Web Content Types

Java web sites serve two types of content: static and dynamic . Before we get into the specifics of the application server, let's discuss the differences between these two types of content, and what they mean to the performance of your site. Static content refers to elements of your web content that rarely change. Familiar static elements include things like graphic elements (gifs, jpegs, and the like), stable HTML elements like banners and pages, and client-side elements like JavaScript, style sheets, and so on. Usually static content lives in files at your web site. Depending on the type of web site you operate , static content might make up the largest proportion of information your site serves.

Dynamic content refers to web pages or portions of web pages created by a web application. A program actually generates the content returned. For example, if the user requested a search based on a keyword, the web site uses a web application to perform the search and build the list of results to return to the user . Dynamic content requires computing cycles on the application server, and may need to call other programs on other machines in your network, like a database server, search engine, existing program, or something else. As we will see, the mix of static versus dynamic content drives design decisions not only for your applications, but also for the network you set up to support them.