Every industry has their lingo and phrases which might not make sense to those outside of that particular group of people. A buzzword is no different, defined as a word or phrase, often an item of jargon, that is fashionable at a particular time or in a particular context. Learning just a few buzzwords around website design and web development can help you to navigate conversations around these topics.
Below are 10 buzzwords around WordPress design and development
1. Responsive Web Design
A “responsive” website design uses one layout for a web page and that one layout adjusts to better fit any screen size. Whether a user is viewing the website on a desktop screen, a laptop, a tablet, or a mobile phone, the layout will intuitively adjust to the screen size. Typically as a screen size gets smaller, the responsive design will “stack” elements so you are you not seeing a smaller version of a desktop website. This will prevent the user from having to “pinch and zoom” when viewing on a smaller screen.
A good responsive website design will not only help your visitors navigate and digest content easily, it will also help your search engine rankings – Google likes great responsive design 🙂
2. Call to Action (CTA)
A Call To Action (sometimes referred to as a “CTA”) is a message, piece of text, button, or link that prompts a visitor to do something (or take action in some way.) You probably run across hundreds of CTAs every day. Examples of CTAs might be:
- Buy Now
- Subscribe Today
- Download Our Guide
- Schedule an Appointment
3. API – Application Programming Interface
API stands for “Application Programming Interface”, which is a set of rules/code that allows two applications to talk to each other. A simple example of using an API on your WordPress website might include having a newsletter signup form which feeds directly into a 3rd-party like Mailchimp. Mailchimp and WordPress talk to each other and feed information between the platforms through an API.
4. Backend
In our experience, the term “Backend” can mean a few things. Here at Sessionwise, we use “backend” to describe either:
- The Administration area of a WordPress website (where you can manage the content)
- The actual template where the code can be edited
- The database or server environment
Basically, anything that is not the “front-end” which is what a visitor sees when they visit your website can be considered the “backend”.
5. Cache
A cache is a storage location that collects temporary data to speed up loading websites. For example, when you visit a website, the site saves information on your device’s cache. This speeds up the load time of a website the next time you visit it because the site does not have to load everything from scratch.
6. CMS – Content Management System
CMS stands for Content Management System. The CMS is software that is used to edit the content of a website. The CMS simplifies the process of updating website content (text, images, video, or layouts) for someone with no technical background. A good example of a CMS is WordPress. If you have a WordPress CMS, you don’t need to have an understanding of the actual code that goes into building a website.
7. SEO – Search Engine Optimization
SEO or search engine optimization is the process of optimizing a webpage for search engines (mainly Google). SEO consists of various factors such as keyword research, page speed optimization and content placement just to name a few. Proper SEO can help your website rank higher on the Google results page. SEO is a very specialized skill, so if you are looking to optimize your website, you should carefully vet an SEO provider.
8. Sitemap
When it comes to planning or designing a website, a sitemap is simply an outline of all the pages and subpages. Sometimes a sitemap might look like a simple list of pages, or many designers/developers use a more graphical box/hierarchy model to show more detail within a sitemap
9. SSL – Secure Sockets Layer
SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer. It’s a common security protocol which ensures all of the data exchanged between a web server (where you website is hosted) and the web browser (EX: Chrome, Safari, or Firefox) remains encrypted. An HTTP request which is SSL certified is known as an HTTPS request.
All modern websites should use HTTPS instead of HTTP. If your website DOES NOT use an SSL certificate, a visitor might see a big full-screen warning that the site they are about to access is unsafe. Needless to say, this will most likely lead to zero traffic to your website.
10. Wireframe
A wireframe is similar to a “Sitemap” (#8 above) but takes things a step further. A wireframe acts as a blueprint for a web page. It’s it usually a line drawing/representation of all of the main elements to be found on a single web page. It sometimes helps designers communicate with clients to show them how a page might lay out before the designer starts a full design.
The focus of a wireframe is to showcase the functionality rather than the aesthetics.
While this is just a sample of some terms and phrases used within the digital language. We hope it’s helpful when it comes to speaking the vast language of web design and development!
Also, if you need any help with WordPress development and maintenance, feel free to reach out to us.
