Dive into the world of WordPress and web design with our simplified web design glossary. Whether you’re designing or developing, understanding key web design terms is crucial. From themes to SEO, this guide demystifies jargon, making web creation accessible. This comprehensive Glossary was made for Aspiring Website Designers and Developers.
Why Should You Learn Web Design Terms And WordPress Web Design Vocabulary?
Just like any other profession, web design has a jargon– a list of words that every professional in the field should know and use. So, the following are web design terms for traditional and no-code web developers and designers. Being able to speak the language of all web designers will facilitate communications between you and your fellow web designer and developers.
1. What Is WordPress?
WordPress is an open-source content management system (CMS) used for building websites and blogs. WordPress allows users to easily create and manage digital content, making it a popular choice for websites of various types.
2. What Is A Theme?
It’s a collection of templates and stylesheets that define the look and feel of a WordPress website. Themes control the visual presentation and layout, affecting the overall design and user experience.
3. What Is A Plugin?
Plugins are software components that add specific features and functionality to a WordPress website. Plugins extend the capabilities of WordPress, offering solutions for SEO, e-commerce, security, and more.
4. What Is A Page Builder?
A page builder is a tool that enables visual, drag-and-drop design for creating custom page layouts. Page builders like Elementor allow users to design pages without coding, providing a more intuitive design experience.
5. What Is Astra?
Astral is a lightweight and customizable WordPress theme often used in conjunction with page builders. Astra is known for its flexibility and compatibility with various plugins, making it a popular choice for designers.
6. What Is A Child Theme?
A child theme is a theme that inherits the functionality and styling of another theme, known as the parent theme. Creating a child theme allows designers to make modifications without altering the original theme files, facilitating updates.
7. What Are Custom Post Types?
Content types in WordPress beyond the standard posts and pages, allowing for diverse content structures. Custom post types help organize and display different types of content, such as portfolios, testimonials, or events.
8. What Is A Widget?
A widget is a Small block that performs specific functions and can be added to widget-ready areas of a WordPress site. Widgets provide additional content and features in areas like sidebars, footers, or other designated widget areas.
9. What Is A Short Code?
It’s a small piece of code enclosed in square brackets that performs a specific function when added to a post or page. Shortcodes allow users to embed various elements or functionalities within content without extensive coding.
10. What Is A Responsive Design?
It’s a design approach ensuring a website adapts and looks good on various devices and screen sizes. Responsive design enhances user experience and is crucial for modern websites given the diversity of devices used for browsing.
11. What Is SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
SEO is a set of Practices aimed at optimizing a website to rank higher in search engine results. SEO involves various strategies and techniques to improve visibility and organic traffic.
12. What Is Hosting?
It’s a service that provides server space for hosting website files and making them accessible on the internet. Choosing the right hosting provider and plan is crucial for website performance and reliability.
13. What Is A Domain Name?
It’s the unique web address used to access a website. A domain name is the part between “www” and “.com or .org”. Selecting a relevant and memorable domain name is important for brand identity and accessibility.
14. What Is A Permalink?
It’s the permanent URL structure of individual pages or posts on a WordPress site. Permalinks can be customized for better readability and SEO.
15. What Is A CMS (Content Management System)?
It’s a piece of software that facilitates the creation, editing, and management of digital content. WordPress is a popular CMS, simplifying website maintenance.
16. What Is A FTP (File Transfer Protocol)
It’s a standard network protocol used to transfer files from one host to another over a TCP-based network. FTP is often used for uploading files to a web server.
17. What Is Caching?
It’s storing copies of files or data temporarily to reduce load times and improve website performance. Caching helps speed up websites by serving pre-saved content to users.
18. What Is A Navigation Menu?
A set of links that helps users navigate through a website. Navigation menus are often customizable and can include dropdowns for organized navigation.
19. What Is A Call to Action (CTA)?
A call-to-action prompts users to take a specific action, such as making a purchase or filling out a form. CTAs are strategically placed to guide visitors through the desired conversion path.
20. What Is A Favicon?
It’s a small icon associated with a website, typically displayed in the browser’s address bar. Favicons contribute to brand recognition and improve the user experience.
21. What Does Typography Refer To?
Typography refers to the style and appearance of text on a website, including font choice, size, and spacing. Typography influences the visual appeal and readability of content.
22. What Is A White Space?
It’s an empty space between design elements on a webpage. White space enhances readability and aesthetics by preventing visual clutter.
23. What Is An Alt Text?
An alt text is a descriptive text added to images to provide context for visually impaired users and improve SEO. Alt text is essential for accessibility and search engine optimization.
24. What Is A Customizer?
A customizer is a WordPress tool that allows users to customize various theme settings in real time. The Customizer provides a live preview of changes before they are applied to the website.
25. What Are Meta Tags?
Meta tags are HTML tags providing information about a webpage to search engines and browsers. Meta tags include metadata such as page title, description, and keywords.
26. What Is A Multisite?
It’s a WordPress feature allowing the creation of a network of multiple interconnected websites using a single installation. Multisite is useful for managing multiple websites efficiently.
27. What Is A Wireframe?
It’s a visual guide outlining the structure and layout of a webpage before design elements are applied. Wireframes help plan and communicate the overall site structure.
28. What Are Responsive Images?
Responsive images are images that adjust their size and resolution based on the user’s device and screen size. Responsive images contribute to a seamless user experience across various devices.
29. What Is A Breadcrumb Navigation?
It’s a navigation aid that shows the user’s location within the website’s hierarchy. Breadcrumbs help users understand the site structure and navigate efficiently.
30. What Is A Sitemap?
It’s a file or page that lists all the URLs of a website, aiding search engines in indexing the content. Sitemaps improve SEO and help search engines understand the site’s structure.
31. What Is A Cache Plugin?
A cache plugin is a WordPress plugin designed to store cached copies of web pages, optimizing site performance. Cache plugins enhance loading speeds by serving pre-saved content to visitors.
32. What Is A Featured Image?
It’s an image chosen as the representative image for a post or page. Featured images are often displayed on archive pages and in social media previews.
33. What Is A .htaccess?
It’s a configuration file on Apache web servers that can be used to control various server settings. .htaccess files are commonly used for URL redirection and access control.
34. What Is An SSL Certificate
An SSL certificate is a digital certificate that authenticates the identity of a website and encrypts information sent to the server. SSL certificates are crucial for securing online transactions and user data.
35. What Is A Gravatar?
It’s a globally recognized avatar linked to an email address, commonly used on WordPress sites. Gravatars provide a consistent user image across different websites.
36. What Does Backend Refer To?
Backend refers to the part of a website or software that users don’t see, where data is processed and managed. Web developers work on the backend to handle server-side operations.
37. What Does Frontend Refer To?
Frontend Refers to the part of a website that users interact with, including the design, layout, and user interface. Frontend development focuses on creating an appealing and user-friendly experience.
38. What Is A MySQL Database?
It’s an open-source relational database management system used to store data for WordPress websites. WordPress relies on MySQL databases to store content, settings, and user information.
39. What Is A Custom Field?
A custom field is an additional data field that can be added to posts, pages, or custom post types. Custom fields provide flexibility in storing and displaying content.
40. What Is RSS Feed?
It’s a format for delivering regularly updated content, often used for news websites and blogs. RSS feeds allow users to subscribe and receive updates from their favorite websites.
41. What Is A 404 Error Page?
A 404 page is the error page displayed when a user tries to access a page that doesn’t exist. Customizing the 404 page helps maintain user engagement and provides helpful navigation options.
42. What Is A Slug?
A slug is the part of a URL that identifies a specific page or post. Slugs are often derived from the post or page title for better SEO and readability.
43. What Is CAPTCHA?
It’s a security feature that uses challenges to verify that a user is human and not a bot. CAPTCHAs prevent automated abuse of online services and forms.
44. What Is JAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML)
It’s a web development technique that allows data to be retrieved from the server asynchronously, without reloading the entire page. AJAX enhances user experience by providing dynamic and seamless interactions.
45. What Is A Landing Page?
A landing page is a standalone web page created for a specific marketing or advertising campaign. Landing pages are designed to encourage a specific action, such as filling out a form or making a purchase.
46. What Is A Canonical URL?
It’s the preferred version of a URL when there are multiple versions of the same page. Canonical URLs help avoid duplicate content issues for better SEO.
47. What Is An Anchor Text?
It’s the visible, clickable text in a hyperlink. Anchor text provides context about the content of the linked page and influences SEO.
48. What Is Robots.txt?
Robots.txt is a text file placed in a website’s root directory to instruct search engine bots on how to crawl and index the site. Robots.txt helps control which parts of the site should or should not be indexed by search engines.
49. What Is A Domain Extension?
A domain extension, also known as a top-level domain (TLD), is the last part of a domain name that follows the “dot” (.) in an internet address. It is used to categorize and identify the type or purpose of a website. Common examples of domain extensions include:
1. Generic Top-Level Domains (gTLDs):
– .com (commercial)
– .org (organization)
– .net (network)
– .edu (education)
– .gov (government)
2. Country Code Top-Level Domains (ccTLDs):
– .us (United States)
– .uk (United Kingdom)
– .ca (Canada)
– .au (Australia)
– .de (Germany)
Each domain extension serves a specific purpose or indicates the type of organization, business, or entity associated with the website. The choice of domain extension often reflects the nature of the website or the preferences of the website owner. For example, commercial entities commonly use .com, while educational institutions use .edu.
50. What Does Redirection Refer To?
Redirection refers to the process of forwarding a user from one URL to another. This is often done for various reasons, such as when a website has changed its domain name, when specific content has moved to a new location, or for tracking purposes. There are different types of redirection, and they serve different purposes:
1. “301 Redirect (Permanent Redirect)”: This type of redirection informs search engines that the original URL has permanently moved to a new location. It’s commonly used when a website changes its domain name or when content has been permanently moved. Search engines will transfer the SEO value from the old URL to the new one.
2. “302 Redirect (Temporary Redirect)”: This type of redirection indicates that the move is temporary. It is often used when a website is undergoing maintenance, and the original URL will be back in the future. Unlike a 301 redirect, a 302 redirect does not transfer the same level of SEO value to the new URL.
Redirection is crucial for maintaining a positive user experience and ensuring that visitors reach the intended content even if URLs change.
51. What Is Padding In Web Design?
Padding is the space between the content of an element and its border. It is used to provide cushioning or space around the content inside an element. Padding is specified in units like pixels, ems, or percentages.
52. What Does Margin Refer To?
Margin is the space outside the border of an element. It creates space between the border of one element and its neighboring elements. Like padding, margin is specified in units such as pixels, ems, or percentages.
53. What Does White Space Refer To?
White space refers to any empty or unused space in a design or layout. It includes spaces between text characters, lines, and elements. Proper use of white space is crucial for readability and visual appeal in design.
54. What Does CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) Refer To?
CSS is a style sheet language used for describing the presentation of a document written in a markup language like HTML. CSS separates the structure of a document from its presentation, allowing developers to control the layout, colors, fonts, and other visual aspects of a web page.
55. What Are Headings?
Headings are HTML tags used to define headings or titles in a document. There are six levels of headings in HTML, ranging from “<h1>” (the highest level) to “<h6>” (the lowest level). Headings are used to structure and organize content, with “<h1>” typically representing the main heading or title of a page and “<h2>” to “<h6>” representing subheadings of decreasing importance.
56. What Is A Hex Code?
A hex code, or hexadecimal code, is a numerical representation of a color in base-16. It is commonly used in web design and development to specify colors for elements using CSS (Cascading Style Sheets). A hex code is composed of six characters, with the first two representing the red component, the next two representing green, and the last two representing blue. For example, “#RRGGBB”, where RR is the hexadecimal value for red, GG for green, and BB for blue.
Example:
– “#FF0000” represents the color red.
– “#00FF00” represents the color green.
– “#0000FF” represents the color blue.
57. What Does Font Refer To?
In the context of web design and typography, a font refers to a specific set of characters, symbols, and design features with a consistent and unified style. A font includes variations such as different weights (e.g., regular, bold), styles (e.g., italic), and sizes. Fonts play a crucial role in the visual presentation of text on a website, and they can be specified using CSS.
58. What Is A Breakpoint?
In web design, a breakpoint is a specific screen width at which a website’s layout or design is adjusted to provide an optimal viewing experience. Responsive web design employs breakpoints to ensure that a site looks and functions well on a variety of devices with different screen sizes, such as desktops, tablets, and smartphones. At each breakpoint, the layout may change, and elements may be repositioned or resized to accommodate the available screen space.
For example, a website might have a layout designed for large desktop screens, but as the screen size decreases, a breakpoint may trigger a change in the layout to better suit smaller screens. Commonly used breakpoints include those for small screens (e.g., smartphones), medium screens (e.g., tablets), and large screens (e.g., desktops).
59. What Are Hero Images in Web Design?
Hero images in web design refer to large, visually striking images or visual elements placed prominently at the top of a webpage, typically on the homepage. These images are designed to capture attention, convey a brand message, set the tone for the website, and encourage engagement. Hero images often span the full width of the browser window and may include text overlays, headlines, or calls-to-action.
Hero images are an essential part of the design, creating a strong visual impact and helping to establish the website’s identity. In the context of responsive design, hero images should be optimized to look appealing and maintain their impact across various devices, and breakpoints may be employed to adjust the layout or presentation of the hero image for different screen sizes.
60. What Does User Experience (UX) Refer To In Web Design?
User Experience (UX) refers to the overall experience that a user has while interacting with a product, service, or system, especially in terms of how easy or pleasing it is to use. In web design, UX encompasses various aspects, including usability, accessibility, responsiveness, and the emotional response of the user. Design decisions are made with the user’s needs, preferences, and satisfaction in mind, aiming to create a positive and meaningful experience.
61. What Does User Interface (UI) Refer To?
User Interface (UI) focuses on the visual and interactive elements of a product or system, including screens, pages, buttons, icons, and other visual elements. UI design is concerned with how the user interacts with the interface, ensuring that it is visually appealing, intuitive, and functional. UI designers aim to create interfaces that are easy to navigate, understand, and use.
62. What Does Taxonomy Refer To In Web Design?
Taxonomy in web design refers to the systematic organization and classification of content on a website. It involves creating a hierarchical structure or categorization system to help users navigate and find information efficiently. A well-defined taxonomy influences the design of navigation menus, search functionality, and overall content presentation on a website. It contributes to a positive user experience by providing clear content organization and making it easy for users to locate the information they need.
As a conclusion, you can only be part of a Web Design and Development community if you can speak and understand their language. Therefore, this article should take you there. Every web design term you know, is an accomplishment that leads to your destination. Remember, the best way to learn web design terms is NOT by memorizing their definition, but by identifying the section or item related to each web design term. Furthermore, you should try to explain to yourself or someone else every thing you are doing while designing a website. By doing so, you will get used to utilizing the terms in real-life situations. Have fun!
