At CDP, we’re aware about all the new words that’ll be thrown at you when you update your website. We’re here to try to make your journey simpler. Take a look at our jargon buster below which helps ease the pain so you can understand what the hell the tech geeks are talking about!
Web Design Jargon |
Translation |
| Above the Fold | If content on your website is “Above the Fold”, it means you don’t need to scroll down to view it. |
| Analytics | Analytics is software that tracks your website’s visitors. Analytics will tell you what’s happening on your website, but not why. |
| Backend | A website’s “backend” is a way to refer to the websites CMS or server. This is private and where you login to manage your website’s content. |
| Call to Action (CTA) | A CTA is usually a button that is easy to find on your website that encourages your visitor to take action, either being call, email or download. |
| Content Development | Writing content for your website is very important, especially for online marketing purposes. |
| Content Management System (CMS) | A CMS allows you to easily add or edit any content on your website. The most common CMS is WordPress. |
| Conversion Rates | Conversion Rates are a very important metric to understand and evaluate your website’s effectiveness. To work it out, you divide the number of visitors by the number of leads or contacts you receive via your website. |
| Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) | CSS is a file that dictates how things will be displayed on your website. |
| Domain Name | A domain name is the address for your website. |
| Flat Design | Flat design is a type of web design that enhances the minimal, clean and simple design approach. This is characterised by the lack of bevels, gradients and shadows. |
| Front End | A website’s front end is the part of the website that the public can see on a computer or mobile device. |
| File Transfer Protocol (FTP) | An FTP is where a developer or designer transfers files that relate to your website. |
| Hosting | Hosting is a method of making your website available to the public. |
| HyperText Markup Language (HTML) | HTML is a form of programming language that tells web browsers how to render audio, pictures, video and words on your web pages. |
| Infinite Scrolling | Infinite scrolling is where the content on the web page will load as you scroll down the page. |
| Landing Page | A landing page is somewhere that you want the visitor to go to directly when they type in your domain name. In most cases, people refer to this as the “homepage”. |
| Lead Form | Lead forms are a great way to capture data. They can be places anywhere on the website and can be filled in by visitors for them to gain more information. |
| Meta Tags | The 2 most commonly used meta tags are “meta description” and “meta keywords”. They can help with your Google rankings, but there are several other factors to consider. |
| Mobile First | Mobile First means that you put the design of the mobile website before the design of the screen. |
| Mockup | A mockup is a picture of what your website would look like when it’s complete. |
| Parallax Scrolling | Parallax scrolling is where the background image of the website move slower than the content when scrolling down the page. |
| Photoshop | Photoshop is the industry standard programme for graphic designers to design on. |
| Responsive Design | Responsive Design allows your website to respond to any size screen by reformatting itself to still look good. |
| Quality Assurance (QA) | QA involves a couple of things. The first is to make sure the website works across all browsers. The second would be to test all features on the website. |
| Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) | SEO is an online marketing strategy that allows your website to be found on Google or other search engines. |
| Sitemap | A site map is a list of all the pages of your website and where they can be found. |
| Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) | SVG creates high resolution artwork on your website without loading any graphic files so it speeds up the loading times on your website. |
| Template | Template has 2 meanings. The first people can refer the term as a pre-designed website theme, but the main definition of template would be the code that tells your CMS how to lay out the content and layout of your pages on your website. |
| User Interface Design (UI Design) | UI Design is a way to describe a page that the visitors will see. UI design is all about aesthetics and layout that works best for the type of page, and what you want the end result of that page doing. |
| User Experience Design (UX Design) | UX Design is a way to look at a website’s design. UX Design considers your visitors abilities and needs, the device it operates on as well as the actions you want your visitors to take. |
| Whitespace | Whitespace is the amount of padding that is located around key parts of the content on a web page including images and paragraphs. |
| Wireframe | A Wireframe is an example of a design before the mockup stage. It is to organise the content and structure of the pages before them being designed. |
If you need any other advice or help understanding web jargon, then CDP, a Digital Marketing Agency in Sheffield is always happy to lend a hand. Send an email with your details over to jcoughlan@cdpcreative.com and we’ll call you back and discuss how we can provide you with support, advice and a partner to help grow your business.
