Dynamic Website Development

WHAT IS DYNAMIC WEBSITE DEVELOPMENT?

A dynamic website is designed to serve different content to different users based on a variety of factors, such as user preferences, selection, and time zone. Needless to say, this can be a very powerful feature.

In this article, we’re going to cover the differences between a static and a dynamic website, the benefits of a dynamic website, and the technologies needed to develop one.

What is a dynamic site?

A dynamic site on the other hand is designed with functionality in mind, rather than just for the purposes of displaying information. When visiting a dynamic page, a user can interact with the content due to the technologies used to develop the site.

Unlike a static website, which only uses client side script languages, a dynamic web page is built using both client side and server side scripting languages such as ASP, PHP and JavaScript. This allows the dynamic site to perform certain functions such as accessing database information or external files in real time. A good example of a dynamic website would be Google itself, which updates the information it displays on the front page based on user query.

Dynamic website design is also very useful when you have pages that are updated frequently with new information. For example, you can think of a social media feed where users post updates routinely. You would need dynamic design in order to make the website possible.

The benefits of building a dynamic website

If you plan to run a blog or a news page, a dynamic website is pretty much mandatory. The website will be run through a CMS, which makes it much easier to add template pages and update them from a simple interface. If you’ve ever run a WordPress website, then you are already familiar with the process. Simply click on a “New Post” button, add the content and then publish a new page. Dynamic websites can also be updated almost instantly. Let’s say you would like to change some color accents in your theme. On a static website, you would have to go through every page, and make the changes at the code level. On a dynamic site, you can either make the changes through your CMS, or within your theme’s code once. Similarly, your web pages will be much easier to manage. Whether you want to add new ones, or remove existing pages by category, a dynamic site makes the whole task much easier. However, the true strength of a dynamic site is in its capacity to be interactive. This can help you tailor the UX as you see fit, and add widgets that allow for personalization, such as “Recently Viewed Items” or “You Might Also Like” in e-commerce stores.

When is a static page better than a dynamic page? There are a few situations in which you would be better off with a static page instead of a dynamic one. To start, static websites load faster. They do not require an external resource from a database that is located server-side. However, with the right CMS solution, speed issues are reduced on dynamic sites, because the pages will be created dynamically, and then they will be converted and uploaded as static pages.

Static pages also have lower server requirements, since they do not connect to a database and do not require a server-side script in order to load. This means that a static page can serve more visitors for the same server load.