What Web site is
A place on the World Wide Web that's comprised of files organized into a hierarchy. Each file or document contains text or graphics that appear as digital information on a computer screen. A site can contain a combination of graphics, text, audio, video, and other dynamic or static materials. As a form of media, Web sites are similar to motion pictures, television, or print magazines, which also create and manipulate digital pictures and text. But a Web site is also a communications medium.
The main difference between a Web site and traditional media is that a Web site is on a computer network (the Internet) and is coded in such as way that allows users to interact with it. Once you're on a site, you can make purchases, do searches, send messages, and other interactive activities.
As is the case with many Net terms, "Web site" is often used interchangeably with other words, such as homepage and Web page. For example, you may hear someone refer to their "homepage" when in fact they are talking about an entire Web site. (A homepage is usually a vanity page.) Like homepage, "Web site" is often spelled as one word and not capitalized, as in, "website."
It is important for Web developers to establish a style guide for consistency, which among other things should state whether the preferred usage is the single-word or two-word form. We feel that the two-word form is more grammatically correct; the single-word form is rarely used outside of marketing campaigns. At its bare minimum, a Web site is simply any computer hooked up to the Internet and available via a host name, domain name, or URL.
The meaning of User
A term that defines the online audience, it also refers to anyone who uses a computer. The term "users" rubs some people the wrong way because, in the past, if you said you were a user, it meant you were habitually consuming an illicit drug. Nowadays, a user is a person who is online. It comes from techies, who refer to people as "computer users." Historical reference: The word "users" is not yet in the American Heritage Dictionary, but the word "user-friendly" made it; perhaps because we are the first group ever to be online users.
Historical Reference: The word "users" isn't in the American Heritage Dictionary but the word "user-friendly" made it. The term "use" is defined in a variety of ways which, when taken in the context of "Internet users," can be quite poignant: "to put into service, to employ, to exploit, to consume completely, the privilege of using something," and so on. In the past you'd never refer to yourself as "a user" unless you were drug addicted... does this say something about how we're all getting addicted to the online world?
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