The page content - A fundamental consideration

Written by: D.Koenig

Content - the page content

The word content refers to the content that a website displays. How and with what you implement your content on the Internet ultimately determines your need for content additions. Content is subject to a frequency of changes or additions. Depending on whether the page content is frequently added or changed, you also speak of:

- Static websites

This can be a family homepage or a private web business card. A family that presents itself on their homepage will occasionally make a change or addition to the page. A new photo or other update here and there. The web presence consists of only a few pages. Even less so a web business card. Like its paper counterpart, a mostly one-page presence with only name and address data and minor additional information.

The change in structure, presentation and content is minimal in the forms mentioned or largely absent over time. The presence remains static. The same applies to the commercial form of an individual person or company presentation on the Internet. Anyone who presents their website on the Internet with only contact details, opening times and descriptions of the offer or service can stick with a static form.

- Dynamic websites

Web presences with high change frequencies. Frequent additions, cross-references and topic extensions in text and images characterize a dynamic website. These web presences are now almost always operated with a complex web content management system (WCMS). This system provides the basis for successful data management. Dynamic web presences are designed for volume (own writing program, category management, quick assignment of attachments, ...), expansion of the offer and visitor integration (rating options for visitors, guest book, forum, newsletter, ...).

Data storage is often handled in the background by an additional database system like MySQL or PostgreSQL. The same applies to sales pages (online shops) or blogs that reflect a high change frequency of the offer. These dynamics are difficult to implement without a complex auxiliary system (WCMS).
However, these websites are vulnerable to attack due to the complex system they use and are regularly the target of attacks by international hacker scenes. These systems must be subject to regular security updates, maintained and checked. Here too, the golden rule is: the use of a complex system is only justified by the actual need!

At an intermediate level of change frequency, one speaks of semi-dynamic pages.

The helpers when creating a website

There are too many program tools for online or offline use that make creating a homepage easier to list them all here. So here is just a glimpse of a few examples that have been tried and tested for years and are, above all, free:

For static websites:

  • Homepage builder from the respective web host (online)
  • The ingenious editor RocketCake (offline)
    Available for Microsoft Windows und MacOS -> RocketCake HTML editor

For dynamic pages:

For interest groups with dynamic user integration (including forum, surveys, newsletter system, etc.):

  • PHPbb (Community-Foren WCMS) | Uses database system MySQL
  • PHPfusion (komplexes Community-System) | Uses database system MySQL

It is definitely worth finding out more about these systems.

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