Difference between Static, Dynamic and Responsive Website

Static, dynamic, responsive are the common terms you must have heard somewhere or the other. But many people still aren’t aware about these as they are not from the technical background. Before bumping into these terms, let’s just start with the basics. You all might know what a website is.

A website is a collection of related web pages with a common domain name which can be accessed using a browser. These web pages may contain multimedia files such as text, images, audio, video, gifs etc. To access a website you need to enter the domain name or URL (Uniform Resource Locator) of your website in your browser.

A website can be of different types depending upon how often the content needs to be updated or how the page is viewed at different browser width. These can be differentiated as:

• Static Website
• Dynamic Website
• Responsive Website

Let’s talk in brief about each one of them so as to understand what these terms mean.

Static Website

Static Websites, also known as fixed websites are the most simplistic websites which contains web pages which with fixed content. This means their content do not change depending on the user.

Static websites are built using simple HTML code and display same information to every user. The codes are fixed for each page so the information provided on the page does not change unless it is manually updated. Generally, static websites are cheaper and easier to create.

Resizing the browser or viewing it on different devices won’t affect the way website looks. These websites have a set width and require horizontal scrolling.

Dynamic Website

Dynamic Websites, also known as fluid websites contain dynamic web pages that are generated in real time. This means that the web pages will display different content each time the site is visited. These pages include web scripting code, such as PHP, ASP or JSP.

Dynamic pages access information from a database. Hence, webmaster may only need to update the database record in order to alter the content of dynamic pages. Unlike Static websites, dynamic websites have more personal and interactive user experience.

These websites takes slightly slower time to load in comparison to Static as they are little more complex to develop. Dynamic websites looks same in terms of proportions no matter what the screen size.

Responsive Website

There is another type for websites which is widely used these days. The websites which are built with percentages instead of exact measurements. These websites are called as Responsive Websites which are optimised for smartphones and tablets. Responsive websites used actually look different on each device. The elements stretches or shrinks according to the screen size. These websites are built using a mobile-first approach.

A large proportion of the users use mobile phones to view the site. Therefore, most of the companies nowadays opt for responsive web design services, whether they work on small scale or large as it offers best experience to such users.

Conclusion

These are the some of the basics as there are more layouts and terms. You can choose amongst these websites depending upon the requirement of your business. You need to understand what devices your targeted audience are viewing your website. Responsive web design are optimal design type for your business if you want to make your website favourable for every device especially for smartphones.