How to make a home page

Definition: What is a homepage? Homepage, website, web page, internet presence – which is which?

The term homepage is sometimes used in different ways. In the original sense, the homepage represents the initial page of an Internet presence. It contains navigation elements and branches to the individual subpages. But the homepage can also stand for a complete internet presence.

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The elements of a homepage: from the home page of a website with links to the individual subpages.

The use of the term homepage is sometimes contradictory in the Internet environment. If you stick to the exact definition, the home page is the start page of a website or Internet presence. If a visitor calls up the domain name of an Internet presence, he first arrives at the homepage. It presents central information elements of the Internet presence and offers navigation elements through which the visitor can access the various sub-pages. On all subpages there are usually links, which lead the visitor back to the home page.

Alternative terms for homepage are main page, home page, entry page or index page. In linguistic usage, homepage has also established itself as a generic term for a complete Internet presence. In this case, the home page includes all pages of the website, including the home page and all sub-pages. A homepage consists mainly of statically or dynamically generated HTML documents. Typical names for the homepage in the sense of a start page are index.html, home.html, index.htm or home.htm.

Distinction between the terms homepage, website, web page, Internet presence and Internet presence

The Web uses terms such as homepage, website, web page, Internet presence or Internet presence, which have different meanings. The term homepage has already been explained and stands for the start page of an internet presence or for the entire internet presence. A homepage is a single web page. It can be, for example, a subpage of the website. The home page is also a web page, but it has central importance and branches out to the other web pages.

Each web page distinguishes itself with its content and thematically from other web pages of the same Internet presence. The totality of all web pages is the website. Alternative terms for the website are internet presence, internet presence or as already explained also homepage. All individual web pages have the uniform design and layout of the website. This makes it easy for visitors to recognize that the page belongs to the website. The different web pages are connected by links and have the possibility to return to the home page.

Functions of the homepage as the start page of an Internet presence

The homepage as the start page of an Internet presence fulfills several functions. First of all, it welcomes the visitor and offers central information about the Internet presence. It usually has a header and footer area. The header contains, for example, the logo of a company or other image elements and texts with a high recognition value. The footer often contains links to the imprint or privacy policy as well as contact information.

Another central element of the homepage is the navigation area. Via the navigation area, users have the possibility to access subpages via hyperlink. For easier navigation, the navigation area structures the various subpages according to their content. Individual sub-pages are grouped together for this purpose and given a generic term. Typical positions for the navigation area are above or below the header or as a column on the left side of the homepage. On all subpages of the internet presence there is an identical navigation area. The content area of the homepage contains texts or graphic elements such as images and videos. These can have links pointing to internal subpages or to external web pages.

Technical structure of the homepage

A homepage consists of elements of different script and markup languages like HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets). While CSS is responsible for the layout and the design, HTML defines the structure of the homepage. Texts are often found directly within the HTML document, other elements such as images or videos are integrated via HTML tags. They are stored separately on the web space. In addition, other markup languages such as JavaScript are used. The homepage can be designed dynamically via PHP elements and the use of SQL databases.

Static and dynamic homepages

Static homepages consist of one-time created HTML documents, which are stored on the web server. If content is to be changed, the HTML document must be revised and saved to the web server again. All visitors who call up the HTML document are presented with the same content. With a dynamic homepage the content to be displayed is generated anew with each call up. The content is dependent on parameters that are passed and, for example, obtains its information from a database. The content and layout of the site are strictly separated and are only combined when the website is generated. A dynamic homepage offers much more flexibility compared to a static homepage. Homepages created via content management systems are dynamically.

Hosting and calling a homepage

For a homepage to be accessible to visitors, it must be hosted on a web server. The web server is connected to the Internet and delivers the dynamically generated or static web page. The homepage is accessed via a unique domain name assigned by a registrar. The Domain Name System (DNS) finds the IP address assigned to the domain name. The web server can be reached via this IP address. The client addresses the web server via its IP address and requests it to transmit the homepage.

Creation of a homepage

A homepage can be created via different methods. Usually the creation:

via content management system

by homepage construction kit

per self-programmed HTML page

Creation via Content Management System (CMS) does not require deep knowledge of HTML, PHP, CSS or SQL. The CMS can be installed on a webspace and offers the user a user interface with which he can compose the content mostly by WYSIWYG principle. With each access of a visitor the web server generates the content and the design of the homepage dynamically. Frequently used content management systems are WordPress, Joomla or TYPO3. Plug-ins and templates can be used to extend the range of functions almost arbitrarily and the design can be created flexibly.

The homepage construction kit

A homepage construction kit represents a very simple possibility to create a homepage without special programming knowledge. It offers ready-made templates, which can be customized and designed online or filled with content via graphical user interface. The changes to the homepage can be visually tracked in the user interface and published with a few clicks. A provider takes care of the installation of software or the maintenance of the homepage construction kit. Compared to the content management system, the flexibility is somewhat limited.

High flexibility is offered by self-programmed HTML pages or PHP scripts. However, special programming skills are required for this.