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Key Web Design And Development Terms Every Business Owner Should Know
We cover the most important web design and development terms you should know as a business owner.
In today’s increasingly digital-first world, a well-designed website can become a strategic asset for your business.
We discussed the benefits a custom website can bring you in this article, this article and this article.
But for many small business owners, founders, and marketers, the world of web design, and the internet more broadly, can feel like a maze of technical jargon.
Especially if you’re engaging with a web designer or agency for the first time, you may be overwhelmed by the number of technical terms you encounter.
In fact, a 2020 study found that 80% of Americans don’t know how the internet works.
The good news is, as a business owner, you don’t really have to.
In a previous article, we provided an overview of the most important graphic design terms you should know.
Our goal was to help you collaborate with you design partner, to express your needs, and to empower you to make decisions about the look of your brand.
In this article, we will cover the most important web design and development terms you should know as a business owner.
What is Web Design & Development?
Put simply, web design refers to the visual design of a website, its look, layout, and user experience.
It includes considerations about what content the user sees (text, images, videos, etc.) and how it is structured (e.g. in pages, sections, etc.).
Its main goals include creating a user-friendly and appealing website that helps drive business results.
Once a website is designed, it can be turned functional through web development. This involves building it using coding languages like HTML, CSS and JavaScript (see below).
Core Web Design & Development Terms
Here are the core web design & development terms you should know as a business owner:
Domain Name
Put simply, your website’s domain name is the unique web address users type into their browser to reach your site (e.g., https://www.goforth.eu/).
Think of it as your website’s home on the internet.
Hosting
Every website needs to physically exist somewhere, i.e. it needs to be “hosted” on a server (a special type of computer), in order to be accessible online.
There are different types of hosting. For example, you can host your website on your own server(s), internally, or you can use the services of a hosting company.
Hosting companies manage servers that store your site’s files and offer different pricing plans, usually dependent on usage.
For example, Webflow, the web platform we use offers hosting for websites built on it.
CMS (Content Management System)
A Content Management System (CMS) is a software platform that allows users to create and manage website content without needing to write code.
Examples include Webflow, WordPress, Shopify, and Wix.
This means that content (e.g. blog posts, news, team members, products, etc.) can be more easily added, edited and removed from the website.
As a web agency, when we talk about CMS in relation to Webflow specifically, we mean Webflow’s CMS capabilities that can be added to a website.
They allow for dynamic content and functionalities to be added to a website built and hosted on Webflow and are accessible on the CMS hosting plan or higher.
Responsive Design
Responsive design is an approach that ensures a website adjusts smoothly to different screen sizes, making it usable on desktops, tablets, and smartphones.
Ensuring responsiveness on a website is increasingly essential for user experience and is a key determining factor for its success.
Modern users are used to and expect a website to be easily and quickly accessible on any device.
HTML (HyperText Markup Language)
HTML, or HyperText Markup Language, is the standard language used to structure web pages, defining elements like headings, paragraphs, and links.
The HTML code can be thought of as the backbone of a web page. It is used to structure the page’s content such as text and images.
Web browsers such as Google Chrome or Safari then interpret the HTML code and display the elements described in it for the user.
HTML works in conjunction with other technologies like CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) for styling the elements described in the HTML code, and JavaScript for interactivity.
As a business owner, learning the basics of HTML can allow you to manage parts of your website on your own.
CSS (Cascading Style Sheets)
CSS, or Cascading Style Sheets, is a stylesheet language that controls the look and layout of a website, including colors, fonts, and positioning of elements.
Put simply, CSS defines how elements (like text, buttons, and images) appear on your website.
Good CSS makes websites easy to read, navigate, and use on any device. It makes it a key element in responsive design (see above).
As a business owner, learning the basics of CSS can help you customize your website and improve its appearance on your own.
JavaScript
Javascript is a programming language that enables interactive features on websites, such as dropdown menus, animations, and real-time updates.
Javascript is used to implement logic on a website, for example, what should happen when the user submits a form or clicks on a button.
It also enables features like pop-ups, image sliders, and animations that make websites more engaging.
As a business owner, learning the basics of JavaScript’s role can help you understand how your website works.
SSL Certificate
An SSL certificate is a digital certificate that encrypts data transferred between a website and its users, ensuring secure communication. This is indicated by "https://" in the URL.
It is strongly recommended to ensure that your website has an SSL certificate, because it builds trust with users and is something they increasingly expect from a website.
Otherwise, browsers may display a “Not secure” or similar warning next to your URL address.
Also, some services like Google Ads do not allow advertisers to direct users to pages that don’t have an SSL certificate.
Websites built on Webflow come with a free SSL certificate. You can read more about it here.
UI (User Interface)
UI, or User Interface, refers to the visual and interactive elements of a website that users interact with, such as buttons, menus, and forms.
UX (User Experience)
UX, or User Experience, refers to the overall experience a visitor has on your website, influenced by usability, design, and how easily they can complete tasks.
Wireframe
A wireframe is a basic sketch of a webpage’s structure, used in the early stages of web design to plan layout and functionality.
As we discussed in this article, as a web agency, we use wireframes to show you how your page will look like with sample content and no branding.
We show you where headings will be, how much space we plan for the page’s copy (its text content), where we intend to place images, etc.
This is a helpful step because any changes in the web page’s layout and structure become more difficult and costly after development has begun.
Once you are happy with the structure of the page, we can begin applying your unique branding, e.g. your colors, your typography, your custom illustrations and icons.
Frontend
The “Frontend” is the part of a website users interact with, built with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript (see above) to display content and enable functionality.
This includes your website’s visual design, its images, buttons, forms, etc.
Backend
“Backend” refers to the behind-the-scenes part of a website where developers manage databases, applications, and server-side processes.
Nav Bar
A nav bar is a navigation menu, a collection of links that guide users to different sections of a website, usually appearing at the top or side of a page.
Key things to consider when working on your website’s nav bar with a designer include which pages to link to, in what order, and if links will lead to drop-down menus.
Call-to-Action (CTA)
A call-to-Action (CTA) is a prompt that encourages users to take a specific action, such as "Buy Now," "Sign Up," or "Get Started."
These are the key actions you want your users to take on a web page. Ideally, the page’s design should guide the user naturally to taking the action.
The CTA is a key component in this journey. If a clear CTA is missing, this can lead to confusion and can greatly reduce the effectiveness of a page or website.
This is especially important for landing pages linked to specific marketing campaigns. You can read more about them in this article.
