Glossary of Terms for Web Developers

If you're new to web site development, you're getting exposed to a whole new language. If you're brand new to the Internet, please read Glossary of Internet Terms. If you're interested in making money online, please read Glossary of Terms for Internet Marketers. Here are some of the basic web development terms you'll need to know, in alphabetical order.

DOMAIN: This is the website name you'll register, and probably pay for, to allow your site to be published online. A real "dot-com" is also called a "top level" domain, to distinguish it from "sub-domains" (see SUB DOMAIN in this glossary). Your domain name will also have an extension--.com, .net, .org, etc.--(see DOMAIN NAME EXTENSIONS in this glossary).
DOMAIN NAME EXTENSIONS: This is the part of your domain name that follows the "dot." The most common extension is ".com" which is used for general and commercial websites. Many other extensions exist, such as "Net" for networks, ".org" for nonprofits,, ".gov" for government, ".biz" for business, and international extensions, such as ".us" for United States, ".ca" for Canada, ".uk" for United Kingdom, and ".au" for Australia. Many of these extensions cross over into other categories. The safest option, for a standard website, is ".com" but it gets more difficult all the time to find a name that's still available as a "dot-com."
DOWNLOAD: Copying files from the Internet (or any other large computer system) down to your PC.
FTP (File Transfer Protocol): This is the standard method of getting web pages from your hard drive up to the Internet. Most web design software packages have this service built in. Many hosting services also offer this feature, free, to their customers. You can also download 3rd party FTP programs. Using these programs require some setup, where you tell the software where to find your files, where to put them, and how to access your account. This may require some technical assistance from the vendor or a friend who's done it before. After that, it's very easy to FTP. You'll see the files on your computer on one side of the screen, and files on your website on the other. You can move files either way, easily.
HEAD (HEADER, HEADER DATA): Some information needs to (or should) be communicated from web pages to the Internet, but looks like gibberish, so should not be viewed by your visitors. This info appears at the top of your web pages. In HTML, this info will fall between the <HEAD> and </HEAD> tags. It includes your page title, description, keywords, and other technical information. When you do a search, the information that shows up in the results came from that page's header data.
HITS: Search engine results. When you search on a keyword, the sites that come up are called "hits."
HOSTING: (see WEB HOSTING)
JPG (or JPEG): Pronounced "J-peg". Common format for graphics files used for banner ads and other Internet photos and artwork.
KEYWORDS: These are the words and phrases that are most important to your website. When someone uses a search engine, the key words they search on are matched up with the keywords on web pages to generate "hits." Choose your keywords and phrases, carefully. To get the best placement in the search engines, make sure your key words appear in your keywords tag (in your header), in your page title, in "H1" headings, and in your page's text, as close to the top of the page as possible.
PR (Page Rank): How a search engine rates your pages. The higher the PR, the better.
PAGE VIEWS: The number of times visitors view your pages. This term can be interchangeable with "ad impressions."
SEO: Search Engine Optimization. This is a technical process of inserting hidden "tags", proper use of keywords, formatting headings, and supplying large amounts of original content, to make your website "search engine friendly" to improve your site's position in the search engines. The object is to increase traffic to your site by getting it listed in the top 20, when people do a search on your topic.
SUB DOMAIN: Sub domains are readily available, and usually free, from companies who want to build a large community of sites, very often to promote their own ads and services. Yahoo offers this type of web site, as Geocities. Many search engines and web developers discount or won't link to these subdomains. Since there is no investment by the developer, sub domains are perceived at "throw aways" and can disappear without notice. They can be very useful to promote products and services and link back to your main site. They're also a great place to start if you've never had a web site before.
TAG: HTML code. Tags can deliver information to search engine crawlers, help set your page rank, alter the display of your text, and determine what happens when someone follows one of your hyperlinks.
UPLOAD: Copying files from your PC up to the Internet or some other larger computer system.
WEB HOSTING: In order to have a web site of your own, you'll need someone to store your files online, so visitors can view your pages. You will normally have to pay for this service, but some companies offer free hosting. Be very careful of the free services. Most of them come with strings attached. They either sneak in their own ads, bombard you with junk mail, restrict their options so you'll buy an upgrade to get what you need, or require some form of effort or participation from you in order to keep the service going. The same is true of the hosting you pay for. The prices and services vary, hugely, from one service to another. Take your time choosing a web host. Get advice and referrals from other webmasters you know and trust. This is a very important step. If you make the wrong decision, changing hosts can be a royal pain.