HTML, XHTML, and CSS All-In-One Desk Reference For Dummies®

Chapter 1. Managing Your Servers

In This Chapter

• Understanding the client-server relationship

• Reviewing tools for client-side development

• Gathering server-side development tools

• Installing a local server with XAMPP

• Setting essential security settings

• Choosing a remote server

• Managing the remote servers

• Choosing and registering a domain name

Web pages are a complex undertaking. The basic Web page itself isn't too overwhelming, but Web pages are unique because they have meaning only in the context of the Internet — a vastly new undertaking with unique rules.

Depending where you are on your Web development journey, you may need to understand the entire architecture, or you may be satisfied with a smaller part. Still, you should have a basic idea of how the Internet works and how the various technologies described in this book fit in.

Understanding Clients and Servers

A person using the Web is a client. You can also think of the user's computer or browser as the client. Clients on the Internet have certain characteristics:

• Clients are controlled by individual users. You have no control over what kind of connection or computer the user has. It may not even be a computer, but may be instead a cellphone or (I'm not kidding) refrigerator.

• Clients have temporary connections. Clients typically don't have permanent connections to the Internet. Even if a machine is on a permanent network, most machines used as clients have temporarily assigned addresses that can change.

• Clients might have wonderful resources ...