Anatomy of a Website

Do you get confused about the difference between a hosting provider, an ISP and a registrar? Don't worry; you've come to the right place. Let us explain a common website architecture, all the players that are typically involved, and how they all work together.

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Who's involved, and how it all works together

Here's who's typically involved, and how they work together:

• Registrar. This is the company that oversees your domain name (e.g. yourdomain.com). They're the people who say which hosting company hosts your website. You'll need to pay these guys on-going fees to keep your domain name active, and registered in your name.
• Hosting company. This is the company that keeps all your website files on one of their servers.
  • When a visitor views your website, they are actually viewing the files that are stored on the hosting company's server.
  • The hosting company may also provide your email service, if you use an address@yourdomain.com.
  • The registrar and the hosting company can be the same company.
  • You will pay on-going fees to keep your website and email up and running.
  • As part of your hosting account, you may have a "control panel". This is a website where you can manage your website's settings, email accounts, etc.
  • Your website files are posted to your hosting account using a method like FTP.
• Web designer. A company like Apis, these are the people who build all the files that make up your website (web pages, graphics, scripts, etc.). They will typically coordinate getting all your website files posted to your hosting company.
• Internet. In the simplest terms, this is the connection of all the web servers in the world. Your website is part of the Internet.