Web hosting and design

10 Web Design Terms You Need To Know

termsDesigning websites has become more commonplace over the last few years. It allows novices to come to a blank slate and make something that has the potential to be remarkable. The problem is that some terms are a bit complicated when a newcomer tries to break into the field. Here are some of the most common terms you should know and a basic definition of what they mean.

Back End:

This refers to the part of the website that makes it run. This is where the information goes up into the website, where all of the controls are, and where you go to change settings for your website. The front end, on the other hand, is what people see when they visit your site.

Crop:

This is when you trim down pictures to make them smaller and fit more readily into your website’s content. You can either shrink down the picture to make the whole image smaller, or you can crop an image, taking parts of the picture off to make the image that is left smaller.

GIF:

This is a picture file type that is small and easy to put up on websites. They often use just a couple colors and simplistic designs, plus they can also be animated.

CMS—Content Management System:

This talks about the part of your website that you put the content into. Normally, the type of platform you use will dictate the type of CMS you use. Each different CMS you have available will offer you different ways of displaying your content to your visitors, so try using different styles and see how it looks.

Saturation:

This is the intensity of colors that you use on your website. The higher the saturation, the more intense the colors are. If something has a low saturation, the colors are more subdued.

HTML:

This is the language computers use to convert all of your graphics and text into a readable format on a website. It converts everything you decide to put onto your website into a language that other computers can read.

Content:

This is the part of your website that helps give information of some type to your viewers. This is often the words you place on the website for people to read, but it can also be your pictures or graphics that are put on the site to help make your site valuable.

Embed Codes:

These are codes you can put into your content that let the people visiting your website look at items from other sources without ever having to leave your website to do it. Many people use embed codes to put video links into their content that allows their viewers to watch a specific YouTube video without having to leave the site first.

Below the Fold:

This is referring to any content that your viewers would have to scroll down to see. The content you have at the bottom part of your page or your footer often have to be scrolled down to see, making them appear below the fold. This term dates back to what was below the folded mark of a newspaper and has since carried over to the world of websites.

Favicon:

This is the little graphic that represents your website on the tabs of your web browsers. They can also be used elsewhere in your site, but they are always small in size. They are only 16×16 for the small pictures, or 32×32 for the larger ones. They can also be miniature versions of your website’s logo, making it easier for your visitors to recognize your website.

 

SOURCES:

http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/non-designers-web-design-glossary

http://www.therustypixel.com/web_site_design/website_design_technical_terms.php

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/05/21/web-design-industry-jargon-glossary-and-resources/

 

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