Website glossary: the terms between an idea and a live site

Pages, structure and words

Start with the shape of the site. A one page website suits one offer; several pages suit several services, and the page on how many pages a small business needs gives a concrete list. A landing page is a single page for one campaign, and a link in bio page serves a social profile. On every page, the hero section and the call to action do most of the work, and what sits above the fold decides whether visitors scroll at all.

Domains and delivery

Every site needs an address. A free subdomain works on day one, and a custom domain is yours to keep, connected with a CNAME or an A record and a short wait for DNS to update. An SSL certificate puts the padlock on the address, a static website is served as ready made files, and a CDN delivers those files from servers near each visitor so pages load quickly.

Being found and being usable

Search engines read a sitemap to discover pages, a meta description to show a snippet, and noindex to leave a page out. Favicons and Open Graph images decide how the site looks in tabs and shared links. Core Web Vitals measure how fast and stable pages feel, and accessibility basics make the site usable by everyone, which helps search too. If your site is written in code, the pages on React Router, Tailwind CSS and shadcn/ui explain the parts. Each page links its official sources so you can check details before relying on them.

How to use these pages

If you are about to connect a domain, read the subdomain, CNAME and DNS propagation pages first. If your site is live but nobody finds it, start with the sitemap, meta description and noindex pages.

Every page in this collection

• Custom domain vs subdomain

  Most businesses start on a free subdomain to get online, then move to their own domain once the site is worth sharing widely. The move is easy if the builder redirects the old address.

• How long does DNS propagation take?

  Propagation is the word people use for the wait between saving a DNS change and seeing it everywhere. Knowing why the wait happens tells you whether to keep waiting or go and fix something.

• How many pages does a small business website need?

  The right number of pages is the number of distinct questions your customers ask. Start with the core set, then add pages where a real search or a common question has no clear home.

• Landing page vs website

  Most businesses eventually have both: a website as the permanent home, and landing pages for campaigns that point visitors at one thing.

• One page vs multi page website

  The choice is less about design than about how many different questions visitors arrive with. One question suits one page; several questions suit several pages.

• Website accessibility basics

  About one in five people live with some form of disability, and many more have temporary or situational limits, such as a broken arm or bright sunlight on a phone. An accessible site works better for all of them.

• What are Core Web Vitals?

  The vitals turn page experience into numbers you can track. They come from real visitors when a site has enough traffic, which is why your score in a lab test can differ from the one in Search Console.

• What does above the fold mean?

  People do scroll, but they decide whether to scroll from what they see first. That is why the first screen carries more weight than any other.

• What is a call to action on a website?

  Without a call to action, a good page simply ends, and visitors leave. With one that is clear and well placed, the page has a job and a way to measure it.

• What is a CDN?

  Distance still matters on the internet: a request that travels from Perth to a server in Virginia and back takes noticeably longer than one answered in Sydney. A CDN removes most of that distance.

• What is a CNAME record?

  CNAME stands for canonical name. It is the most common record a website builder asks you to add when you connect your own domain.

• What is a favicon?

  The name comes from favourites, the old word for bookmarks. Today the same small square also feeds home screen icons and app style shortcuts.

• What is a hero section?

  The name borrows from the hero image of print advertising: the biggest, boldest element that carries the message. On a website it is a whole section, not just a picture.

• What is a landing page?

  The word landing describes where a visitor lands after clicking a campaign link. What makes it a landing page rather than just a page is its single goal.

• What is a link in bio?

  Link in bio started as a phrase in captions, check the link in bio, because Instagram captions do not make web addresses clickable. It now also names the page that link opens.

• What is a meta description?

  Search engines sometimes write their own snippet from the page text instead, especially when the description does not match the search. A good description makes that less likely.

• What is a one page website?

  A one page website trades breadth for focus: visitors scroll instead of clicking, and the page tells one story from top to bottom. It is a common first site for a sole trader, an event or a product launch.

• What is a sitemap?

  Search engines find most pages by following links. A sitemap is a second route: a direct list of addresses, so nothing important is missed.

• What is a static website?

  Static describes how pages are delivered, not how they look. A static site can have animation, forms and a shopping cart; it simply does not run server code to build each page.

• What is a subdomain?

  Every web address you type has a structure read from right to left: the top level domain, the registered domain, and any subdomains in front of it. Website builders use subdomains to give each new site a free address.

• What is an A record?

  The A stands for address. It is the oldest and most basic DNS record, and nearly every domain has at least one.

• What is an OG image?

  Open Graph is a set of tags first defined by Facebook and now read by most platforms that build link previews. The image is the part people notice first.

• What is an SSL certificate?

  SSL is the old name of the protocol; TLS replaced it long ago, but the term SSL certificate stuck. What matters is the padlock and the https at the start of the address.

• What is noindex?

  Noindex is how you keep a page reachable but unlisted: a thank you page, a draft, a page only for existing clients. It is a request that major search engines respect, not a lock.

• What is React Router?

  React builds user interfaces from components; React Router decides which components appear for which address. It is one of the most widely used libraries in the React world.

• What is shadcn/ui?

  Most component libraries are dependencies you install and style from outside. shadcn/ui turned that around: a command copies the source of each component into your code, where it becomes yours.

• What is Tailwind CSS?

  Traditional CSS gives each element a name and styles the name elsewhere. Tailwind puts the styling on the element itself, which many teams find faster to write and easier to keep consistent.