Glossary

Accessibility

Accessibility stands for an accessible web, for websites, tools and technologies being designed and developed in such a way that all people can use them without restriction. You can read the exact rules for the accessible web on the MDN network or watch a video from WAI.

Advanced Custom Fields (ACF)

Before the WordPress Block Editor existed, many WordPress developers used ACF fields to create customized fields in the backend.

ARIA

Accessible Rich Internet Applications (ARIA) enable web developers to make web content and web applications more accessible for people with disabilities and other limitations. – MDN

Archive page

A WordPress archive page is an overview page of several posts. Swisscom Magazine, for example, has an overview page of existing blog posts.

Ajax

Ajax stands for Asynchronous JavaScript and XML. It is a group of technologies that make it possible to load only the part of a website that is needed for the specific process. This allows websites to react dynamically to the user’s input. It enables the creation of better, faster and more interactive web applications with the help of XML, HTML, CSS and JavaScript.

Backend

The backend is the part of the website that is not visible to users. All content such as text and images that will later be visible in the frontend is entered in the WordPress backend. Databases are also part of the backend. The backend contains all programming for the application and the administration area. In an analogy with a house, electricity and various pipes have been laid, which you can no longer see when you live in it.

Bug

In the programming environment, a bug is an error. Details

Bugfix

In the tech industry, bugfix means eliminating errors. Read more

Browser

A browser, also known as a web browser or Internet browser, is a software program for displaying and exploring content on the Internet. This content, including images, videos and websites, is connected to each other via hyperlinks and classified with URIs. This page is an example of a website that can be displayed with a browser. The most common browsers are Chrome, Firefox, Safari and Internet Explorer.

Cache

A cache is a memory for temporary files in the browser. After opening an app or website for the first time, it stores files, images and other relevant data on your device. Cached data is used to load an app or website quickly and efficiently on each subsequent visit.

Coding standards

Coding standards are used to ensure compliance with certain rules when writing code. After following the coding standards, the code is easy to read and maintain for everyone and the complexity of the code is reduced. It also helps to identify errors more easily and promotes efficiency when programming.

Core developer

A core developer is someone who works on the core of the software to improve WordPress as a content management system. Our former developer Ulrich Pogson, for example, was part of the WordPress theme review team, which is why our customer projects always comply with the guidelines (coding standards) and specifications of WordPress.org. Dominik Schilling is also a member of the WordPress security team, which is why we always know promptly when your website needs to be updated with the necessary security patches. We carry out this work regularly (once a month) and is regulated within our Service Level Agreement (SLA).

Core contribution

Core contribution means that developers have contributed to the core of the WordPress software itself.

Content management system (CMS)

Software that can be used to manage content on a website. WordPress is the most widely used CMS in the world and simplifies the creation and maintenance of website content.

Computing power

The Duden dictionary defines computing power as the computing performance of a computer. It therefore depends on how quickly a machine can perform an action. The computer’s processor interprets each command that is executed as a series of mathematical problems. Faster processors can perform more calculations per second, and they are also better at handling difficult calculations.

CSS

Cascading Style Sheets, usually abbreviated as CSS, is a description language that defines the appearance of a website. CSS is used for the design and layout of websites – for example, to change the font, color, size and spacing of the content, to divide it into several columns or to add animations and other decorative features. (Source: MDN)

Dark data

Gartner defines so-called “dark data” as the information assets that companies collect, process and store during their regular business activities, but which are generally not used for other purposes (e.g. analytics, business relationships and direct monetization). Storing and backing up data usually incurs more cost (and sometimes more risk) than it is worth.

Dark net

The Dark Net is an encrypted internet so that its users can remain anonymous. This works by redirecting data traffic via several computers. To use the dark net, you need a special browser such as Tor.

Design system

Instead of corporate design manuals, design systems are used today because they are much more flexible. A design system is a collection of reusable components with clear rules, principles and restrictions for the design development of a company. In addition to generally applicable principles, this also includes code and UI components. The result is fixed specifications for the design and the possibility of reusing various design elements. The advantages of a design system are the increased quality and consistency of the brand, smooth handover to designers and developers and it saves time and resources during implementation. For example, we set up a design system for the relaunch of Somedia.

Domain name server (DNS)

Simply put, a Domain Name System (DNS) is a collection of databases that translate hostnames into IP addresses. DNS is often referred to as the phone book of the internet because it converts easy-to-remember hostnames like www.required.com into IP addresses like 216.58.217.46. This happens behind the scenes after you type a URL into the address bar of a web browser. Without DNS, navigating the internet would not be as easy, as we would have to enter the IP address of every website we want to visit.

Domain

A domain name is a unique set of characters that identifies a particular website. In many ways, a domain name has the same relationship to a website as an address has to a house. When you type a domain name into a web browser, the browser accesses the aforementioned domain name server (DNS) to find the location of the corresponding website on the Internet so that it can retrieve the website and display it to you. It’s a bit like looking someone up in a phone book.

Editor

An editor is a program for modifying a file. A simple writing program for images and text. The WordPress text editor can be mentioned as an example. Well-known code editors are Atom and Visual Studio Code.

End user

An end user – also known as a user or end user – is a person who uses software or a website.

Frontend

The front end refers to the visible interface of a website. The content is created using HTML, the appearance is changed using CSS and the behavior of a website is created using JavaScript. A backend such as the WordPress CMS can then be used in the background.

As a front-end developer, you work with the languages HTML, CSS and JavaScript (and this includes some libraries such as React, for example). The content of the website is created with HTML, the layout, colors and spacing are changed with CSS and the behavior of a website is created with JavaScript. The three languages are often explained using a house analogy. In this case, HTML would be the shell of the house, CSS adds the colors and options for placing the furniture, and JavaScript makes everything interactive, so when you press the light switch, the light turns on and off again.

Gutenberg Block Editor

The WordPress editor, which has now been established since 2018, originated from the “Gutenberg” project. The project name of the new editor comes from the inventor Johannes Gensfleisch, known as Gutenberg, the inventor of modern letterpress printing with a printing press that used blocks that could be arranged in any combination and reused indefinitely. This is the basic idea behind the new WordPress editor – reusable and user-friendly blocks that make it possible to flexibly design a page as desired. The noticeable difference between the old “Classic Editor” and the new “Block Editor” is that text and images in the editing mode (backend) look pretty much the same as users see them on the website. The entire editing experience has been redesigned for media-rich pages and posts. We’ve explained what the editor can do and why it’s worth switching in our blog post.

More details about the Gutenberg Editor: https://wordpress.org/gutenberg/

Graphical User Interface (GUI)

A GUI – Graphical User Interface – is one of the user interfaces where the user can move within the interface using controls such as menus and arrows. Almost all software-based user interfaces are graphical.

Git

Git is a versioning system. This works in a similar way to automatic saving in WordPress, where you can access the revision at a later date so that no files are lost.

Officially, Git is an open source distributed version control system. Git can be used to store content – due to the other features it offers, it is mostly used to store code. The code stored in Git is constantly changing as more code is added. Also, many developers can add code in parallel. Version Control helps with this by managing a history of the changes made. Distributed means that Git has a remote repository, which is stored on a server, and a local repository, which is stored on the developer’s computer. The code is not only stored on a central server, but the full copy of the code is available on all the developers’ computers.

If you want to learn Git, we can recommend the resources of GitHub.

Github

GitHub is a website and cloud-based service that helps developers store and manage code, as well as track and control changes to their code. It simplifies the use of Git for version control and collaboration.

GitHub’s user interface is so user-friendly that even inexperienced programmers can take advantage of Git. Sometimes it’s even used to write books! Without GitHub, using Git usually requires a little more technical understanding and familiarity with the terminal. Plus, anyone can sign up for free and host a public code repository, which makes GitHub especially popular with open source projects. Take a look at the required repository.

Hosting

The term refers to the provision of storage space on the Internet and the storage of websites on the server of a hosting provider. Among other things, we rely on Cyon’s environmentally friendly hosting, which is powered by hydropower from the Basel region. For more complex requirements, we work together with Amazee.io, where managed WordPress hosting can be operated. If you already have a hosting of your choice (Hostpoint, etc.), we are open to it, provided it meets the necessary requirements.

HTML

HTML (HyperText Markup Language) is the most basic building block of the web. It describes and defines the content of a website together with the basic layout of the website. “HyperText” refers to links that connect websites together, either within a single web page or between multiple websites. HTML uses “markup” to annotate text, images and other content for display in a web browser. (Source: MDN)

HTTPS

HTTPS stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure and is a protocol for the secure transfer of data on the Internet. It is used, for example, for communication between a web browser and a web server. The sequence of letters HTTPS is familiar from the address bar of a web browser, where it is displayed as “https://” in front of every secure website. An HTTPS connection is secured by purchasing an SSL certificate, which can be obtained from your web host.

Hyperlink

The hyperlink is part of the hypertext. These are hidden under the text, image, graphic, audio and video and often a hand appears when you move the mouse over them. To activate the hyperlink, click on the hypermedium, which will open the new document.

Indexing

This means telling the search engine (e.g. Google) that your new website exists and asking for your website to be displayed in the search results. You can find the exact instructions on Google’s Developers page.

IP address

An Internet Protocol address uniquely identifies a device in a network and looks like this, for example: 195.163.1.32
The number sequence consists of the network ID, which identifies the specific network in which the device is located, and the host ID, which identifies a specific device. There are private and public IP addresses. The public IP address is used by your home network to connect to the rest of the devices around the world. The private IP address is used within your home network by devices such as wireless printers, desktops, tablets and Wi-Fi cameras.

JavaScript

JavaScript (“JS” for short) is a fully-fledged and dynamic programming language which, when added to an HTML document, provides dynamism and interaction with the user. (Source: MDN)

Lazy loading

Images wait to load until they are about to scroll into view.

Migration

In general, this refers to the relocation of hardware or software. When a website is migrated, its technology, setup or platform changes fundamentally.

In our context, we use the term, for example, when the CMS is to be changed from Typo3 to WordPress and the data is to be transferred from one system to the other.

Micro interactions

Micro interactions serve to give users meaningful feedback so that users know what happens when an action is performed. It is human to expect something to happen when you click a button, scroll a page or like an article.

Mobile-First design

Mobile-first means that the design is created for the smallest screen size first and only then for tablet and desktop. The advantage of this is that the designers focus on ensuring that the user guidance is compact and easy to understand. In addition, more than 50% of websites today (as of 2021) are surfed on mobile.

Multisite

A multisite in WordPress is a feature that allows multiple websites to be managed from a single WordPress installation. This feature can be used to create networks of websites that are either managed from a central location or give individual administrators control over their own websites within the network. This is ideal for organizations or anyone who wants to run multiple websites with similar functionality without having to set up a separate WordPress installation for each website.

Node

In web development, a node is a JavaScript object that represents an element in the DOM.

Open Source

The term open source refers to something that anyone can modify and share with others because the content is publicly available.

Open Source software

Open source software is software that anyone can view, modify and extend. WordPress, for example, is open source software. Our developers are part of the WordPress community and use 10% of their working time to make WordPress better. More about our contributions to WP 5.5.

Parallax effekt

The parallax effect causes the background to move at a different speed than the content in the foreground and results in a kind of 3-dimensional spatiality, as is the case in the header animation of the online magazine V/A – Various Artists.

Parsing

Parsing means finding the underlying structure of the data and organizing it according to the rules of a grammar. Parsing makes it possible to transform data in such a way that it can be understood by specific software. The obvious example is programs: They are written by humans, but they need to be executed by computers. So humans write them in a form that they can understand, and software then transforms them so that they can be used by a computer. However, parsing can also be necessary when data is passed between two programs that have different requirements.

Performance

When we talk about the performance of a website, we mean the performance that the browser needs to display the subpages. For the user, this is primarily expressed in the loading speed.

Plugin

A plugin is a software add-on that extends the function. The WordPress community has already programmed several WP plugins. We install tried-and-tested plugins such as SEO and multilingualism on your future WordPress installation. However, we are also happy to develop our own plugins that are tailored to your requirements. We publish certain plugins as open source projects and are available for use on our GitHub profile.

Post Type

Post types refer to the different types of content that exist in WordPress. These include posts, pages, attachments, revisions
menus and custom CSS. Developers can also program custom content types. As we only develop individual websites, we do this for every project. One example is Translate Swiss Books.

You can find more details at: https://wordpress.org/support/article/post-types/

Responsive websites

Responsive means as much as In 2021, according to Statista, mobile internet traffic will account for more than 55 percent of all web traffic. This means that when users search for information online, they are more likely to use their smartphones than their laptops. For developers and website designers, this means that they need to look and function well on all screen sizes. The latter is the definition of Responsive Web Development.

Rendering

Rendering means that data sets with certain properties are converted.

Rendering a website means converting it so that it is displayed in full for the user. To do this, a browser requests HTML, CSS, JavaScript and image content from a server and interprets it.

The word render is also often used in connection with media. The calculation that the computer performs to display the effects of post-processing, such as the changed sharpness or the adjusted exposure, and thus transfer specific properties to raw data, is called rendering.

Retainer

The retainer is used in conjunction with the SLA contract. If you are planning regular further development phases for your website/web application, the form of cooperation within a retainer is recommended. This means that we reserve time on our side (usually a budget of 1-2 days per month used by other customers) to work with you on further development.

Screenreader

Software for blind and visually impaired people to navigate through websites. In the Chrome browser, for example, there is the built-in screen reader Chrome Vox.

SEO (search engine optimization)

By definition, this refers to all measures that lead to a website ranking as high as possible in the organic, i.e. unpaid, search engine results for relevant search terms. When we implement a website, we make it as easy as possible for you to play a leading role in the backend.

Server

A server is a computer that is used to process requests and deliver data to another computer via the Internet or a local network. Servers are often dedicated, which means that they only perform the tasks assigned to them. Different servers perform different tasks.

A hardware-based server, also known as a host, is a physical machine integrated into a computer network on which several software-based servers run alongside the operating system. A software-based server is a program that offers a special service that is used by so-called clients, locally or via a network.

SSL certificate

SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer. It is a security protocol that is used to ensure secure internet connections so that the information exchanged cannot be seen or stolen by cyber criminals. In detail, the SSL certificate is a file with encryption data that is stored on the website’s server and thus establishes encryption between the browser and the web server. When the SSL certificate is installed, HTTPS is activated, which is necessary for every website so that it is displayed correctly in the browser.

SLA – Service Level Agreement

After the project is before the project, which is why the collaboration only really begins after your project has gone live. To ensure cooperation with regard to the operation of your website/web application, we agree an SLA contract together. In the SLA, we guarantee smooth operation and provide regular updates (once a month). We also guarantee to be there for you promptly in the event of support questions or further development requests. (See also Retainer).

Software

Software is computer instructions or data that can be stored electronically.
System software is the software that makes the computer run. This includes the operating system, drivers, linkers and debuggers. It can be used to manage computer resources and is made to be used by the system itself, not by users of the computer.
Application software, on the other hand, is designed for users. It includes, for example, database programs, word processing programs, computer games, graphics programs, etc. When we talk about software, we generally mean application software.

Theme / Templates

There are many predefined templates (also known as themes) that you can buy for WordPress. Since the code was not written by the client, you are dependent on the person who created the theme for maintenance. To prevent problems, we always write all the code ourselves and program websites tailor-made for our customers.

User-Experience (UX)

UX can be defined as the experience that users have when they interact with the website. Karin Christen is our expert in this!

User Journey

User journeys are all the steps that a user takes to achieve a certain goal with an interactive system. They usually consist of a number of web pages and decision points that take the user from one step to the next.

User Centered Design

User-centered design is a method in which the future users are involved right from the start. This ensures that the structure, content and design of the end product are largely driven by the needs, expectations and understanding of the user.

User Interface (UI)

The user interface is the surface that a user sees and interacts with. This can be a website, another digital interface consisting of software, such as that of an ATM, or a hardware-based user interface such as that of a remote control. (See also GUI)

If you have any questions on this topic, Velthy is the expert.

URL

URL means Uniform Resource Locator and is the address of a specific website or file on the Internet. Our URL is https://required.com and the address of this glossary page is https://required.com/de/glossary.

An URL consists of 3 parts:

https:// – the URL prefix specifies the protocol used to access the site (see also HTTPS)
required.com – the server name or the IP address of the server
/en/glossar – the path to the directory or file

URI

URI stands for Uniform Resource Identifier. A URI identifies the name and location of a file in a standardized format. URIs provide a standard method for accessing resources by other computers on a network or over the Internet.

The difference is that a URI can be used to describe the name or location of a file or both, whereas a URL specifically defines the location of a resource.

Variable fonts

Variable fonts are font files that can be changed by the user using settings. They are used in web development but also in design software such as Photoshop or Illustrator.

Version control

Version control means that a history of the changes made is kept. (See also Git)

WordPress

WordPress is an open source software with which you can create a website. There are two different versions:

• With WordPress.org, the complete files are downloaded and installed and edited on your own hosting. This version is free for those who are interested in technical matters and want to build a 100% individual website.
• WordPress.com is the all-round carefree package. It offers the option of hosting directly with WordPress and is therefore subject to a charge. It is very easy to use, but the options are somewhat more limited.

XML-Sitemap

An XML sitemap provides an overview of the structure of a website in a language suitable for Googlebots, namely XML. A Googlebot can use this sitemap to find and index the website more easily.

Two-factor authentication – 2FA

2FA stands for two-factor authentication. This describes the process when, for example, you log in to your web mail on your computer with your username and password and then receive an SMS with a code that you have to enter before you can use your e-mail account.