Oh, yes! We are all guilty of that. If you have been in a single industry for as long as we have, you tend to believe that everybody understands the terms and conditions of your industry. You start spewing phrases to your clients, and they look at you like deers in the headlights.

To help you understand these terms easily, we have compiled 28 website words that you should probably consider while working with a web designer on your website. From layout, code, process, design and basic web terminology, these concepts can help you address your needs and understand the different elements.

Take your time to study the infographics below, it contains everything you need to know about web design terms.

Web Design Terms

Layout Terms

1. Header – The section of the website that extends across the top of each page. The header promotes your brand making it easily identifiable as well as room for unique calls to action, such as your phone or password.
2. Banner – The banner is usually placed on the homepage, but can be used on the inside pages. This section usually acts as the Hero Picture with the primary call to action or, on the following sections, the main title of the page and the breadcrumbs.
3. Footer – Located at the bottom of the page, the footer is used as a secondary section for more technical detail. Some footers can provide more contact information, a different menu, company policy, privacy links and terms and conditions pages.
4. Sidebar – The sidebar is a column on the right or left that shows details that lets users dig further into the web. More recent websites have removed the sidebar, but they can still be found on blog posts.
5. Body – This field is a section that contains the actual content of the text explaining the article.

Code Terms

1. HTML – (HyperText Markup Language) – Standard web page format. Each web page contains HTML tags that describe the layout of the website.
2. CSS – (Cascading Style Sheets) – a styling document that enhances the layout of HTML.
3. PHP – (Hypertext Preprocessor) A scripting language that is commonly used for developing interactive web pages. It is the core language used to extract data from a database, specifically MySQL databases.
4. MySQL – A type of relational database that runs on most operating systems.
5. Javascript – A widely used programming language that is embedded in most of the Web pages. It allows dynamic features to be applied to web pages that are otherwise static.
6. Cache – This applies to data stored locally on a computer. Helps speed up the subsequent updates of the website. 

Process Terms

1. Wireframes – This is an image that illustrates the basic features of a website to help design the layout and functionality of a site.
2. Prototypes – this is a rough model for the website. Usually, it lacks any architecture and is used to research in more practical conditions.
3. Beta – This is the testing step that requires functionality and user experience, but the concept is intact.
4. Live – When a website goes live from the beta level, there are steps that need to be taken to ensure a smooth transition.

Design Terms

1. Websafe Fonts – There is a common font collection that is used on most computers. There are fonts that are pre-loaded by an operating system, but not all machines have the same fonts loaded. Using a web-safe font means that your fonts are shown correctly.
2. UI – The user interface is the actual website design.
3. RGB – Red, green, and blue colors commonly used in digital formats.
4. UX – User Experience is the research or area in which the user behavior of the website is analyzed.
5. Padding – The area between the boundary and the object within.
6. Margin – The area beyond the boundary and the object.
7. White Space – The area left empty to help concentrate other items on the screen.

Web Terms

1. Above the Fold – The phrase taken from printing is the material placed in the upper part of the web page before you have to start scrolling down the page.
2. Hero Image – A broad banner image at the top of most websites. This is the first visual feature that a website user sees.
3. Responsive – Some people call it mobile-friendly. This means that your website can change its layout depending on the size of the screen and the user.
4. Width – The number of separate pixels in each dimension of the display unit.
5. SSL – Stable Socket Layer is the standard authentication technology used to encrypt information between a web server and a browser.
6. URL – The URL, the Uniform Resource Locator is the address that specifies where records can be located on the Internet. For instance, company.com/document.pdf is a URL.

You can also read about 8 Website Conversions That Contractors Can Use To Dominate Their Industry