Web Designer’s Terminology

These are some important aspects for any web designer to know.

CMS – Content Management System. Generally a cloud-based software package, that is set up as a word processing software or as a drop-and-drag package and allows you to create websites. Examples are WordPress, SquareSpace, Wix and many others.

LMS – Learning Management System – it is a CMS with specific tools for learning and assessments. It allows the user to grade and test users: Examples are Blackboard and Moodle.

CRM – This stands for “customer relationship management” and it’s software that stores customer contact information like names, addresses, and phone numbers, as well as keeps track of customer activity like website visits, phone calls, email, and more. An example would be Salesforce, which is the most popular CRM. Zoho is an online CRM that is used by MailChimp.

ROI – Return on Investment is an estimated ratio of how much money a business will get in return for a specific investment.

CTA – Call to Action describes the invitation or suggestion to a viewer of an advertisement to actually visit the premises of a business, visit their website or to purchase their product. Generally a CTA is connected with an offer and with urgency, e.g.: 20% Sale finishes on Sunday, 20/3.

CTR – Click Through Rate is ‘a metric that measures the number of clicks advertisers receive on their ads per number of impressions.’ Source: WordStream – Online Advertising Made Easy The CTR is actually a formula or the percentage of viewers who click your ad (with impressions being the number of people who view your ad):
CTR = (Total Clicks on Ad) / (Total Impressions)

PPC – Pay-per-click (also cost per click – CPC) is “an internet advertising model used to direct traffic to websites, in which an advertiser pays a publisher (typically a website owner or a network of websites) when the ad is clicked.” Wikipedia

EDM – Electronic Direct Mail is ‘used to target a large group of prospects or clients, and is focused on building (customer) relationships and generating leads.’ Source: Align.me The main point in EDM is emails generated to a list of customers using the services of Mail Chimp or a similar provider. You need to make sure to address recipients that fit the target audience. Your EDM can easily seen as spam, depending on its relevance to the target audience.

SEO – Search Engine Optimisation refers to the practice of using excellent structure, naming conventions and applying select metadata to a website to ensure that it has the highest possible ranking in a Google search or similar search engine.

SMM – Social Media Marketing is referring to marketing campaigns that target Social Media as an outlet. This often means marketing to existing clients and followers, but it extends to the wider community. Typical SMM platforms are Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Google+, Flicker, YouTube, Vimeo, Snapchat, Reddit, SlideShare, WordPress, Wikipedia, RSS.

SEM – Search Engine Marketing “is a type of Internet marketing associated with the researching, submitting and positioning of a website within search engines to achieve maximum visibility and increase your share of paid and/or organic traffic referrals from search engines.
SEM involves things such as SEO, keyword research, competitive analysis, paid listings and other search engine services that will increase search traffic to your site.
SEO and SEM are not competing services. SEO is considered a subset of SEM services. Today, if you want to conduct business on the Internet you need to be visible in both organic and advertised links, which means you need both SEO and SEM.” Webopedia

IoT – the Internet of Things refers to the networking of different devices. Entire households, fridges, TVs, mobile devices, laptops, computers being connected over the Internet are the IoT. See infographic at the bottom of post.

API – “(Application Programming Interface) A language and message format used by an application program to communicate with the operating system or some other control program such as a database management system (DBMS) or communications protocol. APIs are implemented by writing function calls in the program, which provide the linkage to the required subroutine for execution. Thus, an API implies that a driver or program module is available in the computer to perform the operation or that software must be linked into the existing program to perform the tasks.” Source: Computer Desktop Encyclopedia

Command Prompt to access DOS interface on a Windows PC — Command Prompt for DOS

So, the DOS prompt or Command Prompt would have to be an API – an application programming interface, as much as your HTML or Text Editor in WP.

Messaging Platform – a messaging platform is any system that allows the exchange of messages over a network, internet or intranet. This includes email and IM – instant messaging. WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Slack, Kik, Telegram, WeChat, Viber and Skype are all messaging platforms. So are Google Mail, Yahoo! Mail and Hotmail. Read VB’s 11 Best Messaging Platforms Compared. This post analyses 11 popular IM platforms in detail comparing demographics and features such as geography, age, consumer versus workplace focus, communication style and messaging capabilities.

SFTP – “(SSH FTP) Transferring files using the secure SSH protocol. See SSH.” Source: Computer Desktop Encyclopedia SSH: “(Secure SHell) A security protocol for logging into a remote server. SSH provides an encrypted session for transferring files and executing server programs. Also serving as a secure client/server connection for applications such as database access and e-mail, SSH supports a variety of authentication methods.” Source: Computer Desktop Encyclopedia

RMIT has Fugu available for download on Get It for staff members. It is an SFTP client for Mac OS X.

Encryption – “The reversible transformation of data from the original (plaintext) to a difficult-to-interpret format (ciphertext) as a mechanism for protecting its confidentiality, integrity and sometimes its authenticity. Encryption uses an encryption algorithm and one or more encryption keys. See encryption algorithm and cryptography.” Source: Computer Desktop Encyclopedia

3G & 4G Mobile Network – G stands for generation. 3G means 3rd and 4G 4th generation. Generally a newer generation mobile network is faster and more advanced. An example would be the ‘Vodafone 4G Pocket Pre-Paid Portable Wi-Fi Modem’ – see image below.
4g-pocket-portable-wifi-modem

SD & HD video – Standard Definition & High Definition are terms that refer to the quality of the video. 720p and 1080p are HD settings, while 480p and below are SD settings. The p stands for pixels and refers to the amount of pixels of the shorter side of the screen , so from top to bottom.If you have a higher resolution there will be more pixels composing the image, therefor the quality appears crisper. Try YouTube to play with the settings. Watch this informative YouTube vid by Jon to see how it works on YouTube:

Download Speed in MBPS – Mega Bytes per Second or MBPS is the unit that measures the download speed of an internet connection. Every ISP (Internet Service Provider) offers different bundles varying in the download limit (measured in GB – giga bytes) and download speed. What speed is required by various activities? The minimum download speed requirements for these activities are:
Email – 0.5 Mbps
Web browsing – 1.5 Mbps
Streaming HD movies – 4 Mbps
Video Conferencing – 4 Mbps
Gaming – 4 Mbps
Source: Reference.com

12/1 MBPS – This refers to the download speed of 12 mbps and upload speed of 1 mbps and is just referred to as 12/1 Mbps.

WYSIWYG – short for “what-you-see-is-what-you-get”. WYSIWYG stands for software that shows you the final result, as opposed to code. This is becoming the standard with most software. Most word processing software shows you a word processing view that focusses on the task itself, while there is generally a view that shows it as it will be in print or on screen.

GPS stands for Global Positioning System.

Cinemagraph – Cinemagraphs are still photos with elements that have repeated movements. They have been gaining popularity recently, a well done cinemagraph can be visually striking.