you are here 4
3 the language of the web What does the web server do?
Web servers have a full-time job on the Internet, tirelessly waiting for requests from web
browsers. What kinds of requests? Requests for web pages, images, sounds, or maybe
even a video. When a server gets a request for any of these resources, the server finds the
resource, and then sends it back to the browser.
... What does the web browser do?
You already know how a browser works: you’re surfing around the Web and you click on a
link to visit a page. That click causes your browser to request an HTML page from a web
server, retrieve it, and display the page in your browser window.
Each server
stores HTML
files, pictures,
sounds and other
file types.
Browsers make
requests for HTML
pages or other
resources, like images.
…and if the server can
locate the resource, it
sends it to the browser.
“I
ne
ed t
he HTM
L file ‘lounge.h
tm
l’”
“Found it, here ya go”