Constructing Effective Web Pages: Web Languages

Web Languages

There are many different programming languages that can be utilized within the code of a single web page. One isn’t necessarily better than another as long as whatever you use is determined to be the best language for the functions you wish to perform.

HTML – HyperText Markup Language
HTML is the basic programming language of the web and consists of a basic set of rules that, when followed, allows your information to render properly on the screen. Most other web languages use some form of HTML or can operate within the HTML framework.

XHTML – Extensible HyperText Markup Language
XHTML is basically the next evolution beyond HTML 4. It is designed to be a sleeker, cleaner version of HTML that relies heavily on CSS (cascading style sheets) for on-page formatting, allowing the actual page code to be as lean as possible.

ASP – Active Server Pages
ASP allows for an application environment in which you can combine HTML, scripts, and reusable ActiveX server components to create dynamic and powerful web-based business solutions. While still popular, many programmers are moving over to the more scalable PHP programming language.

PHP – Hypertext Preprocessor
PHP is an open source, server-side, HTML embedded scripting language used to create dynamic web pages. PHP, like ASP can be used within an HTML document and is often used to add functionality to a page while reducing the amount of coding necessary to accomplish the task.

There are many other languages that can also be integrated into your web site to enhance functionality as well as productivity. Before you build your site you will want to consider carefully what language, or combination of languages, will be needed for your web site’s marketing needs. The functionality you want on your website will help determine what programming languages(s) are utilized.

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Introduction