Glossary of Internet Terms
G
- GIF
GIF was originally created by CompuServe in 1987 and was called a Graphics Interchange Format. It is a lossless image format without compression and can store a static image and has the ability to show animations.
ℹ Animates GIF images became well used in social media comment replies in posts, making them one of the most widely used images online.
- Google Maps
- Google My Business
H
- Hamburger Menu
The hamburger icon ≡ which kind of resemblance a hamburger, is used as button icon and can replace the desktop menu on a mobile device making it a convenient design tool that looks neat and tidy.
ℹ This mobile menu element’s primary function is to toggle navigation drop-down, side bar or navigation drawer depending on the designers preferences and design aesthetics.
- Header
When designers talk about the header they are referring to the top section of a website template. This template normally is globally assigned to a all pages with the project, although many template variations can be made.
A company may have various departments. On a website those departments can have separate headers assigned to their pages to make them stand out a bit, display different colours, or even be completely customized.
- Hero Image
Designers talk about the hero image when they refer to the banner image appearing below the header on homes pages that sometimes also appear on sub pages.
ℹ A hero image is meant to capture the viewers attention, should be relevant to the Banner titles and content, and often carries branding colours, staff, customers, products or scenery to support the banners message.
- Host
All websites need a host to be able to be viewed as a domain. A host is a service provider that normally offer a range of options that are tailor made to fit different online needs.
ℹ We make use of Host Africa who have made our hosting experience a breeze and highly recommend their services.
- Hover
Hover is the term used for the call to action effect, or hover effect when placing your mouse over an element. The hover event can trigger many actions such as pop ups, image scaling increase, transparency changes to make some.
ℹ We use the hover effect in mot of our menu, banners, images, links, header and footer.
- HTML
Hyper Text Markup Language or HTML is a form of markup language used primarily for displaying content on devices connected to the internet.
ℹ There are many other languages that communicate along with HTML and help enhance the document’s function and appearances. Some well used file types are cascading style sheets (CSS), hypertext preprocessor (PHP) and javascript (JS).
- HTTP / HTTPS
Hyper Text Transfer Protocol is a set if security rules that govern how content is delivered over the internet.
ℹ When you open a browser you are already using the HTTP and hopefully the HTTPS protocol (like this website).
I
- Image Optimization
As the service implies, this is the task of down sizing images so that they load as fast as possible, while simultaneously preserving the image quality as best as possible without notable differences when viewing the final images in a browser for example.
ℹ There is a trade off between quality and file size when doing the image optimization process. Higher quality > Larger file sizes. We optimize JPG and PNG files usinf some of the latest online image optimization services to get the best of both worlds.
- Internet
The internet has a birthday! January 1, 1983 is considered the official birthdate of the Internet when a new communications protocol was established called Transfer Control Protocol/Internetwork Protocol or as we also refer to it, as TCP/IP.
🛰 TCP/IP are a set of rules that governs the connection of computers to the internet.
💻 There were other restricted networks going as far back as the 60’s but was not available to everyone, because computer were not widely available and you basically needed a crane to drop one in the basement. How thing have changed!
- IP Address
When you log onto the internet, your IP address is similar to a telephone number. Every connected device on the internet has some kind of IP address. Public computers that house websites register domains that are assigned IP addresses on Name Servers that link those IP addresses with the domain names.
ℹ The Internet Protocol is the communications protocol in the series of protocols (like ftp) for sending data packets from one place to the next. Its routing function basically enables computers to connect over a network which makes the internet possible.
J
- JavaScript
JavaScript is saved as your-script-name.js is a type of front end object orientated programming languages and is used in adding advanced functions that allow websites to work as applications and can run a multitude of advanced tasks that html can not do on its own.
- JPG
Images are often saved as image-name.JPEG or image-name.JPG files for use in websites. It a lossless image compression format that has various settings as well as a compression value which allows the user to decide how much compression is allocated without losing too much image quality.
ℹ The acronym JPEG was coined from the company Joint Photographic Experts Group who is the founder of the format.
K
- Keyword
Keywords are the words used to describe search terms used when searching for web address results that are relevant to the keyword terms. Keyword combinations are more refined and further down the search funnel while singular keywords are highest up the search funnel.
ℹ Here are three examples to explain the various types of keywords used in search criteria
🔍The keywords “African Tours” is what is termed a broad-match term. This keyword combinations while being very popular search terms imply many options across the African continent.
🔍The keywords “South African Golf Tours” is what is termed a modified broad-match term. This keyword is further down the search funnel with higher relevance for operators in South Africa that run golfing tours.
🔍The keywords “Long distance trucking company south africa” is what is termed a phrase match combination when a user searches >> Long distance trucking company durban. South Africa implies that Durban and Johannesburg falls naturally within the search criteria.
🔍The keywords “Long distance trucking company from johannesburg to durban” is what is termed a exact match combination when a user searches >> Long distance trucking company durban. This is the lowest in search funnel with less traffic but very high relevance.
L
- Landing Page
A landing page is used when setting up advertising campaigns where you want to provide a distraction-fee page that is optimized for a selection of keywords that coincide with a planned online advertising campaign. The page has no outgoing links and has specific calls to action. The visitor either fulfills the call to action or closes the page.
ℹ Most advertising campaigns try to point their company home pages as the landing pages. This is a common practice and a mistake, as link dilution and distractions from the core campaign goals are left upto visitors who often move away from the paid advert page and do not fulfil the goals that affect the Return On Investment (ROI).
