Websites Terms

a

A

A11y (Accessibility)

Accessibility is one of the most important considerations in transport apps and websites. It means making an app or website accessible to users in more challenging situations and for those with disabilities. Accessibility is often referred to as A11y for short. A11Y is a numeronym (similar to an acronym) with the first and last letters of …

b

B

Bugs

Mistakes in code that keep a website or program from working properly.

c

C

Cloudflare

Provide content-delivery-network services, DDoS mitigation, Internet security and distributed domain-name-server services. Cloudflare’s services sit between a website’s visitor and the Cloudflare user’s hosting provider, acting as a reverse proxy for websites.

CMS (Content Management System)

Software that facilitates creating, editing, organising and publishing content. Drupal and WordPress are examples of Content Management Systems that allow you to create and publish content on the Internet.

Cookies

A small piece of data sent from a website and stored on the user’s computer by the user’s web browser while the user is browsing. Cookies were designed to be a mechanism for websites to remember information (such as items in a shopping cart) or to record the user’s browsing activity.

d

D

DDoS (Distributed Denial-of-Service)

DDoS, or Distributed Denial of Service, is a malicious cyberattack in which multiple compromised computers, known as “bots” or “zombies,” flood a target system or website with a massive volume of traffic. The goal is to overwhelm the target’s resources, such as servers or network bandwidth, rendering it inaccessible to legitimate users. DDoS attacks typically …

DNS (Domain Name System)

The Domain Name System is the phonebook of the internet. Each device connected to the internet has a unique IP address which other machines use to find the device. DNS servers eliminate the need for us to memorise IP addresses such as 192.168.123.1

Downtime & Uptime

Downtime and uptime describe how long a website, computer or other system has been working (uptime) or not working (downtime).

f

F

Firewall

A firewall is a network security system that monitors and controls incoming and outgoing network traffic based on predetermined security rules. A firewall typically establishes a barrier between a trusted internal network and untrusted external network, such as the Internet.

Front end

Front end is used to describe all the parts of a website that can be seen and interacted with by users.

FTP (File Transfer Protocol)

FTP essentially transfers web page files to the computer server so others can access them. FTP can also be used to download files or programs from the Internet to your computer. When you download these files, you are transferring them from other servers through FTP.

h

H

HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol)

HTTP is the underlying protocol used by the World Wide Web and defines how messages are formatted and transmitted, and what actions Web servers and browsers should take in response to various commands.

i

I

IP address (Internet Protocol address)

An IP address is used to identify computers on the Internet. It works like a return address would on a piece of mail. When your computer or device sends a request, like a search on Google, it tags the request with your IP address. That way Google knows where to send the response.

ISP (Internet Service Provider)

An Internet service provider is an organisation that provides services for accessing, using or participating in the Internet. ISP’s can be organised in various forms, such as commercial, community-owned, non-profit or privately owned.

j

J

JSON (JavaScript Object Notation)

JSON is a text-based data interchange format designed for transmitting structured data. It is most commonly used for transferring data between web applications and web servers. JSON is often viewed as an alternative to XML, another plain text data interchange format.

m

M

Markup language

A computer language that uses tags to define elements within a document. It is human-readable, meaning markup files contain standard words, rather than typical programming syntax. XML is called the “Extensible Markup Language” since custom tags can be used to support a wide range of elements.

Metadata

Metadata is a set of data that describes and gives information about other data and can be used for the purposes of discovery and identification.

p

P

PHP

PHP is a popular general-purpose scripting language that is especially suited to web development. The name PHP is a recursive acronym, originally derived from Personal Home Page Tools, but now stands for PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor.

s

S

SEO (Search Engine Optimisation)

The process of optimising your website to get more organic or un-paid traffic from the search engine results page. As a term, SEO is almost now a generic way to talk about ‘making it appear in searches at the top’.  The challenge with this is that it’s a constant cat and mouse game as Google, …

Sitemaps

Sitemaps are outlines or maps of the pages that make up a website. They show the relationship between the pages and links, apps, videos, or other components, and can take the form of a document or its own page on the website.

u

U

UI (User interface)

User interface includes all the parts of a website, app, computer, smartphone, etc. that the user can manipulate and interact with. Display and touch screens, website menus, keyboards, your cursor—these are all part of a user interface.

Uptime & Downtime

Uptime and downtime describes how long a website, computer, or other system has been working (uptime) or not working (downtime).

URL (Uniform Resource Locator)

A URL (colloquially termed a web address) is a reference to a web resource that specifies its location on a computer network and a mechanism for retrieving it.

UX (User eXperience)

UX describes the emotions, attitudes and ease-of-use a person has when using a product or service. UX Design is the practice of using design to improve communication between a product and its user in order to enhance the user’s overall experience.

w

W

Web servers

Web servers are computers used to store websites, online apps, documents, pictures or other data, and can be accessed through the Internet by way of applications like web browsers or file transfer protocol (FTP) clients. When you visit a website with the browser on your computer or phone, you are requesting it from a web …

Wireframes

Wireframes are sketches of the key information that goes on each page of a website, essentially showing the site or page’s “skeleton.” Designers can then use this sketch as a starting point for laying out a website.

x

X

XML (Extensible Markup Language)

A markup language that defines a set of rules for encoding documents in a format that is both human-readable and machine-readable. 

XML Protocol

The goal of XML Protocol is to develop technologies which allow two or more peers to communicate in a distributed environment, using XML as its encapsulation language.