Now that you understand the fundamental differences between these two types of pages, let’s review a hybrid or third type of webpage which isn’t as traditional but can be quite effective. It’s called a template-built webpage…During the course of designing and building webpages the last thing most webmasters think about is probably one the most important things from a server resource and future development point of view: what type of page will this be, dynamic or static?

Choosing the wrong type can be a structural problem down the road when you decide you’d like to use some scripts on pages which have already built traffic and search engine relevancy. Yes, you can always redirect the traffic to a different page, but why not plan what type of page to create from the very beginning and never have to deal with this issue?

Differences Between Static and Dynamic Pages

A static webpage is one where the content does not change with each page visitor at the server level. This includes every graphic and link on the page. Typically these pages will have the .htm or .html extension. Static pages can include JavaScript (JS) or Visual Basic (VB) Script code which rotates content on a page by page basis.

Static page PROS: less server resources are consumed because the server does not have additional page parsing to do or execute a CGI program (or worse, multiple CGI programs) in order to serve the page to the surfer. If you are not rotating the banners using JS or VB code, then your advertisers will get more exposure than when you rotate them with each visitor. It is the easiest for a webmaster to create this type of page.

Static page CONS: a lack of variable content and page “freshness”. Surfers may get tired of seeing the same ads over and over again if it is a page with frequent refreshing and/or return visitors. If you are using JS to rotate banners then surfers can turn off JavaScript in their browser and effectively disable your advertising. It is more difficult to change from static to dynamic than vice versa.

A dynamic webpage has page elements which change with every surfer such as rotating banner ads, links, and actual page content at the server level. These pages typically have extensions like .shtml, .phtml, .php, .jhtml, .asp, etc and rely on server side scripting to update content on the page with each page visitor.

Dynamic page PROS: the content is always changing so the surfer will perceive you are updating the content more often. A fresher, more often updated site helps to increase return page visits. Your ads are rotating so that maybe a different banner will catch the surfer’s eye and should increase your clickthru percentage. You can show “realtime” updated content, which is very popular with surfers.

Dynamic page CONS: depending on how much code is being executed at the server level, and what type of code, this can either be a minor server burden or a huge server burden to serve completely dynamic pages. Server burden will equate to slower page loads which equate to surfer dissatisfaction. If all you are doing is rotating banners then obviously this is a minor burden, but if you calling 5 different CGI scripts using Server Side Includes (SSI) this can become costly, especially if there are a lot of page views. It is more difficult for a webmaster to create a page like this because it involves “talking” to scripts or using code directly on the page.

Now that you understand the fundamental differences between these two types of pages, let’s review a hybrid or third type of webpage which isn’t as traditional but can be quite effective. It’s called a template-built webpage…