Web publishing, or “online publishing,” is the process of publishing content on the Internet. It includes creating and uploading websites, updating webpages, and posting blogs online. The published content may include text, images, videos, and other types of media.
In order to publish content on the web, you need three things: 1) web development software, 2) an Internet connection, and 3) a web server. The software may be a professional web design program like Dreamweaver or a simple web-based interface like WordPress. The Internet connection serves as the medium for uploading the content to the web server. Large sites may use a dedicated web host, but many smaller sites often reside on shared servers, which host multiple websites. Most blogs are published on public web servers through a free service like Blogger.
Since web publishing doesn’t require physical materials such as paper and ink, it costs almost nothing to publish content on the web. Therefore, anyone with the three requirements above can be a web publisher. Additionally, the audience is limitless since content posted on the web can be viewed by anyone in the world with an Internet connection. These advantages of web publishing have led to a new era of personal publishing that was not possible before.
NOTE: Posting updates on social networking websites like Facebook and Twitter is generally not considered web publishing. Instead, web publishing generally refers to uploading content to unique websites.
