Static Vs. Dynamic Web Pages: What is the Difference Between Static and Dynamic Web Pages?
Both of these are types of web pages that a website provides on display for its visitors. They appear quite the same but have differences in the backend. These two vary in various other parameters as well, and in this article, we will discuss the same. But before we get into the difference between Static and Dynamic web pages, let us first know individually about them.
What is a Web Page?
A web page is a document (hypertext) that a website provides on the web browser for display in front of a site visitor. Many web pages link together on a website, and they may contain audio, images, videos, etc. The first page on which you land on a website is called the home page. Every website has a unique URL, with variations in the separate web pages associated with it.
One or more servers can host a website, and you can access them via your computer network by visiting the home page. Any individual, organization, or company can manage and own a website and multiple web pages.
There are two types of web pages:
- Static Web Pages
- Dynamic Web Pages
What are Static Web Pages?
These are some simple web pages- written in languages like JavaScript, HTML, CSS, etc., and stored in a web server. In the case of static web pages, as soon as a server receives a request for a page, it immediately sends a response to the client with zero additional processing. The server locates this page on the hard disk, adds the HTTP headers, then immediately replies with an HTTP response. This way, you can view these web pages through a web browser.
One peculiar thing about static web pages is that all the pages stay the same unless and until a user does some manual changes on the hard disk (physically). The content in these pages has no alterations based on the requests. It’s the reason behind the name- static web pages. One does not need knowledge of database design and web programming to create and manage a static website. All the codes stay fixed for the static web pages. Thus, the information doesn’t change, and these pages look like printed ones.
What are Dynamic Web Pages?
These are complex web pages in which the information and content displayed change with different visitors. The dynamic web pages exist in languages like AJAX, ASP, CGI, ASP.NET, etc. They take much more time in loading as compared to any static web pages- thus used in cases where the content changes very frequently, for example, weather information, stock prices, news, sports updates, etc.
The amount of variation in content depends on various parameters. When a server receives a request for a page, it doesn’t send any HTML page in response. In a dynamic web page, the information and data of pages differ according to different visitors. If you assume that a person needs to physically and manually change the information on a web page every 20 seconds, it becomes physically impractical. One cannot alter the HTML pages this often. Thus, they would need a dynamic web page and not a static one. Several tools help in creating such pages, like the Active Server Pages (ASP), ASP.NET, Java Server Pages (JSP), Asynchronous JavaScript, and XML (AJAX), Common Gateway Interface (CGI), etc.
A dynamic website accesses content from a CMS (Content Management System). It means the website reflects any changes made in the database content. Such sites use server-side scripting, client-side scripting, or both for generating content.
Difference Between Static Web Pages and Dynamic Web Pages
| Parameter | Static Web Pages | Dynamic Web Pages |
| Basics | The content on web pages remains the same unless someone physically makes any changes on its hard disk (manual alterations). | This type of web page is behavioral. The content of pages is capable of differing for different visitors. It keeps changing with time and other parameters. |
| Definition | A static web page is a simple HTML written page that serves as a type of direct response from a browser to the server. All the data and info remains static in nature, and it stays the same unless someone manually makes any changes to it. | A dynamic web page is a type of page written in complex languages like AJAX, ASP.NET, etc. The data here gets rendered to some capacity and interpretation for producing varied content for different users visiting the page at different times. |
| Complexity | These types of web pages are very simple. The data in these pages remain static and require no interpretation before the process of rendering. Thus, it comes with no complexity. | These types of web pages are complicated. They go through the process of interpretation- making the data dynamic in nature. Due to this, such pages become way more complex as compared to any static web pages. |
| Frequency of Information Change | Content and information rarely change on a static web page. | The content and information change frequently on a dynamic web page. |
| Loading Time | These web pages take a very short time to load as compared to the dynamic ones. It is because they contain very static data and info on the pages. | These web pages take longer to load as compared to the static ones. It is because of the more complex, dynamic data present in these web pages. |
| Use of Database | The static web pages generally do not use databases. They do not require data redecoration very often. | The dynamic web pages use databases because it involves frequent data and info redecoration. |
| Languages Used | Languages like CSS, JavaScript, HTML, etc., come into play when writing static web pages. It uses only simple languages. | Languages like ASP.NET, ASP, AJAX, CGI, etc., come into play when writing dynamic web pages. It requires some very complex languages for a stable operation. |
| Application Program | These do not contain any application programs. | These contain application programs for various services. |
| Work Required | Less work and complexity go into designing static web pages. | More work and complexity go into designing dynamic web pages. |
| Cost of Development | Designing static web pages requires very low cost as compared to dynamic ones. | Designing dynamic web pages is more costly as compared to static ones. |
| Rendered Data | The data in static web pages don’t change automatically. One needs to manually make necessary changes on it- making it static in nature. | The data and info in dynamic web pages first stay interoperate at the server-side. Due to this, the data doesn’t remain similar on each call- making the data contained in it dynamic in nature. |
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