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| business requirements | A specific list of the functions a website must perform. Web designers use these guidelines to ensure that the site’s functionality matches its owner’s vision. These include the process used to create the information for the site, the look and feel standards, and the usability guidelines. Understanding business requirements is the first step in the web development process. |
| content plan | A list of all the textual elements to be contained on a website. The content plan is created during the design phase of website development. |
| content requirement | The business requirement category that defines what the purpose of the content is, who its audience is, and who owns and maintains it. |
| copyediting | The process of making sure written content is correct and consistent. |
| external testing | Also called user testing, external testing is checking a website’s usability from other platforms, browsers, and types of computers. |
| formatting | The process of making the different sections/structures of a web page look different using “physical tags.” Formatting gives instructions for how fonts appear and may include italics, boldface, underlining, and font type. |
| functional requirement | The business requirement category that defines what functions (including personalization, transactions, and security) the website needs to support. |
| internal testing | Testing a website before it is launched to check its basic quality and functionality and to make sure it works on different platforms and browsers. Also called quality assurance (QA). |
| launching | Uploading a website to its final server and making it available on the web. |
| look and feel | Also called a graphical user interface, or GUI (pronounced “gooey”), the look and feel of a website refers to its overall design appearance and functionality. |
| navigation | An easily viewed system on all pages of a website that gives visitors a set of descriptive links to access all the pages of the site. Navigation can be deep or wide. Horizontal text-based navigation is probably the most common style found online. However, there is also vertical text, drop-down menus, submenus, and text with descriptions, icons, or graphics. |
| prototype/mock-up | A visual representation (illustration) of a website’s layout created before the site is optimized, to show both the look and feel and the functionality of the site. |
| site map | A page that contains an organized listing of links to all pages within the website. Some site maps include content information as well. Site maps are mainly to inform search engines about the URLs on a website that are available for crawling. |
| technical requirement | The business requirement category that ensures the site will support the number of users who visit it and that the site functions properly given the types of content and security requirements it has. |
| wireframe | A visually neutral layout that suggests a site’s navigation, content, general layout, and flow. Wireframes are used to show the placement of elements on a web page. Wireframes are also useful to “inventory” content and features to ensure all are included, and they are the roadmap for coding and designing the site. |
