How is a web application different from a website?

An ordinary user does not see the difference between them. He goes to the address on the page, gets the desired result and nothing else bothers him. But if you are a developer, this is a completely different question.

A site is a collection of web pages that are interconnected and contain content of different formats: text, pictures, videos, music, etc. different media files. For example, Wikipedia, Google, Amazon.

A web application is a complete program that can be accessed through a browser. In other words, this is the same site, only with interactive elements and extensive functionality. For example, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc.

The main differences

The nature of interaction with customers

Users can view and listen to content posted on the sites, and this does not change the operation of the resource in any way. In the case of a web application, in addition to consuming content, users also manipulate certain data, for example, fill out forms.

Authentication

This is an optional process for regular sites. In rare cases, users may be prompted to register to access advanced functionality or to subscribe to updates. And in web applications, authentication is essential. Here, the functionality and range of interactive interaction is much wider than on the site. And in order to use all these possibilities, you need to log into your personal account using your login and password.

The level of complexity of the tasks being solved

If the site simply displays the data available on its pages, then the web application has much more complex functionality.

Content consumers

All data on sites is static and most often is open to all visitors. Interaction of a web application with users is more complex and impossible to complete without authentication.

Deployment

Making simple changes to the site doesn’t require full compilation and deployment – just updating the HTML code. And to change the web application, the developer needs to compile and then deploy the software.

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