Static web page

A static web page (sometimes called a flat page) is a web page that is delivered to the user exactly as stored, in contrast to dynamic web pages which are generated by a web application.

Consequently a static web page displays the same information for all users, from all contexts, subject to modern capabilities of a web server to negotiate content-type or language of the document where such versions are available and the server is configured to do so.

Static web pages are often HTML documents stored as files in the file system and made available by the web server over HTTP. However, loose interpretations of the term could include web pages stored in a database, and could even include pages formatted using a template and served through an application server, as long as the page served is unchanging and presented essentially as stored.

Advantages and disadvantages

Advantages:-

• No programming skills are required to create a static page.
• Inherently publicly cacheable (ie. a cached copy can be shown to anyone).
• No particular hosting requirements are necessary.
• Can be viewed directly by a web browser without needing a web server or application server, for example directly from a CD-ROM or USB Drive.

Disadvantages:-

• Any personalization or interactivity has to run client-side (ie. in the browser), which is restricting.
• Maintaining large numbers of static pages as files can be impractical without automated tools.

See also

• Dynamic web page
• Web page
• Web document