Front end, back end, database: the restaurant picture

So far, every website you've built has been a beautiful shop window. People can look, read and tap a WhatsApp button. But nothing they do is kept. If Adjoa wanted customers to order lunch on her website instead of on WhatsApp, the site would need somewhere to put the orders, and a way to get them there safely.

That "somewhere" and that "way" are the back end. It's the part of web development that clients pay the most for, and the part where most beginners get lost, because they're handed ten new words at once with nothing to hang them on.

This lesson gives you something to hang them on: a restaurant. You'll use this picture for the rest of the course. When a later lesson says "the Server Action checks the order", you'll see a cook checking a ticket. When it says "Row Level Security", you'll see the person guarding the order book. Get this picture clear today and everything after it gets easier.

If back-end words have made you nervous before, that's normal. Nobody is born knowing what a server is. In half an hour you'll be able to explain it to a client.