Business Owner’s Dictionary of Web Design Terms

(and why you should know them)

Sometimes, ignorance is bliss. However, for the small business owner trying to create a website, ignorance could be damaging if not fatal to an online business. Even if you think you know what your website should have and how it should look, sooner or later your website designer will ask you if you want ‘such and such’, or tell you that ‘this and that’ will cost you more. Since ‘knowledge is power’, it’s good business sense to be familiar with the most frequently used website terms. Here’s a synopsis of website words and phrases and why they’re important to know:

Browser
Your browser is software you use to surf the web, like Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, Opera, etc. Why it’s important: Different browsers may display websites differently, so you’re site needs to look good in all of them.

Content Management System
Software that allows you to make changes to your website on your own, without hiring a web designer or web maintenance person. Why it’s important: Saves money but only if you have lots of content to maintain and update to justify the initial expense and learning curve.

Copywriting
Page text is sometimes referred to as ‘copy’, like in a newspaper. Copywriting is creating the text for your website. A person who does this for hire is called a ‘copywriter’. Why it’s important: Website text should communicate value to the customer and also be optimized for better search engine positioning.

Design (as in ‘web design’)
Responsible for the overall appearance and user friendliness of the website. This includes determining the number of pages and the layout of text, graphics, links, and color scheme. Why it’s important: The web design of successful sites all have the following in common - relevant content, consistent navigation, appealing layout and color scheme, are search engine friendly, and W3C compliant for functionality and reliability. (see W3C below)

Development (as in ‘web development’ or ‘web developer”)
Anything having to do with the programming side of a website as opposed to its design. Contact and registration forms, chat, and user password protected accounts are a few examples. Why it’s important: Development programming should conform to current standards for reliability and security. This is probably the most expensive component to website creation and should be carefully analyzed to see if it’s really needed.

Flash
A method for adding animation, interactivity and video to web pages. Why it’s important: Flash content can ‘spice up’ a website for a more pleasurable user experience. However, search engines ignore Flash content. So, if your website is predominantly composed of Flash content, search engines won’t index it properly, if at all.

Hosting (as in ‘website hosting’)
An internet service that allows your website to be accessible via the World Wide Web so people can view it. A company independent of your web designer or developer usually performs website hosting. Why it’s important: Hosting plans differ from provider to provider for expense as well as features. Research should be done before signing up with one.

HTML
Hyper Text Markup Language is the basic internet programming scheme used to create a web page. Why it’s important: Most websites are created using HTML. A website created with HTML should conform to current W3C standards for functionality and reliability. (see W3C below)

Java
A programming language for the internet. Java is used to provide interactive features to websites. Examples are rollover links, interactive menus and forms, to name a few. Why it’s important: Quite a number of Java based programs exist offering user interactivity features that can’t be accomplished with HTML. Compared to Flash, Java is cheaper and easier to implement. (see Flash)

Maintenance
Updating website content on a periodic basis. Why it’s important: Search engines notice fresh content. A website that frequently offers something new will position higher in ranking than a site with static content.

SEO
A method to improve positioning in search engine results. SEO analyses how search engines work and what people search for. Optimizing a website for search engines involves editing content and HTML to increase relevance to specific keywords and to remove barriers to search engine indexing. Why it’s important: Implementing SEO as a marketing method is a cost effective alternative to paid ads and ‘pay per click’ strategies. However, the method of SEO implementation should be routinely updated to address the changing ways search engines index websites.

Screen Resolution (of monitors)
Pixels per inch that a monitor can display. You can adjust your monitor’s screen resolution to different settings, for example, 1280 x 1024, 1024 x 768, etc. Why it’s important: First, each monitor functions best at a particular setting (check your owner’s manual). Second, a monitor set to a high screen resolution displays most web pages in their entirety. A web page viewed with a monitor set to a low screen resolution may require horizontal scrolling to see the whole page width. Good web design takes this into account in one of 2 ways: either by specifying a fixed page width at the setting most people currently use, or by having the web page expand or contract to accommodate higher or lower screen resolutions.

Spatial Resolution (of website images)
Describes how closely detail can be resolved in an image and depends on the properties of the system displaying the image. For example, the spatial resolution of monitors is generally 72 pixels per inch (ppi). Why it’s important: The more detail that an image has, the larger the image file size. Images must display quickly, so file sizes must be kept to a minimum. Web designers use image editing software to convert images to the appropriate resolution for online viewing.

W3C Compliant
World Wide Web Consortium is an international organization responsible for developing programming standards for the internet. Why it’s important: W3C standards ensure that a website functions properly with the current technology of the World Wide Web.

Still confused over all these website terms?
Submit your comments and I’ll do my best to answer your questions.