Design Dictionary

During your search for web design services, here are a few useful terms and definitions to know:

  • Back-End – The information structure or application.  i.e. database
  • Blog (or web log) – A website consisting of date-related entries.  Blogs can be personal in nature or business related.
  • Content Management System (CMS) – A web content management system allows easy maintenance of a website using a simple web-browser based interface. 
  • Crawler/Robot/Spider – A program run by a search engine to build a summary of a website’s consent (content index).  Spiders create a text-based summary of content and an address (URL) for each webpage.
  • Domain Name – A domain name is the textual identifier for a website, for example: csuitemedia.com. It is also commonly referred to as an address.
  • Domain Name System (DNS) Server – A domain name system (DNS) server resolves a domain name to an internet protocol (IP) address.  For example, the domain name www.csuitemedia.com might be resolved to an IP address like 144.180.203.93.  You can access a website by typing either its domain name or the IP address into the address field of a web browser.
  • Favicon – A favicon.ico file is a 16×16 pixel image, displayed to the left of the webpage address (URL) in the browser address field.  It may also be displayed alongside the meta title in a user’s favorites/bookmarks list (if the webpage has been bookmarked), or in the history list.
  • Front-End – The interface that allows users to access the information or application i.e. website.
  • Host Provider/Hosting– For a website to be viewed by other people, it must be stored on a computer (server) that is connected to the internet.  A company that provides this storage service is know n as a “host” and the service it provides is called “hosting”.
  • Integration – In the context of web development, integration is the process of connecting an information structure such as a database, or information processing system (back-end) to a visual template or interface (front-end).  For example, a integration of a blog might consist of implementing a pre-designed theme or custom theme.
  • Landing Page – ‘Landing page’ is a generic term for the first page a person sees when linking to a website.  The landing page may be the homepage, but due to the use of search engines, it is increasingly likely to be a content page.
  • Look & Feel  – Look-and-feel describes the way that branding and communication messages are reflected the design of a website.  ‘Look’ relates to the visual design aspects of a website: type-size, page layout, etc. ‘Feel’ relates to the experience of using a website.
  • Navigation – The system(s) that a visitor uses to move around a website.  (global navigation, breadcrumb trails, related links, pagination, footer navigation, etc.)
  • Open Source – A computer program where the underlying code is made available to the public is referred to as ‘open source’.
  • Really Simple Syndication (RSS) – A standardized dialect of XML that enables content from one website to be republished (syndicated) by another.  This method is often used to republish news (i.e. latest headlines)
  • Search Engine – A search engine is a program (i.e. Google, Yahoo, etc.) that builds an index of website content that a person can then search to find relevant webpages.
  • Search Engine Marketing – Search engine marketing involves a strategic approach to driving/attracting users to a website.
This includes:
attractor design
creating copy and imagery to drive a user to click-through to a website
paid placement or pay-per-click (PPC)
determining where a website should be promoted to attract an audience
search engine optimization
developing web content to achieve a high ranking in search engine results pages (SERP) search engine optimization (SEO).  Search engine optimization is a process or strategy for creating webpage content to improve a website’s relevance ranking on a search engine results page (SERP).
  • Sitemap -  A sitemap provides an overview of website content in a manner similar to the contents page of a book.
  • Social Media – Consent-service that enables social interaction to generate, disseminate and access content such as articles, photos or video.  Popular social media elements are Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, Flickr, and Digg.
  • Template – Templates can be used to create coherence across a website. Consistency, imposed through the use of templates, enables a user to more readily learn how content has been structured and how to interact with information or services.   A webpage template might include global navigation and examples of how different types of content, such as headings, pull-quotes, tables and form elements should be treated. Ideally guidelines should be provided to help an author choose an appropriate treatment and the corresponding markup.
  • Web Browser – A web browser is a computer program that is used to access the web (to view webpages).  A browser can also be used to download files, send and receive email, or short messages across the internet.  Commonly-used web browsers, in order of market-share: Microsoft Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, Opera & Google Chrome
  • World Wide Web (WWW) - The ’web is a network of files that can be accessed with a software ‘viewer’ or browser. Files can include text, imagery, and time-based media. The web can also be used to access remote services.

Source: The Motive Web Design Glossary