If you are into the field of web development then knowing the terminology associated with this field makes a lot of sense.
In this article, you will find a list of 45 web development terms or buzzwords that are used by web developers.
It includes brief explanations of what these words mean and why they are important for web developers.
Let’s go through them.
Web Development Terms and Buzzwords
1. Agile
Agile methodologies are a way of developing products by incrementally delivering working software. There is no formal blueprint to follow and evolves as the needs arise. The project flows from the customer’s point of view with high level requirements to get started.
2. Version Control
Version control is a system that records changes to a file or set of files over time so that you can recall specific versions later. It is typically used in software development and other collaborative work.
3. Wireframe
A wireframe is an outline of the major components of a website or application screen. Wireframes are created to help designers plan the layout of elements on a page. It’s an interactive design tool that provides web developers, information architects, user interface designers, and other collaborators with a blueprint of the user interface. It can be used to explore aspects of content organization, navigation, labeling, interactivity, and more.
4. Sitemap
A sitemap is a document which gives an outline of webpages in the site. It contains the structure of the site and how it is organized.
5. JavaScript
JavaScript is a scripting language that has been standardized by the ECMA international standards organization. It is known for being used on websites to provide the interactive features of the site. JavaScript is interpreted by web browsers, which allows it to be used on any computer with access to a web server.
6. jQuery
jQuery is a popular JavaScript library. It provides an easy way to add things like animations, drop down menus, and other web related code features.
7. UX Design
UX is the acronym for User Experience. It is design that influences how a person interacts with a product or website.
8. MySQL
MySQL is a relational database management system. MySQL’s client/server architecture means that a central server process, called a “server,” stores content and allows clients to connect remotely to the server.
9. Operating System
An operating system is a software application designed to manage a computer’s resources and provide common services for computer programs.
10. Responsive Design
Responsive design is an approach to web or app development that gets around the usual challenges of cross-design by adapting the page layout, images and media according to user activity.
11. Text Editor
A text editor is a program that enables you to work with text on your computer. Text editors are used for typing, coding, and editing documents. You can use them to create or edit code, write stories, and even update an important document.
12. UI Design
UI design is the process of designing how users interact with a product. It includes website interfaces, but also extends to any kind of digital product—anything from your microwave to your phone.
13. Database
A database is an organized collection of data which can be accessed by one or more programs running simultaneously on one or more computers.
14. JSON
JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) is the structured text format that’s used to transmit data from server to client as well as from client to server in a language independent manner. JSON stores data as name/value pairs with some restrictions on those names, including not being able to include words reserved for other purposes.
15. Pagination
Pagination is the process of dividing a large amount of data into multiple pages, as opposed to having one long page. This allows for the data to easily be read and navigated through by users without much difficulty.
16. PHP
Php (Hypertext Preprocessor) is a web application language that adds dynamic content and interactivity to websites. It’s also used as a general purpose scripting language.
17. OAuth
OAuth is a secure authorization protocol that’s used in authentication and authorization between a web application and its users. It allows the user to give trusted applications access to their accounts without sharing their password or other credentials with those applications.
18. API
An application programming interface (API) is a specification used by software programs for interacting with each other. It’s like an instruction manual on how two different things can communicate together without requiring any outside help.
19. CSS
Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) is a style sheet language used to describe the presentation semantics (the look and formatting) of a document written in a markup language like HTML or XML. CSS gives web designers control over how documents are displayed by specifying how HTML elements should be displayed.
20. WYSIWYG
WYSIWYG (What You See is What You Get) is a way of using a type of application to create content with similar formatting as it will be seen in the final output.
21. XML
XML (eXtensible Markup Language) is a markup language that defines which words or symbols are assigned to which information so it can be interpreted by software applications. XML is also commonly used with CSS to describe the formatting of data represented in different ways.
22. SQL
Structured Query Language (SQL) is a programming language used to create, retrieve, update and delete data in relational databases. It has been around since the 1970s and is one of the most important languages for computers today.
23. DOM
The Document Object Model (DOM) defines documents as a tree structure where each element is a node, or part of the tree structure. This allows for access to individual parts of the page through the use of JavaScript.
24. OPTIMIZE
Optimize refers to fine tuning any web design elements that are slowing down the loading time of pages. This is done by either reducing requests or limiting file size, usually both.
25. Refactor
Refactoring is the process of changing a computer program or other material to make it better without changing its functions. This can be done by removing redundancy, optimizing the code structure and improving security measures among many others.
26. API Keys
An API key (or application programming interface key) is a unique identifier which identifies an API user or an application. API keys are used to track and authorize the use of applications that integrate with external APIs such as Twitter, Facebook and Google Maps.
27. GPS
Global Positioning System (GPS) is a space-based electronic navigation system that provides location and time information anywhere on Earth where there’s an unobstructed line of sight to four or more GPS satellites.
28. Bootstrap
Bootstrap is a popular framework for building responsive web-apps. It’s designed to provide easy and consistent styling, intuitive navigation, and powerful interactive components.
29. XPath
The XPath language allows for the selection of specific nodes in an XML document. XPath is a W3C recommendation and is used by XSLT, another W3C specification.
30. XSLT
XSL Transformations (XSLT) are most often used to convert XML documents into HTML or other types of text that can be displayed on web browsers. They do this by using a stylesheet, which describes how the input document is to be transformed into the XML document that will replace it.
31. Backend
Backend refers to the part of an application that does not need to interact with the user, but is still visible. All sorts of tasks can be performed by the backend including storing data, handling communications, authenticating users and maintaining sessions.
32. Frontend
Front-end (or “client-side”) typically refers to the parts of an application which are visible to, and may directly interact with, the user. It usually refers to the “look” or “presentation” of an app or website.
33. SOAP
Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) is a protocol specification for exchanging structured information in the implementation of web services in computer networks.
34. Deployment
Deployment is the process of sending a software system to a remote server, or remote computers, for use.
35. Algorithm
An algorithm is a sequence of tasks to be carried out. It’s a step by step process that helps with problem solving.
36. Browser
A browser is a computer program used to access the internet. The browser downloads and displays web pages. Examples of browsers include Chrome, Firefox and Safari.
37. Git
Git is a free and open-source distributed version control system designed to handle everything from small to very large projects with speed and efficiency. It’s a modern software that’s available on all platforms.
38. GitHub
GitHub is a website where users can host, share and download public or private projects. It’s coded in the PHP language, so the source code is free to access for anyone. Users can stay up to date with other people working on projects because it has a well-developed issue tracking system.
39. CSS Sprites
A CSS sprite is a collection of images combined into one larger image and placed on the same x and y axis. This is done in order to reduce the number of HTTP requests and overall file size needed to load all of the images.
40. Bug
A bug is a significant error, flaw, or mistake in a computer program. It is called a “bug” because early computers were programmed by hand using a series of lights and switches on the machine. When the programmer made a mistake, it often resulted in error messages of “bug” or “BUG” displayed on the screen.
41. Minification
Minification is the process of removing all unnecessary characters from source code without changing its functionality. If you want to be more specific and say “JavaScript Minification” then it means that you’re removing comments and white space from JavaScript code, but not changing it in any way.
42. Frameworks
Frameworks are the basic structure of an application. They’re a repository of code and resources that help developers to implement and organize their code. The developer’s task is then simpler and it becomes easier for these frameworks to take care of common tasks such as communication, security and file management.
43. Cache
A cache is a temporary storage area where frequently accessed data can be stored for rapid access. The cached version of data can be used instead of re-fetching or recreating the same data each time it’s needed and speeds page load times and reduces bandwidth.
44. Compression
The reduction of file size through data compression is an important aspect of web development. This is because the size of files directly affects transfer times, page load speeds and bandwidth which can all be reduced through compression.
45. Data structures
Data structures are designed to organize data in a computer program. These can be either static or dynamic. It is important for developers to know how they work so that the code can be organized and efficient. Static data structures are organized at compile time, while dynamic data structures are organized at runtime.
