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Ask HN: At what point does a 'website' become an 'application'?

1 points by aarongough ↗ HN
I'm struggling a little with this rather mundane question of terminology: even the simplest of my personal 'websites' are built in Rails. They interact with a database, they are stateful, they are tested. Are they just a 'website', or are they an application?

I ask this from the perspective of discussing the site/app with other people, which is not really something I had done much of before.

What are your thoughts? What terminology should I use to minimize confusion during discussions?

4 comments

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Alleyfield
imho that's just semantics.

Make the terms clear at the start of the discussion - argument why you're using a term application instead of a website.

Wouldn't that clear it up?

aarongough
Probably, I'm just curious as the way you speak can radically alter the impression people get of you, and your project.

In my mind referring to something as a 'site', rather than an 'application' or 'web-application' makes you seem less serious. Just a thought...

Alleyfield
Do you consider facebook as a site which has applications or is it an application?

If someone were to speak about the functionalities of the site called facebook - then would using the term "site" make facebook sound less serious?

aarongough
Good point!

Thanks for your thoughts, it's a small thing but it helps to know what other people are thinking.