What does this web design glossary cover?
This glossary gives a short, plain definition of each term you are likely to meet in website quotes, proposals and briefs, grouped by the stage of a project where it comes up, from the first brief to the legal pages.
Quotes and proposals for a website tend to arrive full of words that mean something precise to a developer and very little to a hotel owner or a clinic manager. This page is a lookup list.
Use the table of contents to jump to a group. Where a term deserves more than two sentences, we link to a fuller guide. If you would rather read how the pieces fit together as a story, start with our introduction to web development and come back here when a word in a quote stops you.
Planning terms
- Brief: your written description of the project: goals, audience, pages, languages, features, budget and deadline. The better the brief, the more comparable the quotes.
- RFP (request for proposal): a formal brief sent to several agencies at once, asking each for a proposal and price in the same format.
- Scope: the agreed list of what is included. Anything outside it is a "change request" and is usually priced separately.
- Sitemap: in planning, the list and hierarchy of every page on the site. (An XML sitemap is a different thing: a file that lists URLs for search engines.)
- Wireframe: a grey-box sketch of a page layout showing what goes where, without colours or final images.
- Mockup: a full-colour, static picture of how a finished page will look. You review and approve mockups before development starts.
- Milestone: a checkpoint in the timeline, often tied to an approval or a payment.
How these stages add up in calendar days is covered in how long does it take to build a website.
Design terms
- UX (user experience): how easy and pleasant the site is to use: can a visitor find the room rates or the clinic's opening hours without hunting?
- UI (user interface): the visible controls and styling: buttons, menus, forms, icons.
- Responsive design: one site whose layout adapts to the screen, so it works on a phone, tablet and desktop without a separate mobile version.
- Mobile-first: designing for the phone screen first and expanding for larger screens, which suits audiences who browse mostly on phones.
- Above the fold: what shows on screen before the visitor scrolls. Put the main message and one call to action here.
- Call to action (CTA): the button or link that asks for the next step, such as "Book now" or "Chat on WhatsApp".
- Design system: the reusable set of colours, fonts, spacing and components that keeps every page consistent.
- Accessibility: making the site usable for people with disabilities, for example with readable contrast and text alternatives for images.
For practical advice on putting these ideas to work, see our small business website design tips.
Development terms
- CMS (content management system): software with an admin screen for editing pages without code. WordPress is the common example.
- Theme: the set of templates that controls how a WordPress site looks. A custom theme is written for your site; a bought theme is shared with thousands of others.
- Plugin: an add-on that gives WordPress a feature, such as forms, a shop or a language switch. Each plugin is code someone must keep updated.
- Page builder: a drag-and-drop plugin for laying out pages. Easy at first, but it often adds weight and ties your content to that tool.
- Staging site: a private copy of the site where changes are built and tested before going live; our explainer on what a staging site is goes further.
- Front end / back end: the part that runs in the browser versus the part that runs on the server.
- API: a defined way for your site to exchange data with another service, such as a payment or courier system.
- Migration: moving content, and sometimes the whole site, from an old platform or server to a new one.
Confused about which of these a designer does and which a developer does? Our page on web design vs web development separates the two roles.
Hosting and domain terms
- Domain: your site's name, such as yourcompany.co.th, rented yearly from a registrar. Register it in your company's name.
- DNS: the system that points your domain to the server hosting your site and tells the world where your email should go.
- Hosting: the server space where your site's files and database live. Shared hosting is cheap and crowded; managed or cloud hosting costs more and usually performs better.
- SSL certificate: the credential that encrypts traffic and shows the padlock in the browser. Sites without it are marked "Not secure".
- CDN (content delivery network): a network of servers in many countries that stores copies of your images and files close to visitors, so pages load faster far from your main server.
- Uptime: the share of time a site is reachable. Hosts often advertise a percentage; check what they actually commit to in their terms.
- Backup: a saved copy of files and database you can restore after a mistake or a hack. Ask where backups are kept and how often they run.
SEO and speed terms
- Title tag and meta description: the headline and short summary a search engine may show for a page in its results.
- Schema markup: structured code that tells search engines facts about a page, such as your business name, address or opening hours. Our guide to local business schema markup explains how it is added.
- 301 redirect: a permanent forward from an old URL to a new one, essential when pages move during a website redesign.
- Canonical tag: a line that tells search engines which URL is the main version when similar pages exist.
- Core Web Vitals: Google's measures of loading speed, responsiveness and visual stability, explained on web.dev.
- Alt text: a short text description of an image for screen readers and search engines.
- Indexing: a search engine adding a page to its database so it can appear in results.
E-commerce and payment terms
- Payment gateway: the service that takes a customer's payment on your site and passes the money to your bank account, for a fee set by the provider.
- PromptPay: Thailand's national instant payment system, linked to a phone or ID number. Shops usually show it at checkout as a QR code that customers scan with their banking app.
- COD (cash on delivery): the customer pays the courier on delivery. Still common in Thailand, and it needs a clear process for failed deliveries.
- e-Tax invoice: an electronic tax invoice issued under the Thai Revenue Department's system, which business buyers may ask for.
- SKU and variant: a SKU is one sellable item; variants are its options, such as size or colour, each often with its own SKU and stock.
- Shipping zone: a group of destinations with the same delivery rates, for example Bangkok versus upcountry provinces.
- Checkout: the steps from cart to confirmed order. Every extra field loses some buyers.
Legal and privacy terms
- PDPA: Thailand's Personal Data Protection Act B.E. 2562 (2019), fully in force since 1 June 2022 and overseen by the PDPC. It applies when your site collects names, emails, phone numbers or tracking data.
- Consent: a clear, freely given agreement from the visitor, for example ticking a box on a form or accepting optional cookies. Under the Act, withdrawing consent must be as easy as giving it.
- Privacy notice: the page that explains what personal data you collect, why, how long you keep it and how people can exercise their rights.
- Data controller: the business that decides why and how personal data is used; on your website, that is normally your company.
- Data processor: a service that handles data on your behalf, such as your host or email tool.
- Cookie banner: the notice that lets visitors accept or refuse optional cookies before they are set.
Next steps
If a quote in front of you still reads like code, our guide on questions to ask when outsourcing web development helps you test it. To see how we handle web design and development for Bangkok businesses, from brief to launch, read the service page, or go straight to our pricing to see what each package includes.
Further reading
Sources
- MDN Web Docs: Learn web development
- PDPC Thailand: Personal Data Protection Committee
- web.dev: Web Vitals
- Bank of Thailand: PromptPay
- Thai Revenue Department: e-Tax Invoice
Reviewed by Litesh Dhir
Builds and ranks the websites: the systems behind the 17 client sites whose Search Console numbers we publish. This guide was written by the Website Development Bangkok team. More about us