What is an intranet? - WordPress Tutorial

- [Instructor] Right off the top it's probably a good idea to address the obvious question what is an intranet. If you ask Google, an intranet is a local or restricted communications network, especially a private network created using World Wide Web software. The traditional understanding of the term intranet has been a physically walled off network without connections to the internet. But more modern uses of the term also encompass networks accessible through VPNs or virtual private networks and web services like websites only accessible with the right credentials or based on factors like your IP address. Regardless of where the intranet lives, the purpose of an intranet is to provide an experience like the internet contained in a virtual walled off garden accessible only to staffs or members or groups. Out in the real world you'll find several different types of intranets. The most extreme variety is what I would call closed intranets, or offline intranets. These are closed networks that are physically severed from the internet and only accessible when you are physically present at a location and have the right access credentials. These solutions are most common in situations where data privacy is paramount. I've seen them in companies that deal with sensitive information, hospitals, schools, and other such places. A more modern variety of the closed intranet is one that can be accessed through a virtual private network, or a VPN. They effectively work the same way as closed intranets, but can be accessed through the internet with the correct credentials to the VPN. This approach is common in companies and organizations with more than one office, or remote workers, or both. There's also a hybrid model where an intranet and a public section are combined. The intranet is only accessible on premises or behind a VPN or with special credentials, while the public section of the site is available to anyone through the regular internet. This is the most accessible and least secure of the varieties I've described here but they serve things like giving customers a custom user access portal that is inside an intranet whereas the rest of the common public can only access the public site. Intranets often feature content restrictions based on the role of staff or other interested parties. Typically some content is available to everyone, some content is limited, and the ability to add or edit content is delegated to specific people within the company or organization. In this course I'll showcase features and functionalities which lend themselves to all types of intranet sites from those in closed offline environments to those living on the open web. And a lot of what I'm about to show you is relevant to regular sites as well.