A glossary of web terms for Australian business owners

The terms

Alt text

Also called: alternative text, alt attribute, image description

Alt text is a short written description attached to an image on a web page, read aloud by screen readers to people who cannot see the image and displayed in its place if the image itself fails to load.

Alt text is a common accessibility failure on small-business websites, and a quick one to put right. Under the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, informative images require a text alternative at the lowest conformance level, and Australian businesses have obligations under the Disability Discrimination Act, with WCAG generally used as the measure of whether those obligations are being met. Alt text is also read by search engines, but describing the image accurately for a person is the goal and any search benefit follows from that. The mistake is stuffing search terms into it, which makes a screen reader announce marketing copy, or writing descriptions for purely decorative images that should instead carry an empty alternative so the screen reader skips them. Ask whether alt text is written as part of the content work, and who writes it for images you upload later.

Anchor text

Also called: link text, anchor

Anchor text is the visible, clickable words of a hyperlink, as distinct from the web address the link actually points to.

A vague anchor such as "click here" fails accessibility requirements for a screen reader user navigating a page by its list of links alone, out of context. Descriptive anchor text stating the destination or outcome is both an accessibility requirement and a small, real signal search engines use. A fuller treatment is at [what anchor text is](/glossary/anchor-text).

Backup

Also called: website backup, snapshot, restore point

A website backup is a dated copy of a site's files and database, stored somewhere other than the server it came from, that can be restored in order to return the website to the state it was in at that point in time.

A backup nobody has ever restored is a hypothesis rather than a safety net. Two things separate a real arrangement from a nominal one: the copy is held somewhere other than the server it protects, so a single failure cannot take both, and someone has actually tested a restore. The mistake is assuming the host's backups are yours to use, when many exist for the host's own disaster recovery, are kept only briefly, and may attract a retrieval fee. Backup frequency should match how often your content changes and how much work you are willing to redo. Ask how often backups run, how many are retained and for how long, where they are stored, whether files and database are both included, who can trigger a restore, how long a restore takes, and when one was last tested.

Breakpoint

Also called: responsive breakpoint, CSS breakpoint

A breakpoint is a defined screen width at which a responsive website's layout deliberately changes shape, implemented in CSS using media queries.

Breakpoints set where content genuinely needs to reflow, rather than targeting specific popular device widths, remain correct as new devices are released. A fuller treatment is at [what a breakpoint is](/glossary/breakpoint).

Content management system (CMS)

Also called: CMS, website platform, website admin, backend editor

A content management system, or CMS, is software that stores a website's text and images in a database and lets a non-technical person add or edit pages through a browser-based admin screen, without touching code.

The CMS is the decision that determines whether you can change your own website or must pay someone every time a price, a phone number or a staff photo changes. WordPress, Shopify, Squarespace, Wix and Webflow are all content management systems with very different trade-offs in ongoing cost, flexibility and how easily the site can be moved elsewhere later. The common mistake is assuming a CMS means everything is editable: many builds deliberately lock the layout so the design cannot be broken by accident, and that limit is a decision, not a fault. Before signing, ask which CMS the site will use, whether you receive administrator access, exactly which parts you can edit without a developer, whether any licences or subscriptions renew annually, and whether your content can be exported in a usable format if you change supplier.

Cookie

Also called: browser cookie, tracking cookie, first-party cookie

A cookie is a small piece of data a website asks a visitor's browser to store, used to remember information such as a login session, a shopping cart, or a returning visitor for analytics purposes.

Cookies range from strictly necessary (keeping a shopping cart contents between pages) to optional tracking used for analytics or advertising, and Australian consent and disclosure obligations differ depending on which kind is in use. This site's own build avoids tracking cookies entirely for its analytics, using session-based storage instead — a deliberate choice, not the default for most analytics tools. A full treatment of the Australian rules is at [cookies, tracking and consent in Australia](/standards/cookies-tracking-and-consent-in-australia).

Core Web Vitals

Also called: page experience signals, LCP, INP, CLS

Core Web Vitals are three measurements Google publishes to describe a page's real-world user experience: how quickly the main content appears, how fast the page responds to a tap or click, and how much the layout shifts while loading.

The three published thresholds are Largest Contentful Paint under 2.5 seconds, Interaction to Next Paint under 200 milliseconds, and Cumulative Layout Shift under 0.1, assessed from real Chrome users rather than a laboratory test. They matter commercially less as a ranking input than as a plain description of whether a page is unpleasant to use: a heading that jumps down the screen as something loads above it, or a button that does nothing for a moment after being tapped. The mistake is chasing a perfect laboratory score, which is a simulation on one device, while ignoring the field data in Google Search Console, which is what Google actually assesses. Ask a supplier for the current field figures for your existing site, ask what the targets are for the new one, and ask for those targets to be written into the contract as acceptance criteria rather than left as aspirations.

Domain name

Also called: web address, URL, domain, com.au name

A domain name is the address people type to reach a website, licensed to a registrant for a fixed term through a registrar and renewable indefinitely, rather than owned outright the way property is owned.

A domain is licensed, not bought, and the registrant name is what controls it. The mistake that causes the most trouble is letting a designer or agency register the domain in their own name as a convenience: recovering it later, if the relationship ends badly, can be slow and occasionally impossible. Australian names are governed by auDA rules requiring an Australian presence, usually an ACN, business registration or Australian trade mark, and that eligibility attaches to the registrant rather than to whoever built the site. Domains also lapse when a renewal payment fails, and a lapsed domain takes email down along with the website. Ask for the registrant to be your business entity, get the registrar login in writing, set renewal to a card you control, and confirm who receives the expiry notices.

Favicon

Also called: site icon, browser tab icon, app icon, touch icon

A favicon is the small square icon representing a website in browser tabs, bookmarks, history lists and home-screen shortcuts on a phone, supplied as a set of image files referenced in the code of every page.

A favicon is small, inexpensive and routinely forgotten, and it is what a returning visitor uses to find your tab among the fifteen they have open. A missing one shows a blank document icon, which reads as unfinished. Modern requirements go beyond a single file: browsers, phones and dark interface modes expect several sizes and formats, plus a web app manifest if the site can be added to a home screen. The mistake is supplying the full logo and having it scaled down until it is an illegible smudge; a favicon usually needs a simplified mark, often a single letter or symbol, drawn specifically for the size. Ask whether favicon and app icons are included in the build, whether they are made from a simplified mark rather than the full logo, and ask for the source files. A fuller treatment is at [what a favicon is](/glossary/favicon).

Front end and back end

Also called: frontend, backend, client side, server side, full stack

The front end of a website is everything a visitor sees and interacts with in the browser, while the back end is the server, database and application code that stores information and decides what the front end is given to display.

The distinction matters when reading a quote, because the two halves are priced and staffed differently, and a straightforward brochure site may have almost no back end at all. Someone who describes themselves as a front-end developer may not build your booking system, and a back-end developer may not make it look like anything. The mistake is assuming one person covers both, or assuming that because the visible pages look finished the project is nearly done: an integration with an accounting package or a customer database is invisible on screen and is often the longest part of a build. Ask which parts of your project are front end and which are back end, who is doing each, what third-party systems the back end has to talk to, and who is responsible if one of those systems changes after launch.

FTP and SFTP

Also called: file transfer protocol, secure FTP

FTP and SFTP are two protocols used to move files directly onto and off a web server, with SFTP encrypting the entire connection including login credentials.

FTP transmits login credentials without encryption, a real security exposure on an open network; SFTP encrypts the whole connection and is the version worth insisting on for any account holding genuine access. A fuller treatment is at [what FTP and SFTP are](/glossary/ftp-and-sftp).

Hero section

Also called: hero image, hero banner

A hero section is the large, prominent area at the top of a web page, typically a headline and sometimes an image or video, that most visitors see first.

The hero section's largest visible element is frequently the same element measured by Largest Contentful Paint, one of Google's Core Web Vitals, making it simultaneously a first-impression and a performance question. A fuller treatment is at [what a hero section is](/glossary/hero-section).

Landing page

Also called: campaign page, lead page, sales page

A landing page is a single web page built for one specific campaign and one specific action, usually stripped of site navigation, that a visitor arrives at directly from an advertisement, an email or a social media post.

Landing pages exist because a visitor arriving from a specific advertisement has a specific expectation, and dropping them onto a general home page makes them hunt for what they were just promised. Removing the navigation is deliberate: fewer exits, one decision. The mistake is judging a landing page by traffic rather than by enquiries, or running paid advertising to a home page and then concluding that paid advertising does not work. A second mistake is a landing page promising something the following process does not deliver, which is poor practice generally and, where the promise concerns price, inclusions or availability, an Australian Consumer Law exposure. Ask whether landing pages sit inside the quoted scope or are a separate item, how their enquiries are tracked, and whether you can produce further ones yourself without a developer.

Lazy loading

Also called: lazy load

Lazy loading defers loading images or other content until a visitor scrolls near enough for them to become visible, rather than loading everything on page load.

Applying it to the hero section specifically works against its own purpose, delaying rather than speeding up the first thing a visitor sees. A fuller treatment is at [what lazy loading is](/glossary/lazy-loading).

Minification

Also called: minify

Minification removes unnecessary characters from a website's code, such as spaces and comments, producing a smaller file that downloads and runs faster without changing what it does.

Minified code is functionally identical to its unminified version; only its readability to a person changes, and the process is normally an automated build step rather than a manual one. A fuller treatment is at [what minification is](/glossary/minification).

Mockup

Also called: visual design, comp, high-fidelity design, design concept

A mockup is a static, full-colour picture of what a finished web page will look like, complete with real branding, typography and imagery, produced in design software and reviewed before any code is written.

A mockup is what most clients mean when they say the design. It is a picture, not a working page, and that distinction causes more disputes than any other stage of a web project. A mockup cannot show hover states, loading behaviour, how a layout copes when a heading is longer than the placeholder, or what happens on a narrow phone screen. The mistake is treating mockup approval as approval of the finished site, then raising layout objections during the build when changes have become far more expensive. Ask how many pages will be mocked up as opposed to built from an approved pattern, whether phone layouts are mocked up as well as desktop, how many revision rounds are included at this stage, and whether approving the mockup formally closes the design phase under the contract.

Nameserver

Also called: DNS nameserver

A nameserver holds the specific instructions for where a domain's website and email actually live, separate from which registrar the domain is registered through.

Moving hosts generally means updating nameserver settings to point at the new host — the step that actually redirects traffic — and this is separate from who a domain is registered through, which can stay unchanged. A fuller treatment is at [what a nameserver is](/glossary/nameserver).

Open Graph

Also called: social preview, OG tags

Open Graph tags are code in a page's header telling social platforms which image, title and description to show when a link to that page is shared.

A missing Open Graph image produces a blank or badly cropped preview wherever a link is shared, and the required tags (title, type, image, URL) sit as plain <meta> elements in the page head. A fuller treatment is at [what Open Graph tags are](/glossary/open-graph-and-social-previews).

Page speed

Also called: load time, site speed, performance, page weight

Page speed is how long a web page takes to become visible and usable after a visitor requests it, determined largely by the size of the images, fonts and code the page has to download and by how quickly the server responds.

Speed is mostly a weight problem, and the weight is usually images. A photograph straight off a phone camera is far larger than the version a web page needs, and a page carrying several of them will be slow over mobile data regardless of how good the hosting is. After images, the usual causes are too many font files, video placed at the top of a page, tracking scripts added over time by whoever had access, and page builders that ship a large amount of code to render a simple layout. The mistake is buying faster hosting to solve a page-weight problem. Ask what the performance targets are and how they will be measured, whether images are compressed and resized automatically on upload or left to whoever adds them, and how many third-party scripts the finished site loads.

Plugin or extension

Also called: plugin, extension, add-on, module, app

A plugin is a self-contained piece of third-party software added to a website's content management system to provide a function the system does not include on its own, such as forms, bookings, e-commerce or search optimisation.

Plugins are how a modest content management system becomes capable, and also how a website becomes fragile. Every plugin is code written by someone you have no relationship with, running on your site, with permission to touch your database. Abandoned plugins stop receiving security updates and are a well-known route by which small-business websites are compromised. The mistake is judging a plugin on its features and never on its update history, its support status, or how many other things on the site depend on it. Paid plugins also carry annual licences that quietly lapse, after which updates stop arriving. Ask how many plugins the build uses and why each one is there, which carry ongoing licence fees and whose name those licences are in, who applies updates after launch, and what gets tested before an update is applied.

Redirect (301)

Also called: 301 redirect, permanent redirect, URL redirect, forwarding

A 301 redirect is a permanent server instruction telling browsers and search engines that a page has moved to a new address, automatically sending visitors to the new location and transferring the old address's accumulated search signals.

Redirects are the difference between a redesign that keeps its search traffic and one that quietly loses it. When addresses change, and a redesign nearly always changes some, every old address needs a rule pointing at its closest new equivalent; without one, every link anyone ever made to that page, and every ranking it earned, ends at an error. A 302 is the temporary version and does not carry the same permanence, so using one for a move that is not temporary is a common technical error. The mistake on the client side is mapping only the main pages and letting older content break, or pointing everything at the home page. Ask for a written redirect map before launch, ask whether it was built from the old site's actual address list rather than its navigation, and ask who verifies after launch that each rule resolves in a single hop.

Responsive web design

Also called: mobile-friendly design, mobile responsive, adaptive layout

Responsive web design is a build technique in which one set of pages reflows automatically to suit any screen width, so a phone, tablet and desktop each get a readable layout from the same code and the same web address.

Responsive building is now the default rather than a feature, so a quote listing it as an added extra is describing an ordinary build in flattering terms. The mistake is approving a design on a large monitor and never opening the site on a phone until after launch, at which point the order of the page, the size of tap targets and the length of forms all turn out to matter more than the appearance of the desktop hero image. Responsive also does not mean identical: sections reorder, collapse or hide on a narrow screen, and that is correct behaviour rather than a bug. Ask to see the phone layout at design stage instead of after the build, ask which screen widths are actually tested, and check your own analytics for the split between phone and desktop visits before accepting anyone's argument about which matters more.

Semantic HTML

Also called: semantic markup

Semantic HTML uses code elements that describe what content actually is — a heading, a list, a button — rather than generic containers merely styled to look that way.

Text styled to look like a heading using only CSS looks identical to a sighted visitor but is invisible as a heading to a screen reader. A fuller treatment is at [what semantic HTML is](/glossary/semantic-html).

Shortcode

Also called: WordPress shortcode

A shortcode is short bracketed text placed inside a page's content that a content management system expands into a specific piece of functionality when the page displays.

If the plugin behind a shortcode is removed, the bracketed text is usually left behind as raw, visible text rather than the functionality it produced. A fuller treatment is at [what a shortcode is](/glossary/shortcode).

Sitemap

Also called: XML sitemap, sitemap.xml, HTML sitemap

A sitemap is a file listing every page on a website that the owner wants search engines to find, submitted to Google Search Console so that crawlers can discover pages without having to rely on internal links alone.

The XML file is plumbing. It costs nothing, and any serious build generates one automatically as content is published. Its value is diagnostic rather than promotional: a submitted sitemap lets you compare the number of pages you published against the number Google chose to index, and a wide gap between those two numbers is worth investigating. The mistake is expecting a sitemap to make pages rank; it helps pages be found, which is a much smaller claim. A second mistake is leaving stale entries in it after a redesign, so the file advertises addresses that now return errors. A separate sitemap page for human visitors is a different thing and is optional. Ask whether the sitemap regenerates automatically, whether it has been submitted to a Search Console property registered in your name, and whether that property is handed over at the end of the project.

SSL certificate and HTTPS

Also called: TLS certificate, security certificate, the padlock, HTTPS

An SSL certificate is a credential installed on a web server that encrypts traffic between a visitor's browser and the site, turning the address from HTTP into HTTPS and producing the padlock icon shown in the browser address bar.

Browsers now mark pages served without HTTPS as not secure, which your customers can see, and any form collecting names, phone numbers or payment details over an unencrypted connection is indefensible. Certificates are commonly included and automatic through the host, so a separate line item for a basic one is worth questioning. The common mistake is believing the padlock means the site is safe or the business behind it is legitimate: it means the connection is encrypted, nothing more, and fraudulent sites have padlocks too. The second mistake is letting an auto-renewing certificate lapse, which replaces your home page with a full-screen browser warning. Ask whether the certificate is included and renews automatically, whether every address on the site redirects to the HTTPS version, and whether anyone is monitoring for expiry.

Staging site

Also called: staging environment, dev site, test site, preview site

A staging site is a private, password-protected copy of a website used to build and test changes safely, kept out of search engines, so that work reaches the live site only once it has been reviewed and approved.

Staging is the difference between testing changes and experimenting on your customers. Any change of substance, whether a plugin update, a new template or a content migration, should be applied to a copy first, checked there, and only then repeated on the live site. The mistake is having no staging environment at all and treating the live site as the place where work happens, which is how a website ends up broken during business hours. A second mistake is a staging site left publicly reachable and indexed, producing a duplicate of your website at a second address that competes with the real one. Ask whether staging is included in the maintenance arrangement, how changes move from staging to live, whether staging is password-protected and blocked from crawlers, and whether you get access to review work before it goes live.

Static site

Also called: static website, static site generator, flat HTML site

A static site is a website whose pages are generated as finished HTML files ahead of time and served exactly as stored, with no database query or server-side code running at the moment a visitor requests a page.

A static site loads quickly and has a small attack surface, because there is no database to break into and no server-side application needing a security patch every few weeks. The trade-off is that a content change triggers a rebuild and redeployment, so the approach suits a site whose pages change weekly rather than by the minute, and it does not suit per-user logins, live inventory or a members area. Modern static builds can still be edited through a browser-based editor, so static does not have to mean ringing the developer for every change. The mistake is assuming static means basic, or hand-coded pages nobody can update. Ask how you will edit content, how long a change takes to appear live, whether forms and site search still work, and what happens if you later need something static hosting cannot do.

Taxonomy: categories and tags

Also called: categories, tags

Taxonomy is the system a content management system uses to organise content, most commonly through broad categories and more specific, flexible tags.

An uncontrolled tag list accumulates near-duplicate entries over time and, on some platforms, can generate thin archive pages for every tag. A fuller treatment is at [categories and tags](/glossary/taxonomy-categories-and-tags).

Uptime

Also called: availability, uptime guarantee, service level agreement, downtime

Uptime is the share of time a website is actually reachable by visitors rather than failing to load, measured across a month or a year and used in hosting service level agreements as the availability figure the host promises.

Uptime is quoted as a promise and repays careful reading, because the arithmetic is less generous than it sounds: an availability figure of three nines still permits roughly forty-three minutes of outage in a month, and most agreements exclude scheduled maintenance from the calculation entirely. Compensation for a breach is usually a credit against future hosting fees, which does not cover a day of missed enquiries. The mistake is relying on the host to tell you when your site is down. Independent monitoring from outside the host's network is inexpensive and is the only version worth relying on, since a host whose network is the problem cannot report on itself. Ask what the guarantee actually covers, whether scheduled maintenance is excluded, whether monitoring is part of your maintenance arrangement and who receives the alert, and how outages are reported to you afterwards.

URL slug

Also called: permalink

A slug is the specific, human-readable part of a web address that identifies one page, distinct from the domain and any folder structure around it.

Changing a slug after a site has been live changes the page's actual address, breaking any existing link unless a redirect is set up, and a slug generated automatically from a long title is often longer and less readable than a deliberately shortened one. A fuller treatment is at [what a URL slug is](/glossary/slug).

Viewport

Also called: viewport meta tag

The viewport is the visible area of a page on a specific device, and the viewport meta tag tells a mobile browser to render the page at the device's actual width rather than a shrunken desktop layout.

Without this tag, a mobile browser typically renders a page as a zoomed-out desktop layout, so responsive CSS breakpoints never trigger at all. A fuller treatment is at [what a viewport is](/glossary/viewport).

Web hosting

Also called: hosting, server, web space

Web hosting is the rented server space and internet connection that keeps a website's files online and delivers them to visitors, billed as an ongoing subscription that is separate from the one-off cost of building the site.

Hosting is a recurring cost and a recurring risk. Very inexpensive shared hosting oversubscribes servers, which tends to show up as a slow response on the days your traffic is highest. The larger issue is control: if the supplier holds the hosting account in their own name, moving away from them becomes a negotiation rather than a decision. The mistake is not knowing where the site is hosted or who can log in until something breaks. Server location has some effect on how quickly the first byte reaches an Australian visitor, though page weight usually matters more. Ask whose name the account is in, whether it can be transferred to you, what the renewal costs and whether that figure includes GST, what backups are taken and how often, and who to contact when the site is down at nine on a Saturday morning.

Wireframe

Also called: wires, low-fidelity layout, blueprint

A wireframe is a deliberately unstyled layout diagram, usually grey boxes and placeholder labels, that fixes what goes on a web page and in what order before any decisions about colour, typography, photography or brand are made.

Wireframes exist to have the cheap argument before the expensive one. Moving a section in a grey-box diagram takes minutes; moving it after the design is approved and built costs a revision round in both design and development. Reviewing wireframes carefully is the highest-leverage hour a client spends on a web project, and it is usually the hour that gets rushed, because the pages look unfinished. That is the point: unstyled layouts force a conversation about priority and sequence instead of colour. The mistake is reacting to how a wireframe looks rather than to what it says, and approving it without checking that the information a customer needs in order to enquire actually appears before they have to scroll. Ask whether wireframes are included, how many revision rounds each stage allows, and what happens to the timeline if you request structural changes after sign-off.

34 terms. Each definition is written to be correct when quoted on its own, because that is how most people will encounter it.