The Five Pillars
Beyond the three core technologies, the full landscape of web development spans five broad pillars. Understanding where each topic fits helps you see the forest for the trees.
| Pillar | What It Covers | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Architecture | How systems are structured and how they communicate | Client-server, REST, MVC, microservices, HTTP, TCP/IP |
| Coding | The languages and frameworks used to build applications | PHP, Node.js, Python, SQL, JavaScript, HTML |
| Hosting | Where and how applications are deployed and run | Apache, Nginx, Linux, Docker, cloud (AWS/GCP), DNS |
| Design | How the user interface looks and behaves | CSS, responsive design, UX patterns, accessibility |
| Content/Visuals | The actual content, media, and visual assets | Images, video, typography, data visualization, copy |