Confused by all the web design jargon? Our web design glossary will help.
Animation
Any graphic that moves on your website. Animations are often created in a programming language called Flash – hence the term Flash animations. Animations are generally expensive to create.
Below the fold
Content of a web page that is not seen by the visitor unless the visitor scrolls down the page. Ideally all your important content and navigation links should be ‘above the fold’.
Blog
Blog is short for web log. It’s a web page were the owner can easily add short updates (known as posting). Blogs are interactive as visitors can post comments.
Blogger
The author of a blog.
Blogging
Blogging is the act of posting on a blog.
Bookmark
A link to a specific web page, stored by your browser in your favorites section.
Brochure website
A simple website designed to give information about the owner’s products or services. Sometimes known as ‘showcase’ websites.
Browser
A program on your computer that allows you to look at web pages. Examples include Internet Explorer, Fire Fox and Netscape. There are others. Browsers display web pages in different ways, so most websites will look different depending on the browser used.
Comment
A piece of feedback left by a reader on a blog.
Compression
A way of packing data in order to save storage space or for faster download time. It is commonly used when preparing photographs for presentation on the web. Photos that have not been compressed take a long time to download and can spoil the visitors experience of visiting a website.
Content
Anything that is included on a web page including artwork, graphics, logos, text and photographs.
Domain name
The address of your website. (e.g. www.thewebsitedesignstudio.co.uk)
Domain registrar
A domain registrar is a company or organization involved in registering domain names on the Internet.
Email
Typed messages that can be sent to other users of the internet (providing both the sender and the receiver have email addresses.)
Email address
An address that can be used to send and receive emails.
Email forwarding
A way of forwarding emails to another email address.
Flash
Software made by Macromedia that created animated sequences for inclusion on a website. Flash programming is a specialist area and websites that use Fash are normally more expensive than static websites.
Forms
A way for website visitors to communicate with the website or other people instead of sending an e-mail. Typically forms may ask for a visitor’s name, address, email address and details of any enquiry. The contents of the form are sent to the website owner’s preferred email address.
GIF
A GIF is a type of image file. It stands for Graphic Interchange Format. It is best used for artwork with flat colours.
Hits
The number of times a web page has been viewed on the internet.
Home page
The first page you see when you view a website.
Host
A hug computer permanently connected to the internet that stores website pages.
HTML
Stands for Hypertext Markup Language. This is the language that web pages are created using.
Hyperlink
A link on a website that points to another web page (sometimes known as hotlinks)
Images
Artwork, graphics or photographs displayed on a web page.
JPEG/JPG
Stands for Joint Photographic Experts Group ( the name of the committee that created this file format). JPEG is best used for photographs for the web.
Keyword
Keywords are words that are key or important words. Users type in a keyword in the search engine to find the relevant websites associated with that keyword.
Link
See hyperlink
Link building
Is a technique where you create reciprocal links with websites with the intention of increasing the popularity of a web page, thus helping increase a web page’s position in the search engines. The more inward links a web page has, the more likely it is to be noticed by a search engine.
Link popularity
How popular a web page is based on the number of back links it has.
Mail box
A sort of letter box where your email are stored before you view them.
Masthead
An image placed at the top of a web page to tell the visitor what page they are on.
Mailing list
A method of using one email to sent do multiple email addresses.
Mouse over
A change on a website (e.g. a photographic changing) when the curse is passed over it.
Navigation
The way a visitor moves from page to page on your website.
Navigation links
Highlighted word or phrase that by clicking, allows you to jump to another web page or website. Typically navigation links that move you around the pages of a website are found at the top and bottom of a web page.
Navigation structure
A map or flowchart of the relationship between pages on your website.
Online shop (ecommerce)
A website with the facility for visitors to pay for goods bought from the site.
PDF files
Stands for Portable Document File. Downloadable PDF files are a good way of presenting documents on your website.
Reciprocal link
A link between two websites.
Rollover
A feedback cue that is activated when the mouse cursor is moved over a particular element or button on a web page
Search engine
A tool for search the web using keywords. Google, Yahoo and MSN are examples of popular search engines.
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
Making you website as attractive as possible to search engines, thus increasing your chances of being on the first page, or, better still, first position on the search results list. A number of factors are important when optimising a website, including the content and structure of the website’s copy and page layout, the HTML meta-tags and the submission process.
Shopping cart
A virtual shopping cart where visitors can store goods to buy before payment on a shop website.
Splash page
A website’s introduction page, usually using flashy of Flash graphics.
Statistics
Information on how many visitors a website receives, where they come from, which pages they look at, how long they stay on the site for etc.
Submission
The process of submitting a new site to search engines for inclusion in its database, so that the site appears in listings.
Templates
Ready made websites or web pages that can be adapted to meet specific needs of a new website owner.
Traffic
The number of visitors that view a website.
URL
Stands for “Uniform Resource Locator”. It is the address of a web page URLs begin with http://. For example the URL of this website is https://www.thewebsitedesignstudio.co.uk.
W3
World Wide Web
W3C
World Wide Web Consortium
Web design
Web design describes the process of designing a web page or website.
Web designer
A person who designs websites.
