Do you know the difference between HTML and CSS? How about UI or UX?
When talking about the design and development process, we want to ensure you understand some of the key terms that may be mentioned to you throughout your project.
We’ve created a mini glossary of some of the most common web terms that you may encounter during your project, and some terms that are always handy to know!
AI
Artificial Intelligence works by creating algorithms, learning behaviours and enabling machines to perform tasks without human input. Popular AI software includes Chat GPT and Google Gemini.
Analytics
Analytics are snippets of code that gather information about your users and how they interact with your website. It is an invaluable resource to review how well pages are performing, where users land on your website, what devices they are using, and to uncover any possible areas for improvement. Common analytics software includes Google Analytics and Plausible.
Breadcrumb
A breadcrumb trail is a secondary navigational element that shows the location of the current web page in relation to the other pages within the website.
Browser
A browser is a computer program that you use to access the internet, e.g. Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Microsoft Edge.
Cache
Your computer will store certain files from websites you visit to reduce loading times. Sometimes it’s useful to empty your cache to ensure you are seeing the most up-to-date version of a webpage.
Content Management System (CMS)
This is a backend tool for managing your website content. It’s a graphical system that often makes it easier for designers to build and edit your website. One of the most popular Content Management Systems is WordPress.
Cascading Style Sheet (CSS)
A web language that enables designers and developers to change the presentation of your website, for example: the colours, the fonts and the layout.
Domain Name
The unique web address belonging to your website.
E-Commerce (Electronic Commerce)
An online shop where you can sell your products.
Favicon
The tiny graphic you see in your browser’s tab next to the web page title.
Host
The ‘home’ where all of your website’s data and files are stored online.
Hypertext Markup Language (HTML)
HTML is the standard markup language that web developers use to build the structure of a website.
Headings
Headings (e.g. H1, H2, H3 etc) are the hierarchy of titles that web pages use to prioritise and organise different parts of the text flow. This is important for SEO.
IP Address
An IP Address (Internet Protocol) is the unique address associated with your device that is connected to the Internet.
JavaScript (JS)
A programming language that controls dynamic behaviour, stores information and handles requests on your website.
Keywords
Keywords are certain words and phrases on a web page that search engines ‘read’ when you search for something. It is important to use words that describe your website and what your consumers will be searching for. Keywords must be written into your website’s copy and must be relevant to your website if you want to appear higher in search rankings.
Mega Menu
A traditional sub-navigation menu is presented as a dropdown list of sub-pages. A mega navigation menu presents the sub-page dropdown in a visual layout when hovering or clicking, and includes elements such as text, images, buttons and icons.
Meta Description
A HTML attribute that gives search engines information and text to display in search results. This should work hand-in-hand with your SEO keywords and page content.
Navigation Bar
A graphical navigation menu that allows users to click through to pages within your website. It is important to structure this intuitively so that users can easily find the content they are looking for. Layouts can be visual and/or text-based.
Responsive Layouts
Responsive layouts adjust and shrink to the device’s window size, whilst retaining full functionality and usability.
Search Engine
A website which collects and organises content from the web, showing you results that correspond to your search terms. Popular search engines include Google, Bing and Yahoo.
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation. It encompasses a range of processes which aim to improve your search engine ranking and increase traffic to your website. This is achieved in a variety of ways, including the use of keywords, your website structure and speed, and the proper use of heading tags.
Site Map
A site map is a list of the web pages within a website showing their relationship to each other. It is often presented in a hierarchical ‘map’ format. A site map should be carefully planned with user experience (UX) and navigation in mind so that it is structured hierarchically, efficiently and intuitively. A well-structured site map will allow search engines to crawl your website more efficiently.
Slug
The text that appears after the forwards slash in a website address.
User Interface (UI)
The user interface is the way in which a user and a computer system interact, through a visual layout of elements on a web page.
Uniform Resource Locator (URL)
The URL is the full string of characters that make up a website address that you type into a browser, e.g. http://www.google.com.
User Experience (UX)
The way a website behaves and makes the user feel when interacting with it.
