| backend |
The server process that happens behind the scenes of a website. The backend is the process that serves the information to the end user and interacts with a shopping cart, for example. |
| broken link |
Occurs when the target page that the link is referring to has been moved or renamed. Also called a dead link. Search engines don’t like to see broken links and it ends up reflecting poorly on the quality of information offered by the site, and therefore lowers your relevance in the search engine results. |
| browser based |
When a web application is supplied to users without having to download software. All the necessary software is hosted on a remote server. Browser-based software is the wave of the future, especially because people are increasingly cautious of downloading applications from the internet that could contain viruses. A good example is Google’s Picasa. |
| cloaking |
First of all, this is a big no-no. Never request this of a web designer. It is when a page is designed in such a way to make search engines think it contains certain content when in reality the end user sees different content. Search engines will ban websites for this type of intentional deceit. |
| database |
A database is an accessible warehouse of information, much like the records of an excel file. There are columns and records within those columns. This makes it so an infinite amount of data can be stored in an organized way and retrieved via humans or computer applications. |
| dialup |
An Internet connection that uses telephone lines to access the World Wide Web. Also referred to as “slow speed” for good reason. When designing websites, this is the lowest common denominator that has to be taken into consideration with page weight. |
| e-commerce |
The buying and selling of goods on the Internet. Certainly the most cost-effective way of doing business because it represents the lowest overhead possible: no building to rent, no products to stockpile and the lowest cost form of advertising in the world (other than word of mouth, of course). This cheapest form of Internet advertising (free!) includes optimizing your site for organic search results in google and link trading with popular sites. |
| Flash |
A popular authoring software made by Macromedia (recently bought out by Adobe Systems) that enables website developers to create rich applications with motion that are all vector-based. The opposite of Flash is static sites that are created with html. Keep in mind that Flash and html aren’t necessarily mutually exclusive, though. You can build hybrid sites that are a mixture of the two.
The major drawback with sites that are built entirely in Flash is that they cannot be optimized for search engines such as Google and Yahoo since they cannot actually read the text that is involved in Flash applications. |
| front end |
The part of a website that the end user interacts with. You are interacting with the frontend of Adrial Designs right now. A site’s backend is the part behind the scenes that takes care of interactions with a database or shopping cart. |
| FTP |
Stands for “File Transfer Protocall.” This is a method by which files are exchanged between computers or between computers and servers. See also sFTP. |
| high-speed |
Refers to an internet connection that is cable or DSL. The opposite of a slow-speed connection or dialup. |
| HTML |
Stands for “HyperText Markup Language.” This is the universal base language for most of the websites on the World Wide Web. HTML is what search engines read through to gather information for your search results. Web pages that are designed with HTML are referred to as “static pages” as opposed to “dynamic pages” that are authored by Flash. |
| hyperlink |
A link on a webpage that is either attached to an image or a word or piece of text that, when clicked, takes the user to another page. Usually, links are underlined to show that they are clickable bridges to other webpages. |
| javascript |
A programming language that integrates with HTML to enhance the user experience. However, most search engines are unable to properly index information supplied within the scripts. |
| keyword |
In website design, this refers to a word that is vital to describing your specific industry. For example, Adrial Designs could not be described without using words such as “graphic designer, website design, print design, logo design” and so on. The more keywords used on a site that is properly optimized, the more opportunity users will be able to find your site on the web by use of search engines. |
| library item |
In website design, this is a re-usable item that can be placed as multiple instances in multiple locations. The convenience of library items is that the main item can be changed, which in turn updates its multiple instances sitewide.
For example, if you build a website with 1,000 pages and each page has your business’ phone number on it, what if your number changes? Normally, you would have to manually copy and paste the new number 1,000 times. If you use a library item in those 1,000 places, you only have to change your phone number in the library item and it will automatically update the other 1,000 pages to match. |
| menu |
A listing of options or paths for the user to take in a graphical interface. A website’s navigational scheme will use a menu system as part of its way to help users through the site in a meaningful and organized way. The repetition of a menu in the same area of a website helps a user feel comfortable navigating through the site. |
| meta tags |
Information placed on webpages not intended for human users to see. It is data that is meant for search engines and other internet applications to interpret and use. |
| mirror site |
Another no-no in website design. When two sites exist on the Internet that are exactly the same as each other: same content, same images, same look, same everything. The original intent of creating mirror sites was to redirect users to the parallel site once the traffic to the first site became too heavy, but then it became a way for a website to get twice the attention from search engines. |
| navigation |
Just like properly navigating a boat from one shore, across the ocean and then getting safely to the other shore, a well-planned out and executed navigation scheme to a website guides its user through the site to usher them to the goal (contacting the business, making a purchase, downloading a white paper, etc.). Navigation is probably one of the most important pieces to web design. It includes menu structure, where elements are placed on a page, what size every element is in relation to every other element, and on and on. After all, how can someone get to where they (or you) want to go without some proper (and hopefully easy and intuitive) guidance? |
| organic |
The “natural” way to get free search results. Organic search results are those that come up thanks to spiders who search the Internet for relevant content. |
| page weight |
The amount of Kilobytes of information each page of a website contains. The higher the page weight, the more time it takes to download the page’s information to show to the end user. As a rule of thumb, a page shouldn’t weigh more than 100KB, on average.
Page weight includes image weight, Flash weight, text weight and script weight. Anything on a website’s page contributes to the page weight, however minutely. |
| RGB |
Stands for “Red, Green, Blue.” These three colors of light all combine in varying degrees to create all the colors of the rainbow. RGB is the color language used by computer monitors and digital cameras. See also CMYK for the main colors used in inks. |
| script |
A term used in programming to define an action or set of actions that is executed by a third party application instead of the computer itself. This allows your experience to be much richer because it is no longer confined to the abilities of your own software, within reason. |
| search engine |
Any software (usually browser-based) that spiders the web and catalogs every page based on certain keywords so that when users interact with it by inputting keywords, the software returns the most relevant results possible. See also SEO. |
| SEO |
The methodical and purposeful building of a website to enhance your chances of being listed higher in search engine results for the top keywords in your industry.
For example, if you own a pizza shop in Chapel Hill, NC, your website should be designed in such a way to get you listed high for keywords such as “pizza, food, fast food, Chapel Hill, NC.” Depending upon your industry and how your competitors position themselves, your keyword set focus can change. |
| server |
A computer that handles requests from other clients and programs on a network. The World Wide Web – the entire Internet – is just a huge web of servers all linked together across a worldwide network. |
| server-side script |
A program that runs directly on the web server instead of having to be downloaded to the computer that is benefiting from the script. This enhances security on the web and increases efficiency. |
| sFTP |
Stands for “secure File Transfer Protocall.” Just like FTP, but with more safety measures so that information is not compromised as it is being uploaded to the server. |
| shopping cart |
A special form of software online that keeps tracks of the items customers would like to buy until they proceed to the checkout to make their final bulk purchase of all the items at once. |
| sidebar |
In web design, it refers to information that is set apart from the main body of information, usually in a box that is on the left or right of the page. |
| sitemap |
A sitemap is a page that tells visitors and spiders all the links to every page on a website. It is helpful for both humans and robot spiders to have an overview of the site and how all the different sections fit together as one entity. |
| slow speed |
Synonym for dialup internet connection. |
| spider |
No need for arachnophobia here. Spiders on the web are your friends. In the context of website design, it is a simple computer program that searches and catalogs every page on the World Wide Web. Each search engine has its own spider that searches the web’s trillions of pages. These spiders are what you are trying to appease when you build your site for SEO purposes. |
| template |
A powerful tool in website design that allows you to use the same look for all your pages while switching out content for the main portions of the page. Most websites need to maintain the consistency of having the same information at the top and mostly on the sidebar, so templates are very important since they allow web designers to create an entire website containing however many pages and can update the entire website’s template just by changing one file. A website template is much like a library item, but is for the entire page layout instead of just applying to an individual item on a page. |
| website |
A location on the World Wide Web that contains a homepage, other pages that relate to the homepage, and text and images that support the central focus and purpose of the website’s existence on the Internet. Every website should have a central theme, focus and graphical look. |
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