Useful Terminology for Dealing with a Web Designer

Just below you will find some useful terminology for dealing with a web designer, graphic designer, marketing manager, computer professional or teenager. Now you, too, can learn the lingo!

banner ad – advertisement found on web pages.

bitmap (.bmp) – image format, comprised of pixels. When enlarged, it looks as if it was colored on graph paper, where each block can only be one color.

browser – the software used to view files on the Internet. Examples include: Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, Opera.

copy – term for all the text in a document or project, commonly used in the design and printing industries.

.css – Cascading Style Sheets. This is the type of file needed to define the style (font, color, size) for website elements such as header tags or the color of borders around images. Using .css allows a change on the style sheet to appear throughout the entire website.

domain – a unique name for your website. For example: cjcreativedesign.com, yoursite.com or example.org.

domain registration – what you must do to claim your unique web address. Can cost anywhere from about $20 to $1000 or more per year, depending on how much demand there is for that particular domain. Visit our WEBSITES page for more information on domain registration.

Facebook – www.facebook.com – a well-known social networking website that allows you to connect with friends and clients and share photos and comments. Also provides advertising opportunities.

.gif – Graphics Interchange Format. Pronounced “jiff.” This is a raster image format, comprised of pixels, safe for use on a web page, which was developed in the late 1980s. When enlarged, it looks as if it was colored on graph paper, where each block can only be one color. These images can be animated, and are then called “animated .gifs,” commonly seen in memes on social media.

hero image – a large image that takes up the majority of the space when you first arrive on a page.

http – Hypertext Transfer Protocol. This is what allows you to click on links within web pages to “jump” to other areas of the web. The majority of websites that you visit use this.

.jpeg or .jpg – Joint Photographic Experts Group. This image format is typically used for digital photography, and transmitting photos electronically through email or the web. These images can be edited by software such as Adobe Photoshop.

meta tags – information seen by the web browsers and search engines, but not the general public. These meta tags can include keywords, descriptions and more. This information is an integral part of Search Engine Optimization.

open source – software or art that, for the good of all mankind, is allowed to be re-distrubuted, worked upon, improved and shared. The Open Source Initiative has some good information on this. Great examples of open source software are Open Office (comparable to Microsoft Office), WordPress, and Thunderbird (for email). An excellent site for open source clip art is openclipart.org.

.pdf – Portable Document Format. Commonly viewed with Adobe Acrobat Reader, and now many web browsers, too. This allows documents to be viewed as intended, no matter which platform you are using (Mac or PC).

php – acronym for Hypertext Preprocessor. It is an open-source scripting language which is widely for web development, well known for its use in WordPress sites.

pixel – smallest element of a raster graphic. Short for Picture Element. Display screens, like your computer monitor or phone screen, are also made up of pixels (thousands or millions of them). Imagine a super fine graph paper grid, and each square is colored in to create an image on a screen. Each square could be considered a pixel.

.png – Portable Network Graphics. Raster graphic, similar to .bmp and .gif, which became widely supported in web browsers around 1998. Usually preferable to .gif for web design.

raster image – image format that uses pixels and loses its clean lines when enlarged too much. Examples of raster graphics are .bmp, .jpg, .gif and .png.

search engine – Google, Yahoo, Bing, Ask.com are all well-known search engines. They help you find what you are looking for on the Internet. Some search engines are organic, meaning real people submit information to them. Others use web bots to collect data from the web pages, and list them automatically.

SEO – Search Engine Optimization. This process involves setting up the website with the proper keywords and submission to search engines. Here is a link to an external website that has a chart that visually explains SEO. It’s a lot to take in, but we can help you with that.

url – Universal Resource Locator. This is the unique address of a website. For example: http://www.cjcreativedesign.com. Most web browsers automatically include the http://www. if you only enter the domain name in the address bar of the web browser. However, when linking to another website (ie. from an email or another site), you must use the entire URL, or the page may not be found.

vector image – image format that when enlarged it looks just as good as when it was small. Generally used for line art, these images are usually created in a program such as Adobe Illustrator or Inkscape, and are ideal for logo designs. Visit our LOGOS page for more information on logos.

web host – once you have a domain registered, and you want to upload information to it, you need a host. A web host is where the information for your website is stored. CJ Creative Design, LLC offers web hosting. Visit our WEBSITES page for more information on web hosting.

WordPress – an open source blogging software installed on their website’s server that allows the average person to easily make updates to their WordPress websites and add fun bells and whistles. This site was created using WordPress. Visit our WEBSITES page for more information on WordPress websites.