Website Design Jargon Glossary
Line Media has created this website design jargon glossary to educate small business owners in Windsor and Southwestern Ontario. If you are interested in learning more about website terminology. This glossary explains all the key web design terms required to have an informed conversation with a web designer or website design company.
Adaptive Web Design (AWD)
Adaptive web design consists of pre-composed website layouts designed and developed for mobile, tablet and desktop screen sizes. Visit a website on a mobile phone to trigger the pre-composed adaptive website created for a mobile phone screen size. Likewise if you visit the same website using a laptop the pre-composed adaptive laptop version of the website will trigger and become visible.
Blog
Blog is short for web log, the website blog is a web page/journal that is used to make and publish updates in the form of blog posts. These posts get broadcast on the Internet and attract visitors while at the same time improving the websites SEO ranking. Visitors can also subscribe to a website blog and receive email notifications each time a new blog post is published. The blog is a fantastic low cost website marketing tool.
Cookies
Website cookies are harmless and collect website visitor information. For example, cookies can identify your IP address and note how man times you visit the same website. Cookies cannot collect any personal details about you that you do not choose to submit while visiting a website. Other names for website cookies are tracking cookies and web cookies.
Content Management System (CMS)
The content management system of a website enables the website owner to access and amend a websites layout, pages, content and design. The websites CMS is accessible through a website browser such as Safari, Chrome, Internet Explorer and Firefox. The CMS incorporated into websites published by Line Media is user friendly and requires no prior web design experience!
CSS
CSS is short for Cascading Style Sheets. The CSS in a website defines the look and style of the website. To use a metaphor if a house was a website then CSS would be used to style each room from furniture to fixtures.
Domain name
The website domain name is the Internet address and location of a website. For example our domain name is linemedia.org. The website domain name linemedia.com has no association to us whatsoever and belongs to another company. Before selecting a domain name for your company we recommend that you research all appropriate domain names. We can help you select the best domain name for your company.
Hosting
Website hosting providers store your website data and files on the web. Hosting services usually include email, apps and website backups. Each website is normally hosted on a shared server (computer) with several other websites. The host servers transfer your hosted website files once a person types your website address into Google. You can also purchase a dedicated server for just your website. Line Media offers a years free hosting with all new websites.
HTML
Website HTML short for Hypertext Markup Language is the building blocks of a website. Sticking with the house metaphor a websites HTML code is equivalent to architectural plans.
Navigation
The website navigation refers to the buttons used by a website visitor to travel around a website. The primary navigation is the first tier of buttons that a website visitor normally sees. Secondary navigation is not as prominent and may only become visible once a mouse hovers above the primary navigation. See Image Above
Responsive Website design (RWD)
Responsive website design enables a website to respond and adjust for mobile, tablet and laptop screen size. The website images, text, navigation and layout all adjust for optimal viewing and interaction on each specific platform. All new websites from Line Media are responsive because over 55% of online searches now occur on mobile devices!
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Search engine optimization is the process of optimizing your website for search engines such as Google and Bing. SEO techniques make it easy for search engines to find a website and identify its contents; images, text, blog posts and individual web pages. The more SEO optimized the website and its content the higher a website should rank in Google and Bing search results. More info»
User Experience (UX)
The user experience is necessary to ensure website visitors have a pleasant experience while visiting and engaging with a website. It is the UX designer responsibility to ensure the website loads fast, is intuitive and easy for visitors to negotiate and find what they need with minimal clicks and effort.
User Interface (UI)
The user interface is the screen a user sees when they first encounter a website or digital installation. A user interface designer is responsible for how a website looks to visitors including; layout, style, colors, graphics, images and video.
Website Fold – Above and below the fold
The website fold referrers to the web page as seen on a laptop, mobile or tablet without the need to click further down the page. Everything unseen below that point is referred to as being below the fold. The fold line varies according to the device used to view a web page and its corresponding screen size and resolution. Approximate above the fold screen sizes:
• 308 pixels is above the fold on a screen size of 640 X 480
• 420 pixels is above the fold on a screen size of 800 X 600
• 580 pixels is above the fold on a screen size of 1024 X 768
• 840 pixels is above the fold on a screen size of 1200 X 1024
XML Sitemap
This XML file lists all your web pages making it easier for Google bots/spiders to crawl your website. The XML sitemap enables you to suggest how often your website should be crawled for new content and updates. Another useful feature is the XML sitemaps ability to define the importance of each web page and blog post.
