Web design is the planning and creation of websites.

This includes a number of separate

skills that all fall under the umbrella of web design. Some examples of these skills are
information architecture, user interface, site structure, navigation, layout, colors, fonts, and
overall imagery.
Just as with any industry that operates in a technical sphere, web design is ill of buzz words and
phrases, and even if you're a seasoned professional it can be difficult to keep track of what's
what. Designers - even professional web designers - can struggle to keep on top of all the
different buzzwords and technologies, so here we've rounded up 10 of the most essential web
design terms that everyone should have at least an understanding of.

01. HTML, CSS & JavaScript

HTML

HTML stands for HyperText Markup Language, and is the language of the webPut simply, HTML provides
a way for the web designer to tell your web browser how to treat a particular piece of content. HTML
contains a number of different tags that allow the designer to mark up their content with semantic
meaning so that paragraphs are identified as text copy, while images are imported as images and so on.
JavaScript

JavaScript is (as implied by the name) a scripting language that allows designers to create
interactions on a web page. Historically JavaScript was primarily used for form validation, and
provided those annoying alert boxes that popped up when you forgot to enter your telephone
number in the phone field. These days there are
many more viable uses for JavaScript, including
special visual effects, or the ability to load new
content without having to reload the whole page.

02. Responsive design

a responsive design is one that adapts to the user's device and, in an ideal world, the user's context so
that it displays the content required in the most appropriate and accessible manner, regardless of
what kind of web-connected device is being used to view it. You can't have failed to have heard
about the concept of responsive design. For the past several years this has been a real buzz
word around the web, and it shows no signs of letting up. Clients have even started demanding
responsive websites from their designers, often without fully understanding what it is that they're
asking for! You can't have failed to have heard about the concept of responsive design. For the
past several years this has been a real buzz word around the web, and it shows no signs of
letting up. Clients have even started demanding responsive websites from their designers, often
without fully understanding what it is that they're asking for!
03. Semantic markup
Semantic markup is an approach to coding HTML where the markup tags used to describe
content also provide relevant metadata about the content itself.

04. SaaS
SaaS is an acronym for Software as a Service. In simple
terms this means any service that provides a software
platform, delivered from or via the cloud. Popular examples
of SaaS in action include the latest versions of Microsoft
Office online, Google Docs and Photoshop Express.
Each of these services provide a desktop-like experience
for the user, but are delivered directly from the web without
the need to install any additional software on the user's
computer.

05. A/B Testing

A/B testing is a methodology for trying out different ways of achieving the same end result, with
the aim of establishing through experimentation which solution is the most effective.
Typically A/B testing is used to trial different layouts of web pages, tracking how many users
convert to paying customers using the alternative layouts.
By continuing an iterative process of prototyping, evaluating and adapting, A/B testing can
provide a significant increase to the conversion rate of individual pages. It's a useful tool to use:
better conversion means a better balance sheet!

ARIA

ARIA is an acronym for Accessible Rich Internet

Application, and refers to the idea that web apps are used
by a range of people, with differing needs for assistive
technology and layout.

ARIA is typically used as a term to help describe the

technologies employed to help bridge the gap between the
user's needs and a website or web app.

As a result, it may refer to screen-reading software, structural layout approaches, and

design methodologies such as user-focussed interface design, with the aim of
increasing the accessibility of content and functionality. The W3C sponsors much of the
work completed in this field, and you can find out more at the Web Accessibility Initiative
ARIA site(opens in new tab).

Information Architecture (IA

Information Architecture (IA) is a generic term used to describe the semantic layout of
content and information on a website. It refers to the organisation of the information,
dealing with what pages go where in a web site's structure,
what content is contained on each page, and how each of
these interact with other pages within the site.

As a field, IA is concerned with making it as easy as possible

for users to find the information they're looking for with the aim
of increasing conversion, revenue and/or user satisfaction.

08. Server-side scripting

Server-side scripting is a generic term to describe the languages used to program this
server-side data manipulation. Scripting languages such as PHP and ASP.NET provide
a straightforward way for web developers to create sophisticated business logic that can
interact with a database, conduct complex data operations and provide information back
to the browser.

Because the processing is done at the server, the user's web browser doesn't have to
work as hard, improving the apparent performance, at least from the user's perspective.

09. Visual hierarchy

visual hierarchy refers to the arrangement of design elements on a page so that the most
important elements appear to have more emphasis. This isn't limited to web design alone, but
it's being used increasingly when referring to the design and layout of a web page, so made it
on to our list of top terms This emphasis is normally achieved through the use of size, colour,
font and special effects such as drop shadows. Visual hierarchy is often a conscious decision as
a result of an Information Architecture process.

Infinite/parallax scrolling

Infinite scrolling and parallax are two separate things, but they're often seen together so we've
packaged them up together here.

Infinite scrolling is currently a trendy way to present a site so that rather than load separate pages to
view content, all the page content is loaded into a single page that scrolls to show different content
areas.

The premise is that as the user scrolls down a page towards the end of the content, fresh content is
loaded and appended to the bottom of the page, creating an “infinite” scroll. Popular examples include
the Facebook timeline view, Pinterest and Tumblr.
Parallax is the effect seen when items closer to your viewpoint appear to move more quickly than items
farther away. This is best seen from a moving car or train, where fences and trees close to the vehicle
appear to move past quickly, while mountains in the distance appear to move more slowly.

On the web, this same effect is being used to create a sense of depth to site designs, often providing
movement in response to the user scrolling.

Where the Web was born

Tim Berners-Lee, a British scientist, invented the World Wide Web (WWW) in 1989, while
working at CERN. The Web was originally conceived and developed to meet the demand for
automated information-sharing between scientists in universities and institutes around the world.

Tim Berners-Lee, pictured at CERN (Image: CERN)

CERN is not an isolated laboratory, but rather the focal point for an extensive community that
includes more than 17 000 scientists from over 100 countries. Although they typically spend
some time on the CERN site, the scientists usually work at universities and national laboratories
in their home countries. Reliable communication tools are therefore essential.

The basic idea of the WWW was to merge the evolving technologies of computers, data
networks and hypertext into a powerful and easy to use global information system.

How the Web began

The first page of Tim Berners-Lee's proposal for the World Wide Web, written in March 1989 (Image:
CERN)

Tim Berners-Lee wrote the first proposal for the World Wide Web in March 1989 and his second
proposal in May 1990. Together with Belgian systems engineer Robert Cailliau, this was
formalised as a management proposal in November 1990. This outlined the principal concepts
and it defined important terms behind the Web. The document described a "hypertext project"
called "WorldWideWeb" in which a "web" of "hypertext documents" could be viewed by
“browsers”.

By the end of 1990, Tim Berners-Lee had the first Web server and browser up and running at
CERN, demonstrating his ideas. He developed the code for his Web server on a NeXT computer.
To prevent it being accidentally switched off, the computer had a hand-written label in red ink:
""This machine is a server. DO NOT POWER IT DOWN!!"

A Brief History of the Internet

Sharing Resources
The Internet started in the 1960s as a way for government researchers to share
information. Computers in the '60s were large and immobile and in order to make
use of information stored in any one computer, one had to either travel to the site
of the computer or have magnetic computer tapes sent through the conventional
postal system.

Another catalyst in the formation of the Internet was the heating up of the Cold
War. The Soviet Union's launch of the Sputnik satellite spurred the U.S. Defense
Department to consider ways information could still be disseminated even after a
nuclear attack. This eventually led to the formation of the ARPANET (Advanced
Research Projects Agency Network), the network that ultimately evolved into what
we now know as the Internet. ARPANET was a great success but membership was
limited to certain academic and research organizations who had contracts with the
Defense Department. In response to this, other networks were created to provide
information sharing.

January 1, 1983 is considered the official birthday of the Internet. Prior to this, the
various computer networks did not have a standard way to communicate with each
other. A new communications protocol was established called Transfer Control
Protocol/Internetwork Protocol (TCP/IP). This allowed different kinds of computers
on different networks to "talk" to each other. ARPANET and the Defense Data
Network officially changed to the TCP/IP standard on January 1, 1983, hence the
birth of the Internet. All networks could now be connected by a universal language.

The image above is a scale model of the UNIVAC I (the name stood for Universal
Automatic Computer) which was delivered to the Census Bureau in 1951. It
weighed some 16,000 pounds, used 5,000 vacuum tubes, and could perform about
1,000 calculations per second. It was the first American commercial computer, as
well as the first computer designed for business use. (Business computers like the
UNIVAC processed data more slowly than the IAS-type machines, but were
designed for fast input and output.) The first few sales were to government
agencies, the A.C. Nielsen Company, and the Prudential Insurance Company. The
first UNIVAC for business applications was installed at the General Electric
Appliance Division, to do payroll, in 1954. By 1957 Remington-Rand (which had
purchased the Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation in 1950) had sold forty-six
machines.

March 1989
Sir Tim Berners-Lee submitted his first
proposal for what became the World
Wide Web
March 1989
Sir Tim Berners-Lee submitted his first
proposal for what became the World
Wide Web
March 1989
Sir Tim Berners-Lee submitted his first
proposal for what became the World
Wide Web
https://www.creativebloq.com/web-design/terms-31410954

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https://home.cern/science/computing/birth-web/short-history-web#:~:text=Where%20the%20Web
%20was%20born,and%20institutes%20around%20the%20world

https://www.usg.edu/galileo/skills/unit07/internet07_02.phtml