29 web development and design terms you should know (for marketers)

When I first started working with web designers and developers, one of the most frustrating things was simply getting my head around the web development industry jargon. There are countless acronyms and strange terms (which, frustratingly for non-English speakers, are also mostly in English).

But just like learning a bit of foreign language can go a long way to building intercultural understanding, one of the best things you can do to facilitate collaboration with your development team or web design agency is try to speak a bit of their language.

This alphabetical list of essential design and development terms should help you make collaboration easier and save you time, frustration and money.

 

29 web development and design terms you should know

BACKEND ― In website development, the backend (or “server side”) relates to the servers and databases that send, collect and store the data that allow the front end (what you see) to run, display and update properly. Backend development creates the constant communication between the browser and the server that permits dynamic content to change over time.

CACHE ― Cache is your browser’s memory of the webpages you’ve visited. Rather than re-downloading the site anew every time you hit the “back” button or revisit a site (which could significantly slow down your browsing experience) your browser saves time by simply re-accessing the memory stored in your computer’s cache. If you want to make sure your browser has the latest version of a site or page (particularly when you’re making changes to the content) just make sure you clear the cache.

CALL TO ACTION (CTA) ― This is a short, action-oriented text that asks the reader to do something: buy now, discover more, sign up for our newsletter. CTAs should stand out from the rest of the text, and usually appear in a separate box at the bottom or in the middle of a webpage or newsletter, or in a pop-up window.

COOKIE ― A computer cookie is a small text file delivered to your web browser by the server hosting the web page you’re visiting. This file is used to remember you ― what you’ve clicked on, what information you’ve entered, your shopping basket, your preferences ― in order to customize your viewing experience or send you targeted ads. First-party cookies are set by the website you’re on, while third-party cookies are set by onsite advertisers. Session cookies expire at the end of your viewing session on a website, while persistent cookiescontinue to track your behavior on other sites and in subsequent browsing sessions. According to EU cookie law, websites must obtain your consent that information is being gathered on you via cookies.

CONTENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (CMS) ― Whether custom-built or commercially available, a CMS is software or a suite of web applications used to create and manage content in blogs and websites. The most widely-known example is WordPress (which, originally built as a blogging platform, now powers over 25% of all sites on the web), but there are also Joomla, Drupal and many, many more.

CROSS-BROWSER ―  There are large number of different web browsers available (think Chrome, Safari, Mozilla, Microsoft’s legacy Explorer and newer Edge), each with its own particular features and restrictions, and your website or newsletter must work on all the ones your users use. A cross-browser website or newsletter is simply one that that has been developed and tested to display well across these many different browsers.

CSS ― Cascading Style Sheets, or CSS, is a style language used to create the visual presentation of the web page or newsletter. If you compare a web page to a house, HTML is the frame or structure while CSS is all the decorative elements.

DATABASE ― Structured like an Excel sheet, a database is any collection of information used to manage websites, software or apps. In marketing, a customer database is the information you’ve collected on your customers via forms including name, location information or preferences. If you send out email newsletters and use an email service provider like MailChimp you can upload your database to manage your email campaigns. Responsive newsletters use information from your database to personalize content.

DEBUGGING ― After writing code for a website or app, it’s the developer’s job to double-check the code for bugs, or problems. Code is language, and in the debugging process the developer many find errors of syntax (like, in any other language, an ungrammatical sentence) or logic. Debugging and fixing may happen at various stages, including pre-launch, or with actual customers in a beta test.

(WEB) DEVELOPER ― In the world of web design, a web developer is someone who’s responsible not only for writing code in HTML, CSS and other programming languages, but also for planning and building the architecture of the website or app they’re working on.

DOMAIN NAME ― A domain name is an individual website name, followed by a “dot” suffix (or top-level domain) like .com, .it, .co.uk, .org or many others. Moskito Design’s domain name is moskitodesign.it (although we also own moskitodesign.com ― users searching for the latter are automatically redirected to the .it address). If you want to create a new website you’ll need to purchase an available domain name from a domain registrar.

FRONT END ― The front end (or client side) relates to everything you actually see or experience in a website via a browser (the client). Designers and copywriters work on the front-end, but so do developers. Using code languages like HTML, CSS and JavaScript, front-end developers build the inner architecture on which to place the layout, images and text.

HTML ― This stands for HyperText Markup Language, the language or code with which web pages and newsletters are structured. Browsers read HTML code in conjunction with other languages like CSS and JavaScript to render the website accurately.

ICON ― In web design and development, an icon is a small picture or symbol that can 1) open an app, program, menu or web page (like the hamburger menu icon or social sharing buttons) or 2) simply illustrate an idea (like a lightbulb icon for “idea” or telephone icon for “communication”). This is different from a logo, which is a word or picture (or combination of the two) that represents a corporate brand. However, sometimes a company logo is also used for an app icon, as in Facebook’s mobile app.

LANDING PAGE ― Some define landing page as simply any subsidiary page connected to a website, like an About page or Portfolio page. Many marketers, however, define a landing page as one specifically designed to generate leads through a form, as in a newsletter signup page. In this definition, a landing page may contain limited options and possibly no site navigation options in order to keep the user’s attention focused on completing the form.

LAYOUT ― Layout is the organization of elements like text and images on the page, often using a grid. In responsive design, the layout is not static but fluid, as elements rearrange themselves automatically depending on the type of device the website or newsletter is viewed on.

MOBILE-FRIENDLY ― A mobile-friendly website or newsletter is one that looks good and is easily usable on a mobile device. This is important because people are increasingly using mobile devices to access websites and open newsletters. It’s also important because Google has made it clear that mobile-friendliness is one important factor in determining organic search rankings. In the past, mobile-friendliness was achieved by building a dedicated mobile-only site to go alongside a desktop version. Now, the answer is increasingly responsive design.

PLUGIN ― Also known as a plug-in, add-on or extension, a plugin is essentially an extra program added to an existing program, app, browser or content management system (CMS), to provide extra functionality, like paying extra for power windows or air conditioning in your car. Some websites require browser plugins to display certain types of content.

PRIVACY POLICY ― According the EU Data Protection Directive, users of your website and app must be informed of what data you are collecting on them and what it will be used for. To ensure compliance with this law, include a privacy policy or a statement that defines the ways you gather data on your users (including the use of cookies) and who you share it with.

RANKING ― Ranking, or page ranking, refers to where your website or page shows up on a Google or other search engine search. While search engines like Google keep their exact algorithm secret, according to SEO experts MOZ the factors that most likely influence how highly your site ranks include variables both onsite (your domain trustworthiness, keyword usage on-page and relevance of your content to a user search) and off-site (the number and quality of links leading to your site from other sources, including, to a lesser degree, from social networks).

RESPONSIVE DESIGN ― This is a design process for creating websites or newsletters that adapt to whatever size screen they’re being viewed on, like water does when it’s poured into a container. Responsive design uses media queries to detect device resolution and design elements are assigned proportions on a fluid grid, so that an image meant to take up 30% of available screen space will take up 30% of any size screen, whatever the orientation.

SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION (SEO) ― This is a collection of techniques for helping make your blog or website content more easily found on search engines like Google and Bing. Search engine bots can do the job, but you can help them do it better. SEO techniques include creating content based on high frequency keyword searches, writing alt-text for your images and working to increase the number of links back to your content from other sources.

SERVER/HOST ― A server is a computer that serves as the physical home, or host, for a website. Each time someone tries to visit your website, their browser contacts the host server and uploads the data necessary to render the page correctly. When you create a website, you can host the website on your own server or pay a hosting service to do so on their own servers.

SPLASH PAGE ― Although the definition has changed over the last decade, nowadays a splash page is used as a temporary “coming soon” page while a full site is under construction. They can be used to generate excitement and leads (through subscription forms) or to accompany press attention so that your public can find out about you.

TEMPLATE ―  In terms of web development, a template is a page designed and coded to make it easy to insert new content into. Website, blog and newsletter templates can be built from scratch or purchased and used with a content management system (CMS). A newsletter may have a single template, whereas a website will have separate templates for the different pages like the Homepage and Careers page.

TESTING ― Before you send out a marketing email you want to make sure your users will see what you want them to see, regardless of the device, app, email client or browser they’re using. There are a number of good tools like Email On Acid or Litmus that allow you to test your emails against many different variables to make sure that you send a functioning cross-browser email.

USER-FRIENDLY ― Simply put, this is a measure of how easy something is to use. If you want to make your website, blog or app user-friendly, always keep the user in mind: what they want from you, when and how they want it, and what devices they use. As user-experience expert Steve Krug advises in his classic Don’t Make Me Think, don’t force the user to waste time or energy trying to figure what to do. Make sure your website, blog or app is easy to navigate (through clear navigation with obvious and accessible menus and buttons) and that content is easy to read and digest (by including large font, short paragraphs, headings, images and plenty of whitespace around text).

WIDGET ― When you build your blog or website on a content management system like WordPress, a widget is the visible aspect of an additional plugin that gives your users more functionality. While not all plugins have visible widgets, all visible widgets depend on a plugin. Some of the most common WordPress widgets are social network icons, ones that allow users to see the most recent blog posts and a map widget to show where a company is located.

WIREFRAME ― Whether done by hand or on a wireframing program, a wireframe is essentially a rough sketch of elements and their relation to each other on the page. It typically lacks color, images or specific typeface/fonts, as it’s meant to be the starting point for the development of ideas.

 

At Moskito Design we make sure we all can speak the same language to take the frustration out of building great websites and web campaigns.