| backend |
The
server process that happens
behind the scenes of a website.
The backend is the process
that serves the information
to the end user and interacts
with a shopping
cart, for example.
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| broken
link |
Occurs when
the target page that the link
is referring to has been moved
or renamed. Also called a dead
link. Search engines don't
like to see broken links and
it ends up reflecting poorly
on the quality of information
offered by the site, and therefore
lowers your relevance in the
search
engine results.
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| browser
based |
When a web
application is supplied to
users without having to download
software. All the necessary
software is hosted on a remote
server.
Browser-based software is the wave of the future, especially because people are
increasingly cautious of downloading
applications from the internet
that could contain viruses.
A good example is Google's
Picasa.
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| cloaking |
First of
all, this is a big no-no. Never
request this of a web designer.
It is when a page is designed
in such a way to make search
engines think it contains
certain content when in reality
the end user sees different
content. Search engines will
ban websites for this type
of intentional deceit.
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| database |
A database
is an accessible warehouse
of information, much like the
records of an excel file. There
are columns and records within
those columns. This makes it
so an infinite amount of data
can be stored in an organized
way and retrieved via humans
or computer applications.
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| dialup |
An Internet
connection that uses telephone
lines to access the World Wide
Web. Also referred to as "slow
speed" for good reason. When
designing websites, this is
the lowest common denominator
that has to be taken into consideration
with page
weight.
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| e-commerce |
The buying
and selling of goods on the
Internet. Certainly the most
cost-effective way of doing
business because it represents
the lowest overhead possible:
no building to rent, no products
to stockpile and the lowest
cost form of advertising in
the world (other than word
of mouth, of course). This
cheapest form of Internet advertising
(free!) includes optimizing
your site for organic search
results in google and link
trading with popular sites.
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| Flash |
A popular
authoring software made by
Macromedia (recently bought
out by Adobe Systems) that
enables website developers
to create rich applications
with motion that are all vector-based.
The opposite of Flash is static
sites that are created with
html. Keep in mind that Flash
and html aren't necessarily
mutually exclusive, though.
You can build hybrid sites
that are a mixture of the two.
The major drawback with sites
that are built entirely in
Flash is that they cannot be
optimized for
search engines such
as Google and Yahoo since they
cannot actually read the text
that is involved in Flash applications.
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| front
end |
The part
of a website that the end user
interacts with. You are interacting
with the frontend of Adrial
Designs right now. A site's
backend is the part behind
the scenes that takes care
of interactions with a database or shopping
cart.
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| FTP |
Stands for
"File Transfer Protocall."
This is a method by which files
are exchanged between computers
or between computers and servers.
See also sFTP.
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| high-speed |
Refers to
an internet connection that
is cable or DSL. The opposite
of a slow-speed connection
or dialup.
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| HTML |
Stands for
"HyperText Markup Language."
This is the universal base
language for most of the websites on
the World Wide Web. HTML is
what search engines read through
to gather information for your
search results. Web pages that
are designed with HTML are
referred to as "static
pages" as
opposed to "dynamic pages" that
are authored by Flash.
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| hyperlink |
A link on
a webpage that is either attached
to an image or a word or piece
of text that, when clicked,
takes the user to another page.
Usually, links are underlined to
show that they are clickable
bridges to other webpages.
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| javascript |
A programming
language that integrates with
HTML to
enhance the user experience.
However, most search
engines are unable to properly index
information supplied within
the scripts.
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| keyword |
In website
design, this refers to a word
that is vital to describing
your specific industry. For
example, Adrial Designs could
not be described without using
words such as "graphic designer,
website design, print design,
logo design" and so on. The
more keywords used on a site
that is properly optimized,
the more opportunity users
will be able to find your site
on the web by use of search
engines.
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| library
item |
In website
design, this is a re-usable
item that can be placed as
multiple instances in multiple
locations. The convenience
of library items is that the
main item can be changed, which
in turn updates its multiple
instances sitewide.
For example,
if you build a website
with 1,000 pages and each
page has your business' phone
number on it, what if your
number changes? Normally,
you would have to manually
copy and paste the new number
1,000 times. If you use a
library item in those 1,000
places, you only have to
change your phone number
in the library item and it
will automatically update
the other 1,000 pages to
match.
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| menu |
A listing
of options or paths for the
user to take in a graphical
interface. A website's navigational
scheme will use a menu system
as part of its way to help
users through the site in a
meaningful and organized way.
The repetition of a menu in
the same area of a website
helps a user feel comfortable
navigating through the site.
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| meta
tags |
Information
placed on webpages not intended
for human users to see. It
is data that is meant for search
engines and other internet
applications to interpret and
use.
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| mirror
site |
Another no-no
in website design. When two
sites exist on the Internet
that are exactly the same as
each other: same content, same
images, same look, same everything.
The original intent of creating
mirror sites was to redirect
users to the parallel site
once the traffic to the first
site became too heavy, but
then it became a way for a
website to get twice the attention
from search
engines.
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| navigation |
Just like
properly navigating a boat
from one shore, across the
ocean and then getting safely
to the other shore, a well-planned
out and executed navigation
scheme to a website guides
its user through the site to
usher them to the goal (contacting
the business, making a purchase,
downloading a white paper,
etc.). Navigation is probably
one of the most important pieces
to web design. It includes
menu structure,
where elements are placed on
a page, what size every element
is in relation to every other
element, and on and on. After
all, how can someone get to
where they (or you) want to
go without some proper (and
hopefully easy and intuitive)
guidance?
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| organic |
The "natural"
way to get free search results.
Organic search results are
those that come up thanks
to spiders who search the
Internet for relevant content.
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| page
weight |
The amount
of Kilobytes of information
each page of a website contains.
The higher the page weight,
the more time it takes to
download the page's information
to show to the end user.
As a rule of thumb, a page
shouldn't weigh more than
100KB, on average.
Page weight
includes image weight, Flash weight,
text weight and script
weight. Anything on a website's page
contributes to the page
weight, however minutely.
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| RGB |
Stands for "Red,
Green, Blue." These three
colors of light all combine
in varying degrees to create
all the colors of the rainbow.
RGB is the color language used
by computer monitors and digital
cameras. See also CMYK for
the main colors used in inks.
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| script |
A term used
in programming to define an
action or set of actions that
is executed by a third party
application instead of the
computer itself. This allows
your experience to be much
richer because it is no longer
confined to the abilities of
your own software, within reason.
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| search
engine |
Any software
(usually browser-based)
that spiders the web and catalogs every page based on certain keywords so that
when users interact with it
by inputting keywords, the
software returns the most relevant
results possible. See also
SEO.
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| SEO |
The methodical
and purposeful building of
a website to enhance your chances
of being listed higher in search
engine results
for the top keywords
in your industry.
For example,
if you own a pizza shop
in Chapel Hill, NC, your
website should be designed
in such a way to get you
listed high for keywords
such as "pizza,
food, fast food, Chapel Hill,
NC." Depending upon
your industry and how your
competitors position themselves,
your keyword set focus can
change.
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| server |
A computer
that handles requests from
other clients and programs
on a network. The World Wide
Web – the entire Internet –
is just a huge web of servers
all linked together across
a worldwide network.
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| server-side
script |
A program
that runs directly on the web
server instead of having to
be downloaded to the computer
that is benefiting from the
script. This enhances security
on the web and increases efficiency.
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| sFTP |
Stands for
"secure File Transfer Protocall."
Just like FTP, but with more
safety measures so that information
is not compromised as it is
being uploaded to the server.
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| shopping
cart |
A special
form of software online that
keeps tracks of the items
customers would like to buy
until they
proceed to the checkout to make their final bulk purchase of all the items at
once.
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| sidebar |
In web design,
it refers to information that
is set apart from the main
body of information, usually
in a box that is on the left
or right of the page. On this
page, for example, there is
the left sidebar at the top
of the page that acts as
a contextual menu for web
design projects and other sections
of AdrialDesigns.com.
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| sitemap |
A sitemap
is a page that tells visitors
and spiders all the links to
every page on a website. It
is helpful for both humans
and robot
spiders to have an
overview of the site and how
all the different sections
fit together as one entity.
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| slow
speed |
Synonym for
dialup internet connection.
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| spider |
No need for
arachnophobia here. Spiders
on the web are your friends.
In the context of website design,
it is a simple computer program
that searches and catalogs
every page on the World Wide
Web. Each search engine has
its own spider that searches
the web's trillions of pages.
These spiders are what you
are trying to appease when
you build your site for SEO purposes.
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| template |
A powerful
tool in website design that
allows you to use the same
look for all your pages while
switching out content for the
main portions of the page.
Most websites need to maintain
the consistency of having the
same information at the top
and mostly on the sidebar,
so templates are very important
since they allow web designers
to create an entire website
containing however many pages
and can update the entire website's
template just by changing one
file. A website template is
much like a library
item, but
is for the entire page layout
instead of just applying to
an individual item on a page.
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| website |
A location
on the World Wide Web that
contains a homepage, other
pages that relate to the homepage,
and text and images that support
the central focus and purpose
of the website's existence
on the Internet.
Every website should have a central theme, focus and graphical look.
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