I am beginner in web development and I am now using XAMPP package to do my web programming.
I am just using localhost/files in web browser on my desktop to test it
But what if I want to access the web in any remote computer?
Also, did all web developers need to pay for the domain name/unique URL for the web they wrote?
Can I just use my desktop as the web server and once people access the web they just can do it by typing my host IP/sth like port number?
Hope you can understand my questions! Thanks!
You have to specifically set up your development machine to allow external IP’s to access your computers network if you want to view a development site from a different machine. Quite cumbersome.
Either web developers or companies buy Domain Names, which uses DNS (Domain Name Service) to mask the IP address to the server with the address. You can buy Domain Names from many companies, on such as Namecheap.com
Hope that answers some of your questions.