Website design and development

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A website is a page or connected group of pages accessible through the internet. Websites can range from simple one-page sites to highly complicated interactive and trading sites and platforms. A range of legal issues apply to all websites.

Websites are closely related to, but distinct from, domain names, which create the internet’s naming and addressing system. For information about domain names, see: Domain names—overview.

Website design and development

Website developers turn website designs into fully functioning websites ready for live deployment. Developers use common languages to code websites such as HTML, Java, JavaScript, Python, C, C#, PHP and CSS.

Before development can begin, there are a number of practical issues to consider when a new website is commissioned. These include:

  1. •

    agreeing a clear specification for what will be produced, or at least a process for doing this before the development takes place

  2. •

    clarifying the infrastructure on which the website will be hosted, who controls this and where it will take place, in order to ensure that the website is secure and that operational responsibilities are clear

  3. •

    establishing who owns intellectual property (IP) rights

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