Bringing Web Vocab Down to Earth
Every workplace has shorthand or lingo used by employees to explain certain things. It’s easy for anyone to forget that people outside of that world may not understand it. That’s fine until you need to explain these ideas to customers. I’m definitely guilty of this, but what’s helped me is to use analogies. Early in my career, I was working with construction and home design clients so I started to use homebuilding analogies to explain the website build and digital marketing process. I love a good analogy and this approach hasn’t failed me yet. I thought I’d share some of the key terms and another way of thinking of them in an effort to make this info more accessible. Let’s get started.
Domains and Hosting and CMS, Oh My!
First things first: the building blocks of a website are sometimes the most confusing for clients when starting a website project. Those building blocks are the domain, hosting, and content management systems.
Domain and URL
Sometimes the domain and Uniform Resource Locator (URL) are referred to interchangeably, which is basically fine, but there are differences. Essentially, the domain name is part of the overall URL and from there, the domain can be broken down into smaller parts. Honestly, there’s a lot that I could explain here but that’s not what anyone really wants, right? Right. At least not in this blog, so let’s touch on them just a bit and keep it moving.
Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure
If we think of your URL as taking a trip to your home the “https://” would be the vehicle you take to get there. This is the secure extension of the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP). Essentially, you want to see a site with “https://” as opposed to “http://” because you know that site is more secure. Essentially, this authentication protects information users of your site may share with you over something like a contact form by encrypting data.
Subdomain
The subdomain would be your actual home, whether it’s an apartment, condo, townhome, house, etc. The subdomain “www” shows that the website lives on the internet. It might also look like blog.examplesite.com.
Domain Name
Your domain name would be more like the city where your home is located. Your address might be 123 Web Street, but without the city, you’re out of luck. For example, our domain name is greenivycreative and this tells the user what to expect when you get to the website. It should include the name of your business or brand and be concise.
Top-Level Domain
The top-level domain (TLD) is kind of like your overall location, like the state or country. A TLD is a suffix representing the last piece of your URL. Examples include “.com” and “.org.”
Root Domain
Since the root domain includes your domain name and subdomain (example: greenivycreative.com), it would be like the address attached to your home. If a friend was coming to your home for the first time, all of the above indicators would lead them there and the root domain would confirm they’re in the right place.
Content Management System (CMS)
For this example, I’ll use WordPress, because that’s the content management system (CMS) we use. This is the place where your content, files, etc. are stored. It helps us create the digital content seen when a user visits your website. The domain is your address and your CMS is your house.
Web Hosting
Your web hosting is where your website lives and how it’s able to be presented on the Internet. This is kind of like the city block where your house sits. Your domain is the address, the CMS is the house, and hosting is your block.
Website Planning
When you have a website being designed, redesigned, or refreshed, you might hear your web developer, designer, or content strategist using terms regularly that you’re unsure about. First of all, know that it’s more than okay to ask for a description. Second, it’s not as confusing as you may think when you think.
Sitemap
A sitemap is exactly what it sounds like: a map for your site. This includes pages and general content to be found on those pages. During the home building or remodeling process, you’ll put together a floor plan with a list of what rooms would be included and what they’d be used to do.
Wireframe
If the sitemap is your floor plan, the wireframe is the blueprint for your home. In this blueprint, you’d find more details, such as how the site would be generally laid out.
Frontend vs. Backend
When we use the term “frontend,” we’re talking about how the website looks to someone visiting it. It’s the exterior of your house. The term “backend” refers to the inner workings of the house. Think of the backend as the utilities (pipes and wiring) of the home. You don’t want people to see these things, but they’re integral to how the house operates.
Cascading Style Sheet (CSS)
The code that lets browsers know how to display your website to a user is called the cascading style sheet (CSS). It’s a programming language that informs visual elements such as colors and fonts. If we’re thinking about homebuilding, the CSS might be the interior designer staging the home for realty photos, making sure it presents in the best way.
Digital Marketing and SEO Speak
Since we also offer SEO strategy and digital marketing, I wanted to include a few common terms here. There’s no need to carry on the analogy fun here, but these are important to understand.
Alt Text
The alt text or alt tags are important when it comes to accessibility. You’ll find alt text on the back end, attached to any image on the site. This is a clear, but brief description of each image and is helpful for folks who might use screen readers to help them visit a website.
Meta Description
Another feature on the back end of a site is a meta tag or meta description. These snippets of text describe the content that can be found on that specific page. The meta tag can be seen in search engine results under the page title (the actual title of the page) and can be useful in helping users know whether they want to click that option to visit the page.
Search Engine Crawl
A search engine craw, spider, or web crawler is a program designed to search the content found on your site for indexing purposes. Crawlers help search engines decide how and where to rank your website in search results pages (SERPs).
Work with Pros
That was a lot and we just scratched the surface, so you can see how important it is to know what you’re doing when dealing with websites, SEO, content, and digital marketing. If you’re ready for some help, drop us a line, drop us a line!