
Websites are made by individuals, by collectives or by large-scale project groups, decisively influencing their aims, design quality and building process.Smart integration or avoidance of such requirements is a source for good and efficient design in both cases. Similarly, architecture deals with zoning and building regulations. Similarly, material and construction are defining characteristics of architectural work. They may employ new ways of construction, or cite old ways of construction. Websites may use new technologies or existing technology to new effect. They do so by establishing new ways of interaction or by asking new aesthetic questions. Like buildings, websites foster social discourses. Buying an onigiri from a 7-11 branch is different from buying a pretzel from a Bavarian bakery.

Websites adhere to culturally established patterns, languages and user expectations in similar ways architecture does. Websites are local, despite their distributed nature.As buildings, websites are where we spend our lives. They may be privately owned and operated, but inhabited and used by the public. They are homes to communities, to thoughts and approaches. They become part of societies through the interactions they enable. They are part of the fabric of societies that are now both physical and virtual. Both buildings and websites are built realities. Architecture is by nature a public discipline. Like architecture, they distribute access and atmospheric context to these resources: Watching a video on Nowness is different from watching a video on YouTube. They provide services and social environments. Web design as architecture Web design as architecture
