Web Design 101: Index of website design terms

A

Accessibility

The accessibility of a website refers to the site being accessibly by any of its users on any device. This focuses mainly on the site being user friendly for those with disabilities.

Anchor

An anchor is used on an element if you wanted to create a link to that specific section on a web page. Links that takes you to an anchor point on that page allows your users to jump to any area of a page on any area of your site.

ie. The letters at the top of this post are linked to the anchor points of the correlating descriptions.

B

Back-End

In website development, the back-end of a website refers to the admin and development side of the site. The area in which developers build the site and users cannot access. The opposite to the user facing front-end.

Backlinks

Links on websites other than your own that go back to a page on your website. These are very beneficial to your SEO, read more about this here.

C

CDN (Content Delivery Network)

A content delivery network is a string of servers that help speed up the delivery of your website files. In turn speed up your website for your users.

CMS (Content Management System)

A content management system refers to the software platform that a website is run on.

ie. WordPress

Cookies

Cookies are built specifically for Internet web browsers to track, personalise, and save information about each user’s session. This is how a website remebers that you have previously visited or explored the site.

CSS (Cascading Style Sheets)

A form of code, CSS controls the style and layout of a website.

D

DNS (Domain Name Services)

DNS allows the connection between names (domains) and numbers (the servers you want to run on). These are looked after in your hosting settings.

Domain

A domain is the name of your website and is used as the URL link to get to your website. The domain is also used for your emails connected to your website.

E

E-commerce

A e-commerce website that allows people to buy and sell physical goods, services, and digital products over the internet.

F

Favicon

A favicon is a small 16 px x 16 px icon that is shown in the browser tab, it is a branding asset for your website. It helps your users to easily recognise and find your website when they have multiple tabs open.

Front-end

In website development, the front-end of the website refers to the user-facing interface and user experience design. The opposite to a websites back-end.

H

.htaccess

A vital website file that configures important settings to keep your website running.

Hosting

To have your website live on the internet, you need to rent a space on web to host your website files. There are many website hosting companies that offer these services with varying package types. These packages could differ in website max file size, CDN or include additional assets such as domains or emails.

HTTP / HTTPS

A Hypertext Transfer Protocol (Secure) is used for a secure communication over network servers.

Hyperlink

A hyperlink is a selected bit of text that takes you to a website link via a chosen URL link, activated by clicking on a highlighted word or image.

K

Keyword (SEO)

A keyword is a word or string of words that best describe a page or post.

L

Landing page

A landing page is a web page that a user lands on after clicking through via a link.

M

Meta Data

Your websites meta data consists of important descriptive information, such as meta title and meta description. This information helps search engines such as Google to understand what your content is and in turn helps other people find it.

P

Parallax

Parallax scrolling is a web design technique in which the website background moves at a slower pace than the foreground. This results in a 3D effect as visitors scroll down the site, adding a sense of depth and creating a more immersive browsing experience.

Permalink

A Permalink or Permanent Links are links to your website that are intended to remain unchanged, permanently. These are URL’s that are unique for your content. Each page, post and element on your site has its own permalink. You can edit your permalink to follow on from your domain.

eg. yourdomain.com/PERMALINK/

S

SEO (Search Engine Optimisation)

Your website SEO refers to how well your website is optimised to be found on search engines such as Google. The better optimised your site, the more visitors and traffic you will receive.

T

Tag

Website tags describe an element of a site. This information is stored as code behind elements and improves accessibility. It can help categorise items making them easier to organise and search for.

Template

A pre-designed website design that can be imported to save time starting a website build from scratch. You can then edit the template elements and content to make them your own.

U

URL

The URL (Uniform Resource Locator) is the address of a web page. This is the link that you type into your browser to get to a website.

Usability

The usability of a website describes the ease of use. Ensuring that content is shared clearly and the site is accessed with ease and on both desktop and mobile.