Web Design Terminologies - a short explanation
If you're unsure of the different terminologies used when talking about web design, have a read below - it might help you to get your head around things a bit better.
What is HTML?
HTML, short for Hypertext Markup Language, is the predominant markup language for web pages. It provides a means to describe the structure of text-based information in a document — by denoting certain text as headings, paragraphs, lists, and so on — and to supplement that text with interactive forms, embedded images, and other objects.
Definition of HTML
HTML stands for HyperText Markup Language.
Hypertext is ordinary text that has been dressed up with extra features, such as formatting, images, multimedia, and links to other resources.
Markup is the process of taking ordinary text and adding extra symbols. Each of the symbols used for markup in HTML is a command that tells a browser how to display the text.
Basic Features
HTML is used to create structured text web pages, with visual formatting of:
- chapter and section headings
- paragraphs and text markup such as italics and bold to stress parts of text
- unnumbered and numbered lists
- links, which provide access to other web pages on the World Wide Web
Sophisticated and dynamic documents can be created by combining HTML with presentational languages like CSS, and behavioral languages like JavaScript.
What is CSS?
In web development, a Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) is a stylesheet language used to describe the presentation of a document written in a markup language, such as HTML.
CSS is used by both the authors and readers of web pages to define colors, fonts, layout, and other aspects of document presentation. It is designed primarily to enable the separation of document content (written in HTML or a similar markup language) from document presentation (written in CSS). This separation can improve content accessibility, provide more flexibility and control in the specification of presentational characteristics, and reduce complexity and repetition in the structural content.
What is Javascript?
The primary use of JavaScript is to write functions that are embedded in or included from HTML pages and interact with the Document Object Model (DOM) of the page. Some simple examples of this usage are:
- Opening or popping up a new window with programmatic control over the size, position and 'look' of the new window (i.e. whether the menus, toolbars, etc. are visible)
- Validation of web form input values to make sure that they will be accepted before they are submitted to the server
- Changing images as the mouse cursor moves over them: This effect is often used to draw the user's attention to important links displayed as graphical elements
Because JavaScript runs on the client rather than the server, it can respond to user actions quickly, making an application feel more responsive.
What is Flash?
When referring to Adobe’s Flash, we are actually referring to two separate products - the Flash Player – used to display Flash files on websites etc, and to the Adobe Flash authoring program. Strictly speaking, Adobe Flash is the authoring environment and Flash Player is the virtual machine used to run the Flash files.
Adobe Flash
Adobe Flash is an advanced authoring environment for creating rich, interactive content for the internet. It is used to create interactive websites, rich media advertisements, instructional media, engaging presentations, games, and more.
The Flash player
The Flash Player is a widely distributed multimedia and application player created and distributed by Macromedia (a division of Adobe Systems). Flash Player runs SWF files that can be created by the Adobe Flash authoring tool.
Does everyone have the Flash player installed?
According to a Millward Brown survey, conducted in June 2007, Adobe claims Flash reaches 99.3% of desktop Internet users.
Why would I use Flash?
Basically, Flash is used to create content that would benefit from being animated, such as eye-catching banner advertisements or headings, animated logo’s, menus, and instructional presentations.
It can be used in conjunction with normal techniques such as HTML/CSS, whereby the general content of the site is scripted in HTML, with Flash being used to animate images and logos, or it can be used to create an entire site. When considering using Flash for a full site, remember that it is better suited to topics that would benefit from a more visual approach to content, such as a photographers online photo gallery for example. A mainly text based site would not benefit from Flash development.
Flash is generally not readable by search engine spiders, so creating the main content of a website in Flash is not recommended when search engine rankings are a design stipulation.
What does CMS stand for? And what is it?
A CMS, or Content Management System, is a system for managing content and providing it in various formats, used mainly for websites.
Why would I want a CMS based website?
Having a website based on a CMS framework will ensure that content can be quickly and easily added, edited or deleted without the need to involve a web development team each time. This greatly reduces the cost of maintaining a site, as any updates can be made by the site owner directly.
Simply by logging in to the CMS system, anyone with a basic knowledge of word processing packages - such as Microsoft Word - can add, edit or delete content, and publish it directly to the website. There is no need to touch the actual layout of the website – simply write your content, choose from a drop down menu which part of the site you wish it to appear in, and publish it – all formatting will be adjusted to suit the site automatically.
