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A jargon-busting glossary for common terms and acronyms you’ll come across in web design, development, and WordPress.
Web development and web design can be a minefield of confusing jargon, acronyms, and phrases. This post is a jargon buster glossary for some common terms you’ll come across in web design, web development, and when working with WordPress.
A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | L | M | N | O | P | R | S | T | U | V | W | X |
A
A term, borrowed from print newspaper publishing, where the most important stories appeared on the top half of a folded front page. In web design, above the fold refers to the portion of a webpage that is visible to a user without scrolling. Content placed above the fold tends to receive the most attention, making it a key consideration in layout, UX design, and CTA placement. What appears above the fold varies depending on the user’s screen size and device.
Refers to the practice of ensuring websites are accessible and usable for all visitors, regardless of any disabilities which may affect how they experience the web. For example, a blind user may use a screen reader device, so a page must make sense to them when read aloud by this tool (with text and images tagged correctly and descriptively). A colourblind user would require that their understanding of any parts of a website aren’t dependent on the use of certain colours only.
The ADA is a US civil rights law that prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities. In a web context, it requires that websites be accessible to users with disabilities, covering things like screen reader compatibility, keyboard navigation, and sufficient colour contrast. While it is a US law, it is increasingly referenced globally as a benchmark for web accessibility standards, alongside the international WCAG guidelines. Businesses with inaccessible websites have faced legal action under the ADA, making it an important consideration during web design and development. See also: Accessibility & WCAG.
Agent (in the ‘agentic AI’ sense) is a bot with a goal and the autonomy to figure out how to reach it. Instead of ‘fetch these 500 URLs’, it’s ‘book me a flight under £300 that lands before 6pm’. The agent then reasons through search, comparison, and checkout steps on its own, adapting as it goes.
Short for alternative text. Alt text is a written description added to an image in HTML or within a CMS like WordPress, which describes the content of the image. It serves two important purposes. It’s read aloud by screen readers for visually impaired users, making it essential for accessibility, and it is read by search engine crawlers, which cannot interpret images visually, making it an important factor in image SEO. Good alt text is concise, descriptive, and contextually relevant to the surrounding content. See also: Accessibility & WCAG.
Short for Application Programming Interface. An API is a type of software interface that allows two seperate applications to share information between them.
hort for AV1 Image File Format. AVIF is a next-generation image format that offers even better compression than WebP, with images typically up to 50% smaller than JPEGs at the same visual quality. It also supports a wider colour range including HDR. WordPress added native AVIF support in version 6.5, and it is now supported by all major browsers. See also: WebP.
B
The management area of a website. In a CMS like WordPress, this is where you add and manage pages, posts and media.
A backup is a copy of your website’s database. Backups should be taken regularly and stored on a different server to your live website. A backup allows for your website to be saved in the event of it being deleted due to malicious actions or a critical failure.
Bot is the umbrella term for any automated software making requests to a website – search crawlers (Googlebot), scrapers, spam scripts, DDoS traffic, AI training crawlers, and so on. Bots typically follow fixed rules or scripts like crawl this URL, submit this form, repeat, etc.
A breadcrumb (or breadcrumb trail) is a secondary navigation element, typically displayed near the top of a page, that shows the user their current location within a website’s hierarchy. For example: Home > Services > WordPress Web Design. They improve user orientation and make it easier to navigate back through a site’s structure. Breadcrumbs are also used by search engines to better understand a site’s structure and can appear in search results, benefiting SEO.
A brute force attack is a method used by malicious actors to gain unauthorised access to a website by systematically trying large numbers of username and password combinations until the correct one is found. Defences include strong passwords, two-factor authentication, limiting login attempts, and a WAF. See also: WAF.
C
Caching is a core part of the way any website operates, allowing faster loading of files through cached versions of pages stored by the browser of someone who has already visited your site, or on a website’s server. As these elements of the website are pre-stored, they are easier to retrieve.
So when a user browses through other pages on the site that use the same images, CSS, or JavaScript, their browser won’t have to re-download those files. Instead it can simply load them from the cache.
A canonical URL is an HTML tag that tells search engines which version of a page is the ‘master’ or preferred version, when the same or very similar content exists at multiple URLs. This prevents duplicate content issues that can negatively affect SEO rankings. For example, if a product page can be reached via several different URLs with varying parameters, a canonical tag points search engines to the definitive version. WordPress SEO plugins such as Yoast and Rank Math handle canonical tags automatically in most cases.
CAPTCHA stands for ‘Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart’. They are designed as a spam prevention security measure, to differentiate between human and machine inputs.
Short for Content Delivery Network. A CDN is a way of distributing content from your website across global servers, so that someone visiting your site in a country outside of where your website is hosted, will be served cached static elements of your website from a server closer to them, whilst more dynamic, real-time content still comes from your central web host. This improves the speed that your website is served to global visitors, and takes some of the workload away from your main hosting server.
A child theme is a WordPress theme that inherits the functionality, features, and styling of a parent theme, while allowing you to make customisations independently. The key benefit is that when the parent theme is updated, your customisations are not overwritten. Working directly within a parent theme without a child theme is considered poor practice, as any updates will erase custom changes. See also: WordPress Theme.
With client-side rendering, a bare HTML shell is sent to the browser, and JavaScript then builds the page content in the browser. CSR frameworks (like React or Vue) are often used in Headless WordPress setups. CSR can provide a more app-like interactive experience. See also: Sever-Side Rendering.
One of Google’s Core Web Vitals metrics. CLS measures the visual stability of a page, and specifically, how much the page layout unexpectedly shifts while loading. A common example is text or buttons jumping around as images or fonts load in. A good CLS score is 0.1 or less. Unexpected layout shifts create a poor user experience and can cause users to accidentally click on the wrong element. See also: Core Web Vitals.
Short for Content Management System. A CMS is a web application which allows for more straightforward management, creation, editing, and publishing of content to a website. WordPress is a CMS. It allows multiple users access to edit a website, without the need for coding skills.
Short for Canonical Name. A CNAME record is a DNS record which maps an alias name to a true or canonical domain name. CNAME records are typically used to map a subdomain to the domain hosting that subdomain’s content.
In web design, colour contrast refers to the difference in luminance between a foreground element (typically text) and its background. Sufficient contrast is essential for readability, particularly for users with visual impairments such as low vision or colour blindness. WCAG sets specific contrast ratio requirements, which are a minimum ratio of 4.5:1 for normal text at AA level compliance. Colour contrast is one of the most commonly failed accessibility criteria on the web. See also: Accessibility & WCAG.
A set of specific metrics defined by Google that measure real-world user experience on a web page, focusing on loading performance, interactivity, and visual stability. The three key metrics are Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), Interaction to Next Paint (INP), and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS). Core Web Vitals are a confirmed Google ranking factor, making them important for both user experience and SEO.
Short for Conversion Rate Optimisation. CRO is a process of analysing, testing and optimising, to improve the conversion rate of your website. Small changes can dramatically improve conversion rates, and in turn, revenue.
Short for Cascading Style Sheet. It is a language used to style HTML. It tells a web browser how HTML elements should be displayed.
A call to action is a prompt on a webpage that encourages the user to take a specific action. It is typically presented as a button or a link, with action-oriented text such as ‘Get a Quote’, ‘Book a Call’, or ‘Download the Guide’. CTAs are a fundamental part of UX design and CRO, guiding users towards conversion goals. Their placement, wording, and visual prominence all significantly affect click-through rates. See also: CRO & UX Design.
Many WordPress sites make use of pre-made themes, which are produced and sold cheaply for mass use. Custom WordPress themes are bespoke built for a particular business, entirely tailored to their needs. They tend to be faster, and more secure too.
D
A DDoS attack is a malicious attempt to overwhelm a web server with traffic from a large number of sources simultaneously, causing the website to become slow or entirely unavailable. Unlike a regular denial of service attack, which originates from a single source, a distributed attack uses many compromised machines at once, making it much harder to block. A WAF and CDN can help absorb and mitigate DDoS attacks. See also: WAF & CDN.
Short for Domain Name System. It’s like the yellow pages for the web. It translates domain names to IP addresses, which is how web browsers locate and connect to websites.
E
Ecommerce (electronic commerce) refers to the buying and selling of goods and services over the internet. In a WordPress context, eCommerce functionality is most commonly added via WooCommerce, which turns a WordPress site into a fully featured online shop. An eCommerce website typically includes a product catalogue, shopping cart, checkout process, and payment gateway integration. See also: WooCommerce & Payment Gateway.
F
A web performance metric that measures the time from when a page starts loading to when the first piece of content, such as text, an image, or a background, is rendered on screen. FCP gives an indication of how quickly a user perceives that the page is loading. A good FCP score is under 1.8 seconds. While not a Core Web Vital itself, it is part of Google’s Lighthouse performance scoring. See also: Core Web Vitals & LCP.
In this context, a web framework or web application framework, is simply a standardised software framework designed to aid in the creation of web resoures, web apps, and even APIs. A full stack framework is one that combines several useful resource libraries into a single stack. Some full stack framework examples you may have heard of are: ASP.NET, Catalyst, Laravel, Ruby on Rails and Symfony.
This is the UI part of a website that displays to users in a web browser.
G
Gutenberg is the block-based editor built into WordPress, which replaced the classic editor in WordPress 5.0. It allows users to build pages and posts using individual content blocks — such as paragraphs, images, buttons, and columns, without needing to write code. Gutenberg has since evolved into the foundation for Full Site Editing.
H
Headless WordPress is when the front-end and back-end of the WordPress CMS are decoupled. The backend is used for its content management, but the front-end output is handled by a different technology linked via API (often a static site generator).
An HTML attribute used to tell search engines the language and regional targeting of a specific page. If your website serves the same content in multiple languages, or targets different regions with localised versions (for example, UK English vs US English), hreflang tags ensure search engines show the correct version to the right audience. Without them, search engines may treat multilingual or multi-regional pages as duplicate content.
Short for HyperText Markup Language. It is the standard markup coding language that is used to structure web pages and their content.
I
Imblox is Impact Media’s bespoke code-free visual builder.
It works within WordPress and avoids the use of page builders like Elementor and Divi, which add considerable page bloat and can over complicate the editing experience.
Imblox also contributes towards good page speeds and website performance. Our framework is light, and takes standard WordPress one step further, displaying the backend in a visual format, saving the need to constantly use the ‘preview’ button.
Imblox was developed to fulfil the needs of businesses that want greater freedom over their content. It gives brands huge flexibility and the ability to create countless page templates, but ensures consistency of branding and styling.
This is an important step when managing website images, so that they don’t slow your site and page load speed down. Images should be sized appropriately and compressed to prevent them causing issues. Image compression tools do this by either reducing the quality of the image, or by finding and combining patterns within its individual pixels that reduce the bits needed to display it.
Information architecture is the practice of organising, structuring, and labelling content on a website in a clear and logical way, so that users can find what they need efficiently. Good IA underpins intuitive navigation, sensible page hierarchies, and effective internal linking. It is typically defined early in the web design process, often before any visual design begins, and is informed by user research and an understanding of the site’s goals. See also: UX Design & Wireframe.
One of Google’s Core Web Vitals metrics, which replaced First Input Delay (FID) in March 2024. INP measures the overall responsiveness of a page by assessing the time between a user interaction, such as a click or key press, and the next visual update on screen. A good INP score is 200 milliseconds or less. Poor INP is often caused by heavy JavaScript execution. See also: Core Web Vitals.
Short for Internet Protocol address. An IP address is a unique numerical label assigned to every device connected to a network, including web servers. Every website is ultimately hosted on a server with an IP address. The DNS system translates human-readable domain names into these addresses so browsers can locate and connect to the correct server. See also: DNS.
J
Javascript is one of the most commonly used programming languages in the world. It is used by developers to create dynamic and interactive content for the web. From websites, and apps, to browsers.
L
One of Google’s Core Web Vitals metrics. LCP measures how long it takes for the largest visible element on a page, typically a hero image or heading, to fully load. A good LCP score is under 2.5 seconds. It is one of the factors Google uses when determining search rankings.
A performance technique where images and other media are only loaded when they are about to enter the user’s viewport, rather than all at once when the page first loads. This reduces initial page load times and saves bandwidth, particularly on image-heavy pages. WordPress has had native lazy loading built in since version 5.5.
M
Short for malicious software. Malware is any software intentionally designed to disrupt, damage, or gain unauthorised access to a computer system or website. WordPress sites can be infected with malware through vulnerabilities in outdated plugins, themes, or WordPress Core, weak passwords, or insecure hosting environments. Signs of infection can include unexpected redirects, injected spam links, or a site being blacklisted by Google. Regular updates, security scanning, and a WAF all help protect against malware. See also: WAF.
Managed WordPress hosting, is hosting specifically designed and optimised for WordPress websites. It is managed by experts, and developer friendly allowing specialist hosts to set up an environment which provides the best performance and security for a WordPress or WooCommerce website.
What’s more, Managed WordPress Hosting also usually includes a range of other services and benefits, including firewalls, CDNs, caching, updates, staging sites and professional support.
A short snippet of text, that summarises the content of a web page. It appears beneath the page title in search engine results pages (SERPs) and is an important factor in encouraging users to click through to your site. While meta descriptions are not a direct Google ranking factor, a well-written, relevant meta description can significantly improve click-through rates. In WordPress, they are typically managed via an SEO plugin such as Yoast or Rank Math.
The process of removing unnecessary characters, such as whitespace, line breaks, and comments, from code files (typically CSS, JavaScript, and HTML) without changing their functionality. Minified files are smaller in size, which reduces the amount of data that needs to be transferred when a page loads, improving page speed. In WordPress, minification is commonly handled by performance plugins or managed hosting environments. See also: Caching.
MySQL is an open source relational database management system, based on structured query language (SQL). It was developed by Oracle, and is widely compatible. Relational databases collect and store data, organising it according to the relational model. An management system like MySQL is a set of tools that are used to manage and query a relational database.
N
A nameserver is a server that is part of the DNS system and is responsible for translating a domain name into the correct IP address. When you register a domain and set up hosting, you point your domain to your host’s nameservers, so that when someone types your URL into a browser, the nameservers know which server to direct that request to. Changing nameservers is a common step when migrating a website to a new hosting provider. See also: DNS.
A directive that can be added to a page’s HTML or HTTP headers to instruct search engines not to include that page in their index (search results). It is commonly used to hide pages that shouldn’t appear in search results, such as thank-you pages, admin pages, duplicate content, or pages still under development. In WordPress, noindex settings are typically managed via an SEO plugin. See also: Robots.txt.
O
A protocol, originally developed by Facebook, that controls how a webpage’s content is displayed when shared on social media platforms. By adding Open Graph meta tags to a page’s HTML, you can specify the title, description, and image that appears in a social share preview. Without them, social platforms will attempt to pull this information automatically, often with poor results. In WordPress, Open Graph tags are typically handled by an SEO plugin. See also: Meta Description.
P
This is a tool which can be added to a website, to make building pages a simple and easy process for people with no coding knowledge. WordPress has its own block-based page builder in the form of Gutenberg, which replaced its classic editor a few years ago. There are also numerous third party options designed to simplify page building. Most use drag and drop blocks or elements. Some examples of popular third party page builders are Elementor, Divi and Visual Composer.
A payment gateway is a technology that authorises and processes online payments on an eCommerce website, securely transferring payment information between the customer, the merchant, and the bank. Common examples used with WooCommerce include: Stripe, PayPal, and Sage Pay. The gateway encrypts sensitive card data to ensure secure transactions. See also: Ecommerce & SSL.
In UX design, a persona (sometimes called a user persona) is a fictionalised but research-based representation of a key type of user for a website or product. Personas are built from user research data and typically describe a user’s goals, behaviours, frustrations, and motivations. They are used throughout the design process to ensure decisions are made with real users’ needs in mind, rather than assumptions. See also: UX Design.
Short for Hypertext Preprocessor, is a very widely used open-source scripting language. Conceived in 1994, it’s now the foundation of WordPress, Facebook, Wikipedia, Slack, and Etsy. It’s also used for offline applications and software. It allows for the creation of dynamic and interactive websites. In 2014 a formal PHP specification was created, which is continuously worked on. PHP receives regular updates.
A plugin is a piece of software that can be installed on a WordPress website to add new features or functionality, without requiring custom development. WordPress has a vast library of free and premium plugins covering everything from SEO and security to eCommerce and forms. While plugins are one of WordPress’s greatest strengths, installing too many, or poorly coded ones, can negatively affect site performance and security. See also: WooCommerce & Pagebuilder.
R
A redirect forwards users and search engines from one URL to another. A 301 redirect is permanent and signals to search engines that a page has moved for good, passing the majority of its SEO value to the new URL. A 302 redirect is temporary and does not transfer SEO value. 301 redirects are essential during website replatforming or restructuring to preserve search rankings and avoid broken links. In WordPress, redirects are typically managed via a plugin or server configuration.
Moving from one website platform or CMS to another. For example, our client Morleys, replatformed to WordPress & WooCommerce, from Magento.
An approach to web design where a website’s layout and content automatically adapts to the screen size and device of the visitor, whether they are on a desktop, tablet, or mobile phone. Responsive design is now an industry standard and a key factor in both user experience and Google search rankings.
The WordPress REST API is an interface that allows external applications and services to communicate with a WordPress site by sending and receiving data in JSON format over HTTP. It enables developers to integrate WordPress with third-party applications, build mobile apps powered by WordPress content, or create decoupled front-end experiences. It is a key component of Headless WordPress setups. See also: API & Headless WordPress.
A text file that sits at the root of your website and instructs search engine crawlers which pages or sections of your site they should and shouldn’t index. It is an important tool for managing how search engines interact with your website.
S
Schema markup is code added to a webpage that provides search engines with additional context about the page’s content, using a standardised vocabulary from Schema.org. It helps search engines understand what your content represents, such as a product, a review, an event, or an FAQ, and can result in enhanced search results known as rich snippets (for example, star ratings, prices, or event information, appearing directly in Google search results). In WordPress, schema is often applied via an SEO plugin. See also: Meta Description.
With server-side rendering, the server generates the full HTML for a page before sending it to the browser, the traditional way WordPress works. SSR generally offers better initial load performance and SEO. See also: Client-Side Rendering.
Short for Stock Keeping Unit. A SKU is a unique identifier assigned to each product or product variant in an online store, used to track inventory. In WooCommerce, SKUs are typically alphanumeric codes assigned to individual products or variations (such as different sizes or colours of the same item). They help with stock management, order processing, and integration with external inventory or fulfilment systems.
Short for Service Level Agreement is a document which clearly lays out expectations between a vendor and a customer. It should define what is to be delivered, how success is measured, and what happens if expectations aren’t met.
SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) is a standard security technology that protects data transferred between a website server and a browser. The SSL encrypts data passed between the servers and browsers to ensure that the data remains private. See also: TLS.
A staging site is a private, duplicate version of your live website used for testing changes, such as plugin updates, design changes, or new features, before they are pushed to the live site. It prevents untested changes from breaking a live website.
T
In WordPress, a taxonomy is a way of grouping and classifying content. The two default taxonomies are categories (for broad groupings of posts) and tags (for more specific descriptors). Custom taxonomies can also be created for custom post types, for example, grouping portfolio items by industry or products by material. Taxonomies are fundamental to WordPress’s content architecture and affect both user navigation and SEO.
The modern, more secure successor to SSL. While many people still use the term SSL, most websites now actually use TLS to encrypt data passed between a server and a browser.
A web performance metric that measures the time between a browser making an HTTP request to a server and receiving the first byte of data in response. It is an indicator of server responsiveness and can be affected by hosting quality, server configuration, DNS lookup times, and caching. A good TTFB is generally considered to be under 800 milliseconds. It is one of the factors assessed in Google’s Lighthouse performance tool. See also: Caching & Managed WordPress Hosting.
U
Short for User Interface. It is the part of a product, in this case a website, that the user interacts with.
User interface design is ensuring that the parts of your website that users interface with are intuitive, and easy to use regardless of the device they access your website on.
Short for User Experience. UX is a very important concept in design. Using data, tools, testing and self reporting, we seek to understand how a user experiences something. In this case, a website. We can look at a user’s journey through a website and discover any blockers or pain points which can be removed, to improve their experience.
In this context is the process of designing a website with the user experience as the guiding force for decisions. It should follow user research, so the person designing has a full understanding of the specific audience for the website, and what they are trying to achieve, so that they can build smooth user journeys into the website, which help thos users achieve their goals wit ease.
V
The viewport is the visible area of a webpage within a user’s browser window. It varies in size depending on the device being used. A desktop monitor has a much larger viewport than a smartphone screen. In responsive web design, the viewport meta tag is used to control how a page scales and displays across different screen sizes. Understanding viewport sizes is fundamental to designing responsive layouts. See also: Responsive Design.
W
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is a worldwide organisation which develops and defines web standards, including those for web development. Compliance means that you develop inline with those standards.
Short for Website Application Firewall. A WAF screens traffic trying to reach your website, to filter out potentially malicious traffic before it even reaches your website. It acts as a gatekeeper for your website to protect it from DDoS attacks, malware, intrusions, and brute force attacks.
A set of internationally recognised standards developed by the W3C that define how to make web content more accessible to people with disabilities. They are organised into three levels of compliance: A, AA, and AAA. Many organisations, particularly in the public sector, are legally required to meet WCAG AA standards. See also: accessibility.
WebP is a next-gen image format that allows developers to compress images without impacting their image quality. It was first announced by Google in 2010.
A wireframe is a low-fidelity, schematic representation of a webpage layout, used in the early stages of the web design process. It focuses purely on structure, content placement, and user flow, without colour, typography, or imagery. Wireframes allow designers, developers, and clients to agree on a page’s layout and functionality before visual design begins, saving significant time and cost further down the process. They can range from rough sketches to detailed digital diagrams. See also: UX Design & Information Architecture.
WordPress Multisite is a special feature within WordPress that allows you to create a network of linked websites from a single WordPress installation. They can then all be managed from a central dashboard, allowing for simplified control across websites.
Very basically a WordPress theme is a collection of files that work together to create the design of your website, as well as how it behaves.
When it comes to WordPress web design agencies there are generally 2 kinds. Those who use pre-made themes, and those who custom-build them.
These are themes that have been made by developers for general use. Some are free and some are sold on theme websites. As they are intended for a range of users and uses, they tend to be built with one size fits all in mind. As a result, they are often bloated and can be restrictive and difficult to scale.
Custom themes are developed specifically for and around a particular business. They are unique and more likely to be lightweight, as they only contain what is needed.
Short for ‘what you see is what you get’. In this context it is used to describe page and post editors, which let you see what your content will look like on the front-end.
X
An XML sitemap is a file that lists all the important pages on your website, helping search engines discover and crawl your content more efficiently. It acts as a roadmap for search engine bots, particularly useful for large sites or pages that are not well-linked internally. In WordPress, XML sitemaps are automatically generated by most SEO plugins. An XML sitemap is distinct from an HTML sitemap, which is a user-facing page listing a site’s content. See also: Robots.txt.
Let us know if there are any other words, phrases or acronyms you’d like us to add to this jargon buster glossary. Just drop us a message here.
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