Web Design For Beginners
When we first meet with a potential client at Webspec Design, we assemble a custom team and start brainstorming our ideas with the client in order to design the best site possible for their wants and needs. I’ve noticed the confusion that sometimes unravels on a client’s face, though, as the meeting progresses.
Sure, we’re the experts, and with our expertise comes some technical jargon that we realize isn’t always widely known among the industries we work with. To make sure that you understand exactly what we have in mind for your content, design, and development for your custom website, I have created a list of terms and their definitions that we often use but our clients don’t always know about.
We do sometimes get carried away, so if you’ve met with us and felt confused about what we were talking about for your website, don’t worry. I’m here to clear up that confusion for you.
Web Design Terminology
Here is a list of the most commonly misunderstood web design terms that we use every day:
Content Management System (CMS)
This is the website application on which you will update and edit the content (text and images) on your website. We work with WordPress for our go-to CMS, which is super user-friendly. If you’ve worked with Facebook, you can easily work with WordPress to edit the content and images we custom create for you after launch.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
SEO (as we prefer to call it) is the strategy we use to optimize the structure and richness of website content–text and images. Heading structure, valuable content, keywords, title tags and meta descriptions are the bare bones of what we do to optimize our clients’ sites and increase their rankings for desired keywords and locations within search engines like Google. Webspec Design is award-winning for our SEO tactics when optimizing pages and content for our custom websites.
Wireframe
A wireframe is the designed bare bones of the website we create for our clients. It includes the navigation structure and image and content blocks for the home page and interior pages of the website. When we say we will come up with a wireframe, don’t expect to see the flashy website just yet. Before we get into the fun details, we have to make sure the structure of each page is exactly how you want it.
Backend
Now, before your head goes into the gutter, the backend is actually the part of the website that is “behind the curtains.” It is where you, our client, can edit the text and images that we have organized for your website. The frontend is the live website that all of your users can see. The backend is where the website is sort of deconstructed and shows all the pages and posts and images that make up your website, all of which you can play around with.
Features
We always ask our clients what “features” they want on the website. Outside of web design, features is a very vague and general term, but in web design, we’re asking for something specific. A feature on a website is an item that has to be specially developed outside of a page template (which I will also define in a bit). For instance, a contact form, customized map or online application form would be considered features because they require their own amount of programming. When you come into Webspec Design for a custom website for your company, think of the different features you might want or need for your site. We can do everything!
Sitemap
A sitemap is like the wireframe but for content. It is the bare bones of the website including the navigation structure—what will appear in the navigation bar(s) and drop-down(s)–but it guides the content organization and writing more so than design. This is what we try to finalize first in the web design process because content guides design in every website we create. This sitemap can tell us where which pages will appear where and how to navigate to those pages.
Template
When we say template in our website proposals, we mean the page layouts that will be designed out to fulfill specific purposes for the content within your website. For instance, a staff gallery is a template with a specific purpose–showcase the staff and introduce them to the user. This template is different from the homepage template or the gallery template, though. Each template will have its own look and function from the rest. Webspec codes custom templates from scratch for each custom website we create.
Keyword
A keyword or keyword phrase may seem like a tiny part of a website, but it carries a lot of power for your content and SEO rankings in the long-run. Keywords are the words or phrases that you might type into Google or other search engine to find a local service or product. The websites with the relevant information for that keyword will show up first for your search because they have that keyword throughout the content of their website. When we write the content for your custom website, we do keyword research specific to your target audience and target location. This ensures the information in your content is relevant and can be found by those people in those places.
Responsive
Every website we custom design and develop at Webspec will be responsive, especially after one of Google’s notorious updates called mobile-geddon. This means that the website design that you see on a desktop can be shrunk down to fit a mobile or tablet device without any features becoming distorted.
Now that you’ve learned about some of these web design terms, you can relax and enjoy the web design and development process when working with Webspec Design. However, if you do ever get confused about a process or word that we’re talking about, just give us a call. There is no such thing as a dumb question at this office. We love talking with our clients and explaining the work that we do. It is our passion, after all!
