The other day, I was sparked by a very intriguing thread on Stack Overflow. The poster of this thread asked, “What’s the difference between a web-enabled program and a site?” This made me think as they seemed the same. However, this user looked confused. A site points to an online program, and a page is a portal of data and articles. Web programs are accessed through browsers. It might seem that the line separating websites is anything but clear.

It presents the distinction concerning the level to which the experience of using it is subjective and personal and goes on to describe that a site can include static content that people get to use, although a web-enabled application depends on the interaction with the customer, an interaction that needs programmatic user input signal and data processing.

Web applications are primarily for interaction: They allow the user to interact and perform specific tasks such as sending emails, writing and storing files, and checking the analytics of a website. For example, Google’s online applications include Google Docs, Gmail, and Google Analytics.

They are not completely exclusive: Possibly the most important fact about websites and web apps is that they are not mutually exclusive. Websites may contain applications that users can interact with, for example, a university site with an app to manage class materials and student grades.

If you are still confused, it is safe to assume that applications lean towards doing a set of functions and require user input signal and data processing. A Web application can be viewed as a set of HTML pages that may have embedded programs and provide the user with information and content.