If you put a bunch of stuff on the Web, you’ve got a ‘webpage’. All that stuff that you put on a page is usually referred to as ‘content’. If you put a bunch of webpages together, you’ve got a ‘website’. If you add spiffy doo-hickeys, you can have a ‘web application’.
I need a good collective noun for all these. I’m trying to fix a policy and I’m tired of writing “webpage or website or web application”. I don’t want to use “content” because I’ve already used it.
Any suggestions?
Thanks!
Internet resources?
Web media?
If you’re tired of them due to repetitive use within the same document, I’d assume that “page”, “site”, and “application” (casually “app”) would be fine. By the way, I don’t know if it’s officially designated, but “application” is usually only used for those sites which have a coded back end, such as an ASP driven site often with a database on the backend such as Oracle or SQL Server. Also, if you have an application, you can usually call it a site, as those two terms are interchangeable for programmed sites. For a non-technical audience, you’d probably want to avoid “application” completely anyway, as many people are only familiar with applications as desktop-based, not web-based, and would get confused.
I’m not sure if there is an actual style guide reference for such things, so the above is simply an opinion from someone who creates pages, sites, and apps. 
Bah, reread the OP and see that you want a word that encapsulates all of that. While you’ve used it, content is by far the best for a technical audience.
Hmm, ‘web media’…that might work. It sounds so…marketing-y! Although ‘internet resources’ has a certain appeal as well, for it’s officialese tone.
Yes, we do lots of (small) web apps for db backends (that’s what I did until recently), as well as a few static pages. I take your point about confusing people, though, so I may leave ‘application’ out (although most of them wouldn’t know to call it a desktop app, either).
This is for a definitely non-tech audience, which is why I’m worried about confusing them by repeating with ‘content’.
Oh, yeah, and I can’t just say something like ‘page’, nosireebob, it has to be “Web page” and “Web site” (two words, one capital letter). Yes, really, I am not making that up. However, I can sneakily get around that by defining my own term and using it instead.
Thanks for the suggestions!
“Web resources”?
“Web media” sounds too much like corporate jargon to me. It also seems to imply specifically content and intellectual property, particularly to a non-specialist audience. ‘Internet resources’ (or ‘online resources’) would be much better neutral options. If you want to stick with boardroom-friendly phrases, and depending on exactly what you want to encompass, how about ‘online presence’?
Is “web space” too indescriptive? Or “webspace”? I’ve heard it used. My webspace, your webspace, etc.
‘Content’ is the most general, if only because everything is content. ‘Web content’ applies to everything accessable through the World Wide Web.
‘Resource’ is generally used in the context of research, academic or otherwise. You’d usually call yourself a resource for a specific topic, like job listings in a certain region.
‘Space’/‘Webspace’ is more of a buzzword, but it’s just as general as ‘content’. There is a slight shift in focus between ‘content’ and ‘webspace’, however: ‘Content’ focuses on the material, ‘webspace’ focuses on where that material resides. This might or might not matter to you.
Finally, a ‘website’ can easily be one page. It’s almost synonymous with ‘webpage’. (The concept of a webpage loses meaning when dynamic content is being served, however. The term is best suited to static documents that have at least a passing resemblance to printed material.)
I always thought that “content” referred to the substantive part of a web page. Content is the reason the web page exists, all the buttons, menu items, links, ads, and various bling bling are *not * content.
If my understanding is wrong, then what *do * you call it?
I’ve heard the word content used to refer to both the substantive part and the site as a whole. Which the speaker means is generally clear from the context of what they’re saying.
Web based new media.
Managerial jargon that triggers the gag reflex: web-centric or webified.
In other media such as movies and television, the component parts of a production are frequently referred to as assets. “Web assets” would be appropriate for all of the parts of a website.
In the context the OP mentions, it seems “website” is correct. Basically, it comes down to how the content is accessible. If it all is accessible with Internet Explorer, Firefox, etc. it’s a website. It would cease being a website if more than a standard web browser was needed to access the content.
I suggest the spontaneous Usenet coinage “webbage.” Originally a misspelling of “webpage,” it has taken on memetic status as a substitute for “webpage.” No reason it can’t be used to mean content, as are tonnage, footage, mileage, and such.
But those examples are measures of quantity, not a description of contents.
So there doesn’t really seem to be an established name, it’s not just me being stupid. That’s good to know. 
I’m going to be writing policy for very non-technical people who are already confused about the whole web thing. These are staff and/or departments who want to set up their own websites separate from the official organization websites. Since there’s at least three different sets of rules that they have to follow governing what they can & can’t do, I’m trying to put together not only the policy for our section, but also an umbrella policy to let them know about the other policies. (It’s a very confusing mess, really.) I know that technically ‘website’ would cover everything, but I think that using that word will cause confusion to people who already have some idea (which may or may not be correct) about what that word means. Not to mention I don’t want to conflict with existing policies that use the term.
I think I’m leaning towards ‘webspace’ at the moment. That seems to best convey the concept I’m trying for. ‘Content’ won’t work, I need to differentiate between what’s on the website & the site itself as an entity. ‘Resources’, ‘media’, and ‘assets’ all have connotations or implications that don’t really fit.
Interesting discussion. Thanks, y’all!
No, you would want “website”. I’ve never seen “webspace” used as other that to refer to the amount of disk space a webmaster has available for his site on the server. For example, most of the disk space on my main amateur site is used by MP3s that are available for download. “Webspace” is a term used by webmasters, not end users.
The semantic problem is that it common usage, “web” = “Internet”. This really isn’t technically correct. The technically correct term for what you want really is “Internet site.” However, since almost everyone would use “website” and “Internet site” interchangeably, for your purpose website is the best choice.