The BWDD Web Design Glossary

Accessibility − Refers to a web page or website that can be viewed or used by all, including people with disabilities. A web page or site that addresses these user's limitations is said to be Accessible. The publication of PAS 78 Guide to good practice in commissioning accessible websites, has been developed in conjunction with the Disability Rights Commission (DRC), Websites should be working towards full compliance with the consensus on accessibility best practice as detailed in this document.

Applet − An applet is a small program designed to run within another application. Java is one of the major languages used for creating Web-based applets.

ASP [Active Server Pages] − Microsoft technology similar to CGI that is used to create dynamic content for a web page. Pages using ASP are created with programming scripts (eg; JavaScript) and integrated within the HTML of a page. It is a server−side scripting language and is mostly used on Windows platforms.

Bandwidth − Bandwidth is the amount of data that can be transferred over the network in a fixed amount of time. On the Internet, it is usually expressed in bits per second (bps). A hosting server will allocate your site a fixed amount of bandwidth usage within a regular period of time.

Browser − Often called a Web browser, it is simply a software application used to interpret HTML commands and display page content. The two most popular browsers are Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE) and Mozilla Firefox.

Content − A word you'll likely see around a lot is "web content" and by definition, content is the 'stuff' that makes up a web site. This could be words, pictures, images, videos or sounds.

Copywriting - the process of writing the words that promote a person, business, service, opinion, or idea

CSS [Cascading Style Sheets] − The Cascading Style Sheets specification is a computer language that is used to write formatting instructions (rules). These rules tell a browser how webpage content should ‘look’— in terms of:
layout:- position, alignment, width, height, etc.
style:- typeface, font-weight, colour, border, etc.

CSS Layouts - The latest method or standard being adopted by designers and developers to lay out the design of a web page. CSS layouts use a model which is without tables and which is therefore better for accessibilty. Often, CSS layouts reduce the size of a web page and therefore make them "faster"

Custom Design - A Website design that is not out-of-the-box, rather it has been tailored to meet the specific needs of a business or individual

Custom Graphics - Website graphics that are not out-of-the-box, that have been designed to meet the needs of a business or individual

Database Driven website - consisting of a "back-end" database with web pages that contain "script" programming language capable of pulling specific information from the database depending on what the user wants to know.

DNS [Domain Name System (Service)] − A domain name system (DNS) server resolves a domain name to an internet protocol (IP) address. For example, the domain name www.bwdd.co.uk is resolved to the IP address 70.84.65.50 You can access a website by typing either its domain name or the IP address into the address field of a web browser. Domain names are alphabetic so they're easier to remember. The Internet however, is really based on IP addresses. Every time you use a domain name, therefore, a DNS service must translate the name into the corresponding IP address.

Domain Name − An unique name that identifies one or more IP addresses. A domain name is the textual identifier for a website, for example: www.bwdd.co.uk. It's also often referred to as an address or URL.

Dynamic website - see Database driven or E-commerce Enabled

E-commerce Enabled - A dynamic site enabling online ordering/purchasing using a database and commercial software.

Favicon - A favicon (short for "favorites icon"), also known as a page icon or an urlicon, is an icon associated with a particular website or webpage. A web designer can create such an icon to reflect a customers brand

Flash - Flash technology has become a popular method for adding animation and interactivity to web pages. Flash is commonly used to create animation, advertisements, various web-page components, to add video to web pages, and to develop rich Internet applications. The use of Flash in websites can create issues for accessibility and search engines, though these are not insurmountable, they should be addressed prior to implementation.

Frames − An HTML technique for combining two or more separate HTML documents within a single web browser screen. A web site using frames often causes great problems for search engines, and may not be spidered and indexed correctly.

FTP [File Transfer Protocol] − One of the common methods of transferring files over the Internet. A typical method used for uploading files (pages) to a hosting server for viewing on the Internet.

Hits − Are the individual requests a server answers in order to render a single Web page completely. The page document itself and the various images on the page represent a separate hit.

Home Page − It is the first page in a site (also referred as an opening page, start page or main page) of a website. This would technically be your index page or default page.

Hosting − Usually refers to a computer (or a network of servers) that stores the files of a web site which has web server software running on it, connected to the Internet. Your site is then said to be Hosted. For a web site to be seen by others it must be stored on a computer (server) that is connected to the internet. A company that provides this service is known as a host and the service it provides is hosting.

HTML [HyperText Markup Language] − Hypertext Markup Language is the authoring software language used on the Internet's World Wide Web. HTML is used for creating World Wide Web pages.

Image Map − An image that has several hyperlinks mapped onto it. Often used for location maps.

Interactive − A Web page is interactive when it prompts a response from the user or in when it can in some way interact with the user dynamically eg; filling out a form or a survey etc.

Internet − Distinct from the World Wide Web. The internet is the term for the International networked collection of computers that communicate with each other via a standard set of network protocols - Internet Protocol. E-mail, WWW and FTP are communication protocols that sit on top of the internet.

IP [Internet Protocol] − The method or protocol by which data is sent from one computer to another on the Internet. Each computer (known as a host) on the Internet has at least one IP address that uniquely identifies it from all other computers on the Internet.

JavaScript − JavaScript is an object-based, client−side scripting language. Embedded in the head section of a web document, It can produce interactivity to a web page dynamically. Javascripts are used to add functions to web pages. Javascript can be utilised for a wide range of activity from rollovers; to drop-down menus.

Link [Hyperlink] − A link is simply the area on a graphic, or word on a website page that, when clicked, takes the user to another place on the same page, another web page, web site or file download.

Link Building - The process of gaining external hyperlinks to a website, to improve traffic and exposure.

Meta Tag − A special HTML tag that provides information about a Web page. These can be used to provide information to search engine robots. Unlike normal HTML tags, meta tags do not affect how the page is displayed.

Mouseover − A JavaScript element that triggers a change on an item (often a graphic change, such as making an image or hyperlink appear or change) in a web page when the mouse pointer passes over it.

Navigation - A system of tabs, text and graphic hyperlinks set up on a Web page to enable users to find their way from page to page around the website.

Obfuscation - email address obfuscation is a technique used to complicate code. Obfuscation makes code harder to understand by robots or scripts searching the web for email addresses to use for spam purposes.

Optimise, optimisation - The aim of optimisation is to reduce the time it takes to access a website. Images, application and (X)HTML code can all be optimised.

Page Rank or PR - Page Rank is a term now almost uniquely used to describe Google's measurement of the importance (relative) of a webpage. It is based on the number and quality of other sites that link to a page and is measured on a scale of 0 to 10 The majority of sites with a PR of 7 or above are either Government or Educational sites or undisputed authority sites in their field, such as Wikipedia and of course, no surprise here, Google itself. Most sites that have been around for a while could get a PR of 3 or 4 without too much effort. A PR of 5, 6, or 7 takes a lot more work. By work, we mean either by producing popular, useful content that sites will naturally link to, or by working hard to ask other sites to consider linking to a particular web page.

Publishing (web pages) - Once all the web pages for a web site are completed they need to be published (uploaded and/or delivered) to a server to be viewed at your domain name this is often done using an FTP Client.

Resolution - The number of dots per inch on a computer monitor

ROI (Return On Investment) - ROI is calculated by considering the financial benefit for a period divided by the initial financial outlay.

Satisfaction Promise - A promise of customer/client satisfaction (within reasonable limits) given by a web designer or developer.

Search Engines - Search Engines are sites that enable users to find other web sites and internet resources. Search engines work by indexing the web and adding website information into a set of huge databases. They are a tool that enables users to locate information on the World Wide Web. Search engines use keywords and meta tags and often complex on and off page algorithms to find Web sites which contain relevance to the information sought.

SEO - Search Engine Optimisation - Search engine optimisation is a process or strategy designed to improve a webpage’s relevance ranking on a search engine result page (SERP).

SEM (Search Engine Marketing / Promotion) - Search engine marketing involves a strategic approach to driving / attracting users to a website. Once all the web pages of a web site are published they should be promoted (marketed). Submitting the website to search engines is one example of promoting your web site.

SERP (Search Engine Results Page) - Search Engine Results Page(s). The page or pages that are displayed after entering a query into a search engine.

Spam - Unsolicited "junk" e-mail sent to large numbers of people to promote products or services. Also refers to inappropriate promotions to search engines.

Splash Page - Splash pages consist of a large graphics or a Flash animations for your home page—after that, you get to enter the site. Personally, I feel splash pages are a waste of your visitor's time. When someone finds your site, they're looking for information - not full feature films that slow them down.

Spiders - A spider is the term given to the electronic information gatherers often referred to as Robots that search engines send out to index the web.

Standards based (design/development) - A website which adheres, complies or works toward achieving agreed industry recognised standards.

Static Site - A website whose content is fixed, ie the same for all visitors. Not database driven.

Template Design - A Website design that is out-of-the-box, it has been designed to meet the general needs of a business or individual and may not be exclusive

Upload - Copying or sending files or data from one computer to another.

URL (Uniform Resource Locator) - The World Wide Web address of a site on the Internet.

Validation - Validation is the process of checking data against a standard or requirement.

Usability Testing or Website Usability - Website Usability is the term used to refer to how effective your website is for your visitors. Testing the ease and practicality with which users can use and navigate a web site.

Web 2.0 - ‘Web 2.0’ encapsulates a rethinking and reinvention of how the world wide web is used, and how it could be used. It is not an application or programme, rather it's phraseology alone, is similar to that used in software applications, where the release of a new version is denoted by appending a number to the software name. Beyond its initial use to describe an approach, the term web 2.0 has also entered popular usage as a synonym for ‘newness’.

Web Designer - Someone who designs web sites. Web designers are sometimes just graphic artists, though most also write HTML and many are also web developers

Web Developer - A web developer is responsible for programming the functionality of a web site.

WWW - The World Wide Web. The World Wide Web is a series of technologies developed by Tim Berners-Lee