Tech Guy Terms Easily Explained

Common Terms Used

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Browser: This is a software application, like Internet Explorer, Chrome, Safari, etc., that people use to visit websites.

Server: When you open a webpage, the data is sent to your computer from another computer. This other computer is considered the server.

URL: The URL is the web address at the top of the browser. URL’s look like this: https://www.linkstechnology.com/

Tags: Tags are a part of HTML coding. Tags are the text that goes around the content in the HTML. Example:

<h1>This is heading<h1>
<h2>This is heading<h2>
<h3>This is heading<h3>

Anchor: This is a tag in HTML code that starts with an a and is closed with an a.
An example: <a name=”C4”>Chapter 4</a>

Wrapping: This is another HTML term. Wrapping is the same as tags, really, but with text in the middle.
An example: <p> I’m a paragraph </p> Paragraph tags wrap the text.

Nesting: Nesting is an HTML term that is just like wrapping but has more layers to it. List items are nested under/inside the list element.
An example: Unordered List

<ul>
<li>Milk</li>
<li>Bread</li>
</ul>

When wanting to order a list with numbers, the coder will use <ol> instead of <ul>

Markup: This is another term used for saying HTML code.

Accessibility: Some may think this is self-explanatory, but in the web world when a designer/developer uses this term they are really saying will this website be easy or difficult to access content for people that have disabilities.

Usability: This is just like accessibility, but it’s used when figuring out if the website will be easy or difficult for all viewers, not just people with disabilities.

Findability: Designers use this term when describing how easy the viewers can locate the content they are looking for on a website.

Standards: This describes the set of rules on how browsers should interpret HTML code.

Semantics: This means choosing the correct HTML tag to describe content.

Rendering: describes the process of interpreting HTML and CSS and creating what you see on your computer.

Client-side: This term means the language that is interpreted by your browser.

Server-side: This describes the process of the language being interpreted by the server.

DOCTYPE: This is at the top of the code and tells the browser a set of rules to be followed when interpreting the remaining code.

Copy: This refers to text.

White Space: This refers to spaces in the design that are left blank for looks.

Vector: This is a type of graphic that can be changed to any size without losing its crispness.

Bitmap: This is a type of image that can’t be changed to any size without messing up the crispness of the photo.

Analytics: Data about the website. This data is shown in an organized manner and can help the manager of the website to see how many people have viewed the website, which pages viewers are on the most, etc.

Kerning: This describes the process of changing the amount of space between two letters to make the looks of the design better.

Tracking: This is like Kerning, but this describes the whole design’s letter spacing.

Sprite: This describes an image that has multiple images.

Elastic: This is a type of web layout. This layout will adjust to scale up or down.

Fixed Layout: This is a type of layout that cannot fully adjust but the fonts size in the layout can.

Fluid Layout: This means the layout’s width is determined by the browser window that the viewer is using.

Framework: This describes software being built to make things easier.

Acronyms

CSS: This stands for Cascading Style Sheets. This controls the look of a rendered page.

HTML: This refers to HyperText Markup Language. This is code that forms websites and shows the content that each website contains.

JS: This stands for JavaScript. This program is used to create interactive effects within web browsers.

AJAX: This stands for Asynchronous JavaScript and XML. This is a way to load content from a server and then placing it on a page without having to refresh.

CMS: This refers to the Content Management System. CMS is a software that runs on a server. A CMS makes managing content on websites easier.

SEO: This stands for Search Engine Optimization. SEO helps drive traffic to a website. A company can make changes to their website to help them rank higher when viewers search for them.

SERP: This refers to Search Engine Results Page. When a user searches something in Google they will be taken to a results page know as SERP.

TLD: TLD stands for Top Level Domain. Some TLDs are .com and .net.

CRUD: This refers to Create, Read, Update, Delete. This is a web application used for blogs. This allows the user to create content, read the content, update the content whenever and delete the content or blog if they want.

DOM: This stands for Document Object Model. The DOM treats HTML like a tree-like structure where each element of the document has a purpose.

RGB: This refers to Red Green Blue. This is a color model that is used to display graphics. Images used for website or electronic display should be in the Red Green Blue color model.

CMYK: This stands for Cyan Magenta Yellow Black. This is the color model used for print. Photos look more realistic on paper when using CMYK.

RSS: This is known as Really Simple Syndication. This is an XML form used for publishing content.

DPI/PPI: This refers to Dots Per Inch and Pixels Per Inch. The Dots are known as actual dots of inch on paper and pixels are known as bits of data.

WYSIWYG: This stands for What You See Is What You Get. This is a system where content can be edited in a form to make it look very similar to how it looks when it is printed.

Common Phrases Used

Above the Fold: This refers to a website’s front page. The middle of the front page is known as the fold. When a designer/developer uses the phrase above the fold they are referring to the top half of the front page that can be seen without scrolling.

Browser Safe: This means that a set of colors are acceptable to use because they will display properly on all computer monitors.

Hover State: This is when a user hovers over a link and the link changes color.

Active State: This refers to when a link is tabbed to something.

Back End: Designers/Developers use this term when talking about the behind the scenes work and when talking about coding or items that the viewer can’t see when looking at a website.

Front End: This is known as the part of the website that people can view on a browser.

Pixel Perfect: Designers/Developers use this phrase when describing that a finished design matches the mockup perfectly.

Browser Zooming: This refers to a feature in a browser that magnifies a website.

Horizontal Scroll: This means that a website is wider than the browser’s window.

Bugfoot: This is used when describing a bug that has been seen by one person and can’t be reproduced.

Duck: This refers to adding a feature that is only used to draw management and will eventually be deleted later.

Borked: This means something is wrong with the layout of webpage.