Glossary of Terms
You may have seen some links on the site are underlined like this. They link to this page which gives the definition of the word or abbreviation.
Colour Pollution
Colour pollution happens when there are too many block colours on your screen, so much so that your eye is distracted and you cannot focus on one area of the screen. Misuse of colour can also lead to the percepion that objects/text are on different planes, confusion and misconception. Colour polluted websites cause very poor usability factors.
Colour is an important part of your site and we take care in selecting the right colours to aid usability. We style your web pages using CSS.
CSS
Cascading Style Sheets are used to add style to your website. HTML & XHTML create very boring, text only content. CSS is used to create the layout of a web page, add background graphics and much more. It brings your web site to life.
Some web browsers like Firefox & Safari allow you to turn off CSS styling. You should try this to help you understand how CSS really makes your site turn from dull text to a visual treat.
Example: Without CSS the navigation bar at the top of this web page looks like this:
CCS rules turn it into this:
Domain name
A domain name is the address that you type into your browser. It links your browser to your website files on your server.
e.g. The domain name for this website is www.rawewebdesign.co.uk
Domains have to be registered, and paid for yearly if you'd like to continue using it. We can register a domain as part of some of our packages, however you are welcome to register and manage your own domain name.
Please note that domains registered by Rawe are therefore owned by Rawe Web Design, so you may want to register it yourself if you'd like ownership of the domain.
You can name your site almost anything you like providing that the name hasnt been taken already. You can check domain name availability here to see if what you have in mind is free.
Flash
Flash is a web application created by Adobe. It is used to create very dynamic and visual web applications. To view Flash applications, you need to have the Flash Player browser plug-in which you can download from Adobe's website. It is compatible with the most common web browsers - however it is important to remember that many people on a mobile phone cannot see Flash applications which include videos, banners, and in some cases, whole websites.
For the moment, Rawe would not recommend relying on Flash applications for your site as the content within them is not yet readable by search engines. Therefore it is not such a great idea to create your whole website in Flash unless you have an alternate HTML site which provides the same content, in readable, scannable text.
FTP
An abbreviation of File Transfer Protocol, used in transferring files from one location to another i.e. from our computers, to your hosting server.
Meta tags
Meta tags are in XHTML/HTML documents and detail specific information about your website/webpages such as the author of the site (the coder), the description of your site, keywords, copyright ownership and more.
The meta tag information is readable by computers and is used in various ways - primarily by search engines which display the web page description in search results. Some also use the keywords to rank pages.
PHP
Hypertext PreProcessor. This is an open-source programming code which is used in conjunction with XHTML/HTML. It adds features to your site and makes it more dynamic i.e it can change the outcome depending on certain circumstances, such as which browser you are using. We also use this to send the information entered in our contact forms in an email.
Find out more about PHP here at www.php.net
Search Engines
Search engines scan the contents of your site and catalogues it for other users to locate when they search for sites. Often sites are ranked by their relevancy to your search and their popularity. For some hints about boosting your ranking - go here.
The most popular search engines are Google, Yahoo and Windows Live Search. There are also many variants of search engines which have specific uses such as searching for images, purchasable items, reviews etc. e.g. Technorati which is a user content search.
Web Browser
A web browser is an application/program which you install on your computer to open web pages. We highly recommend using an up to date web browser and keep them updated. This ensures that the best practices are used in displaying pages correctly, and keeps you secure. Older browsers do not conform to current web standards and often display pages incorrectly.
Here are some browsers we recommend the most:
Other great, commonly used browsers are:
- Camino (Mac only)
- Opera
- and Internet Explorer 7
If you currently use Internet Explorer 6, we strongly recommend you upgrade to one of the more modern browsers listed above.
Web Space/Hosting server
Once your website is built, its needs to be located where everyone can have access to it through their web browser - this is called a server. The server needs to have enough space to house your site and can often have special features which allow certain programming languages to run - enabling some of the features on your website.
Unfortunately, space on a web server costs money. The good news is that the cost of hosting is built in to some of our packages for up to a year. We will remind when it runs out and ask if you'd like hosting for another year. (Prices are subject to change as they depend on the hosting comany we use)
You can also pay for your hosting privately - we will let you know of any special requirements you may need, for example, if you need a PHP engine on your server. We will need your FTP username and password and your domain name to upload your website to your server. There are many hosting companies you can choose from. To name a few...
HTML & XHTML
HTML - meaning Hypertext Markup Language is used to write web pages. XHTML is an XML (Extensible Markup Language) variant of HTML. It's used to code websites in a meaningful way - i.e it uses tags to label different parts and sections of the page. Browsers read through this code and interpret it into what you see when you open a web page. HTML & XHTML is used to create the main content and structure of a web page - It is then styled using CSS.
