Design & Website Terms Explained
If you’re new to owning a website, you might find yourself a bit overwhelmed by the jargon associated with the website building process. Here is a list of some of the more commonly used web design terms to get comfortable with as you get started:
Design Terms
Alignment: The lining up of elements to achieve balance, order, and a more logical layout. There are also four common types of text alignment – center, left, right, and justified, each with their own time and place for application.
Branding: Not just a logo, branding is also communicated through your website, business card, product packaging, and any other promotional materials used in your business. Your branding conveys what your businesses is and what it stands for. It is important that your web designer understand your brand in order to maintain a consistent image.
Colour Scheme: A colour scheme is a selection of colors to be used together in a design. Colors within a scheme should look appealing together. It’s recommended to keep to a colour scheme of no more than 3 colors — the more colors you use the harder it is to create a cohesive design. The colour scheme of your website should match the colour scheme of your overall branding.
Content structure refers to how your pages and content are organised on your website. A good content structure helps visitors find what they’re looking for, and by remembering the goals of the website, content can be organised in a way that’s logical and intuitive for your visitors.
Layout: The layout of a website is the arrangement of all visual elements on a page. This includes the position of the logo, navigation, text, and images. The layout is the foundation of a website’s design and good layouts guide the user through the page.
Visual Hierarchy: Using different visual elements like size or placement in a way that signifies importance is what’s called visual hierarchy. A strong visual hierarchy might feature large text or a bold colour to draw attention to what’s important and makes it much easier for a viewer to quickly scan content and grasp the major details.
Parts of a Website
Above the Fold: What you can see on a webpage before scrolling down. This needs to capture your visitors’ interest to continue to scroll down. A few examples of things to include here are compelling headlines, important calls-t0-action, and attention-grabbing photos.
Call-to-Action: A strong call-to-action (CTA) is arguably one of the most important elements of a website. It is what drives your visitors to taking the next step in becoming a client by giving them an actionable task. It could be represented by an image, button, text, or banner. Some common examples of CTAs are:
“Start your free trial”
“Sign up for weekly updates”
“Get a free consultation”
Content: The content on your website includes text, images, video, and even blank space. Make sure you choose your content wisely.
Copy: The actual words that go on your website. Includes Heading Copy & Body Copy.
Domain: A domain name is the URL or web address where visitors find your site (for example, ours is brambledesign.co). Custom domains give your site a professional look, strengthen your brand, and make it easy for visitors to find you on the web.
Dropdown menus appear when a visitor moves their mouse over a navigation item, showing a list of pages.
Footer: The footer on your website is what your visitors will see at the bottom of every page. It can include links that direct your visitors to your social media pages, a call to action, or sometimes a repeat of the navigation. Since the footer is often the last thing your visitors will see before exiting your site, you want to make it count.
Homepage: A homepage is essentially the cover of your website. It’s usually the most unique page on your site, giving visitors an immediate sense of who you are as a business. A homepage also leads them to other important information on the rest of your website.
Hero Image: This term is used to describe the main image on the top of a webpage. A hero image may be part of a rotating image slider, or it may be a large static image.
Link: Links, either in the form of text, a button or an image, enable website visitors to get from one page to another.
Lorem Ipsum is a placeholder or filler text commonly used in design mockups to demonstrate a font or to hold the place of actual copy that may not be ready yet.
Mission Statement: A short statement that explains what a business does, how they do it, and who they do it for. People should know exactly what your business does within 3-5 seconds of landing on your site.
Navigation: The navigation (or ‘nav’ for short) is the “menu bar” typically at the top of your website that contains links to other pages on your site.
Your navigation should always include:
A page with information about the business. This could simply be called “About” or for a more personal feel, try something like “Our Story.”
A contact page. You need this in your menu if you intend on acquiring new clients. They will want to be directed to your inbox with minimal effort.
The other menu items will depend on what you offer, i.e. services, products, testimonials, etc.
Privacy Policy: A Privacy Policy is a statement or a legal document that states how a company or website collects, handles and processes data of its customers and visitors. It explicitly describes whether that information is kept confidential, or is shared with or sold to third parties.
Your privacy policy could appear in your website footer or have its own page on your site. It could have both. If you own a website, you’ll probably need to include a privacy policy or disclaimer that your site does not collect personal information.
Your site might need a privacy policy if:
Your site collects data such as:
Location
Phone numbers
Credit card information
Your site uses third-party services. For example, it is required by the Terms of Service that you include a privacy policy when using Google Analytics on your site.
For sample privacy policies and more information regarding the need to have one on your website, click here.
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is a term that refers to the traffic that is directed to your website. Think about the lists of websites that come up when you search on Google. You want your website to be somewhere at the top of that list.
Things to consider to optimize your website visibility:
Determining your ideal client is the first and most important step that will help guide you to SEO. Ask yourself, who do I want to work with? Who don’t I want to work with? What kinds of interests do my clients have?
Make your copy (words on your website) relevant. You want your descriptions and general information on your page to be at an appropriate length and contain everything your audience needs to know.
Do keyword research to get an idea of what words will trigger the search engine to make your site appeal to your ideal client.
Learn more about SEO here.
Social Media Links: Where the icons for your social media accounts (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn etc.) go. These are commonly found either at the top and/or the bottom of a website.
Social Proof: This is a term that refers to things that build trust and credibility for potential clients, helping to convert them from visitors to customers. A few types of social proof are examples of past work, testimonials, or awards/logos of past clients.
Subscription: Capture your visitors’ emails by having a subscription to a newsletter or offering a free download.
Tagline: A positive, memorable catchphrase that helps your customer to identify with your brand.
White space (or “negative space”) refers to all of the empty space that flows around and between design elements and makes it easier for viewers to focus their attention on one or two core items. White space can be considered an important design element as can complement and enhance the main subject, improve legibility and make the content easier to “take in.”
