Wiliam`s dictionary of web design part one
In not so successfully trying to avoid the cliché that the web design industry can sometimes be a tsunami in the great ocean that is the World Wide Web – Wiliam is pleased to present an A-Z listing of popular web design buzzwords. We’ve searched high and low; even as far as under our desks and on our office dog – to come up with the most bizarre, over-used yet under-explained – and sometimes even confusing buzzwords used in the web industry.
So without further ado, let part one of the web design alphabet begin!
A is for Above the fold
This term is basically used to define how web site advertisers perceive the area of the page which users can view without the need to scroll their browser window. However, herein lies the rub; the ‘above the fold’ area is directly related to the resolution the viewer is using – and more importantly, whether they are even viewing the page/web site in full-screen mode.
In terms of actual web page design, it is important to get most of, if not all the functionally important elements of a website situated in the uppermost section of the website (above the fold of the page) so it is not only easily noticeable, but also helping advertisements get more clicks!
B is for Breadcrumbs
Just like in the Hansel & Gretel kids’ story, breadcrumbs are used to help the user recognize where exactly they are in the context of the web site’s information architecture/structure. Breadcrumbs can either be static, or dynamic – allowing the user to jump to the particular section they clicked on. An overused example of a breadcrumb is something along the lines of: ‘Home > About Us > Our Services’. In the preceding example, clicking on ‘About Us’ would take the user ‘up’ a section to the parent of ‘Our Services’ where we’d expect to find links to ‘Our Services’ and other sections.
C is for CMS
A CMS, or Content Management System, is a stand-alone application, or plug-in to a website which allows the website to be content-managed through some form or another. Generally speaking, a good CMS, such as Wiliam’s proprietary sitedock CMS should have the ability to create, read, update and delete (CRUD), or remove information from a web site.
D is for Dynamic
The opposite of ‘static’, dynamic pages are web documents that are generated automatically, or ‘on the fly’, usually using information from a database and utilising server-side scripting technology, such as ASP and .NET. Dynamic pages have the ability to be interactive as opposed to static sites which just present information.
E is for E-Commerce
In short, E-Commerce, or ecommerce, is the use of the Internet, especially the Web, as a commercial sales and marketing medium. This includes key concepts such as encryption, sales channels and storage facilities and payment gateways.
F is for FAQ
Stands for Frequently Asked Questions – it is basically a question-answer set which forms the basis of a section on a web site dedicated to educating the user about product offerings, services and more.
G is for GIF
Graphical Interface Format, pronounced ‘giff’ or ‘jiff’, is a common image format. It is mainly used in web graphics such as buttons and menu-navigation, etc. It is capable of displaying up-to 265 colours and supports transparency.
H is for HTML
Ah, how can we have a dictionary of web design and miss this lil’ beauty? HTML stands for Hypertext Markup Language. It is the language used to write Web pages. It has been rewritten to follow XML guidelines in a format referred to as XHTML (Extensible Hypertext Mark-up Language) – the hybrid of both HTML and XML.
I is for Inbound Link
A link from another web site that brings traffic. This metric is often used to measure link popularity and has achieved notoriety in search engine optimisation and marketing.
J is for JavaScript
JavaScript has the ability to make web pages more dynamic in terms of graphics and navigation. JavaScript can be used for to create drop-down menus and on-screen alerts
K is for Kerning
Kerning is the spacing between characters in typography. Until CSS2, this had to be done using imagery.
L is for LinkBistro
LinkBistro is Wiliam’s proprietary Link-building/back-link generation strategy tool.
M is for Milestone
In the field of project management; milestones are check points in the development process. Generally speaking, a milestone is linked to numerous tasks and sub-tasks which need to be completed to achieve sign-off on a phase of a project. When these criteria are met, the milestone is said to have been reached – and ultimately a stage/phase is then able to be signed-off.
So there you have it – part one of the web design alphabet. As usual, drop Wiliam a line if you are looking at realising your dreams online. Alternatively, check out our success stories here.
