Glossary of Terms and Phrases
Here are some basic phrases, terms, and acronyms you will encounter in this book and your web authoring studies. This glossary is not exhaustive, though it looks like it.
Above the fold: The part of a webpage that is visible in the Web browser window when the page first loads is described as being ‘above-the-fold'.
Accessibility: Design of websites that focuses on being accessible to people with differ- ent kinds of disabilities and the difficulty they can experience due to physical and or tech- nological barriers.
Alt text: The alternative text (alt) attribute provides a text-only description of an image on a web page.
Anti-alias: Aliasing is the distortion of a continuous line due to the nature of screen display, which relies on a matrix of pixels. Anti-aliasing visually corrects this by introducing additional colored pixels to give the impression of a continuous line or curve.
Authoring: The process of designing and, at a technical level, building a website.
Back-end: The information structure or application part of web authoring – program-ming, database admin, etc.
Bandwidth: The amount of data that can be transferred over the network in a fixed amount of time, such as bits per second (bps). A hosting server will allocate your website a fixed amount of bandwidth usage within a regular period of time.
Blog (web log): A website comprised of date-related entries (or posts).
Browser: A web browser is an interface used to access the World Wide Web and to view web pages. Examples include Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, Safari, and others.
Character Encoding: Unicode and its parallel standard, the ISO/IEC 10646 Universal Character Set together constitute a modern, unified character encoding (per Wikipedia). This is to establish a universal set of characters that can be encoded in a variety of ways, like readable HTML generated web pages.
Comps: In design, a comprehensive layout (usually shortened to comp), is the page lay- out of a proposed design as initially presented by the designer to a client. It shows the relative positions of text and illustrations as a rough draft of the final layout.
Content: The ‘stuff' that makes up a web site – text, images, links, lists, navigation, media, etc.
Content Management System (CMS): A number of templates corresponding to standard ‘types' of information and web pages in a website that are designed so that several users can update the pages though a simple web-browser-based interface.
Cascading Styles (CS): CS is a style language used to describe the presentation semantics (the look and formatting) of a document written in a markup language – HTML, XHTML, and XML. It is designed primarily to enable the separation of document con- tent (written in HTML or a similar markup language) from document presentation, including elements such as the layout, colors, and fonts.
Cascading Style Sheet (CSS): A file with standardized style rules that add style (e.g. fonts, colors, spacing) to Web pages.
Database: Store and organize data for later retrieval, often used for managing accounts and user information in dynamic websites.
Deprecated: Code that has been superseded by the W3C by more efficient or accessible alternatives.
Domain Name System (DNS): Identifies each computer as a network point on the Inter- net using an internet protocol address systems to translate from domain name to IP and reverse.
Doctype: Determines a layout model used in a web page and lets a browser correctly in- terpret the coded tags.
Dynamic HTML (dHTML): Dynamic HTML is an extension to the standard HTML language introduced by version 4+ browsers (Netscape Navigator and Internet Explorer). “Dynamic” makes reference to changing the webpage display in response to user interaction.
Elements: When writing the code that creates a webpage (authoring), content (text, images, etc.), is marked-up into elements. Element types include: headings, tables, images and lists.
Fonts, system: Along with the typefaces installed with a browser, the typefaces used by a computer operating system (system fonts) are often considered web-safe.
Fonts, web: A web font is a typeface installed with a web browser, and typically (although not always) designed for screen-use. The term is also used to describe typefaces that can be used by designers when authoring web pages.
Forum: A discussion board on the Internet.
Frames: An HTML technique for combining two or more separate HTML documents within a single web browser screen. A web site using frames often causes great problems for search engines, and may not be spidered and indexed correctly.
Front-end: The interface part of a web page that allows a user to access the information or application. It is focused on design and usability.
File Transfer Protocol (FTP): The transfer of files from one computer to another by logging into the other computer through an interface program like Filezilla.
Graphical User Interface (GUI): Allows a user to interact with a computer without entering code. With a combination of an input device (such as a mouse or stylus) and visual representations of the workspace and tasks, a user is able to interact with the computer in a manner similar to the physical manipulations available in the real world.
Hex Colors: The websafe color palette consists of 216 colors that when displayed on a 256-colour (8 bit) monitor will be displayed as continuous flat colors. These colors are rendered as flat colors as to hue and saturation. Hex colors have 6 letter/number combinations to identify the color.
Home Page: The opening page, start page or main page of a website, which is technically be the index/default page of the website's root directory.
Host: A computer (or a network of servers) that stores the files of a website which has web server software running on it, connected to the Internet.
HyperText Markup Language (HTML): The predominant markup language for web pages. It is written in the form of HTML elements consisting of “tags” surrounded by angle brackets within the web page content, and is the building block language of all basic websites.
HTML Tags: Most elements in HTML coding are written with a start tag and an end tag, with the content in between. A rare few close themselves because they do not wrap around content - like a horizontal rule, an image, a meta tag, and a break tag.
Hyperlink: A link from one Web page to another, either on the same site or somewhere else on the Internet.
i-frame: An i-frame is an inline frame, and is treated as though it were an image or table. As the content page acts as its own frameset, the problem of bookmarking a specific navigation/content page is overcome.
Image Map: A graphic on a Web page that is divided into parts which link to different Web pages.
Importing: The ability to bring in assets, code, information, and/or artwork created in other applications and use them in a current program.
Interactive: A web page is interactive when it prompts a response from the user or in some way can interact with the user dynamically, like filling out a form or logging into an account.
Internet: The Internet is a global network connecting millions of computers. Each Inter- net computer, called a host, is independent. The Internet is not synonymous with World Wide Web. The Internet and the Web are two separate but related things.
Intranet: An intranet is an internal networked communication tool often accessed through a web browser.
IP Address: An IP (Internet Protocol) address is a unique identifier for a point or host connection on an IP network.
JavaScript: An object-based, client−side scripting language developed by Netscape. When embedded in the head section of a web page, It can produce interactivity to a web page.
Link, absolute: An absolute link is created when the href value is a fully qualified URL, such as http://www.studiobast.com.
Link, hyper: a link from one Web page to another, either on the same site or somewhere else on the Internet.
Link, relative: A relative link is created when the destination href value is relative to the location of the current web page or source anchor.
Link, root-relative: A root-relative link is created when the href value is relative to the website root.
Link rot: Link rot occurs when website navigation is compromised by broken hyperlinks.
Lossless: Compression of images discards (loses) some the data in order to compress the image, which can result in degradation / pixilation of images. Jpgs are lossless files.
Lossy: Compression for images compresses by reinterpreting the mathematically interpreted image as accurately as possible, with limited/no degradation or pixilation. Pngs and Gifs are lossy files.
Markup: Markup comprises a set of symbols, or a language, that can be used to provide instructions. The use of markup is supported by rules that define the symbols and how they should be used: a specification. A webpage is created by marking-up content (text, images, etc.) using the HyperText Markup Language (HTML).
Metadata: Information-about-information, such as classification by subject, format, author, etc.
Meta Tags: HTML page head section tags that are loosely defined as data about data. These give browsers and search engines information so that web pages can be found and indexed properly.
Navigation: Typically menus and a search tool that people can use to navigate around a website.
Navigation, top-level/global: ‘Global', ‘top-level', ‘persistent', or ‘primary' navigation is navigation that is displayed on every webpage, usually at the top or left of the screen. This type of navigation provides access to the main content sections or services.
Navigation, in page: When arriving at longer-length web page, a visitor may need to scroll down to get a sense of the topics covered. In-page navigation simplifies this orientation process by linking to major content headings from the top of a web page.
Navigation, footer: Footer navigation is usually displayed on every webpage and as such is global navigation. However, rather than linking to content sections, footer navigation typically links to administrative content; copyright statements, terms of use, legal disclaimers, website feedback links, etc. Footer navigation also tends to be presented as text links.
Open Source: A computer program where the underlying code is made available to the public is referred to as ‘open source'. With the networking of computers enabled by the internet, what computer programs ‘are doing' has become a cause for concern. Open source programs address this by making the program code available for general inspection. A significant byproduct of this transparency is the ability for programmers to active- ly contribute to the continued development of a shared code library.
Pixel: Refers to how monitors divide the display screen into thousands or millions of individual dots to display an image. A pixel is one dot.
Plug-in: A plug-in is third-party software that extends the capabilities of a computer pro- gram. In a web browser, a plug-in may be required to display non-standard (often multi- media) content formats. Common browser plug-ins include Flash, QuickTime and Shock- wave.
Quirks Mode: In quirks mode, a web browser attempts to render code based on a ‘best- guess', this includes a generous interpretation of code that may be non-standard or poorly-formed from browser to browser.
Ranking: The number that a web site is listed for a specific search term in a specific search engine. Search Engines utilize a ranking algorithm (mathematical formulas, variables, and set of weights) to determine a site's ranking for a particular keyword or key- word phrase.
Raster: Graphics are made up of a grid of pixels, or points of color, viewable via a monitor, paper, or other display medium. File formats include the lossy format tif, jpg, and bmp, which lose quality each time the image is resaved.
Resolution: How fine the dots are that make up an image. The more dots, the higher the resolution. When displayed on a monitor, the dots are called pixels. A 640 x 480 screen (resolution) is capable of displaying 640 distinct dots on each of its 480 lines, or about 300,000 pixels.
Rich Internet Applications (RIAs): Web applications that have many of the characteristics of desktop applications, but are delivered by a site-specific browser, a browser plug–in, or independently via sandboxes or virtual machines.
Scripts: An executable list of commands created by a scripting language. Scripts that are executed on a web server are server−side scripts. Scripts that execute on a website visitor's own computer are client−side scripts. Scripts can be embedded within HTML to produce a web page with dynamic actions.
Search Engine: A web interface that lets a visitor search for information on the World Wide Web. Examples include Google, Bing, Yahoo, and others.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO): The process of improving ranking in search engine results.
Server: A computer connected to the Internet that stores and provides information. Web pages are stored on a server, which is a storage tool of a web hosting service.
Site: A particular ‘place' on the Internet - a collection of Web pages.
Sitemap, design: A visual tool which displays the pages which will be designed for a website. Can be displayed in a flow-chart fashion, with main levels, sub levels, auxiliary levels, etc.
Sitemap, web: A sitemap provides an overview of website content in a manner similar to the contents page of a book. Sections and pages are typically listed according to narrative flow, if the author intends for pages to be read in a specific order; or alphabetically or by chronology if content pages are essentially unrelated. The later is the case in news web- sites, where articles are often archived by topic, and then by title or publication date.
Spider: An automated software robot that continuously crawls hyperlinks and pages on the Internet and collects data that is returned to its database for indexing.
Splash Page: A splash page is an introduction to a website, placed before the homepage, and are often animated and introduce the products, services or mission of the website.
Standards-compliant Mode: A web browser assumes that a web page has been authored to the Web content specification declared in the page's head section; code that does not conform to the declared standard may not display, or may display incorrectly.
Style Rules: Coding language used to describe the look and formatting of web pages in a more versatile manner than HTML coding is able to do.
Style sheet: CSS rules are added to a web page either by writing the code directly into the <head> of the webpage HTML, or by linking to a separate file. A separate file containing only CSS rules is commonly referred to as a ‘style sheet', and has the extension .css.
Target: The browser window output of a link.
Template: Skeletal HTML pages with the main content left out in order to provide an effective solution in creating many pages with an identical look or navigational structure but with different content.
Thread: A group of messages or postings to an Internet forum on a single topic.
Traffic: Traffic on the Web is a measurement of the number of users who visit a Web site.
Upload: Uploading is the process of copying files from your computer to a remote loca- tion, such as to a webhost server.
Uniform Resource Identifier (URI): The generic term for all types of names and ad- dresses that refer to objects on the World Wide Web. A URL is one kind of URI.
Uniform Resource Locator (URL): An Internet ‘address' which is made up of two parts- the protocol (e.g. HTTP) followed by two slashes, and the domain name. This gives the exact location of a particular file on the Internet.
Usability: Refers to the level or degree of a web page's operating friendliness for the user. Usability is a measure of the quality of a person's experience in interacting with content or services.
USB Flash Drive: Memory data storage space which you can plug into a USB port on a computer. USB flash drives are usually removable and rewritable.
Validation: The process of checking data against a standard or requirement. Web page validation involves checking the code used to create a webpage (markup), against a computer-language specification.
Vector: Graphics which use geometrical primitives like points, lines, curves, and shapes or polygon(s) which are all based on mathematical equations. File formats include .ai, .gif, .eps. Uses lossless compression - generally does not lose quality each time the image is resaved.
World Wide Web Consortium (W3C): is the main international standards organization for the World Wide Web. The W3C determines the evolving standards for workable HTML coding and web page styling.
W3C Validator: A validation tool that allows web coders to check HTML documents for conformance to HTML or XHTML standards and for coding errors.
Web: Abbreviation for the World Wide Web (WWW).
Web Application: Web or real programs designed to be used on the Web site through a browser, such as e-commerce tools, games, polls, logins, etc.
Web Code Structure: The order and format of the HTML code used to make up a web page before it can be viewed on a browser like Internet Explorer. Includes HTML tags, the head section, and the body section.
Web Host: Web hosts are companies that provide space on a server they own or lease for use by their clients as well as providing Internet connectivity. This space is where one stores website pages so that visitors can access them by typing their address (URL).
Web Page Structure (basic): The structure of the viewable website that visitors can see. It includes an identifying banner area at the top, navigation near the top and/or one of the sides of the page, and the content area, which has the text, images, links, tables, footer, and other areas that make up the information of the web page.
Wireframe: A diagrammatic representation of the elements that need to be accounted for on each page of the website or screen of the program. Usually created in plain B&W be- fore the design comps.
Workspace: The view of toolbars, panels, windows, etc. that male up the work area in a program used for creative design, production, illustration, coding, etc. In a personally owned copy of a program, you can personalize and save a copy of the workspace.
WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get): A graphical user interface (GUI) where the user appears to interact with an accurate, screen-based representation of an end-product. This form of software interface was pioneered by computer programs used for creating (print) documents, specifically newspapers.
Extensible Hypertext Markup Language (XHTML): An XML coding language that extends versions of HTML. It is more standardized than HTML so that browsers like Internet Explorer and Firefox can consistently interpret the coding correctly.