A website can be categorized into two types: Static and Dynamic.
Most of the websites you see today on the internet are dynamic, like Netflix, Facebook, Instagram, and more.
However, static websites have its charm due to its lightweight design and fast-loading capabilities.
In this article, we’ll compare static and dynamic websites and help you decide which one should you pick for your projector.
What is a Static Website?
A static website, as the name suggests, means stationary or non-changing. It means once you build a static website it will look the same on all devices and to all users.
Static websites are predominantly built using HTML, CSS, and Javascript, also known as client-side languages.
A website developer can build a static website and it will look the same to everyone all around the world.
When a user enters a URL like http://www.example.com/hiking.html, the server will serve the same HTML and CSS file to all users.
If you want to make any changes to a static website, you have to get into the HTML and CSS code and make the changes manually.
Static websites are famous for looking boring, but with a proper combination of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, you can make a static website look exciting.
You can add elements like links, buttons, CTAs, images, videos, forms, etc. You can also add animations using CSS and image slides using JavaScript and jQuery elements.
Advantages of Static Websites
1. Simple Design
Static websites are preferred for resume websites, portfolios, brochure websites, landing pages, etc.
They have a simple design that’s easy to develop and maintain. Hence, a user with basic knowledge of HTML and CSS can build a good-looking static website within a few hours.
2. Speed and Performance
Static websites load faster than dynamic websites because they don’t require server-side processing or database queries.
Each page is prebuilt and ready to serve to the user as it is and without any changes. It leads to quicker loading times and a better user experience.
3. Lower Hosting Cost
A static website has less amount of code and generally loads faster than a dynamic website. As a result, you don’t need a superfast and expensive server to host a static website.
You can host a static website on a basic server, which lowers your overall website cost.
Many hosting services offer static website hosting plans, which start as low as $2/month.
4. Reliability and Security
Without the absence of server-side processing, static websites are less vulnerable to common web threats such as SQL injection or cross-site scripting.
Moreover, static websites are less likely to experience downtime due to server overload or complex database errors because they can be served from anywhere, including global content delivery networks (CDNs). This distribution makes a static site more reliable.
Disadvantages of Static Websites
1. Editing and Updates
Static websites are easy to build, but a hassle to maintain. For example, if you want to make changes to static site’s header, you have to edit each page’s HTML code to make the changes across the whole website. As a result, static websites are good only for 5-10 page websites.
2. Limited Interactivity
Static websites don’t support user interactions beyond simple forms or links. Features like user profiles, comments, or frequent content updates become tedious on a static website.
3. Lack of Personalization
Static websites serve the same content to every visitor. Thus, you can’t show personalized content based on the user’s preferences, location, or behavior.
4. SEO Limitations
Static websites are not great if you want your websites to rank on Google and other search engines. A static site requires more manual work to optimize your website for search. For example, you have to manually update SEO title, metadata, alt text, and more to keep it up to date with basic SEO practices.
What is a Dynamic Website?
It’s hard to imagine the current state of the internet without a dynamic website. As the name suggests, a dynamic website is ever-changing and may not look the same to every person visiting the website.
While a static website looks the same for each visitor, dynamic websites don’t have an exact structure and change rapidly based on what a user requests.
For example, a popular social media platform like Facebook doesn’t look the same for different users.
A page you see on Facebook can vary massively from what your friend sees on their device.
Dynamic websites use server-side scripting languages like PHP, Python, Ruby, etc. Thus, the data requested by a user is processed on a server and then served back to the user.
Dynamic websites are useful for e-commerce websites, social media sites, video-sharing platforms, news websites, sports websites, and more.
Popular examples of dynamic websites include Netflix, Facebook, Amazon, Instagram, etc. All of these website look entirely different depending on the user visiting it.
Advantages of Dynamic Websites
1. Interactivity and Personalization
Dynamic websites can tailor the user experience and can display content based on a user’s preferences, location, or browsing history. This makes for a more engaging and personalized experience.
2. Ease of Content Updates
With dynamic sites, content updates can be made through a Content Management System (CMS) without needing to manually edit each page. This is especially convenient for sites with a lot of content, like news portals or blogs.
3. Scalability
Adding new features or content to a dynamic website can often be done through the CMS or by integrating new code, making it easier to scale up and expand the site’s functionality over time.
4. User Interaction
Features like forums, comments, user accounts, and e-commerce capabilities are more easily implemented on dynamic websites, allowing for direct interaction with and among users.
5. Automation of Tasks
Dynamic websites can automate tasks such as sending emails, generating reports, and updating content, which can save time and resources.
Disadvantages of Dynamic Websites
1. Complexity and Cost
Developing and hosting a dynamic website typically requires more resources, making it more complex and costly than a static website. This includes the need for server-side processing and potentially database management.
2. Performance Issues
Since content is generated on-the-fly, dynamic websites can be slower than static ones. High traffic levels or complex data operations might require more sophisticated (and expensive) hosting solutions to maintain performance.
3. Security Vulnerabilities
The complexity of dynamic sites, with their server-side processing and database interactions, introduces more security vulnerabilities. These sites are more susceptible to attacks such as SQL injection or cross-site scripting (XSS).
4. Maintenance and Updates
While updating content might be simpler with a CMS, maintaining the underlying platform, software, and plugins for a dynamic site can require regular attention and technical knowledge to ensure everything runs smoothly and securely.
5. SEO Challenges
Dynamic URLs (often seen in dynamic websites) can be less SEO-friendly, though modern CMS solutions and practices have mitigated this issue significantly. Still, ensuring that dynamic content is indexed correctly by search engines can require extra effort.
Conclusion
As you’ve seen above, dynamic websites are the way to go if you want to build a website right now.
At 21AB Digital, we build dynamic website using a robust platform, i.e., WordPress. It helps us build functional, fast loading and visually stunning websites.