Wirebook › Glossary › Request / response
What are requests and responses?
In one sentence: The browser's question and the server's answer. Every page load is a bunch of these.
A little more
Almost everything on the web is a pair: your browser sends a request ("please give me /wifi") and the server sends a response (a status code, some headers and the content). Opening one page can trigger dozens of these pairs, one for each picture, style sheet and script.
The server never sends anything you didn't ask for, which is why pages that update live keep asking quietly in the background.
It's a bit like… Asking a question in class and getting an answer back: one question, one answer, every time.
See it in action
- 1What happens when you open a web page?Follow one click from your keyboard to a server and back: DNS, the padlock handshake, HTTP, tunnels and painting the page.6 min · interactive
- 5What do 404 and friends mean?The three-digit codes behind every web page, explained: 200, 301, 404, 429, 500 and the 418 teapot.5 min · interactive