Databases in Web Development

We’ve already discussed the basic structure and underlying protocols of a web page. Now, we will begin looking into what goes into forming a web page. To start with, we will talk about databases and database management systems (DBMS) and the role they play in making the web applications you see all around you, including this one! We know databases are essentially tables used to store and access data, but we now need to look at how these tables fit into the context of web application development. Before we can start talking about what the purpose of a database in a web application is, we must first outline the two kinds of websites that exist.

Static vs. dynamic web pages

Websites may be classified into one of two types:

1. Static
2. Dynamic

Static websites are ones that only display information such as text or pictures on their web pages that users cannot interact with.

Dynamic websites, on the other hand, allow for user interaction, and that is where Databases come into the picture. Think of any website you’ve visited today. How many of them required for you to sign in or allowed you to click on a button that retrieved some information, perhaps even a new web page, for you? This information that web applications are able to display to you or process to allow you to access other information needs to be stored somewhere. That somewhere is a database associated with the web application.