Glossary

Many web design companies confuse their clients with confusing jargon. This web glossary contains plain English explanations of some common terms that are used on the web, hopefully this will demystify any confusing aspects of getting your business set up with a web site.

Blog - Short for Weblog. This is site that contains frequently updated information, like a website diary. These sites are very popular with Google.

Browser - The software which is used to browse the internet. Popular examples include Internet Explorer, Firefox and Netscape.

Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) - A language to specify the style of a web page. Using this language it is possible to quickly change the look of a site with very little effort.

Domain Registration - The process of buying a web address. This is usually done for a period of 1 or 2 years and must be renewed if you are to keep using it.

GIF - A file format used to store images. GIF files are suited to plain images that are not too complex.

Host - This is the name for the computer that stores your web page. Whenever somebody wants to look at you business' web page, their computer contacts the host where you page is stored and the files are downloaded.

HTML - Hyper Text Markup Language, the name of the main language used to create web pages.

Javascript - A Scripting (or programming) language which runs on the users machine

JPG (or JPEG) - A file format used to store images. JPG files are suited to detailed images such as photos.

Keyword - the name for a piece of text that a search engine such as Google uses to reference your web site.

Link - this name is given to a piece of text on a web site that takes you to another web page once clicked.

PHP - A Scripting (or programming) language which runs on the host machine. Using this language it is possible to dynamically change what a page contains. For example the content of a page can be changed depending on a users input or location (Useful to display prices in £ for UK visitors and $ for US visitors).

Search Engine - A web site that allows you to search the internet for a specific web pages. Like a modern version of a phone book.

URL - Another name for a web address.

If you would like terms explained that are not on this list, please use the contact form to let us know. Our site, www.jargonfreedesign.com , is constantly evolving and we are more than happy to incorporate our users suggestions into the site.