Web Site Design Glossary of Tearms
Acrobat – Acrobat is part of a set of applications developed by Adobe to create and view PDF files. Acrobat is used to create the PDF files, and the freeware Acrobat Reader is used to read the PDF files.
Alt Tag – Part of the image source tag in HTML. A good web designer will always include text in all of your image sources for two reasons: (1) if any of your visitors choose not to view graphic images on your web pages, the alternative text will be shown; and (2) if your visitors use Internet Explorer as their browser and they leave the mouse over any graphic image, they will view the text in your ALT-attribute. Screen readers used by the vision impaired also use Alt Tags to determine the type of content on a web page.
Animated GIF – A GIF graphic file, which consists of two or more images shown in a timed sequence to give the effect of motion.
Animation – Animation is the creation of a timed sequence or series of graphic images or frames together to give the appearance of continuous movement.
ASP (Active Server Page) - A dynamically generated web page, generally using ActiveX scripting. When a browser or a search engine spider requests an ASP page from a server, the server generates the web page with HTML code and gives it to the browser or spider.
Bandwidth – Bandwidth is the amount of information your connection to the Internet can carry. On average, typical telephone lines can carry 1K of information per second.
Banner – A banner is a graphic image (static, animated, or rich media) that is placed on web sites as an advertisement. Banners are commonly used for brand awareness and generating sales.
Bevel – Adding a beveled effect to a graphic image gives the image a raised appearance by applying highlight colors and shadow colors to the inside and outside edges.
Bitmap graphic - A graphic imange which is composed of a pattern of dots. The individual dots are stored as data on a computer. An example of an animation that is a bitmap graphic is a GIF animation.
Bitmap Image (bmp) – A graphic image stored as a specific arrangement of screen dots, or pixels. Web graphics are bitmap images. A graphic which is defined by specifying the colors of dots or pixels which make up the picture. Also known as raster graphics. Common types of bitmap graphics are GIF, JPEG, Photoshop, PCX, TIFF, Macintosh Paint, Microsoft Paint, PNG, FAX formats, and TGA.
Bleed or Bleeding Edge – When a page or a cover design extends to and off the edge of the paper it is called a “bleed”. In print design, the artwork or block of color must extend off the edge of the page. The artwork or block of color is then printed on larger-size paper. Then the printed page is trimmed to the desired size. (add an illustration)
Bookmark – Just as a paper bookmark is used as a reminder of the page you are on in a book, electronic bookmarks are used to bring you back to a web site or other site you may want to return to. The Netscape browser lets you bookmark any site and save the bookmarks in a file you can recall at any time. Microsoft Internet Explorer uses the term “favorite” instead of bookmark for the same concept.
Browser – The software used to view, manage, and access web pages by interpreting hypertext and hyperlinks. The two most common browsers are Netscape and Microsoft Internet Explorer. Web pages often appear differently depending on the brand and version of the browser intended to view them in.
CMYK – Stands for the colors Cyan-Magenta-Yellow-Black. In print design, colors are defined as a percentage of each of these 4 colors. For example, the CMYK abbreviation for the color black would be 0-0-0-100. In contrast, display devices (i.e. computer monitors) typically define colors using RGB.
Compression – A method of packing data in order to save disk storage space or download time. JPEGs are generally compressed graphics files. Compression is a technique to make a file or a data stream smaller for faster transmission or to take up less storage space. Concerning images, most graphics used on the Web are compressed using software that reduces as many colors in the color palette as possible, while still retaining the maximum quality of the image.
Cookie- A cookie is a small file placed on your computer/web browser (such as Netscape or Explorer) by a web server. The purpose of cookies is to identify web site users/visitors and possibly prepare customized web pages for them.
CSS – Abbreviation for Cascading Style Sheet, a feature of HTML developed by the W3C. With Cascading Style sheets, both web designers and end users can create style templates (sheet) that specifies how different text elements (paragraphs, headings, hyperlinks, etc.) appear on a web page. Currently, not all browsers express CSS formatting in the same manner. A Cascading Style Sheet allows you to put all your page styles (colors, fonts, layout, etc.) into one external file, rather than manually formatting each individual page and clogging the HTML code with hundreds of lines of excess coding.
Database – A collection of information stored in one central location. Many times, this is the source from which information is pulled to display products or information dynamically on a website.
DHTML – Stands for Dynamic Hypertext Mark-up Language. DHTML is an extended form of HTML that allows web pages to react to the end users’ input, such as displaying a web page based on the user’s type of browser or computer. DHTML allows for advanced techniques that common HTML cannot perform.
Directory – A directory (such as Yahoo, commonly mistaken for a search engine) depends on people for listings. The main difference between a search engine and a directory is that a directory does not make use of a spider or robot. One of the defining characteristics of a directory is that it is usually divided into categories and is manuall updated by a human, not a computer.
Dithered/Dithering – In order to display a full-color graphic image on a 256-color monitor, computers must simulate the colors it cannot display. They do this by dithering which is combining pixels from a 256-color palette into patterns that approximate other colors. At a distance, the human eye merges the pixels into a single color. Up close, the graphic image will appear pixelated and speckled.
DNS – Stands for Domain Name System. The DNS translates URL text addresses (such as avtecmedia.com) into a numeric Internet address (such as 201.214.12.6).
Doorway Page – Web pages created specifically for search engine positions. Also known as gateway page or a bridge page.
DPI – Stands for dots per inch. DPI specifies the resolution of an output device, such as a printer or printing press machine. Print resolution usually runs from 300-1200 dots per inch on a Laser Printer and 125-225 dots per inch for photographic images on a print brochure. (For information on input device measurements see ppi.)
Drop-Down Menu – A drop-down menu (also known as a pull-down menu) is a navigation menu that “drops down” when you click it with a mouse or roll the mouse over it.
Drop Shadow – A drop shadow gives an image depth by creating a shading offset behind a selected image.
Duotone – The application of two colors to provide richer tones than a monotone (single-color image, usually grayscale) can provide. A good duotone image can simulate a wider range of the color spectrum than two colors used separately. Duotones also use a hue (color) to set the mood for a photo in a more stunning way than a full-color image can.
Emboss – Embossing a graphic image adds dimension to it by making the image appear as if it were carved as a projection from a flat background.
Error 404 – This error message means Page Not Found (on a server).
Export – To save a file in a different format (that of another program). For example, many Adobe Photoshop files are exported to become GIF or JPEG files.
Feathering – Feathering the edge of a graphic image gradually dissipates the edge, making the edge look blurry.
Findability – A term used in online marketing that describes a web site’s ability to be found easily via the search engines, directories, and other online resources.
Flash – A technology that allows for animation or moving graphics on a website. Vector graphic animation software from Macromedia (now Adobe) that allows Flash graphics to look the same across all browsers, as long as the plug-in is installed. One of the advantages of Flash animations is their relatively fast download time.
Font – A font is a complete set of text characters in a particular size and style of type. This includes the letter set, the number set, and all of the special character and diacritical marks you get by pressing the shift, option, or command/control keys. For example, Times NewRoman Bold Italic is one font, and Times NewRoman Bold is another font. Times NewRoman is a single typeface.
Forms – HTML tags that define and label text-entry boxes, check boxes, radio buttons, and/or drop-down menus to create simple on-screen forms for collecting information from the viewer.
Frame – In animation, a frame is a single graphic image in a sequence of graphic images.
Frames – In HTML, providing the ability to break a web page into multiple, separately scrollable areas. Because some search engines cannot follow links in a framed web site, a good web designer will contain text in a NOFRAMES-tag and provide a link for search engines to index your site.
Freeware – Software distributed for free on the web.
FTP – Stands for File Transfer Protocol. FTP allows you to copy or send files (HTML-documents, graphic images, spreadsheets) from one computer to another via the Internet.
GIF – Stands for Graphics Interchange Format. GIF images are the most widely used graphic format on the web. GIF images display up to 256 colors.
Glow – A glow is the opposite of a shadow in that it creates a surrounding highlight of an image. A high radiance creates a soft, subtle glow and a low radiance creates a hard, bright glow, such as a neon glow.
Gradient - A gradient is a gradual transition of colors. Many metallic images are gradients. Web images that use gradient fills as a special effect should be saved in a JPEG rather than a GIF format.
Graphic Backgrounds – The bottom-most layer on a web page, usually with either a design or color that highlights the above copy. A small graphic can be tiled to create a background texture for a web page.
Grayscale – An application of black ink (for print) or the color black (for the screen) that simulates a range of tones. Grayscale images have no hue (color). In print design, a grayscale graphic image appears to be black, white, and shades of gray, but it only uses a single color ink.
Go-live – The point at which a website or application becomes published on the Internet and is available to the public.
Hexadecimal – A numbering system which uses a base of 16. The first ten digits are 0-9 and the next six are A-F. Hexadecimal numbers are used to identify color on web pages. For example, the hexadecimal equivalent for the color white is #FFFFFF.
HTML – Abbreviation for Hypertext Markup Language; a cross-platform text-formatting system for creating web pages, including copy, images, sounds, tables of information, animation and more.
Hue – The actual color of an object. Hue is measured as a location on a color wheel, expressed in degrees. Hue is also understood as the names of specific colors, like blue, red, yellow, etc.
Hyperlink – A hyperlink, more commonly called a link, is an electronic connection between one web page to either (1) other web pages on the same web site, or (2) web pages located on another web site. More specifically, a hyperlink is a connection between one page of a hypertext document to another.
Hypertext – Hypertext is any text that can be chosen by a reader and which causes another document to be retrieved and displayed.
Hosting – A services that stores your information (or website) on a server, allowing it to be accessed by users on the Internet.
Image Map — An image map is a definition of links produced by HTML code that is attached to a graphic image, making it clickible with individual links.
Information Page — A static web page that is designed, coded, and written primarily for a target audience but formatted for optimal search engine and directory positioning.
Interlace — Storing partial data from a single graphic image in multiple sequences. The purpose of interlacing is to have a partial image initially appear on screen rather than having to wait for the image to appear in its entirety. With interlacing, equally spaced sets of lines from the original image are stored together, and these sets appear one on top of the other in sequence.
Interstitial — An interstitial is a web advertisement that appears in a separate browser window, other than the target web page.
Java — Java is a programming language, created by Sun Microsystems, which allows small applications to be downloaded into your computer for playback. Java can be used for such simple applications as animation to more complex applications such as a calculator.
JavaScript — JavaScript is a scripting language developed by Netscape. JavaScript can make web pages more animated and dynamic in terms of graphics and navigation. One of the most common graphic JavaScript effects is called a mouseover, and Javascript navigation is commonly created using drop-down menus.
JPEG — Abbreviation for Joint Photographic Experts Group. File format for full-color and black-and-white graphic images. JPEG images allow for more colors than GIF images and are usually smaller in size. JPEGs are typically used for photos, while GIFs are used for graphics.
K — In computer terms, stands for Kilobyte, a base measurement of file size. In print design, with CMYK, the K stands for the ink color black.
Kerning – The horizontal spacing between the letters in a word.
Kilobyte — A kilobyte is a storage unit capable of storing 1,024 bytes of information
Leading — The vertical spacing between lines of text.
Lossless Compression — In graphic design, lossless compression refers to a data compression technique where the file quality is preserved and no data is lost. Lossless compression is commonly used on GIF images, but can only reduce file size to about half of its original size. Lossy compression, by contrast, eliminates some data can further decrease file size.
Lossy Compression — A term coined by graphics programmers to refer to a technique of shrinking file sizes by giving away some precision of detail. JPEG is an example of a file that is compressed this way. By reducing the so-called quality of a picture when you save it, you can make the file size smaller. Many photos can take of loss of fine detail before it becomes noticeable on a web page.
LPI — Abbreviation for Lines Per Inch.
Masthead — A masthead is a graphic image placed on top of a web page that tells end users what page they are on. Masthead images can contain photos, text, shapes, and/or image maps.
Merchant Account – A bank account that allows for the receipt of credit card funds.
Meta-tag — Meta-tags are HTML tags that can be used to identify the creator of a web page, what HTML specifications a web page follows, the keywords and description of the page, etc. The most common use of a meta-tag in online marketing is the keyword and description tags, which tell the search engines that index meta-tags what description to use in their search query results.
Modem — A modem (modulator/demodulator) is the hardware required to connect telephone lines and is essential for dial-up connections to the Internet.
Moderated Discussion List/Newsgroup — The person who categorizes the topics and selects posts is the moderator. Thus, a moderation discussion list or newsgroup is a service in which the moderator organizes participants’ comments or suggestions are organized into topics or categories.
Mouseover — A popular special effect for web graphics, generally programmed in JavaScript, that changes switches color or a graphic image when you place your cursor over it. Mouseovers can also be used to trigger navigation changes and pop-up windows.
Multimedia — A form of communication combining text with graphics, page layout, video, audio, animation, and so forth.
Navigation – The means by which a user can click from page to page on a website.
Netiquette — Accepted, proper behavior on the Internet. The term especially applies to email and newsgroup posts.
Newbie — Someone who is new to the web, a newsgroup or e-mail, or any other Internet application.
Online — If you are connected to the Internet, you are online. Online advertising is done exclusively on the web or through e-mail.
Online Marketing — Online advertising is done exclusively on the web or through e-mail.
Opt-In — An email marketing term in which the email recipient specifically requests receiving email related to a specific topic of interest
Payment Gateway – Allows the secure transfer of credit card funds from users on your website to your merchant account.
PDF — Stands for Portable Document Format. Created by Adobe Systems in its software program Adobe Acrobat as a universal browser. Files can be downloaded via the web and viewed page by page, provided the user is computer has installed the necessary plug-in which can be downloaded from Adobe’s own web site.
PHP — Abbreviation for Hypertext Pre-Processor, a server language used to produce dynamic content on web pages.
Plug-In — A software extension that provides added capabilities to the browser, for purposes such as viewing, hearing, or saving specially formatted files. Most plug-ins are available via the creator’s web page for downloading.
PNG — Stands for Portable Network Graphics format, and is generally pronounced “ping.” PNG is used for lossless compression and displaying images on the web. The advantages of PNG is that it supports images with millions of colors and produces background transparency without jagged edges. The disadvantages are that PNG images will not show up on older browsers, and still can be comparatively larger in file size than GIFs.
PPI — Stands for pixels per inch. PPI specifies the resolution of an input device, such as a scanner, digital camera, or monitor. Web page resolution ranges from 72-96 pixels per inch. (For information on output device measurements see dpi.)
Post — A post is a single message sent to a newsgroup or message board.
Usability – A set of properties that makes something easy to use. In web design, usability is defined as the level at which a website can be easily and efficiently used for a specific purpose.
Query — A search request submitted to a database (such as the search engine and directory databases) to find a particular piece of information or all records that meet the search criteria.
Quick Time Video — Quick Time Video is the Apple technology that allows video, digitized sound and music, 3D, and virtual reality to be viewed on your web site. It’s available for Macintosh and Windows-based computers.
Radio Button — In an online form, radio buttons allow a user to choose only one answer among a group of possible answers. A radio button is different from a check box, which can accept multiple checked items at a time.
RDFa (or Resource Description Framework – in – attributes) – a W3C Recommendation that adds a set of attribute level extensions to XHTML for embedding rich metadata within Web documents. The RDF data model mapping enables its use for embedding RDF triples within XHTML documents, it also enables the extraction of RDF model triples by compliant user agents.
RGB — Stands for the colors Red-Green-Blue. In web design and design for computer monitors, colors are defined in terms of a combination of these three colors. For example, the RGB abbreviation for the color blue shown below is 0-0-255. In contrast, print designers typically define colors using CMYK.
Rich Media — Typically, a web site or banner ads that use technology more advanced than standard GIF animation. Rich media banners include: Flash, Shockwave, streaming video, Real Audio/Video, pull-down menus, search boxes, applets that allow for interactivity, and other types of special effects.
Royalty-Free Photos or Images — Photos, graphic images, or other intellectual property that are sold for a single standard fee and may be used repeatedly by the purchaser. Typically with royalty-free clauses, the company that sells you the images still owns all of the rights to the images, and they are allowed for use only by the purchaser (i.e., the same images cannot be used by another company or individual without repurchase).
Rules — Rules, or horizontal rules, are HTML tags enable you to insert horizontal lines as separators or dividers. Web graphic designers will vary the length and color of horizontal rules to add emphasis and flair.
Sans Serif — A style of typeface that means “without feet.” Common sans serif typefaces include Arial, Helvetica, AvantGarde and Verdana.
Saturation — The color intensity of an image. An image high in saturation will appear to be very bright. An image low in saturation will appear to be duller and more neutral. An image without any saturation is also referred to as a grayscale image.
Screen Font — A part of the font suitcase (of Adobe Type 1 fonts), describes the shape of each character to the operating system so that the font can be seen on a computer screen.
Search Engine — A search engines is a program that searches documents (i.e. web pages, which are HTML-documents) for specified keywords and returns the list of documents. A search engine has two parts, a spider and an indexer. The spider is the program that fetches the documents, and the indexer reads the documents and creates an index based on the words or ideas contained in each document.
Search Engine Optimization – A set of practices that attempts to make a website more attractive to search engines, thereby encouraging higher visitor traffic and rankings.
Serif — A style of typeface that has “little feet.” Common serif typefaces include Times Roman, Garamond, and Palatino. The following graphic image shows serif typefaces.
Spam — The abuse of electronic messaging systems (including most broadcast media and digital delivery systems) to send unsolicited bulk messages indiscriminately with the goal of infecting devices with malicious software or enticing the user to follow an action that will result in a desired outcome for the “spammer”. The most widely recognized form of spam is e-mail spam. Other abuses found in other media include: instant messaging spam (known also as spim), Usenet newsgroup spam, Web search engine spam (Spamdexing), spam in blogs (blam), wiki spam, online classified ads spam, mobile phone messaging spam, Internet forum spam, junk fax transmissions, social networking spam, and file sharing network spam.
Spider/Robot — A software program that search engines use which visits every site on the web, follows all of the links, and catalogs all of the text of every web page that (a) contains text, and (b) it is able to visit or crawl.
Text-Entry Box — In an online form, text-entry boxes allow users to type in text information. If you place your cursor inside the text boxes, you will be able to type information into the online form.
Thread — A series of messages related to the same topic in a discussion group or newsgroup, such as an original post and related follow-ups.
Thumbnail — A small version of a graphic image. For example, the image below is a thumbnail image of a web page.
Traffic Node — A group of information pages on a web site.
Typeface — A typeface contains a series of fonts. For example, the typeface Arial contains the fonts Arial, Arial Bold, Arial Italic and Arial Bold Italic.
URL — URL is the abbreviation for Uniform Resource Locator and is an address referring to a document on the Internet. In other words, a URL is an abbreviation for a website’s address on the Web.
Vector Graphic — A graphic image drawn in shapes and lines, called paths. Images created in Illustrator and Freehand (graphic design software) are vector graphics. They are usually exported to be bitmap images.
Video — A series of framed images put together, one after another, to simulate motion and interactivity. A video can be transmitted by number of frames per second and/or the amount of time between switching frames. The difference between video and animation is that video is broken down into individual frames.
Web Site — A web site is a collection of electronic pages generally formatted in HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) that can contain text, graphic images, and multimedia effects such as sound files, video and/or animation files, and other programming elements such as Java and JavaScript.
W3C – The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is an international community where member organizations, a full-time staff, and the public work together to develop international Web standards. Led by Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee, W3C’s mission is to lead the Web to its full potential.
WYSIWYG — Abbreviation for What You See Is What You Get. Commonly used to describe software that does not have any hidden attributes.
XHTML — Abbreviation for Extensible Hypertext Mark-up Language and is a hybrid of XML and HTML. Web pages designed in XHTML should look the same across all platforms.
XML — Abbreviation for Extensible Mark-up Language.
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