By this point in the module, you should have multiple modern web browsers installed on your computer or other available devices. This article goes deeper into using browsers, looking at how a web browser works, the difference between some of the everyday things you'll interact with, and how to search for information.
Note: If you don't have any browsers installed beyond the default ones that came with your devices, install some others. See Modern web browsers for more information.
As with any area of knowledge, the web comes with a lot of jargon and technical terminology. Don't worry: We won't overwhelm you with all of it upfront (you can check the glossary if you're curious). However, there are some basic terms you need to understand from the beginning since you'll hear these expressions all the time. We introduce some important terms below.Prerequisites: Basic familiarity with your computer operating system. Learning outcomes:
We will start by describing various web-related concepts: web pages, websites, web servers, and search engines. These terms are often confused by newcomers to the web or are incorrectly used. Let's make sure you know what they each mean! Let's start with some definitions:
A document that can be displayed in a web browser. These are also often called just "pages". Such documents are written in the HTML language (which we look at in more detail later on).
A collection of web pages grouped together into a single resource, with links connecting them together. Often called a "site".
A computer that hosts a website on the Internet.
A software that responds to requests over the Internet to perform a function or provide data. A web service is typically backed by a web server, and may provide web pages for users to interact with. Many websites are also web services, though some websites (such as MDN) consist of static content only. Examples of web services would be something that resizes images, provides a weather report, or handles user login.
A web service that helps you find other web pages, such as Google, Bing, Yahoo, or DuckDuckGo. Search engines are normally accessed through a web browser (for example, you can perform search engine searches directly in the address bar of Firefox, Chrome, etc.) or through a web page (for example, bing.com or duckduckgo.com).
Let's look at an analogy — a public library. This is what you would generally do when visiting a library:
Let's compare a public library with the web:
Let's now take the time to look at each term in a little bit more detail.
A web page is a simple document displayable by a browser. A web page can embed a variety of different types of resources such as:
Note: Browsers can also display other documents such as PDF files and other resources such as images or videos, but the term web page specifically refers to HTML documents.
All web pages can each be found at a unique location (web address, also called a URL). To access a page, just type its address in your browser address bar:
Try loading one of your favorite websites in a browser now, bearing in mind what we've said above. Did you type in the web address yourself, or did you find it using a search engine?
A website is a collection of linked web pages (plus their associated resources) that share a unique domain name. Each web page of a given website provides explicit links—most of the time in the form of clickable portions of text—that allow the user to move from one page of the website to another.
When you load your favorite website in a browser, it tends to first display the website's main web page, or homepage (casually referred to as "home"):
Try clicking some menu items or links to look at some different pages on your favorite website. Note how the displayed web address changes as you move between pages.
Note: It is also possible to have a single-page app: a website that consists of a single web page that is dynamically updated with new content when needed. If this is the case, the web address might not change as different pages are viewed.
A web server is a computer hosting one or more websites. "Hosting" means that all the web pages and their associated files are available on that computer. The web server will send web page files it is hosting to a user's browser when they attempt to load it.
Don't confuse websites and web servers. For example, if you hear someone say, "My website is not responding", it probably means that the web server is not responding and therefore the website is not available.
More importantly, since a web server can host multiple websites, the term web server is no longer used to designate a website, as it could cause confusion. If someone says "My web server is not responding", it may be that multiple websites or applications hosted on the web server are not available.
It's common for people to mix up search engines with websites. A search engine is a special kind of web service that helps users find web pages they are interested in, as well as specific types of content such as images, videos, or news articles.
Search engines all tend to have their own websites that can be used to access the underlying web service. There are plenty out there: Google, Bing, Yandex, DuckDuckGo, and many more. Some are generic, some are specialized around certain topics.
Many beginners on the web confuse search engines and browsers. Let's make it clear:
The confusion arises because, the first time someone launches a browser, the browser often displays a search engine's website homepage or a search box allowing them to search for a term using that search engine. Most browsers also allow their users to use a search engine by typing search terms directly into the browser address bar.
This all makes sense because the first thing people tend to want to do with a browser is find a web page to display. Don't confuse the software (the browser) with the service (the search engine).
Here is an instance of Firefox showing a Google search box as its default startup page:
Try using a search engine to find information on a subject you are interested in by:
In many parts of the world, the web has become just as essential a tool to our everyday lives as cutlery, bicycles and cars, or toothbrushes. If that sounds unrealistic to you, just think about how often you use a website or mobile phone app each day! Even if you are not typing a web address into a web browser to access content or services, the chances are that the app you are making use of is probably using web technology behind the scenes to grab data to present to you.
When you access the web, quite a lot happens between your first interaction (for example, typing a web address (URL) into a browser and pressing Enter/Return) and the result of your action being presented to you (for example, the website appearing in your web browser):
This description of how the web works is heavily simplified, but it is all you really need to know at this point. You will find a more detailed account of how web pages are requested and rendered by a web browser in our Web standards module, slightly later on.
As a web developer, you will spend a lot of time searching for information, from syntax you can't remember to solutions to specific problems. It is therefore a good idea to learn how to effectively search the web.
If you know a website that specializes in the subject you are learning about, it is often a good idea to start there.
For example, if you are looking for general information about a specific web technology feature, you should type the name of the feature into the MDN search box. For example, try typing box model, fetch(), or video element into the search box and see what comes up. If you don't find the information you need, expand your search — try your search term in a search engine.
If you are looking for a solution to a specific problem, such as how to print out the fibonacci sequence with JavaScript or how to calculate whether a number is a prime number with JavaScript, it is a good idea to search on a website such as Stack Overflow, which is a community dedicated to answering programming problems. Again, try using a general search engine if a specific site doesn't give you a helpful answer.
Before you move on, try searching for some topics of your own that you'd like to learn about. Try using more and less specific searches and different related terms to see what works best. See our Search tips for more things to try.
AI-generated search results are a very popular way of receiving information. They basically provide a superpowered search: they do a lot of searching in the background, before compiling the results into a single, easily-digestible answer. Common choices are ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and Microsoft Copilot, accessed either directly in a chat format, or via AI-powered in-app help or automation systems.
When learning to code, AI chat prompts can be useful in a variety of ways:
Where is the mistake in this code?Try using a couple of AI tools to do some searches.
AI can do so much that you may start to wonder why you need to learn to code.
But wait! The following is important: You still need to understand what you are trying to do at a high level, what the code is doing, and where each piece of code needs to be used. If you don't, you won't be very useful when trying to solve real-world problems. This means that you still need to learn to code. AI can be a really useful tool to help you find answers more quickly, but if you just type every question you are asked into an AI prompt, you won't understand how anything works.
In addition:
As a result, you need to be careful to check the answers they give you, and not just trust everything without question.
When you are learning, spend time trying to solve the problem yourself before searching for an answer, whether you are using AI or a conventional search engine. It will make you a better developer.
You should include the language you are using in the search term, as shown in the examples above. If you just typed in how to print out the fibonacci sequence, you would likely end up with several solutions in Python, C++, Java, Ruby, or other languages — not very helpful when you are trying to learn JavaScript!
When you find a useful answer, bookmark or make a copy of it somewhere so you can find it again later. You'll be amazed how many times you run into the same problem.
If your code is returning a specific error message, try entering the error into a search engine or AI prompt. Other people will probably have already tackled the same error in the past and recorded solutions publicly somewhere.
If possible, stick with recommended sites like MDN and Stack Overflow.
There are many advanced search techniques you can use in search engines that will give you better results than just typing a plain search term. Typing in a plain search term such as ant fish cheese will return results that contain any combination of those words. However, most search engines support variations of the following syntax patterns:
"ant fish cheese" (with the quotes) will only return results that contain that exact phrase.ant cheese -fish will return results that contain ant and/or cheese but not fish.ant OR cheese will only return results with one term or the other, not both. From our testing, this one only seemed to work effectively in Google.intitle:cheese will only return results that have "cheese" in the main title of the page.Note: There are many other techniques you can use in various different search engines. Try seeing what others you can find — some useful resources are Refine Google Searches, How to use advanced syntax on DuckDuckGo Search, and Microsoft: Advanced search options.