The Web: Explained

Knowing how the internet web works can be useful for developers to understand the underlying concepts of backend web development. In this article, we will provide a simplified view of how the internet works and see how it relates to web development.

In the vast world of the web, there are computers that are connected clients and servers. A client is the computer (or other device) of your typical user who visits websites such as YouTube or Google. When the user visits a website, they are requesting information and content from the server. Servers are also computers; they actually store the files and content that make up a website or app and can allow clients to download a copy of that website when requested to do so.


We know that clients and servers are the end users, but how is data actually communicated between them? Take the analogy of a road, where the client is on one end of the road and the server is on the opposite end. Then, your internet connection would essentially be that road. But you still need a car to get to the other end; this is analogous to TCP/IP are protocols that define how data should travel across the internet. You still need an address to know where the client is however—this address is contained in the DNS (Domain Name Servers), which is like an address book for websites. Next the HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) is a protocol that defines how clients and servers interact and communicate with each other. Finally, there are the component files, which consist of code files (i.e., HTML, CSS, JavaScript files, etc.) and assets, which may be the images, videos, word documents, and other content that is held by the website.

When you visit a website, here is essentially what is happening behind the scenes: you type in the address into the search bar and the browser visits the DNS server to find the address of the website. Then, the browser sends an HTTP request to the server, which asks for a copy of the websites. All if this information is sent via your internet connection using the TCP/IP protocol. Once the server receives your request, it decides whether or not to approve it. If it does approve, then it will begin sending out files that make up the website in small chunks known as data packets. Finally, your browser receives all of this data and uses it to render it to a complete webpage.

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