Web Design Vocabulary


By: Juan Ceja


  • Lesson 1

    3
  • Lesson 2

    4
  • Lesson 3

    5
  • lesson 7

    6
  • Lesson 11

    7
  • Lesson 12

    8
  • Lesson 13

    9
  • Lesson 14

    10


  • Backbone: It is a large transmission line.
  • Checksum: It is just a number that allows the receiving end of the packet to determine if any errors occurred in the transmission of the data.
  • Computer network: Is when two or more computers are connected together in a way that allows them to communicate with each other.
  • Domain Name System: Groups that many computers on the Internet into domains. Domains are hierarchical.
  • Header: Part of what TCP does is to create a collection of information about the IP packet.
  • Internet: A collection of computer networks that communicate with each other.
  • Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN): A nonprofit corporation that coordinates the assignment of Internet address and domain names.

  • Client-server operation: browsing the Web because it divides the processing between the client and server
  • Client-side operation: the user’s computer (called the client) does the work
  • Cluster: the web server must be a powerful computer or even a group of computers
  • HTML (Hypertext Markup Language): the most common kind of file the browser loads
  • Plug-in: software that is written in a special way that allows it to become a part of a Web browser, as if that functionality were built in to the browser.
  • Server-side operation: looking for the appropriate file and sending it to the Web browser
  • Streaming: the user’s computer does not have to download the entire file before the music or other audio begins to play
  • Telecommuting: the internet has made it possible for some people to work at home
  • Web Browser: is the primary tool that a computer user’s need to access the resources of the World Wide Web.
  • Web Server: communicates with the DNS server to determine the IP address of the domain name

Document toolbar - a row or rows of button on a display screen that are clicked on to select various functions in a software application or web browser

Document window - the main workspace in which you are creating or editing a page

Font face - is a set of characters (letters and numbers) that have a defined style

Heading - a unit of information that precedes a data object

Horizontal space - the space to the right and left

Menu bar - a horizontal bar, typically located at the top of the screen below the title bar, containing drop-down menus

Panel - a particular arrangement of information grouped together for presentation to users in a window or pop-up

Sans serif fonts - do not have small lines on the ends of the letters and appear plain

Serif font - is a font that has a small lines or strokes on the ends of the letters

Title bar - consists of that part of a window where the title of the window appears

Vertical space - the space to the top and bottom of an image

Visual interface - is a set of menus and tools used in place of writing code

Web safe colors - generally appear the same across all browsers


  1. Attribute: An addition to an HTML tag that is used to modify its properties.
  2. Container tags: Tag work in pairs usually with some other text or HTML in between them.
  3. Document type declaration (DTD): tells the browser what type of document to expect.
  4. Empty tag: tags that don’t contain text.
  5. HTML: hypertext markup language.
  6. Hypertext: organization of units of information that can be connected with links.
  7. Ordered list: each item has a number instead of a bullet by it.
  8. Source code: HTML source code since it is the source of what is eventually displayed on the screen.
  9. Tags: code that can be used in a Web page to designate attributes of a section of text.
  10. Unordered list: items being listed that aren’t important to be listed in order.
  11. Value: Each attribute has a value, it specifies where the paragraph to be aligned. 

  • Active white space- blank areas on webpage that are placed on purpose
  • Alignment- The content of a page had the same alignment; has to be consistent
  • Consistency- To have uniformity from page to page
  • Grid- conceptual design tool that divides a page into rows and columns in order to help the webmaster structure the layout of the page
  • Passive white space- blank areas on a webpage that are a result of incomplete or mismatched shapes
  • Proximity- refers to how close one element is to another
  • Repetition-similar to constancy, is the process of repeating throughout a website

  • Print-based layout method:A layout that guides the eye starting from the top left corner of the page in a zigzagging pattern from left to right.
  • Screen-based layout method: A layout that guides the ey starting from the top left coner of the page in an effective sweeping motion.

Analogous colors: three colors on the color wheel that are side by side.

Bit: the smallest unit of information that a computer understands.

Color wheel: an ordered progression of hues that helps a designer easily understand and select color combinations.

Complementary colors: colors that are located opposite from each other on the color wheel.

Cool colors: contain the color blue.

Primary hues: on the addictive color wheel, the colors are red, green, and blue.

Secondary hues: the secondary hues are cyan, magenta, and yellow.

Shade: darkening a hue.

Split-complementary colors: form an uneven triangle on the color wheel.

Tertiary hues: red-yellow, green-yellow, green-cyan, blue-cyan, blue-magenta, and red-magenta.

Tint: lightening a hue.

Triad colors: three colors on the color wheel that have an equal amount of distance between each one.

Typography: the act of art of expressing an idea by utilizing type faces or symbols.

Value: lightness and darkness of a hue.

Warm colors: hues that contain red.



  • Clip art:Ready-made art that is available to use without having to edit it in any graphics applications.
  • Compression:Reduce the file size by compressingthe informationin the file.
  • File Format:The arrangement i which data is saved in order to display it in a certain way.
  • GIF:File Format used for images.
  • Icon:Small Symbolic graphic.
  • Index color:The colos that are available in a GIF file.
  • JPEG:File format used for images.
  • Raster:A raster graphic is an image that is made up of pixels. 
  • Vector:A vestor images is baced on a mathematical formula. It uses coordinates to define the shape of a graphic.