What is a dynamic website?

The simplest definition of a dynamic website is that it includes dynamic content. But what is 'dynamic content' and why bother to have it?

The term 'dynamic content' covers a multitude of features and one webmaster's idea of what it constitutes is likely to differ from another's. Generally, though, we can define dynamic content as content that changes, for some reason, DURING a user's visit.

These changes can occur in one of two ways - content that changes without user input and content that changes as a result of user input. We all know the kind of content that changes without user input - advertising banners, Flash and other animations, pop-up boxes, questionnaires, page colours and the like. Some people like to call this kind of thing 'interactivity' but of course it's nothing of the kind - the only user 'interactivity' that takes place is the initial visit to the page and then everything happens automatically.

Dynamic site content that changes as a result of user input is much more interesting - and useful. This type of content represents real user interactivity because the website responds to user inputs to complete some kind of task - logging into a secure account, ordering a new product, sending an email form and controlling a Flash animation are all good examples of genuine interactivity resulting from the targeted use of dynamic content.

Unlike static sites which consist totally of unchanging markup code, dynamic sites use a number of other technologies in conjunction with markup. There are many such technologies available to webmasters but the two key tools which work together to achieve this kind of dynamic interaction are scripting languages and databases. These two technologies are used to store and manipulate data, making it easy to interact productively with users as they move around your site getting things done.

Wilson Web Design uses two of the most widely available, and proven, of these technologies: the PHP scripting language and the enterprise strength MySQL database