Google “Web Designer Near Me” and “Best Web Designer For Small Business” Then Craft a List of Prospective Agencies.
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301: This is a code used to tell Google that a specific page has changed locations and is at a different URL.
404: Generally shows up as an error when you try to access a website’s URL. This code means the website can not be found on the server.
A:
Above The Fold: This is the part of a webpage that can be seen before the user starts to scroll down the page.
Accessibility: Web accessibility refers to website technology that allows people with disabilities to use them.
Alt Tag: The ALT tag contains the alternative text for an image on a web page. This text appears if the image cannot be shown on the screen.
Ajax: Stands for Asynchronous JavaSscript And XML. It’s not a programming language but a way for a website browser to request data from a web server.
Anchor Text: The text that is highlighted in a hypertext link that is clicked to open a new web page.
B:
Backend: The opposite of the front-end (just kidding haha). The backend includes the server, applications, and database that runs the website.
Backlink: A link from another web page to your website.
Bandwidth: A website’s bandwidth is the amount of data a website uses during a specific time period. It’s affected by the number of current website users and the resources the website has.
Below The Fold: The part of a web page a site visitor must scroll to see.
Bounce Rate: Your bounce rate is the percentage of website visitors who leave your page without clicking anything or taking any actions.
Breadcrumbs: Breadcrumbs are a second form of navigation that a website uses to display the user’s location on the website. It generally follows the format: home/service/page name/sub-page name/etc
Breakpoints: Breakpoints are the screen resolution sizes where the website will rearrange elements on the page to appear properly on a different-sized screen.
Browser: The web browser is a piece of software that allows a user to navigate the internet.
C:
Cache: Website caching is when the internet browser stores certain files such as images, in a temporary location so they can be accessed and the website will be loaded more quickly later on.
Call to Action: This is a web designer and marketer’s term that’s a direct sentence or set of words designed to incite a website visitor to submit information, call, or perform some other action on the website.
Cascading Style Sheets: These are written with CSS code and control the styling of a web page. This includes fonts, text sizes, image backgrounds, colors, and more.
Client Side: Everything that is displayed to the website visitor on their device.
Comment: A feature of online blogs, news websites, and other sites where a publisher invites the readers to comment.
Cookies: Web cookies are small files that contain pieces of data (ex. Username and password). They are used to identify your computer as you use a computer network.
Content Management System: Also known as a CMS, is a piece of software that helps web designers manage, modify, and create content on a website without the need for technical knowledge like coding. Although, more usability and customization are available since the CMS can be modified with code.
Content Roadmap: A roadmap is a tool that helps you post content in an attempt to accomplish a specific goal or objective.
Conversion: Website conversions are when a visitor completes a specific action you desire them to. An example is when someone fills out a form.
Core Web Vitals: These are a set of metrics from Google that help web designers and developers understand how the user experiences a web page.
CSS: See Cascading Style Sheets
CSS Framework: CSSS frameworks are tools used by web designers to make their job easier. It’s a library of website templates (in CSS code) that can be downloaded and installed.
D:
Dev Site: Stands for a development site. This is the staging area where a website is built before it is uploaded to the internet.
Deprecated: A coding language that is no longer supported or recommended.
Dither: Reducing the color range of images.
DNS: Stands for domain name system. It is the phonebook of the internet. Web browsers interact with an IP address, and DNS translates the domain name to an IP address.
DOCTYPE: An HTML declaration relaying to the internet browser the type of document.
DOM (Document Object Model): a programming API for HTML and XML documents. It defines the structure of the document elements.
Domain: The name of a website.
E:
ECommerce: This is the buying and selling of goods and services, and the transfer of funds through the internet.
Element: An individual part of a web page.
EM: This is a way the browser displays font size. EM resizes the font based on the screen size.
Embedded: Embedding is when you place content on your page rather than linking out to it.
Extensible Markup Language: (XML) A standard platform-independent markup language that defines format rules for encoding data.
External Style Sheet: A CSS document linked to the web page it’s designing.
F:
Favicon: The Favicon is a graphic image located on the website’s internet tab.
Filter and Search: The search tool embedded on a website that allows users to search for specific content.
Fixed Width Layout: When the website is displayed, it will always be at the same pixel width, no matter what resolution the screen is.
Fluid Layout: A type of webpage where the layout of the site resizes as the screen size is changed.
Focal Point: An area of interest or emphasis on a web page that the designer wants visitors to focus on.
Font Family: Set of fonts that contain a common design.
Font Style: Defines the style of a font as either italic, oblique, or normal.
Font Weight: The boldness of a font.
Front End: The front end of a website is the part of a website the user interacts with.
G:
Geolocation: A feature of a website allowing the user to search for other IPs by geographic location.
Google Analytics: Tools provided by Google to analyze your website visitors’ behavior.
Google Tag Manager: Google Tag Manager is a tag management system (TMS) that allows you to quickly and easily update measurement codes and related code fragments collectively.
Google Search Console: Reports provided by Google that lets you see your website’s performance such as clicks, impressions, and click-through rate.
Graphical User Interface: A visual way of interacting with the web page including the icons, menus, and windows.
H:
Heatmap: Graphical representation of data where values are represented by color.
Hero Image: The oversized image or graphic at the top of a web page.
Hexadecimal: A system of numerical notation that has 16 rather than 10 as its base.
Hosting: The process of renting or buying space to place a website on the internet.
Hover State: What the button or element will look like when a user hovers their cursor over it.
HTACCESS: A file on your website’s server that makes the server behave a certain way.
HTML: Stands for HyperText Markup Language and tells the web browser how to display web page elements.
HTML Tag: A piece of HTML markup language used to indicate the beginning and end of an element.
HTTP: Hypertext Transfer Protocol is used to load web pages using hypertext links.
HTTPS: Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure is a secure version of HTTP, that uses SSL/TLS for encryption and authentication.
Hyperlink: A link from a text file or document that directs the browser to go to another location.
Hypertext: A software system that links topics on the screen to related information and graphics.
I:
Iframe: An HTML element that loads another HTML page within the document.
Image Map: The HTML tag <map> defines an image map with clickable areas.
Image Overlay: An additional image or texture is added as a layer over another image.
Inheritance: When no value has been specified on an element through CSS code, the element gets the value from its parent element.
Inline Styling: Styling code applied to a specific element within the body of the webpage.
Interactivity: An interactive web design is a design that promotes users to be actively engaged, improving the user experience (UX).
L:
Lamp: Lamp is a software bundle including Linux, MySQL, and PHP/Perl/Python.
Landing Page: Standalone web pages that a person lands on after clicking through an email, advertisement, or other location.
Lazy Loading: When a website loads images and other content after the main content is loaded.
Link Farm: A link farm is a website (or group of websites) created for the purpose of increasing the number of links to another website.
Liquid Layout: Also known as fluid website design. Elements are sized with percentages instead of pixels so they change size depending on the user’s screen.
M:
Markup: Markup is a language or set of symbols that can be used to provide instructions to a web browser.
Meta Data: Set of data that describes and gives information to a search engine about a website.
Meta Tag: Snippets of text that describe a page’s content. They don’t appear on the web page itself but are in the website’s source code.
Micro Animations: Small, functional animations that support the user by giving visual feedback and displaying changes more clearly.
N:
Navigation: Website navigation is an integral part of web design. It’s a collection of user interface components that help users find content and features on the website.
Nesting: This is when you place, or nest one HTML element inside of another element.
Non-Breakable Space: Also called fixed space or hard space. Programmers use this to create a line of space that cannot be broken by word wrap.
O:
Open Source: A platform for sharing standards-compliant free web design templates.
P:
Pagespeed: How fast a website loads on a user’s device.
Page Template: Templates are predesigned layouts that allow you to arrange content onto a webpage and create a simple, well-designed website.
Pageview: A pageview is an instance where a web page is loaded or reloaded on a web browser.
Permalink: These have two parts. One is the domain name and the other appears after the domain name and is called a slug.
Plug-in: A software add-on that’s installed on a program (WordPress), that enhances the features.
Progressive Enhancement: A web d ensign philosophy that means to provide as many essential pieces of content and functionality to as many users as possible.
Propagation: When a website is moved to a new server and its IP needs to be updated around the world.
Property: A CSS property is a characteristic such as a color that defines how your browser should display it on the screen.
Pseudo-Element: A keyword added to a selector that allows you to style a specific part of an element.
Pseudo-Class: Selectors that select elements in a specific state.
R:
Registrar: A domain name registrar is a business that handles the reservation of domain names as well as the assignment of IP addresses for those domain names.
Resolution: The number of pixels a screen has horizontally and vertically.
Responsive Web Design: An approach to web design that suggests a website’s design should respond to the user’s environment.
Rich Snippets: Also known as “rich results”, the snippets are extra data displayed about a web page in the organic results.
S:
Schema: Special code that talks to search engines and tells them more about your website.
Script: Pieces of code embedded into a website.
Selector: Pattern of elements and other terms that tell the browser which HTML elements should be selected to have the CSS property values inside the rule applied to them.
Semantic Markup: See Schema
SEO: The process of getting traffic from free, organic, editorial, or natural search results in search engines.
SERP: Google’s response to a search engine query.
Slider: A slideshow on a website.
SOAP: XML-based protocol for accessing web services over HTTP.
SSL: A standard security technology that establishes an encrypted link between a server and a client.
Sticky Navigation: Fixed navigation menus on a website.
T:
Tag: Tags give web browsers instructions about the web page, such as where to display images, and how the document is structured.
Template: Pre-designed website layouts that allow to rearrange and adjust the content more quickly.
U:
URL: The location of a specific page or file on the internet.
Usability: Ease of access/use of a website.
UX Design: A website design process focused on providing the user with a great experience.
V:
Validation: Checking that the code under the surface of a website works properly.
W:
Web Page: A hypertext document on the internet.
Web Server: software and hardware that uses HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) and other protocols to respond to client requests made over the World.
Website Audit: An examination of page performance prior to large-scale search engine optimization (SEO) or a website redesign
Website Integration: When your website sends or receives information from another application.
Web Standards: The technologies we used to build on the internet.
Wireframe: Two-dimensional blueprints of a website. Most web designers start here.
WYSIWYG: Type of editing software that allows users to see and edit content in a form that appears as it would when displayed on an interface, webpage, slide presentation, or printed document. WYSIWYG is an acronym for “what you see is what you get.”
X:
XHTML: EXtensible HyperText Markup Language · XHTML is a stricter, more XML-based version of HTML
XML: XML stands for eXtensible Markup Language · XML is a markup language much like HTML · XML was designed to store and transport data.
Conclusion: Save This Page So You Won't Get Taken To The Cleaners By Shady Web Design Agencies
To conclude this post, you don’t need to be a professional web designer or internet marketer to have a basic knowledge of the terminology. It’s M.J. Web Design’s goal to provide you with these terms so that when you are building your website, interviewing a possible web design agency, or hiring a web designer, the lingo they use won’t go over your head. Nobody wants to be sold services at a gouged price just because they don’t understand the lingo (the mechanic’s syndrome!). It’s our ultimate goal to help you.
