What do we mean when we say Dynamic Website?

Dynamic websites are usually database driven and template controlled. E-Commerce websites are a good example. They're often referred to as "Web 2.0." The website administration is performed by accessing a secure, password protected "Back Office" or administration section. This can be done so that the user can update or make changes to the website without knowing any programing languages and without any fear of disrupting the website design. If your website needs to be updated frequently, this is the option for you.

DYNAMIC VS WEBSITES

This is an introduction for those unfamiliar with the concept of a "dynamic" or "database driven" website. There are two types of websites. One is called a "brochure" or "static" website." You can spot the brochure/static website as the address normally ends in .htm or.html. These have information about a company such as contact details, a few pictures and photos of staff, a list of a few products and maybe a couple of prices. There is virtually no interactivity with the user. These websites are "static" and probably the only way you can make changes is to manually open up the individual web page file, change the data and upload the new version to the web, though there are some exceptions. Managing this type of website is very time-consuming. This type of website serves a purpose, but as a company develops it's web strategy, they see its limitations and seek to find a better way of delivering their particular products or services.

The second type are "dynamic websites." The information you read and the pictures you look at on these websites are not embedded in the html pages, but are called from the database that the site is connected to. These website pages often end with extensions like .aspx (Microsoft Active Server Pages), .php (Hypertext Processor) or .cfm (Cold Fusion). The advantage is that when you update your database, your website is also updated. Incorporated within the dynamic website is a Content Management System (CMS) The CMS can be constructed using the WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) approach, so that the user does not have to know any "code languages" to manage their website.

SCENARIO

Let's say you run a company that sells Bowling Gloves. You've been able to keep your "static website" up to date as Bowling Glove prices haven't been changing much and there's only a few different models on the market. So far it's been great.

One day you receive a phone call from the CEO of Bowling Glove, Inc. He tells you that the bowling glove market is about to explode. There will be 500 more models of gloves entering the market, each in "5 popular colors." Not only that, he warns: "there's going to be a lot of price fluctuations, especially in the first few months, and who knows after that."

What do you do? You could stay up all night, every night adding new pictures to your brochure site, changing prices, deleting products and changing the code surrounding those elements. You wouldn't be alone...

Or you could take the smarter option. You could have a database which manages the content of your entire website. When you get a new product, or a new price for an existing product, all you do is add the the new information to the database through your administration section (on-line) and, WOW, your website is also updated. It's that simple.

Which option would you take?