What Is The Difference Between Static and Dynamic Websites?
The Marketing Beast offers to types of web development services: Static and Dynamic Websites.
It is important to know the difference so that you can determine the best solution for your website and to make it easy for you to decide which service to choose.
Static Websites
A static site is a website that is written entirely using HTML and basic CSS. Each web page is a separate document and there are no databases or external files that are drawn upon.
This means that the only way you can update your website’s content is going to every page and edit the HTML, and for this you would have to know how to work with web page editor such as Wordpress or FrontPage or hire a web developer (preferably The Marketing Beast) to make the updates for you.
Dynamic Websites
A dynamic website is written using more complex code — such as PHP or ASP — and has a greater degree of functionality. For instance, many dynamic websites can be controlled by a content management system. This means that you will potentially be able to make updates without needing any knowledge of HTML or any website software.
The Marketing Beast uses Wordpress because it can be made easier for its clients at the time of updating it and / or adding something new to it. Each page of a dynamic website is generated from information stored in a database or external file. And the content management system that you may use to maintain your website directly modifies this stored information.
Which Should You Choose?
Many people prefer dynamic websites because they have a lot of benefits. Dynamic sites reduce ongoing maintenance costs, make data management very efficient, and enable the addition of any future addons such as data feeds or a comprehensive site search. They also make it impossible to destroy the layout, as might happen if you edit it from a web page editor.
There are some drawbacks to using dynamic websites. First, they usually cost more to develop, because they require more complex coding, as well as the development of a content management interface to enable you to maintain your website. Second, you will need to obtain web hosting which supports databases and dynamic languages. Fortunately, most hosts do offer these features by default.
If you realize that you do want a dynamic website which will enable you to maintain your own content, you can save costs by opting for a website that is only partly dynamic. For example, certain pages such as ‘About Us’ or ‘Contact Us’ pages can be static, whereas galleries or product catalogues can be dynamic. Also, consider opting for an open source CMS.
To determine which is best for your website, also consider asking us for our opinion on which would be best.
