A site or website is a central location of web pages that are related and accessed by visiting the home page of the website using a browser. For example, the Computer Hope website address URL (Uniform Resource Locator) is https://www.computerhope.com. From our home page, you could access any of the web pages (like this one) contained on our website. The image shows how the Computer Hope website looked in 2021.

How to open a website

To view a website requires a browser (e.g., Internet Explorer, Edge, Safari, Firefox, or Chrome). For example, you are reading this web page using a browser. Once in a browser, you can open a website by entering the URL in the address bar. For example, typing “https://www.computerhope.com” opens the Computer Hope home page. If you don’t know the URL of the website you want to visit, you can use a search engine to find the website on the Internet.

  • How to open a website.
  • When was the first website created?
  • How many websites are on the Internet?
  • What is the difference between a website and a web page?
  • Who creates websites on the Internet?
  • What can you do on a website?
  • Types of websites.
  • Should I use “website” or “web site” when writing?
  • Should I capitalize the “W” in website?
  • Related information.
  • Internet help and support.

When was the first website created?

The first website was built at CERN by Tim Berners-Lee and launched on August 6, 1991. Visit and browse the first website.

  • The history of the Internet.
  • Who invented the Internet?

How many websites are on the Internet?

As of January 2018, depending on which survey or hosting company being referenced, there are between 1.3 and 1.8 billion websites. Many of these websites are unused or not visited by many people, but the websites still exist and included in the count.

What is the difference between a website and a web page?

A website refers to a central location with more than one web page or several web pages. For example, Computer Hope is considered a website, which contains thousands of different web pages, including the page you’re reading now.

In the above URL example, the website is computerhope.com, and the web page is “url.htm.”

Who creates websites on the Internet?

Any business, government, organization, or person can create a website on the Internet. Today, the Internet consists of billions of websites created by billions of different people. You can even create a website or blog on the Internet. See the below types of websites section for a list of the types of categories of websites.

A web page does not need a file extension like .htm or .html to be a web page. Many sites are designed to show a default page in a directory (e.g., index.html) or set up to have no file extensions.

See our web page definition for a breakdown of all the elements that help make up a web page.

  • How to start in HTML and web design.

What can you do on a website?

On most websites, you read the information contained on each web page. If there are any interesting hyperlinks, you follow those links by clicking or tapping on them to find more information or perform a task. You can also listen to music, watch videos, shop, communicate, and more on many websites.

  • What things to do when bored on the Internet.

Types of websites

There are billions of websites on the Internet today that can be broken into one of the following types of website categories. Keep in mind that it is possible for a website to fall into more than one of the following categories. For example, a website may also be a forum, webmail, blog, or search engine.

Archive website

An archive website is a site that keeps a record of the contents of one or more other websites. The Internet Archive is the best example of an archive website.

  • Archive website.
  • Blog (weblog).
  • Business website and corporate website.
  • Community website.
  • Content website and information website.
  • Dating website.
  • E-commerce website.
  • Educational website.
  • Gaming website.
  • Government website.
  • Help and Q&A website.
  • Malicious website.
  • Media sharing website.
  • Mirror website.
  • News website.
  • P2P website and Torrent website.
  • Personal website.
  • Personality website.
  • Portal
  • Review website.
  • School website.
  • Scraper website.
  • Search engine website.
  • Secure website
  • Social networking website.
  • Social news website.
  • Unsecure website
  • Webcomic website.
  • Webmail website.
  • Wiki website.

Blog (weblog)

A blog is a website that is often created by an individual to keep a list of entries that interests them. See our weblog definition for a full description, services used to create a blog, and related pages. A microblog website is also another popular form of blogging website that limits the number of characters someone can post in each blog entry. Twitter is an example of a social networking website for a microblog.

Business website and corporate website

A business website or corporate website is created to provide account information and access to customers, partners, clients, and potential customers.

Community website

A community website is a website or section of a website that helps bring the visitors visiting the site together using chat, forums, or another form of bulletin boards.

Content website and information website

A content website and information website are created with the intention of displaying unique content that is often related to a specific category. For example, Computer Hope could be considered a content site with computer-related content. Other categories could include a political website with content relating to politics or a political view, or a religious website with information about a specific religion.

Dating website

A dating website is a site set up to help connect people who may be interested in meeting other people or dating other people. Most dating websites require a small fee, require a description of yourself, and often asks questions to help find people that would best match your interests.

E-commerce website

An auction website is a website that allows other people to sell their goods or services. For example, eBay is one of the most well-known online auction websites. See our online auction page for further information and examples.

A classified ads website is a site that allows anyone to list goods or services, usually for free or at a small cost. Craigslist is an example of a classified ads website.

A crowdfunding website is set up to help support a business, person, or another cause by making a one time or monthly payment. An example of a crowdfunding website is Kickstarter.

Educational website

An educational website is any website containing content that aids in learning. It could be a school website, a library website, a homework assistance website, or any other tools for gaining knowledge online.

Gaming website

A gaming website is any website that features games that can be played on the website. Often these online games are created using HTML5, Flash, or Java. Gaming websites should not be confused with a gaming content website with content relevant to gaming with no actual games to play on the website.

Government website

A government website is a department, local, or state government site that was created to help inform the public about government business and services. A local government website may also be set up to help promote tourism.

Help and Q&A website

A help website and questions and answers website is a site where anyone can post questions and other users help answer those questions. A full listing of help websites where you can ask any question is on the link below.

In the United States a government website has the domain suffix .gov. In the United Kingdom, they use .gov.uk.

  • Where can I ask a question on the Internet?

Malicious website

A malicious website is any website that was set up with the intention of infecting another computer or collecting personal data. For example, a malware website is a site created with the intention of infecting any visitor with malware, spyware, or a trojan horse. These types of sites could have a download that’s infected and, if downloaded, infects your computer.

Other common malicious websites include phishing websites. These sites are designed to look like other official sites (e.g., your bank) with the hope that they can phish sensitive information such as your username and password.

Fake news websites are another type of malicious site created to appear as a legitimate source of news with the intention of helping to spread fear and lies.

  • How to protect yourself while on the Internet.

Media sharing website

A media sharing website is any website that specializes in allowing visitors to share one or more types of media. For example, YouTube is a site for sharing video media. SoundCloud is a site for sharing music. Flickr is a place to share photos. DeviantArt is a page for sharing art.

Mirror website

A mirror website is a complete duplicate of another website that is used when a website becomes overloaded. It helps with a website’s speed in different parts of the world. See our mirror definition for further information. Also, although similar, a mirror site should not be confused with a scraper website or a CDN.

News website

A news website is a site dedicated to giving the latest local or world news. A news site may also be dedicated to a specific topic. For example, many computer-related news websites are dedicated to talking about the latest computer and technology related news.

P2P website and Torrent website

A P2P website and Torrent website are sites created to list available torrents that can be downloaded using a file-sharing program.

A warez website is similar to a torrent website, except that it stores and hosts music, video, and software that anyone can download to their computer. When referring to a warez website, it is describing a site where copyrighted material is illegally downloaded.

Personal website

A personal website is a site created by an individual that talks about their personal life, family, life experiences, and maybe contains a résumé. Today, many people are creating personal websites as a blog or using a social networking website as a place to store information about themselves.

Personality website

A personality website is any website covering an individual, such as an artist, celebrity, musician, author, or any other person. These types of websites are set up by someone affiliated with the person, such as a publicist, agency, or fan of the personality.

Portal

A portal is an idea of a website or service that offers a broad range of services, such as e-mail, games, quotes, search, news, and stocks. See our portal term page for further information.

Review website

A review website is any site that focuses on reviews about a product or service. For example, Yelp allows consumers to review businesses in their area. Other review sites may review other things such as movies or products. Also, many e-commerce sites have reviews from people who’ve purchased the product they’re selling.

Secure website

A secure site or secure website is any website that transmits data securely (encrypted). Secure websites are identified by looking for a lock next to the URL or a URL starting with “https” instead of “http.”

School website

A school website is a site created to represent a local school or college. School sites have an overview of a school and give students and parents a place to log in and review grades and other school-related information.

Scraper website

A scraper website is a website that is illegally stealing (scraping) another website’s content. Doing this could allow the person to generate advertising revenue if enough traffic was driven to the scraper website. However, these types of sites are against all advertisers’ TOS (terms of service) and, when caught, they are blocked by the company providing the advertising. A scraper website should not be confused with a mirror website, which is a copy of a site set up with permission.

Search engine website

A search engine website is a website dedicated to helping people find information on the Internet. Google is an example of a search engine website. See our search engine definition for further information on search engines and related links.

Social networking website

A social networking website connects users with friends, family, celebrities, groups, and organizations. The service is usually free, on the condition that the website may collect and use the users information. Facebook and Twitter are examples of a social networking website. See our social networking definition for other examples of social networks and further information.

Social news website

A social news website is a site that generates its content from its members and, once posted, all other members can vote if they enjoyed or liked the story. Reddit is an example of a social news website that allows everyone to post almost anything. It is a great place to find things that would most interest you on the Internet.

Unsecure website

A unsecure site or unsecure website is any website that does not transmit data securely (encrypted). Unsecure websites are identified by looking for a URL starting with “http” instead of “https.” When on an unsecure website, be cautious with transmitted information that could be intercepted and read with a man-in-the-middle attack.

Webcomic website

A webcomic website is a site that posts a comic strip daily, weekly, or monthly.

Webmail website

A webmail website is a website that a person to view, send, and receive e-mail without the need for software. An example of a webmail program is Gmail. See our webmail definition for other examples, information, and related links.

Wiki website

A wiki website is a site that is created using Wiki software, and is often edited and updated by more than one person.

Should I use “website” or “web site” when writing?

Both versions are technically correct. However, most style guides (e.g., Microsoft Manual of Style and The Associated Press Stylebook) suggest website (one word) instead of web site (two words) in all forms of writing.

Should I capitalize the “W” in website?

Unless the word “website” is at the beginning of a sentence, it should be all lowercase. See our web definition for further information about the capitalization of the word “web.”

If you’re writing documentation for a software program or user interface, always use the style used in the interface.

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