What Is The Difference Between a Web Site And A Web Application

A very intriguing albeit outdated thread on Stack Overflow sparked My fascination the other day. The original poster of the thread asked: What is the difference between a website and a web-enabled application?

This made me believe because, to a layman like me, they both seemed the same. However, this specific user was looking for definitions which would place them apart. In his opinion, a website points to a certain page and an online app is a portal of articles and data. However, web apps are also seen through browsers. It might seem that the line breaking sites from internet apps is anything but clear. 

Another user-friendliness which the gap between a site and a Web-based program was a couple of million bucks. But finally, we get a more elegant answer from Kerrek, a veteran Stack Overflow consumer, who made the following distinction:

1. A site is defined by its content 

2. A web app is characterized by its own interaction with the user

He presents the difference in terms of the degree to which the Experience of using it is subjective and personal and goes on to describe that a site can include static content that people get to utilize, while a web-enabled application is contingent on the interaction with the customer, an interaction which requires programmatic user input and data processing. Kerrick goes on to state that complex sites which are continuously shifting content rely on a complex programmatic backend but are still defined by their own output.

Morrison, another user, builds further on Kerrek's understanding:

1. Websites are mostly informational: They supply Content for people in a traditional sense, how the BBC and the National Geographic sites do. 

2.Web applications are primarily for interaction: They Allow the user to interact and perform specific tasks such as send emails, write and save files, and assess the analytics of an internet website. 

3. They are not entirely exclusive: Likely the most Important fact about sites and internet apps is they aren't mutually exclusive. Websites can contain applications that consumers may interact with, for example, a university site using a web-enabled app to manage student grades and course materials.

And Alex, Still Another user, believed that the word "site" was an anachronistic word from the first days of the internet when the notion of a dynamic application that can respond to user input was very narrow and rare. He proceeds to say that commercial sites were mostly interactive brochures with the exception of hotel or airline booking sites. Alex says that over time that the performance of those sites and their supporting technologies became more responsive and also the line between an application that you install on your computer and one which exists in the cloud has fuzzy.

Now, if you're still as confused as it is safe to presume That on-line software require user input and information processing and Generally lean towards performing a set of purposes. A Web application could be Consider as a lot of static HTML pages that provide content and data To a user and may have embedded programs too.

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