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Web design glossary
If you can't tell your back end from your e-commerce, you need our simple web design glossary!
- Apache - the most popular Web server programme used on the Internet
- Back end - the part of a website accessible only to authorised users, e.g. a content management system; see Front end
- Breadcrumb trail - a series of links back up through the site structure to the home page
- Browser - computer programme to display a Web page at a Website on the World Wide Web
- CMS - Content Management System, a system for amending the text on a website
- CSS - Cascading Style Sheets, the main language used for styling web pages
- Client-side - refers to functionality that is performed on the user's computer; see Server-side
- Database - a collection of records or data stored on a Web server, common formats are MySQL and SQL Server
- Domain name - the first part of a URL, for example iteracy.com
- Dynamic - a Web page that gives users an interactive experience
- E-commerce - buying or selling items on the Internet
- FTP - File Transfer Protocol, a method for transferring files across the Internet
- Flash - a plugin made by Adobe for rich functionality on Web pages
- Form - allows a user to enter data onto a web page and send it back to the Web server
- Front end - the part of a website displayed to the general public, see Back end
- GIF - a older type of image file with limited colours, but capable of animation
- HTML - HyperText Markup Language, the usual programming language used to create web pages
- HTTP -a method for transferring web pages across the internet
- Homepage - the page displayed to a user when they start their Web browser or click the 'home' button
- Host - the server on which a website resides, or the company that provides it
- Hosting company - a company that sells space on their web servers to the public
- Hyperlink - a link to another page, document, image or other media on a Web page
- Internet - the global, public computer network
- JPEG - a type of image file used mainly for photographs
- Java - a plugin made by Sun to allow more complex programmes to run on a web page
- JavaScript - a scripting language used for client-side functionality
- MySQL - an open source database system created MySQL AB
- Open source - a set of principles and practices on how to write software, the most important of which is that the source code is openly available
- PHP - a computer language used to create dynamic Web pages
- PNG - an image file type suitable for graphics on the web, replacing the older GIF file type
- Plugin - an add-in programme for a web browser such as Flash or Quicktime
- Quicktime - a plugin made by Apple to display video and rich media on web pages
- Ranking - the placement of a website in a search engines results
- SEF - Search Engine Friendly, any system designed to improve the visibility of a site to a search engine
- SEO - Search Engine Optimisation, methods for improving a website's result position in a search engine
- SQL Server - a database system created by Microsoft
- Search engine - a website designed to search for information on the Web
- Server - a computer that holds a web site and sends pages, images and other parts of a web page
- Server-side - refers to functionality that is performed on the Web server
- Static - a Web page that doesn't include any rich functionalilty or database calls
- W3C - the World Wide Web Consortium, the organisation that sets standards for the Web
- WAI - Web Accessibility Initiative, a set of standards created by the W3C to improve accessibility of websites
- Web page - a file usually written in HTML or XHTML programming languages that can be a read by a Web browser
- Website - a collection of Web pages, images or videos hosted on one or several Web server(s)
- World Wide Web - a system of linked documents accessed via the Internet
- XHTML - Extensible HyperText Markup Language, the latest version of HTML
- XML - Extensible Markup Language, a general-purpose markup language upon which XHTML is based