Web Application vs Website
With the invention of the internet, its development served as a platform for a new generation of information transfer and an unprecedented level of access. The World Wide Web mostly consisted of websites, and later on web applications were developed to introduce additional features and facilities.
More about Website
A collection of web pages connected to each other, which are accessible through a network, such as the internet or an intranet, is known as a web site. The website is hosted in a server (or more) and located using the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) through the internet. All publicly used websites are commonly known as the World Wide Web.
Plain websites mostly consist of simple HTML based architecture and only serve as a platform to display information rather than interact and make transactions with the user. The web pages may contain text, images or music. For an example, a plain website may contain details about a series of products, but it does not have the facility for the customer to order the product and make payments via the website.
Nowadays the websites are simply designed using the content management systems, such as Joomla or WordPress. Sometimes JavaScript and CSS are also used.
More about Web Application
A web application is a computer application, which could be accessed using a network such as the Internet or an intranet. Application may be embedded in the web page, or the web page itself can be an application. Facebook, Gmail, YouTube, Ebay, Twitter, and Amazon are websites with significant web application implementations. Characteristically, these websites use a username and password to verify the user identity and allow user to interact and communicate with the servers through the applications available on the webpage.
Taking a closer look at the Gmail, it is clear that it has many features that are not present in a plain HTML based website. User authentication, sending and receiving emails, instant messaging and contacts use applications to process the information and communicate with the server whereas, in a plain website, this degree of interaction is impossible. Another example is Yahoo currency converter, which performs calculation based on available data.
The web applications can be developed based on a number of programming languages such as Java, JavaScript, PHP, ASP, .Net, XML, AJAX and database services such as MySQL or Oracle.
What is the difference between Web Site and Web Application?
• The web site is simply a connected collection of HTML documents available through a network, while a web application is a computer application delivered through a network.
• A web application can be a part of a website, or can be a standalone application.
• Web sites serve the purpose of purely delivering information as text, music, or video. However, the web application can interact with the user and produce several outcomes based on the operations.
• A web application can interact with the user while a website only displays information.
• A web application is mostly connected to a database.