You know that feeling you get when shopping for a website template, you find one you LOVE, and then you scroll down to the specs and you’re completely lost in a jungle of terminology that you know nothing about? I think everyone outside of the design world has felt that way at one point or another.  Responsive, header, footer, sidebar, SEO….it can all be so confusing! It can also make you feel so overwhelmed that it ruins the shopping experience!

I’m here to help translate some of that confusing website lingo! Hopefully this helps to simplify some of these terms, and shopping for a website will be easy peasy!

Responsive | Simply put, a responsive website means that it looks good on all devices.  In today’s world, where 95% of people (I totally made that statistic up, but hey it’s 2018 so it’s probably legit!) browse the web from their phones, it’s super important for your website to not only look gorgeous from a desktop, but from the teeny screen of a phone, and every device in between, as well.

Header |  This is the top section of the page usually below the navigation/menu! That simple! A lot of times this is an attention-grabbing image that best showcases the person’s work.

Hero Image | This is the idea of using a large or oversized image in the header section to add some drama.  Sometimes, this can mean the image stretches from one side to the other, taking up the entire space, for maximum wow-factor. Our Grafton Street template has a hero image! Beautifully provided by Eleven 11 Photography!

Navigation | The navigation is also referred to as the menu bar.  It’s the set of clickable words that can navigate (hence the name) you around the website.  These consist of words like “home”, “about”, “contact”, etc.

Sidebar | Ooooh Sidebar!! Does anyone else say that during a conversation when they have something to say but it’s only sort of related to the conversation!? No? Just me then…The sidebar on a website or blog is the section to the left or right of the main content that usually has owner info and more navigation links.

 

Coding | Web developers use something called code to build a website – each code on the backend translates into something that the viewer would see on the front end…websites are essentially made from thousands of these little codes strung together like a very special website language system.  Showit makes it super easy for the end-user in that there is no-coding necessary for the user because of the drag-and-drop feature! You can shop Showit templates at my shop, The Site Shop!

SEO | Saving this one for last because it’s a long one! SEO is an acronym for Search Engine Optimization.  To “boost your SEO” is often used to describe the practice of strategies and tactics to increase traffic to your website through organic search engine results by placing your website closer to the first page. A lot of this is done through key words.  When you go to Google in search of a local pizzeria, what do you type in? Probably something like “Pizza places in <insert neighborhood name here>” right? And then a whole slew of pizzerias in your neighborhood pop up for you to choose from.  Key words are mentioned in the description of the website, on the home page, in the back end under the SEO settings, etc.  Showit comes with built-in SEO sections on each page of your new website, making it really easy to add in those key words.  If SEO is still too confusing, hiring a strategist that specializes in SEO can be a big help!

 

These are the most commonly asked about terminologies in regards to websites and website templates, so it can be a little confusing at times! I hope I made it a little more simple for you!! xo