101 Common Terms Used In Web Design

Here is a handy glossary of terms used frequently in the world of web design and development and online marketing.

1. Accessibility - A website that is designed and developed in a way such that all people, regardless of disability, can use the site.

2. Alt tags - The alt tag is an HTML attribute applied to images and is an SEO element considered by Google. It is not visible to a typical visitor in the web browser, but does show up for visitors using screen readers.
3. Anchor text - Anchor text refers to the words which are clickable in a link.
4. Aspect Ratio - The ratio of an image’s width to height, or an image’s width divided by it's height (width / height).
5. Backlinks - Backlinks are links that point to your site or a page on your site.
6. Bizango - The most awesome web design agency on the planet.
7. Block - Bizango’s term to describe our modular design elements that can be added and edited on each page.  There are multiple block types including content blocks and gallery blocks to name a few.
8. Branding guidelines - A style guide that defines your company or organization’s brand, which typically includes your brand colors, fonts, logo, and imagery.
9. Button - A design element intended to be clickable which links to another page or form on a site.
10. Cookies - Small files of data created by sites you visit, which then contain information used to identify you.
11. CMS - Content Management System
12. Collection - A parent page, or main topic page, with ability to hold children or sub-pages.
13. Content - The text and images on a site.
14. Content strategy - Goal oriented site architecture and smart messaging that converts site visitors to customers.
15. Conversion - When a website lead, or visitor to a site, clicks the buy or contact button.
16. CTA - Call To Action
17. CTR - Click-Through-Rate
18. Defaults - Automatic settings are the default settings.
19. DNS - Domain Name System
20. Domain - Domain or ‘web domain’ is the URL or address of a website.
21. Domain Authority (Domain Rating) - Domain Authority is a search engine ranking score.  On a scale of 0-100, the higher the score the better.
22. Domain Registrar - The company from which a domain name is purchased.  Examples include GoDaddy or Register.com.
23. Dropdown navigation - The part of the navigation that opens up when hovering or clicking on a top nav tab.
24. E-commerce - Electronic commerce, or the buying and selling of goods or services online.
25. External link - External links are links that take people from your site to different site.  These are sometimes referred to as ‘outbound links’.
26. Favicon - A small icon, sometimes branded, that appears to the left of the URL in the address bar of a web browser.
27. Fold - The section of content first visible on page load.
28. Footer - The bottom of a web page.
29. Full-Bleed - Content that flows out to the full width of page.
30. GIF - A gif is a short, simple animated image.
31. Google Ads - Advertisements for goods or services that display on a Google search which may include PPC, display ads, or video ads.
32. Google Analytics or GA - Tracking code that when installed on a site tracks and reports your website traffic and site visitor behavior.
33. Gradient - The gradual blending of color on a graphic or web page.
34. Hero / Banner - A hero, or sometimes referred to as a banner, is a bold horizontal photo that helps define your website, often used at the top of a webpage.
35. Header - The top panel of a webpage.
36. HEX code - A hexadecimal format for identifying colors on the web.
37. Hits - Hits specifically refers to someone downloading a file or attachment from your site, but this term is often used to mean site visits.
38. Homepage - The first page of your website.
39. Hook - A clear, concise phrase or message that catches the site visitor’s attention quickly.
40. Hosting - Web hosting is a service that allows a site to be visible on the web.
41. Hover state - When a site visitor hovers or rolls over a design element on a page with their cursor, that element changes.
42. HTTPS - Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure.  A secure version of HTTP, which uses SSL encryption for sending sensitive data over the web.
43. Icon - A graphical element used depict an idea.
44. Immersive design - Website design that uses a combination of imagery, video, and technical elements to transport a site visitor.
45. Indexed - Indexed is the term used to describe what happens when Google has recognized a site and has added it to its search database.
46. Inline editing - Site administrators can edit the content right on the page instead of having to go to a separate window or dashboard.
47. Interior page - Any page of a site that is not the homepage or first page of a website.
48. Internal link - Internal links are hyperlinks that link to another page within your site.
49. KWR - Keyword research
50. Landing Page - Landing page is a standalone webpage often used for marketing campaigns, but this term is often used to describe any page of a site that a visitor ‘lands’ on.
51. Leads - Website visitors who contact you either through your website or because of your marketing initiatives.
52. Lightbox - A popup overlay over a page that usually contains images or a video display.
53. Link - Words or buttons on a site that when clicked take you to another page.  Links can link to pages within a site (internal links) or different websites (external links).
54. Margin - The space or boarder around text or other design elements on a page.
55. Marketing - Marketing is what you do to promote your business.  Examples include digital ads, SEO or social media ad campaigns.
56. Mega menu - A large, expandable menu that when clicked on from the navigation, opens to display many options.
57. Meta tags - Meta tags are snippets of code that provides information about that webpage which is read by Google and used as a key element search results.
58. Meta description - Meta Description is the description of the page and is not directly visible on your site, but customers searching Google will frequently see it displayed directly on Google’s search results page.
59. Meta data - Synonymous with meta tags.
60. Modular - A process by which a web page is built using different blocks and block types.
61. Navigation - The process of moving through a website.  Navigation also refers to the tabs in the header and or footer of a site that a site visitor can click to view pages.
62. Optimized content - Content that is uses your keywords, text and video, and may include contextual links to relevant pages for the purpose of improving your search engine rankings.
63. Pantone - A color system used by many sectors to the degree that it is considered the standard color matching system.
64. Parallax scrolling - A design feature that adds a 3-D element to an image making the viewer feel like they are ‘in’ the photo.
65. PeopleCMS - A fully managed, content management system created by Bizango.
66. Plugin - A software extension that can be added to a website which provides specific functionality.
67. Popup - A screen overlay that displays over the page which often contains promotional text.
68. PPC - Pay Per Click
69. Redirect - A term to describe what happens when a site visitor goes to a page or site that is no longer available and they are automatically forwarded to a different page.
70. Remarketing - A type of marketing that shows ads to people who have previously visited your site.
71. Resolution - The clarity or crispness of an image or graphic.
72. Responsive layout - A design layout of a page that alters depending on a site visitor’s screen size.
73. Sans serif font - A font that does not have serifs or extending features or embellishments at the ends of characters.
74. SEM - Search Engine Metrics
75. SEO - Search Engine Optimization
76. Serif font - A font that contains extra lines or embellishments at the ends of characters.
77. Servers - A computer, device or software that provides information to other computers.
78. Shared content - The same content is shared throughout the site.
79. Sitemap - The organization or page architecture of a site.
80. Slideshow - A gallery of images, case studies or testimonials that can be scrolled through one at a time.
81. Social media marketing - Promoting products or services through posts or advertisements on social platforms such as YouTube, Facebook, Instagram.
82. Sticky navigation - A top navigation bar that follows you as you scroll down the page.
83. Subpage - A subcategory page or related page that typically lives under a main category or collection.
84. Tabs - The links or buttons in the navigation that navigate to a different page.
85. Tags - Functionality that enables connections on a site between projects, people, markets, services and locations.
86. Template - A layout of a page.
87. Theme - A defined look and feel of a site or an element on a site.
88. Traffic - The number of site visitors to a website.
89. Transparent png - An image that has a clear or transparent background.
90. URL - The web address of a site.
91. URL slug - A slug is the last bit of a URL that identifies that specific page.
92. User experience - User experience or UX design is a philosophy that considers the site visitors’ experience and interaction with the site, with the intention of making the site easy and pleasant to use.
93. Utility navigation - A secondary, often smaller, navigation and which contain links to pages not in the main navigation.
94. Watermark - A faint, almost transparent mark or logo on an image.
95. Webpage - A term used to describe any page of a website.
96. Web browser - A web browser is what you use to search the internet or view a web page.  Examples include Chrome, Safari and Firefox.
97. Web design - The visual look and feel of a website.
98. Website development - Web development is the work of building a site, web page or web function that requires coding.
99. Website maintenance - The process of ensuring your website is running smoothly, securely and up to date.
100. White space - A design term that describes the space or area between elements or text on a page.
101. WYSIWYG editor - What You See Is What You Get is an editing system in which the content entered in the editing tool looks like the content that is displayed on the page.  PeopleCMS is an example of a type of WYSIWYG editor.