Website Jargon

A Glossary of Common Web Design Terms

When you start your web project there may be a lot of terms you may not understand. Here we have compiled a list of typical website lingo as a guide:

Analytics

Web analytics is the process of analyzing the behavior of visitors to a website. Used as part of client relationship management (CRM) to allow the client a monthly or annual view of trends and behaviors on their website.

Back End

The back end of a website is the part hidden from view of regular website visitors. The back end generally includes the information structure, applications, and the CMS controlling content on the site.

Backlink

Backlinks are links from other sites back to your own. They’re sometimes also referred to as “trackbacks” (especially on blogs). Backlinks have a huge impact on your site’s search rankings. Lots of backlinks from high-ranking sites can greatly improve your search engine results, especially if those links use keywords in their anchor text.

Blog

A blog (short for “web log”) is a type of web page that offers a series of posted items (short articles, photos, etc.). Blogs have become a common medium for communication in professional, political, news, and other web communities.

Bounce Rate

The percentage of visitors to a particular website who navigate away from the site after viewing only one page.

Breadcrumb

Breadcrumbs are navigation elements that generally appear near the top of a web page that show you the pages and subpages that appear before the page you’re on. For example, on a blog, the breadcrumbs might look something like: Home > Category > Post.

Browser

Software programs that enable you to view web pages and other documents on the Internet. They “translate” HTML-encoded files into the text, images, sounds, and other features you see. The most commonly used browsers are Google Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Microsoft Edge.

CAPTCHA

A challenge-response test used to determine whether the user is human, used to filter out spam. It is fully automated, requiring little human maintenance or intervention to administer. CAPTCHA is usually at the end of a web form.

CMS (Content Management System)

A CMS allows its users to edit, delete, and manage the content of a website from a visual interface. A successful CMS requires no knowledge of programming languages, CSS, or HTML to easily update a website. Examples include WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal.

Crawler

Crawlers, also referred to as “spiders,” are programs used by search engines to roam the web, visit sites and databases, and keep search engine databases up to date. They obtain new pages, update known pages, and delete obsolete ones.

CSS (Cascading Style Sheets)

A language for the web used to define the style (look and feel) of a webpage, including fonts, colors, layouts, and more.

Domain

A domain is a person or organization’s unique space on the Internet. In layman’s terms, it commonly refers to the name of your website.

Domain Name

A domain is identified by a number (IP address) assigned to its unique space. To make it easier to use, that number is given a name of your choice. This way, people don’t need to remember the IP address to visit a website—they can use the easier-to-remember domain name instead.

Favicon

A favicon is a tiny (generally 16×16 or 32×32 pixels) customizable icon displayed in the browser’s address bar or tab next to the page title.

Font Family

Font family is a group designation for defining the typefaces used in CSS documents. The font family tag generally lists multiple fonts to be used and usually ends with a generic font category (e.g., “serif” or “sans-serif”).

Front End

The front end is all the components of a website that a visitor can see—pages, images, content, etc. It’s the interface visitors use to access the site’s content, also known as the User Interface (UI).

Google Algorithm

Google’s algorithms depend on more than 200 unique signals or “clues” to determine what you might be looking for. These signals include things like terms on websites, freshness of content, your region, and PageRank.

Hamburger Button

The hamburger button is a symbol consisting of three parallel horizontal lines (≡) used as a menu icon in user interfaces. It typically appears in the top left or right corner and is named for its resemblance to a hamburger.

Hosting

The service of providing hardware, software, and storage for websites, including maintenance of site files on a server.

Hyperlink

A hyperlink is a link from one web page to another, either on the same site or a different one. Generally text or images, hyperlinks are highlighted in some way (underlined, different color, etc.).

Landing Page

A web page that a user is directed to after clicking on an external link, often designed specifically for marketing purposes.

Metadata

Metadata is data contained in the header that offers information about the current web page. This information isn’t visible on the page itself (except in the source code) and is contained within meta tags.

Meta Tag

Included in the head section of an HTML page, meta tags are visible to search engines but not human visitors. They provide information like the page title, keywords, description, and instructions for search engine robots and browsers.

Navigation

Navigation refers to the system that allows visitors to move around a website. This includes menus, in-page links, breadcrumbs, related links, pagination, and any other links that help visitors move between pages.

Organic Listings

Unpaid search results, as opposed to paid advertisements that appear in search engine results.

Plug-ins

A plug-in is third-party code that extends the capabilities of a website. Most often used with a CMS or blogging platform, plug-ins add functionality without modifying the site’s core code. Note: too many plug-ins can slow down a website.

Redirect

When you type in a certain URL and it automatically changes to a different URL.

Responsive

A website that adjusts its layout based on the screen size it’s viewed on—computer, tablet, or phone—so it always looks its best regardless of device.

SEM (Search Engine Marketing)

A form of Internet marketing that promotes websites by increasing their visibility in search engine results pages (SERPs) primarily through paid advertising, also known as Pay-per-Click (PPC) or Cost-Per-Click (CPC) advertising.

SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

Planning and writing website content to improve the likelihood of showing up for relevant search terms in search engines like Google and Bing. SEO includes keyword research, content writing, web design, web development, and blogging.

Sitemap

An index of all the content on a website. It helps visitors find what they’re looking for and helps search engines discover all your pages.

Slider

A rotating display of images on a webpage, usually pausing briefly on each image. Often used on homepages to feature important topics or promotions.

Thumbnail Gallery

Smaller preview photos used to display a large collection of images. When clicked, the photos enlarge for the user to see in full size.

URL

The abbreviation for “Uniform Resource Locator.” Also known as a web address—the characters you see in your browser’s address bar.

White Hat

Ethical SEO practices that follow search engine guidelines to ensure optimal results. The opposite is Black Hat SEO.

Wireframe

Simplistic drawings or layouts of a webpage with no design applied. Wireframes are used in preliminary stages of website design to focus on UI and content layout before applying visual design.

Common File Types

.psd

Adobe Photoshop file.

.eps

A common vector file format allowing graphics to be resized without altering quality or resolution. Designers often request this file type for logos used across multiple mediums or large formats.

.ai

A vector file format used in Adobe Illustrator. Vector files can be resized to any size without losing quality—ideal for large graphics.

.jpg

This file extension is used for JPEG files. JPEGs use lossy compression, which removes portions of data to create smaller file sizes suitable for web use.