How the Web Works

Have you ever typed something like www.google.com, hit enter, and suddenly the site loads? Amazing, right?
It seems like magic, but there's actually a lot going on behind the scenes. Don't worry, you don't need to be a tech expert to get it. In this guide, we'll explain what's really happening so you can finally answer the question: "What is the internet doing when I visit a website?"

The Nuts and Bots (What We’re Skipping For Now)

Here’s the thing. When it comes to how the web actually works, there’s a lot going on under the hood. We’re talking about

• DNS lookups

• IP addresses

• TCP/IP protocols

• SSL certificates

• firewalls

• caching layers

The list goes on and on and on.

But this article isn’t about all that complex stuff. Since this is a beginner friendly guide, we’re going to abstract away the technical details and just focus on the big picture.

Let’s meet the players

Before we jump in, let’s define a few common terms you’ll see in this article

Client

The client is you, or more specifically your device and browser. When you visit a website, your browser is the one asking for the information.

Server

The server is a computer that stores websites and sends them to the client when asked. A server can be your computer at home or a computer remotely located at a data center.

Request

A message your browser sends to ask for something (web page) from a server. So when you type a URL like www.google.com and press enter, your browser is sending a request to a server, asking for the page.

Response

When the server gets the request, it looks for the right files and then sends a response back to the client when the information requested for is found.

Internet

The internet is like a giant invisible highway. It carries your request from your browser to the server and then brings the response back to you.

It’s what makes the web feel instant and powerful.

Let’s Put It All Together

Now that you know the key components involved, let’s walk through the full journey step by step.

Let’s say you open your browser and type https://www.wikipedia.org/, Here’s what actually happens when you press Enter

You Make a Request

Your browser (the client) sends a message:

Hi Wikipedia’s server, I would love to see your homepage please

The Request Travels Across the Internet

Your message (request) goes through wires, routes, and satellites like a digital mail zooming around the globe

The Server Gets the Message

The server finally receives your request and says:

Ah! Someone wants the homepage. Let me grab the files

The Server Sends a Response

After receiving and processing the request, It sends back the building blocks for the web page you requested for. That is HTML, CSS, images, JavaScript files.

Your Browser Builds the Page

After receiving the response from the server your browser now builds up the web page or website by using the files from the response

It all happens in seconds. A full round trip from your browser to the server and back, carrying the information you wanted. The web may feel like magic, but now you know it’s just a smart teamwork between clients, servers, and the internet highway.

Why It Matters

Understanding how the web works

• Makes web development less intimidating

• Helps when learning how to code or build websites

• Helps you troubleshoot when something goes wrong

So the next time a site doesn’t load, you’ll know something in that request-response flow went wrong or probably broke.

What’s Next?

Now that you understand the big picture of how the web works, it’s time to get hands-on.

In the next article, we’ll talk about and guide you through setting up your environment for web development so we can start building for the web.

I Want to Understand More

Curious to dive deeper into how the web really works behind the scenes?

Here are a few great resources you can explore

• How the Web Works - MDN Web Docs

• How the Web Works: A Primer for Newcomers to Web Development (or anyone, really)

• How the Web Work by Academind

• Or Just google “How the web works”. You will get lots of great articles and videos.