing pages, and other informational or read-only sites.
These websites cannot be manipulated on the server or communicate with databases - (although serverless infrastructure has smudged that a bit..that's a convo for a later time).
Static Websites are prebuilt, commonly with HTML, CSS, and Javascript. They load faster and usually come with lower development costs.

What is a Dynamic Website?

A dynamic website can generate content on the fly based on the interactions of the visitor, time of day, or other events. It uses server-side programming languages to interact with a database to store and/or retrieve data.

This blog website is a dynamic website because it needs to have the ability to store the content (blogs) and list them depending on the page. It essentially, pulls the content from a database to display, if that content is updated in the database, the website will reflect that updated information.

That really depends 😄 I know I know, but it really does depend on what your goal is with the website and what purpose it will serve.

If you are a business or individual that wants to leverage a website to start your online footprint and let the world know you exist, a static website may be more than sufficient. You can have a static website that provides information on Who you are, What you do/offer, How to get in contact, even display images or videos. Even a sitting website (with the up to date info of course) has an advantage over one that does not exist at all. So who cares if you don't have time to build a blog or target SEO, it is never to early to get a static website up. If you grow or later want to expand, the static website will already have organic presence, because here, time is of the essence.

If you are a business or individual that wants to start a blog or offer a website that sells products and has user accounts, then you'll definitely need a dynamic website. There are so many resources out there that offer dynamic functionality, such as any blog website, e-commerce/online shop, or any other resource that uses a CRM.

If you're interested in starting or expanding your online footprint and not sure what solution fits best, reach out and let's have a discovery chat!