Web Definitions for Beginners. Part 2
We’ve shared the first part of the article about website terminology for beginners with you recently. And despite the fact that there was a lot of information, it’s only a little part of everything that a person who wants to create their own website should know. That’s why today we are going to continue studying terms that are widely used among web-developers!
Web Terms Glossary
We would like to bring to your attention web definitions that will be rather useful when developing your own site or even if you’re just interested in the IT sphere.
(Site’s) Database — all the content that is posted on your site, structured as connected tables. It’s used for easy and fast data operation, user information and browsing history storing, etc.
.htaccess — a configuration file of the Apache Web Servers, which is used for access settings to different files and folders on a site. It’s also responsible for the error messages. .htaccess is needed for the SEO optimization as well, because it leads search systems to the new file path in case it was put somewhere else.
Accessibility — this shows how accessible your site is for people with limited abilities. This includes visually impaired people (who use screen reader, which reads the pages text out loud)), people with motor disturbances (who have difficulty controlling a mouse, which can be made easier by switching between elements with the “tab” button), hearing-impaired people (for whom it’s important to make subtitles for videos posted on a site), and mentally challenged and epileptic people (for whom you have to make sure there are no flashing pictures that can provoke seizures).
Anchor text — in web site term an anchor is a text in a hyperlink, which is placed between the <a> and </a> tags. This definition is very important when speaking about SEO optimization, as it’s the link’s text that is taken into consideration in estimating the relevance of your page to the user’s searches.
Code validity — whether your site’s code was written correctly or not. Each page has to undergo the validation test to find all of the errors in the code to make sure that the site is working fine.
Computer virus — is malware that’s able to penetrate into the codes of other programs and into computer’s memory areas. A virus’s main task is to break PC’s and to “steal” and delete information. To find out how to protect yourself from viruses read here.
Content— everything that you can see on a site, including text, pictures, videos, links etc. Click here to read more info about internet-marketing and content.
Conversion — in internet-marketing term, the ratio of users who took a certain action on a page (followed a link, bought something, subscribed to mailout, etc.) to the total number of visitors.
Cross-Browser — refers to the ability of a site to fully function no matter what browser was used to get there. Read more here :)
Domain name — a unique resource’s address. There are different levels of domains. For example, those domains that show in which country a site was made (e.g. .ru, .ua, .fr) and those that describe what the site is all about (.info — informational, .com — commerce, .edu — educational) are of the first level. The name of the site itself is considered to be the second level domain.
FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) — a page where you can find answers to all of the most frequently asked questions concerning the site’s thematic scope. So if you want to ask something, check this page, as chances are it was already answered :)
Flash — a special site’s module that allows you to browse web pages in the Flash format. It helps display vector graphics, play video and audio, and run mini-games on the site.
Footer — a lower part of a site where the contacts, credits, logo, creation date etc. are usually written.
Front-office — the part of the site that can be seen by simple users, i.e. user interface.
Header — the upper part of a page, which consists of the main information such as the logo, search bar, sitemap link etc.
HTTPS — is the extension to HTTP protocol for communication over a computer network, which encodes transmitted data using cryptographic protocols SSL and TLS. It’s widely used for information security.
Hyperlink — a word, sentence or a picture on a page which contains a link that leads to another file or site.
Intended users — a group of people the content of your site is intended for. For example, the intended users of The Beatles fanpage are the fans of the British pop group and our site is made for those who need website support.
Landing page — a page where a user came using a link from another site (usually from social networks and mailouts). It motivates people to do something in particular like to buy or download things, or subscribe to some page etc.
Meta-tags — a part of the programming code that is used to compartmentalize metadata of a web-page. They’re not necessary, but on the other hand they are very important in SEO.
Mirror site — a copy of already existing site. It can be made for a number of reasons, for example, to protect data from damaging, to provide access to forbidden information and to save content in case the original page is deleted.
Module —a separate and completed program fragment that is responsible for some particular function on a site. With it’s help big and time-consuming projects can be divided into several smaller parts which considerably simplifies the work process. We’ve recently written about new Drupal 8 modules, this info can be very useful for everybody who’s trying to understand why they are so important. Be sure to check it out :)
PHP (Hypertext Preprocessor) — is a scripting language with open source code, which is in widespread use in web development. It’s rather easy to operate, but in the same time it meets the needs of the professional programmers.
Rank — a site’s position in search results compared to other pages of the same thematic group.
Script — a program mechanism that automatizes those actions that users would have to do themselves. They are written in special script languages such as PHP, which we’ve already mentioned. There are a lot of groups of them like seo and popup scripts, the comments system scripts, guestbook scripts and so on. Each group is responsible for some particular functions.
SEО (Search engine optimization) — is a whole package of measures oriented to raise up the site’s positions among search systems’ results. The main task of the SEO specialist is to lift the site up the popularity scale as high as possible and then to do his best to maintain that position. It is a science which comprises a number of methods and strategies. To be a pro in SEO is not as easy as it may seem to be!
Site’s semantic kernel — words, phrases and sentences that are the most representative of your site’s thematic scope.
Sitemap — a specific page where the tree of all the links of a site is placed. It’s needed for easy navigation and so that a user could quickly find the right information. One shouldn’t confuse the terms sitemap and Sitemap.xml. The latter is a separate xml file that contains information about all the pages of your site that are liable for indexation. It’s made to be read by search systems. To get more information on the topic click click here.
Source code — a program’s text written in any of the programming languages that can be read by a person. Later on it’s changed into the output code by a compiler.
Spam — a mass mailing with commerce and advertising offers. All the mail is sent to unknown people. Apart from the annoying commercials, different viruses can also be sent on those kinds of messages. That’s why you need to be very careful opening a letter from the unknown sender. To find out how to protect yourself from the dangerous spam, click here and read about the Drupal 8 Honypot module.
URL (Uniform Resource Locator) — is a unique web page address that you can see in the address bar of your browser. It consists of the domain name, the path to a page on a site, and the actual file’s name.
Usability — generally speaking, this term describes how user-friendly your site is. Each page is checked according to this criterion while being developed.
Web template — programming codes and graphic elements that make up the complete design of a site.
Web-server — is responsible for clients’ requests processing, users’ authorization, HTTPS support and also for the scripts executing.
Was it useful?
So, we’ve listed the most widely used web-developer definitions. If you are new to the IT sphere or you just need to create your own website, this article will be your helping hand on the beginning of the not-so-simple process of web-development.
We hope that now you won’t get lost among all of these web terms. Now you can make the page you need. Keep up with Drudesk!