Web Design Terms

These web design terms were created by Vegas Graphics to help you understand the terminology of certain services, add-ons, or functionality you may be looking for with your website project.

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Accessibility
Website accessibility is about making your website's internet content and design accessible to all visitors including persons with visual and physical impairment. By developing good code and stable website hierarchies; it enables screen readers to find and scan web pages for audio output. Likewise when programming a site or using add-on scripts the developer should make use of "hooks" which provides disabled visitor’s alternative text for dynamic websites.

Address Bar 
The address bar is the input box at the top of the browser window that shows the URL (internet location) of the current status of the web page you are on. It is also used to type the domain address you wish to visit (ex. http://www.vegasgraphics.com).

Animated Gif (.gif) 
An animated gif is a graphic containing multiple images which gives the user the appearance of animation or image swapping. The pros are that it’s a good alternative when browser settings are set very high disabling both JavaScript and Flash animation. The cons are that animation creativity and dynamic functionality are restricted.

Backend & Frontend 
Backend is usually the business logic/functionality of a dynamic application (ex. administration control panel of a content management program or ecommerce store). Frontend is what the customers sees (the interface).

Backup
Backup is the stored files of your website in case the server crashes or is unrecoverable. By having a site backup, files that run your website can be restored to the last backup date.

Banner Ad 
A banner ad is an advertisement located on a web page which can be developed with animation software, images or a combination. Banner ads are very common on website that sells ad space or promotional announcements. They are often designed to lure potential visitors and a great source of traffic if placed on a high-trafficked website.

Bitmap (.bit) 
Bitmaps are pixel based image files; it’s where pixels within images are assigned a color values. Examples of bitmap type file extensions are: .jpeg, .jpg, .gif, .tiff, .png, and bmp. When bitmap image dimensions are not in sync with their original size, they can have a stretched, pixilated, and distorting appearance.

Blog 
The blog is derived from the combination of an old term called "web log" and is generally composed of date-related entries and post. Blogs have gained a lot of popularity over the years and are becoming the norm with visitor-interactive websites such as TMZ.com. Blogs are a great way to post stories and receive visitor feedback resulting dynamic website growth and opinion related speech.

Bread Crumb Navigation 
A Bread Crumb Navigation A.K.A. "Breadcrumb trail" displays the navigational structure of the web page you are currently on through hyperlinks. Sometimes this gives the user the ability to find out which page they're currently on and the steps that took them there.

Browser 
Web Browsers are a gateway to viewing the internet; they are designed to turn html markup and programming code (that’s used to create a web page) into a visual display people can actually understand.

Browser Compatibility 
Browser Compatibility among a variety of available browsers is an important issue with web designers. Cross Browser Compatibility consciousness is an important practice when creating websites to make sure web page(s) can be viewed among a variety of browsers and operating systems with little to no design variation.