Web design · Development · SEO

Glossary for web design and digital topics

Clear, practical explanations of the terminology behind modern websites, online marketing, e-commerce and artificial intelligence.

Curated and explained by Denise Hollstein, web designer and developer from Augsburg.

117 terms at a glance

117 terms found

A

6 terms

AI Overview

Google AI Overviews: how they work and SEO basics

AJAX

AJAX explained: loading data without a full page refresh

Animated GIF

Animated GIF explained: simple image animation on the web

API

APIs explained: interfaces between software systems

Author Box

Author boxes: show authorship and expertise transparently

AWS

AWS explained: the Amazon Web Services cloud platform

B

7 terms

b2/cafelog

b2/cafelog explained: the precursor to WordPress

Backend

Backend explained: logic, data, and interfaces

Backlink

Backlinks explained: external links and their role

Blog

Blog explained: regularly published articles

Bootstrap

Bootstrap explained: responsive frontend framework

Brand-Switch SEO Method

Brand-switch method: brand variants in SEO and paid search

Bulma

Bulma explained: CSS components and their limits | scinet

C

17 terms

Cache

Caching explained: delivering websites faster and more efficiently

Canonical Tag

Canonical tags explained: specify a preferred URL

CDN (Content Delivery Network)

CDN explained: delivering content faster worldwide

ChatGPT

ChatGPT explained: OpenAI’s AI assistant

CMS (Content Management System)

CMS explained: managing content without editing source code

Context Window (AI)

How much information an AI can use at once

Conversion Tracking

Conversion tracking: measure campaign performance

Cookie

Cookies explained: small pieces of browser state

Cookie Banner

Cookie banners explained: managing consent transparently

Cookieless Website

Cookieless websites explained: possibilities and limitations

Copilot

Copilot explained: AI assistants for work and development

Corporate Design

Corporate design explained: a brand visual system

CPC (Cost per Click)

CPC explained: cost per click in online advertising

CSS

CSS explained: design and responsive web layouts

CSS Custom Properties

CSS variables explained: sharing style values | scinet

CTA (Call-to-Action)

Calls to action explained: designing clear next steps

Custom Web Design

Web design explained: planning and designing websites

D

5 terms

Design Tokens

Design tokens explained: shared design decisions | scinet

Diffusion Model

Diffusion models explained: generative AI through denoising

DNS (Domain Name System)

DNS explained: resolving domain names to technical destinations

Domain

Domain explained: a website address and namespace

Duplicate Content

Duplicate content explained: manage duplicate pages correctly

E

2 terms

E-E-A-T

E-E-A-T explained: experience, expertise, and trust

ES Modules

ES modules explained: organizing JavaScript | scinet

F

7 terms

Favicon

Favicon explained: a small website icon for browsers and devices

Featured Image

Featured images for websites and social media

First-Party Cookies

First-party cookies explained: cookies in the site context

Flat Design

Flat design explained: reduced visual design for interfaces

FLUX

FLUX explained: image models from Black Forest Labs

Framework

Software frameworks explained: structure for applications

Frontend

Frontend explained: the web user interface

G

2 terms

GEO

GEO explained: visibility in generative search systems

Google Ads

Google Ads explained: campaigns, ads, and bidding

H

4 terms

Hover Effect

Hover effects explained: feedback when pointing at an element

HTML

HTML explained: semantic structure of web pages

HTTP

HTTP explained: the foundation of web communication

HTTPS

HTTPS explained: transferring HTTP securely over TLS

I

1 term

IDF

IDF explained: term rarity across a document collection

J

3 terms

JavaScript

JavaScript explained: programming language for web applications

jQuery

jQuery explained: JavaScript library for DOM and AJAX

JSON

JSON explained: data format for APIs and web applications

K

2 terms

Keyword

Keywords explained for SEO and paid search

Knowledge Panel

Google Knowledge Panels: sources and possible influence

L

3 terms

Landing Page

Landing pages explained: focused campaign destinations

LLM

Large language models (LLMs) explained: how they work and their limits

LoRA

LoRA explained: parameter-efficient model adaptation

M

7 terms

Material Design

Material Design explained: Google’s interface design system

Media Designer

Media designer explained: design for digital and print media

Metadata

SEO metadata: title, description, and robots explained

Microsite

Microsite explained: a focused site for a campaign or topic

Midjourney

Midjourney explained: an AI image-generation platform

Mobile First

Mobile first explained: designing from the small screen up

MySQL

MySQL explained: a relational database system

N

5 terms

Nano Banana

Nano Banana explained: Google’s Gemini image models

Negative Keywords

How to use negative keywords in Google Ads

Negative Prompt

Negative prompts explained: reducing unwanted traits in AI images

Neuro Web Design

Neuro web design: applying psychology responsibly

NLP

Natural language processing (NLP) explained

O

2 terms

One-Page Website

One-page website explained: a complete site on one page

Online Shop

Online shops explained: technology, operations, and marketing

P

6 terms

Parallax Effect

Parallax effects explained: spatial movement while scrolling

Perplexity

Perplexity explained: a language-model metric

PHP

PHP explained: server-side web development

PHP/MySQL CMS

Custom PHP CMS: benefits, effort, and limitations

Prepress

Prepress explained: preparing files professionally for print

PSP

Payment service providers for ecommerce payments

Q

1 term

Quality Score (Google Ads)

Understanding Google Ads Quality Score correctly

R

3 terms

RAG Model

RAG explained: augmenting AI responses with external sources

Responsive Design

Responsive web design explained: websites for every screen

Rich Snippets

Rich snippets and rich results explained

S

16 terms

SaaS

SaaS explained: software delivered as a hosted online service

Sass / SCSS

Sass and SCSS explained: from source to CSS | scinet

Screen Design

Screen design explained: designing visual user interfaces

SEA (Search Engine Advertising)

SEA explained: paid search engine advertising

SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

SEO explained: a clear guide to search optimisation

SEO Audit

SEO audit: analyse a website systematically

SERP

SERP explained: understanding a search results page

Shopify

Shopify explained: a hosted ecommerce platform

Shopware

Shopware explained: ecommerce platform and editions

Short-Tail and Long-Tail Keywords

Short-tail and long-tail keywords explained

Sitemap

XML sitemaps explained: provide URLs to search engines

Slug

URL slugs explained: the readable part of a web address

Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing explained: goals, content, and advertising

SSL (Secure Sockets Layer)

SSL and TLS explained: encrypted connections on the web

Structured Data

Structured data for SEO: Schema.org and JSON-LD

Symfony

Symfony explained: PHP framework and components

T

6 terms

Tailwind CSS

Tailwind CSS explained: utilities and workflow | scinet

Template

Website templates explained: separating structure and presentation

Third-Party Cookies

Third-party cookies explained: cookies in third-party contexts

Token (AI)

Understanding text units, context and usage

Trustbox

Trustboxes: using review widgets credibly

TYPO3

TYPO3 explained: a CMS for complex editorial structures

U

1 term

UX (User Experience)

User experience (UX) explained: improving the complete journey

V

1 term

Viewport

Viewport explained: the visible browser display area

W

10 terms

WCAG

WCAG explained: guidelines for accessible web content

WDF

WDF explained: term weighting within a document

WDF*IDF

WDF*IDF explained without ranking myths

Web Accessibility

Accessible websites: planning and implementation

Web Developer

Web developer explained: building websites and web applications

Website Footer

Website footer explained: navigation and trust at the end of a page

Website Header

Website header explained: orientation at the top of a page

WooCommerce

WooCommerce explained: ecommerce with WordPress

Word Vectors

Word vectors explained: words represented as numerical embeddings

WordPress

WordPress explained: an open-source CMS for websites