AWebsite design explainedZ
Plain English, no jargon
Website design explained
- A short dictionary of the website design, ecommerce and search terms you will meet when you plan a website, with each one explained the way we would explain it across a table.
Written by Futurestore, building websites since 1997 and online shops on our own software for more than twenty years.
Selling online
Shops, baskets, checkouts and the numbers that matter.
Payments and security
Taking money safely and keeping customers protected.
Stock, data and integrations
Getting your website and your other systems to talk to each other.
Design and layout
How a site looks, reads and works on every screen.
Search and visibility
Being found by the people who are looking for you.
Building and running a site
Domains, hosting and the technical groundwork.
No terms match that. Try a shorter word, or ask us and we will tell you.
All terms, A to Z
0-9
- 3D Secure noun
- An extra security check on an online card payment, where the customer’s own bank confirms that it really is them, usually through a banking app, a text message code or a fingerprint. Read more about 3D Secure › Payments and security
A
- Abandoned basket noun
- A shopping basket that a visitor filled with products and then left without completing the purchase. Read more about Abandoned basket › Selling online
- Above the fold noun phrase
- The part of a web page that is visible as soon as it loads, before the visitor scrolls. The term comes from the top half of a folded newspaper. Read more about Above the fold › Design and layout
- Accessibility noun
- Designing and building a website so that everyone can use it, including people with poor eyesight, limited movement, hearing loss, dyslexia or other disabilities. Read more about Accessibility › Design and layout
- Alt text noun, short for alternative text
- A short written description of an image, added to the page code, that is read aloud by screen readers and shown if the picture cannot load. Read more about Alt text › Search and visibility
- API noun, abbreviation
- Short for application programming interface: an agreed way for one piece of software to ask another for information or to give it instructions. Read more about API › Stock, data and integrations
B
- Backlink noun
- A link to your website from another website. Read more about Backlink › Search and visibility
- Bespoke development noun
- Software or website functionality written specifically for one business’s requirements, rather than adapted from an off-the-shelf product or template. Read more about Bespoke development › Stock, data and integrations
C
- Caching noun
- Storing a copy of something so that it can be shown again quickly, instead of being rebuilt or downloaded afresh each time. Read more about Caching › Building and running a site
- Call to action noun, abbreviated CTA
- A button, link or short line of text that tells a visitor what to do next, such as Buy now, Book a call or Request a quote. Read more about Call to action › Design and layout
- Checkout noun
- The part of an online shop where a customer confirms their order, enters delivery and payment details, and pays. Read more about Checkout › Selling online
- Content management system noun, abbreviated CMS
- Software that lets people add and edit the pages, text and images of a website through a simple online control panel, without writing code. Read more about Content management system › Building and running a site
- Conversion rate noun
- The percentage of visitors to a website who go on to do what you want them to do, which for an online shop usually means placing an order. Read more about Conversion rate › Selling online
- Core Web Vitals noun, plural
- A set of measurements, defined by Google, of how fast a page loads, how quickly it responds to a click and how stable it stays while loading. Read more about Core Web Vitals › Search and visibility
D
- Data migration noun
- Moving information, such as products, customers, orders or property listings, from an old system or website into a new one. Read more about Data migration › Stock, data and integrations
- DNS noun, abbreviation
- Short for domain name system: the internet’s directory, which translates a domain name such as futurestore.co.uk into the numeric address of the server where the website lives. Read more about DNS › Building and running a site
- Domain name noun
- The address people type to reach your website, such as futurestore.co.uk. Read more about Domain name › Building and running a site
- Dropshipping noun
- A way of selling in which you take the order and the payment, but your supplier packs and posts the goods directly to the customer, so you never hold the stock. Read more about Dropshipping › Selling online
E
- Ecommerce noun, also written e-commerce
- The buying and selling of goods or services over the internet. Read more about Ecommerce › Selling online
- Extranet noun
- A private area of a website that only invited people can enter, such as customers, trade accounts, staff or members. Read more about Extranet › Stock, data and integrations
H
- Hosting noun
- The service that stores your website’s files and data on a server connected to the internet, so that people can visit it at any time. Read more about Hosting › Building and running a site
K
- Keyword noun
- A word or phrase that people type into a search engine, and that you want your pages to be found for. Read more about Keyword › Search and visibility
L
- Local SEO noun
- Search engine optimisation aimed at being found by people searching in or near a particular place, such as “web designer in Cornwall”. Read more about Local SEO › Search and visibility
M
- Marketplace integration noun
- A link between your own website and an online marketplace such as eBay, Etsy or Facebook Marketplace, so that listings, stock and orders can be shared between the two. Read more about Marketplace integration › Stock, data and integrations
- Merchant account noun
- A bank account, held with an acquiring bank or payment provider, that lets a business accept card payments and receives the money before it is paid out to you. Read more about Merchant account › Payments and security
- Meta description noun
- The short summary of a page that sits in its code and often appears under the page title in search results. Read more about Meta description › Search and visibility
- Mockup noun
- A finished-looking picture of how a web page will appear, with the real colours, fonts, images and wording, made before anything is built. Read more about Mockup › Design and layout
N
- Navigation noun
- The menus and links that let visitors find their way around a website. Read more about Navigation › Design and layout
O
- Online shop noun, also webshop
- A website that lets customers browse products, choose what they want and pay for it online. Read more about Online shop › Selling online
P
- PageSpeed Insights noun, a free tool
- A free tool from Google, at pagespeed.web.dev, that tests how fast a web page loads on a phone and on a computer and gives it a score out of 100, with a list of things to improve. Read more about PageSpeed Insights › Search and visibility
- Payment gateway noun
- The service that securely passes a customer’s card details from your website to the bank and returns an answer on whether the payment succeeded. Read more about Payment gateway › Payments and security
- PCI DSS noun, abbreviation
- Short for Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard: the set of security rules, created by the major card brands, that applies to any business that takes card payments. Read more about PCI DSS › Payments and security
- Product feed noun
- A file or data stream containing a list of your products, with details such as name, description, price, stock level and image address, in a format that other services can read. Read more about Product feed › Stock, data and integrations
- Product variant noun
- One of several versions of the same product, such as a different size, colour or material. Read more about Product variant › Selling online
- Property feed noun
- A regular, automatic transfer of an estate agent’s property listings from their office software to their website, and often on to property portals. Read more about Property feed › Stock, data and integrations
R
- Responsive design noun
- A way of building a website so that its layout adapts automatically to the screen it is viewed on, from a large desktop monitor to a small phone. Read more about Responsive design › Design and layout
S
- SEO noun, abbreviation
- Short for search engine optimisation: the work of making a website easier for search engines to understand, and more likely to appear near the top of results for the things your customers search for. Read more about SEO › Search and visibility
- Shopping cart noun, in the UK usually basket
- The virtual container in an online shop where a customer collects products before paying for them. In the UK it is more often called a basket. Read more about Shopping cart › Selling online
- Sitemap noun
- A file, usually called sitemap.xml, that lists the pages of a website so that search engines can find and check them. Read more about Sitemap › Search and visibility
- SKU noun, abbreviation
- Short for stock keeping unit: a unique code that identifies one specific product, or one specific variant of a product, in your stock records. Read more about SKU › Selling online
- SSL certificate noun
- A digital certificate that proves a website is genuine and scrambles the information sent between it and its visitors, shown by a padlock and https at the start of the address. Read more about SSL certificate › Payments and security
- Stock sync noun
- Keeping the stock levels shown on your website, on marketplaces and in your own stock or accounts system automatically in step with each other. Read more about Stock sync › Stock, data and integrations
V
- VAT on online sales noun
- Value added tax charged on goods and services sold online, which a business must add to its prices, collect and pay over to HMRC once it is VAT registered. Read more about VAT on online sales › Selling online
W
- WebP noun, image format
- A modern image format, created by Google, that makes photographs much smaller than JPEG or PNG files with little or no visible loss of quality. Read more about WebP › Building and running a site
- White space noun, also negative space
- The empty area around and between the elements of a design: text, images, buttons and menus. It does not have to be white. Read more about White space › Design and layout
- Wireframe noun
- A simple, plain layout of a web page, showing where things go (headings, images, buttons and menus) without colour, photography or final wording. Read more about Wireframe › Design and layout
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