Page 9 - WWW Assignment-ICT256

External data in HTML documents

HTML documents can reference external files (for example, a GIF or JPEG

file for a graphic). Not all these external formats are supported by all Web

clients. When the document contains such data, the Web client can send

a request to the Web server to provide the relevant graphic. If the Web

client does not support the format, it does not request the information

from the server.

Problems with file-based Web sites

In a file-based Web site, each document is a separate file. For large Web

sites, this leads to management problems. For example, maintaining

current copies of hundreds or thousands of different resources in separate

files is difficult enough; maintaining the links between these resources is

even more challenging.

Another problem is that many Web sites contain dynamic information -

pricing information, for example, or employee information on an

organization's intranet. Maintaining such information in HTML files in

addition to the database where it resides is a huge task.

For these and other reasons, linking databases to the Web is increasingly
the solution of choice for management of large Web sites and

management of dynamic content. Database storage of Web information

can either replace or complement file storage of Web resources.