The field of web design is full of jargon that can be quite technical, and in trying to understand what’s being discussed when planning or modifying a website, it’s important to understand the different terms. These terms may be familiar to web designers, digital marketing specialists, and programmers, but for those outside this group, it’s best to review some important concepts to better understand the execution and scope of a web design project.
If you want to start a website project, make changes to your current one, or add new features or sections, this web design glossary is a great resource for better communication and to better express your ideas and the concepts you want to achieve. If you have a grasp of these terms, it will be much easier for you to achieve your goals, and it will also be easier for the web design team to understand any requirements from a specific perspective.
Web Design Glossary
Table of Contents
Technical and web development aspects
Backend
It consists of a server, an application, and a database that together allow the user-facing website to exist and be managed without the end user seeing or having access to it. The backend contains the site’s structure, data organization, and the programming of its core functionalities.
Backup
A backup is the process of creating a data backup so that it can be recovered in the event the original data is lost or damaged. many businesses and websites, so it can be performed regularly or in a specific case when a process could compromise the security of certain data.
CMR (Customer Relationship Management)
CRM refers to software that allows you to manage strategies, attract, acquire, and retain customers. software allows companies to maintain a database and manage it through workflows to nurture customer relationships and ensure a smooth purchasing process, as well as customer service from the organization. A CRM ensures greater productivity and smarter working to increase closing rates and customer loyalty.
CMS (Content Management System)
It is a type of software that allows users and administrators to create, manage, and modify website content using specific features and without the need for technical knowledge. A provides all to content management system basic infrastructure to manage different tasks related to documents, text, pages, media libraries, and more.
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IP address
This is a unique address that identifies a device connected to the Internet or a local network. IP stands for Internet Protocol, which is a set of rules that routes and directs data packets as they are transmitted over networks. Thus, an IP address serves as an identifier that allows information to be sent between devices on a network.
Domain
A domain name refers to a website’s location on the World Wide Web as a text string assigned to a numeric IP address. This is the text a user types into a browser window to access the website. An example is Google’s domain name: www.google.com .
Frontend
This emphasizes the graphic design and user interface to allow visitors to find, view, and interact with a website or app. To achieve a complete front-end experience , which is what users interact with, it goes through several stages of development, such as rough flow sketches or prototypes as working examples of the site, all the way up to user testing.
Hosting
Hosting in Spanish is also known as online web hosting. This is a storage service that allows a website to be accessible on the internet. When you purchase a hosting service, you are paying to rent space on a physical server where the website’s files and data are stored. This service offers efficiency, speed, and security for a website. There are hosting services that share resources with other websites; there are private hosting services, in which there is a private space for the website within a server; and there are dedicated hosting services , in which there is a physical hosting service solely for one website and no server resources are shared.
Script
Scripts are pieces of code that define a specific function on a website within an HTML document . This code is written in a programming language that defines its format and functionality. It also forms the complete code for an application or a specific feature. It can also be a piece of code installed on a website to integrate with other applications.
SSL (SSL Certificate)
SSL, or Secure Sockets Layer , is a protocol for establishing authenticated and encrypted links between networked computers, keeping an internet connection secure. This way, sensitive information is completely protected from potential cyberattacks so it cannot be read or modified. Thus, an SSL certificate guarantees that a website or e-commerce site is secure and reliable when handling personal information.
Plugin
This is a software add-on that allows you to customize software programs, applications, and web browsers to provide a more complete experience when creating content or performing tasks on the web. A plugin or add-on may also be required to perform an action, such as playing a video in a player that requires a specific plugin . Alternatively, it may be the necessary add-on to add functionality to a website.
WordPress
This is one of the most well-known free website creation platforms in the web world. As an open-source content management system written in PHP and using a MySQL database, it is a powerful and easy-to-manage website builder . WordPress is a website creation solution for a variety of business sizes and different types of sites, such as blogs, eCommerce stores, organizational websites, and many others.
SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
Domain Authority
This is a search engine ranking score ranging from 1 to 100, indicating a website’s likelihood of ranking in search engine results pages. Domain authority is a good indicator for evaluating certain pages and their performance compared to those of other competitors or websites.
Backlinks
These are links that belong to other websites but direct to another website’s own page. so implementing, analyzing, and managing them is an important aspect of optimizing pages for search engines.
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Social Media Marketing Glossary
Build Linking
This is the practice of promoting or promoting a website through links on other websites. It’s a search engine optimization technique. A solid link building strategy requires establishing multiple links from your own site to other websites . Therefore, it requires planning and a strategy that can also benefit other websites.
Keywords
So, when users search for content related to a particular term, the website page that entered that keyword appears. If, for example, the keyword is ” study English in Bogotá ,” a post like ” 5 Reasons to Study English in Bogotá That You Should Know About” could be a good blog post to help rank higher for that keyword.
Keyword Research
The process of researching popular search terms among users and strategically including them in a website’s content with the aim of achieving better rankings. This is one of the main tactics an SEO strategy must employ to create the right content and deliver exactly what users are searching for on the web.
Meta Title
Also known as a title tag, this refers to the text that appears as a main heading in search engine results pages to describe the topic of a page or blog post. Search engines analyze these meta titles for their rankings, so it’s important to create good meta titles following best practices.
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Meta Description
A text description that describes a page’s content in approximately 160 characters. This accompanies the page’s meta title, and it’s good practice to include keywords in this text to present your content with Google’s attention. A meta description is an invitation and a value promise about what users are searching for and how this page is a good result.
301 Redirects
This is a permanent redirect from one link to another for proper functioning. links can become corrupted or no longer exist, or because a website’s restructuring can change these links, a redirect sends a message to search engines that a page’s content has been permanently moved to a new destination URL. When search engine crawlers receive this message, they also stop indexing the old URL.
SERP (Search Engine Results Page)
This is a Google results page that displays the answer to a user’s search query. This results page primarily includes organic results, paid Google Ads results, and snippets (fragments of content).
Page layout and anatomy
Banners
One of the most recognized web advertising formats . banner is a graphic piece that promotes or advertises certain content at the top, bottom, or side of a web page. banner directs to a link with the intention of driving traffic to that other web page, and can also generate impressions that draw attention to a page.
Call to Action
It’s a message that captures users’ attention while encouraging them to take a desired action or generate a certain interaction. Calls to action generally lead to a landing page that offers a promotion, offer, or interesting content.
Footer
footer is displayed at the bottom of a page as a generally rectangular section containing a menu of important website links . links included in a footer lead to pages such as terms of use, privacy and publishing terms, among others. It’s a very common section that web developers should include, as users always expect to find it.
Form
A form is a web page or section of a web page where a user can enter information into a series of fields of different formats . They are also used as a contact strategy with potential leads or as a subscription format for certain services. The purpose of a form can vary depending on the business’s intention.
Header
It’s the header at the top of a web page. From a web design perspective, it should quickly offer a clear and concise menu of options available to the user in terms of links , sections, and other pages.
Headings
Heading elements are tags that give a hierarchical order to titles and subheadings on a web page. This is also the main SEO title, so it must include a keyword.
Homepage
It is the root page of a website’s page directory. It provides top-level menus where visitors can find directions to different pages and sections of the rest of the website. The main page, or homepage, guides visitors on how to navigate a site and what information can be found where.
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Landing Page
This is the landing page users receive after they click on a previous step called a call to action . Its purpose is to generate conversions by collecting information users leave in exchange for a valuable offer and their interest.
Layout
It refers to the arrangement of visual elements within a structure or grid to organize and convey a visual concept. In a layout, the design is linked to graphic design principles such as balance, repetition, contrast, and the hierarchy of all the elements, both image and text. Creating or establishing an attractive and functional layout is one of the most vital components in the web design process.
Mockup
A mockup is a representation of a product’s design that closely shows what it will look like once completed. This allows potential customers to see exactly what they can expect from the final result.
Web Browsing
Website navigation is the action of visiting, clicking, and exploring a website. To provide a good browsing experience, it is important to include structured links as part of the menu, as well as interlinking links between website pages.
Template
A template is a pre-designed, ready-to-use resource that shows the structure of different elements to form a comprehensive design with specific display characteristics. It serves as the basis for a pre-designed website layout that also offers certain customization features to suit a brand’s personality.
Site Map
This is a website blueprint that structures all the pages on a site and establishes how they relate to each other. It also helps search engines find, crawl, and index all of a site’s content by indicating a hierarchy of page relevance. A sitemap layout can be a list or a flowchart that shows the relationship and order of pages to provide a one-stop overview of a project.
Usability
Usability is the ease of use of a website, given by the intuitive and easy navigation with which users can interact. If a user finds it difficult to perform tasks on a website and achieve a goal, usability may not be positive and could ultimately impact the site’s performance. To achieve good usability, designers have made prior decisions in planning and implementing solid technologies and processes to achieve a user-friendly website.
UX (User Experience)
User experience (UX) design is the process designers use to create products with relevant and meaningful experiences for users . Therefore, designers must have a deep understanding of users and their needs to create a good experience. UX best practices also intertwine with a digital project’s business goals and objectives related to customer experience.
UI (User Interface)
A good interface helps the user operate software without errors and understand it with the resources they may already have.
Wireframe
wireframe is a diagram or model that is useful for thinking about and structuring a software or website being created.
If you’ve reviewed this web design glossary , you’ll surely have a better understanding of the terms used in this world. It will also be very helpful in connecting ideas and proposals more effectively, so you too can have a greater say in the creation of your digital project, understand how certain elements work, and have better control over your digital assets.