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At Byteback Computes we pride ourselves on being able to talk to both technicians with years of experience and also people to whom web design is a completely new concept, and that is why we have our published glossary of technical terms. Technical terms which appear in any of our articles are linked through to here, simply follow the link and find out more about your chosen term. Browsers: Not all web browsers are equal. Although there are published standards which dictate how browsers should behave, not all browsers show the same web page in the same way. With more and more users switching away from Microsofts Internet Explorer this is becoming increasingly important that web sites display correctly in all browsers, including older ones for users who have not upgraded to the latest versions. Content Management System (CMS): A content management system is software that keeps track of every piece of content on your Web site, much like your local public library keeps track of books and stores them. Content can be simple text, photos, music, video, documents, or just about anything you can think of. A major advantage of using a CMS is that it requires almost no technical skill or knowledge to manage. Since the CMS manages all your content, you don't have to. CSS: As the Internet has developed the methods and languages we use to build websites have also moved on. Historically many websites made use of tables and sometimes frames to dictate the main structure of the page. The disadvantages of these methods are many: They are inflexible compared to CSS. They take more time for the web developer as the table structure has to be entered on each and every page of a website. Tables and frames can interfere with the accessibility of a page. Tables usually have a slower page load time, as the page cannot display until the entire page is downloaded from the server. Now we use CSS which means Cascading Style Sheets, which give much greater flexibility and carry many advanatges. The style of a website is contained in a separate file, which means if you need to change our style in the future you only have the style files to edit, not every page of the website. Faster loading pages. Better code, and better accessibility. Sites designed in CSS which meet the W3C standards are easier to edit in the future, as the code is much cleaner and neater. Javascript. Javascript is a program language which more and more users are disabling in their web browser due to the risk of viruses, and pop-ups which get past regular pop-up blockers. With CSS you can often achieve just as nice looking design, with rollover effects. eCommerce: eCommerce, e-commerce, electronic commerce. All terms for the same thing, the buying and selling of goods or services over electronic systems, in particular the Internet. Joomla: Joomla is an award winning Content Management System (CMS). Because it is Open Source there are no licence fees to pay, making it a very affordable solution. For more information see the link in our footer to the Joomla homepage. Open Source: The biggest advantage of Open Source software from a website owner's point of view is that it is free. Another key advantage is what is referred to Derived Works, this means that modifications may be made by third parties, and may remain free under the same licence agreement as the original work. In practice this often means that Open Source software is regularly updated and the boundaries are often being pushed forward. For more information see the Open Source links in our footer. SEO: SEO or Search Engine Optimisation is a crucial element of any website. There are many ways that a website can improve its search engine ranking, and more importantly there are some things which will ensure a website is banned or restricted by the major search engines. Webvert: We use the term webvert to mean a very small website, usually one page whose purpose is purely to provide an advert for your offline business, for example a builder might want a page with some pictures of their work, and their contact details, a phone number and perhaps an email form.
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