MPEG
Stands for Moving Picture Experts Group and refers to a compression standard.

Meta Tags
Meta Tags are used by search engine spiders to help understand website content.

Microblogging
Microblogging is a form of multimedia blogging that allows users to send brief text updates or micromedia such as photos or audio clips and publish them, either to be viewed by anyone or by a restricted group which can be chosen by the user. These messages can be submitted by a variety of means, including text messaging, instant messaging, E-mail, digital audio or the web.

Mockup
This is how your website designer will give you an idea of what the finished website will look like. This is normally achieved by using a graphics program, so it is a representation of the finished item. Generally depicting the look of the home or index page.

Navigation
A navigation bar or navigation buttons are normally placed on each web page so you can navigate through the contents of the website.

Perl
Perl is a programming language and can be used for a variety of tasks.

PHP
Is a server-side scripting language similar in ways to ASP. PHP stands for: Hypertext Preprocessor.

PNG
Portable Network Graphics. PNG is a graphics file format endorsed by the World Wide Web Consortium that is expected to eventually replace the GIF format. PNGs are not restricted to the 256 color limitation of GIF files, support better transparency options and have better compression but do not support the multiple frames and simple animation that GIF files have.

Resolution
Resolution is about the clarity of an image. The higher dpi (dots per inch), the higher the quality of an image, whether it be an image on a web page or our computer monitor.

RSS
There are two definitions for this, Rich Site Summary and Really Simple Syndication. RSS is an automated way of transmitting and updating news. As a user, you allow the automated transmission by subscribing to the feed or source. To use the service you need a RSS reader installed on your computer, or you can use an online reader such as Google Reader.

SEM
SEM is the acronym for Search Engine Marketing. SEM is the process whereby a website is marketed online using the means of Google Adwords, for example. Costs are measured on Cost per Click (CPC) or Cost per 1000 Impressions (CPM).

SEO
SEO is the acronym for Search Engine Optimisation and by definition this means “the process of improving the volume and quality of traffic to a web site from search engines.

This includes, but is not limited to, optimising your website pages by using appropriate source code throughout the website so that search engines can easily index your website and improve the website’s ranking. SEO techniques are used for improving your position when a search is carried out on a specific keyword or keyword phrase.

Site map
The site map is a visual illustration of the various aspects of your site. It shows the structure and layout of the pages on your website. A site map is also a tool used for SEO.

SMTP
Simple Mail Transfer Protocol. This protocol is used to send e-mail messages.
Spam: Is an unsolicited electronic message.

Social Networking
A social network service focuses on building online communities of people who share interests and/or activities, or who are interested in exploring the interests and activities of others. Most social network services are web based and provide a variety of ways for users to interact, such as e-mail and instant messaging services.

Template
In web design a template is usually a website that is pre-made. You can get your website designer to modify a template so it has your own look and feel. Using a template can help reduce overall cost.

URL
Uniform Resource Locator. Put very simply a URL is an address of a resource or web page.

Usability
A measure of how easy it is for a user to complete a task. In the context of Web pages this concerns how easy it is for a user to find the information they require from a given Web site.

Stickiness
The ability of your website to gain and retain visitors.

Web Designer
A person who designs Web pages. Usually a designer will produce a mock-up of a page in a graphics application (for example, Adobe Photoshop or The GIMP). Once a design has been approved by a client the designer will produce an HTML template, CSS files and all of the images needed to produce the Web site. These files will then be passed to a Web developer or directly to the client.

Web Page
A web page is a document created with HTML (Hypertext Mark-up Language) that is part of a group of hypertext documents or resources available on the World Wide Web. Collectively, these documents and resources form what is known as a website.

Web pages can contain hypertext links to other places within the same document, to other documents at the same website, or to documents at other websites. They can also contain fill-in forms, photos, large clickable images, sounds, and videos for downloading.

Web Server
A term often used to describe a computer that hosts a Web site. In actual fact the term refers to software running on that computer allowing Web pages to be requested and then sent to a user’s Web browser.

Web Statistics
Statistics produced by analysing the log files for a Web server that may include information such as page views, unique visitors, referring URL’s and browser software used.

Wireframes
Wireframes are visual representations of proposed elements to be included in the website interface. A wireframe is typically produced before design and development commences and may include important elements such as the location of elements (header, footer, navigation, content), the grouping of elements (side bars, navigation bars), labeling and placeholders. Wireframes help to familiarize all relevant parties with the proposed site structure.

WYSIWYG
What you see is what you get. WYSIWYG is a website editor. Best described as a word processor that converts your text, image and graphic layout into HTML. Most content management systems utilize a WYSIWYG editor.

Click here to read Part I

For this reason we’ve put together a glossary of commonly used terms that we hope you’ll find useful.

Accessibility
In the context of a Web site, accessibility refers to the degree that a Web site can be accessed by people with disabilities.

Anchor Text
Anchor text is usually a text link to another web page. The text should give an indication of what to expect when you click the link and using a keyword/key phrase in your anchor text is a good SEO technique. Here is an example: View our web design portfolio.

Blog
A type of website, maintained by an individual or company with regular commentary, description of events, and/or other material such as photographs, images and video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order.

Browser
A browser is a software program that allows you to view and interact with various kinds of Internet resources available on the World Wide Web. A browser is commonly called a web browser. We recommend Firefox.

Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)
These are a special type of HTML that is used to set up a group of design rules for your web page.

Content Management System (CMS)
A CMS is any facility that allows a Client to update parts of a website themselves. It normally allows users to log-in to a secure administrative area with their web browser and change components of the site. A database is used to store the content and a file called a Template is used to give the overall structure and look of the page.

Copy editing
Web sites are a very different medium to other forms of advertising, and it is important to write the content of your pages to take this into account. In addition to editing content in order to optimise it for search engines, other factors should be taken into account, for example the use of hyperlinks and the breaking down of lengthy text blocks into smaller and more readable chunks.

DNS Transfer
DNS stands for domain name server. Domain name servers turn domain names to IP addresses. A DNS transfer is simply the moving of a registered domain name from one location to another. Your domain name can be shifted from one hosting service to another by requesting a DNS transfer.

Domain Name
Domain names are controlled by a domain registrar. A domain name is simply a readable version of a numeric IP address, eg. www.theforge.co.za.

Embedded
Definition “Enclosed firmly in a surrounding mass”. When we embed video into a web page it becomes part of the page and is fixed to the page.

Encryption
Is a method of transforming plain text into unreadable code, so it can be sent over the Internet and then be reconstructed into its original form either by decryption or by using a password.

E-commerce
Meaning Electronic commerce and sometimes referred to as e-business. E-commerce is more aligned to selling goods online and e-business is referring to conducting business on line.

FTP
File Transfer Protocol. This is the method used to transfer your files between your computer and servers on the Internet. It is also used to transfer files from the server to your computer.

Flash
This term is used to describe the design tool Adobe Flash and is used to add interactivity and animation to a website. Some websites are built entirely using flash and others may have some flash elements applied to the pages.

Fluid Design
Liquid or fluid design refers to the way your web pages are set up. Your website designer can set the width of the page to 100% of the browser window and the page will always resize to span the entire width of the window.

GIF
Stands for Graphics Interchange Format and is an image format best suited for non photographic use.

HTML
Hypertext Markup Language. This is the most common coding language used when producing a website.

Hosting
Website hosting is where a website lives. When someone types in a domain name, the webhost displays the pages of the website. Essentially, it is the rental of a big computer that has a high-speed connection to the Internet and is never turned off. Using a web host means that your website is always available.

Hotspot
Is an area on an image that when you click on or mouse over the hotspot an action takes place.

Hyperlink
A hyper link is a link to another web page and is also a link to a certain part of an open web page.

IP Address
IP stands for Internet Protocol. Any computer that connects to the Internet has an assigned identity number or IP address.

Image map
An image map is an area on an image that can be turned into a link or action.

Image Optimization
This term is used to describe the process of image slicing and resolution reduction. This is done to make file sizes smaller so images will load faster.

Index Page
The index page is your home page. It is referred to as an index page, because this is what a search engine will index when it comes to the website to find the content of a site.

JavaScript
JavaScript is a client-side scripting language that allows more interactivity than HTML and is normally embedded within HTML documents.

JPEG
Stands for Joint Photographic Experts Group and refers to an image compression standard, best applied to photographic images.

Keywords
Keywords are the words that people search for when using a search engine.

Key phrase
Key phrases are phrases that people search for when using a search engine. They are a key to the subject searched for.

Click here to read Part II