Glossary of terms

Attribute: HTML attributes are a modifier of an HTML element type. An attribute either modifies the default functionality of an element type or provides functionality to certain element types unable to function correctly without them. In HTML syntax, an attribute is added to an HTML start tag (opening tag).

Back-end: Back end Development refers to the server side of development usually consisting of three parts: a server, an application, and a database.

Breakpoints: CSS breakpoints are points where the website content responds according to the device width, allowing you to show the best possible layout to the user.

Client: The client side (user side) of the Web. A Web client typically refers to the Web browser in the user’s machine or mobile device.

CSS: Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) is a language that is used to apply style to an HTML document. It is one of the main technologies that powers the web, along with HTML and Javascript.

Document: A document is the name of a message sends over HTTP. It’s the data unit for the web. A document moves on the internet and is understand by the web client (browser mainly).

Document Object Model (DOM): The Document Object Model (DOM) treats an HTML document as a tree structure wherein each node is an object representing a part of the document. The DOM represents a document with a logical tree. Each branch of the tree ends in a node, and each node contains objects. DOM methods allow programmatic access to the tree; with them one can change the structure, style or content of a document.

Front-end development: Front-end web development, also known as client-side development is the practice of producing HTML, CSS and JavaScript for a website or Web Application.

Grid: In web design, grid systems are invisible structures that collect all the elements within a web page together.

HTML: The HyperText Markup Language, or HTML is the standard markup language for documents designed to be displayed in a web browser. It can be assisted by technologies such as Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and scripting languages such as JavaScript.

HTML Events: HTML events are “things” that happen to HTML elements. When JavaScript is used in HTML pages, JavaScript can “react” on these events.

Inline code: Source code that is written into the body of a program. It may refer to code written in the same language or another.

Interpret: To run a program one line at a time. Each line of source language is translated into machine language and then executed.

Javascript: Javascript (JS) is the scripting language for the web, and can be executed by web browsers. It is commonly used as a client side language within web browsers to create dynamic web content (for example, when something changes on a web page without reloading the whole page). It also can be used as a server side language too with technologies like Node.js. Javascript is one of the main technologies that powers the web, along with HTML and CSS.

Markup: A set of labels that are embedded within text to distinguish individual elements or groups of elements for display or identification purposes. The labels are typically known as “tags.”

Media Queries: A CSS3 (Cascading Style Sheets Version 3) function that is used to create Web pages tailored to the browser that requested them. An extension to Media Types, which identify the device, Media Queries can identify attributes such as window and device width and height, aspect ratio, colors supported, pixel density and portrait/landscape orientation.

Metadata: A set of data that describes and gives information about other data.

Page Source: Also known as “source” and “document source,” it is the HTML code (source code) of a Web page (HTML document).

Presentation Layer: The presentation layer is accessible to users via a browser and consists of user interface components and UI process components that support interaction with the system.

Pseudo-class: A keyword added to a selector that specifies a special state of the selected element(s). For example, :hover can be used to change a button’s color when the user’s pointer hovers over it.

Pseudo-element: A keyword added to a selector that lets you style a specific part of the selected element(s). For example, ::first-line can be used to change the font of the first line of a paragraph.

Render: To convert any coded content to the required format for display or printing. Although the term is typically used to refer to images, it may refer to any data. For example, an HTML page, which contains text and graphics, is said to be “rendered” when it is displayed.

Responsive Web Design: Responsive web design (RWD) is a web development approach that creates dynamic changes to the appearance of a website, depending on the screen size and orientation of the device being used to view it.

Ruleset: A rule or “ruleset” is a statement that tells browsers how to render particular elements on an HTML page. A ruleset consists of a selector followed by a declaration block.

Selector: The selector “selects” the elements on an HTML page that are affected by the rule set. The selector consists of everything up to (but not including) the first left curly bracket.

Semantic Element: A semantic element is an element of code that uses words to clearly represent what that element contains, in human language.

Style Sheet: The style sheet is a file that is used to store margins, tabs, fonts, headers, footers and other layout settings for a particular category of document. When a style sheet is selected, its format settings are applied to all the documents created under it, saving the page designer or programmer from redefining the same settings over and over again for each page.

Tag: An HTML code that defines every structure on an HTML page, including the placement of text and images and hypertext links. HTML tags begin with the less-than (<) character and end with greater-than (>). These symbols are also called “angle brackets.”