About

We’ve all been there: You’re talking with your website developer, everything is going smoothly, and then they bust out a term like “301 redirect” or “CSS.” Record. Scratch. After a split-second Scooby Face, you smile and nod. The conversation ends and you think, What the heck did they just say?! Chances are if you Google it, you get a lot of tech-speak that may as well be the teacher’s voice from Charlie Brown. Fear not: We’ve put together some of the most commonly-used words, acronyms, and phrases that come up in working with a developer along with our definitions for them. Human definitions. Here is the Whole Whale developer glossary terms to know when working on a website project.

Making sense of Web Development.

This A-Z guide offers a series of simple, bite-sized explainers to help anyone understand what Web Development/Designing is, how it works and how it’s changing the world around us.

Hero Image

Where do I get started ?

Browse the A-Z & choose one of Alphabets below.

#

What We've got here is... Faliure to communicate.

404

A

A is for Ambition, the motivation to persevere.

API

Application

Attribute

B

B is for Boldness, the courage to take risks.

BackEnd

Bootstrap

Browser

Bug

C

C is for Confidence, in yourself and in your future.

Cache

Classes

CMS

CSS

D

D is for Desire, to become who you truly want to be.

DevOps

Domain

E

E is for Enthusiasm, the charisma that inspires others.

ECMA SCRIPT

ERP

F

F is for Focus, which keeps you on the right path.

Favicon

Firewall

Framework

FTP

G

G is for Gratitude, to appreciate your life.

GUI

Git

H

H is for Hope, the antidote to fear and worry.

HTML

http

I

I is for Innovation, why you stand out from the crowd.

IDE

IP

J

J is for Journey, moving forward despite setbacks.

Javascript

JSON

jQuery

K

K is for Kindness, which builds strong relationships.

Kernel

Kali Linux

L

L is for Love, the deepest source of all success.

Loop

M

M is for Mortality, a reminder to live life fully.

Meta Tag

MIME Type

N

N is for Nurturing, which turns ideas into opportunities.

Network

npm

O

O is for Optimism, which keeps you focused on what's important.

OOP

Opening/Closing Tag

P

P is for Peace of Mind, which keeps you steady during storms of life.

Property

Q

Q is for Quality, your personal commitment to excellence.

Query

R

R is for Resilience, the perseverance that nothing can shake.

Responsive Design

S

S is for Selflessness, to see the world the way others see it.

Server

Sass/Scss

T

T is for Tenacity, to persist when others would have given up.

Tereminal

Typescript

U

U is for Uniqueness, why you stand out from the crowd.

User Inteface-UI

User Experience-UX

V

V is for Victory, the inevitable result of your commitment.

Variable

VPN

W

W is for Wellness, from exercising regularly, eating right and sleeping well.

Wireframe

WebPack

X

X is for eXcellence, which you seek in all areas of your life.

XML

Y

Y is for Youthfulness, a state of mind that lasts an entire lifetime.

Yarn

Z

Z is for Zest, which means loving your life and living it well.

Z-index

Zettabye

Close Button

#

404

Error message when what was requested cannot be found; often because the link that was requested is either broken or dead.

What is 404 ?

A

API

“Application Program Interface.” How computers and applications communicate with one another.

What is API ?

Application

Also known as an app, these are programs designed to perform functions. This includes mobile apps.

Attribute

Information about elements of a component in your website design/build..

What is Attribute ? What is Attribute ?

B

Backend

the part of a computer system or application that is not directly accessed by the user, typically responsible for storing and manipulating data.

Bootstrap

Bootstrap is a framework to help you design websites faster and easier.

Bootstrap Course

Browser

The program you use to access the Web — such as Chrome, Firefox, or Safari.

Bug

An error or flaw in the website or app that keeps it from running as expected.

C

Cache

The storage of certain elements to help with faster load times from repeat website visitors.

What is Cache ?

Classes

In CSS, an identifier for specifying exactly what you what to target with styling.

CMS

“Content Management System.” The program that you use to create and maintain your website’s content.

What is CMS ?

CSS

CSS Stands for "Cascading Style Sheet." Cascading style sheets are used to format the layout of Web pages.

CSS Course CSS3 Course

D

DevOps

“Development Operations.” System of working that helps to keep development, IT operations, and quality assurance departments on the same page to make for better end-products and collaborations.

Domain

The address for a website as entered into the browser

What is Domain ?

E

ECMAScript

ECMAScript (European Computer Manufacturers Association Script) is a scripting language based on JavaScript.

ERP

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is business process management software that allows an organization to use a system of integrated applications to manage the business.

What is ERP System ?

F

Favicon

A favicon (pronounced "fave-icon") is a small, iconic image that represents your website.

Favicon ?

Firewall

A firewall is a system designed to prevent unauthorized access to or from a private network.

Framework

A framework is a collection of program that you can use to develop your own application

Framework ?

FTP

File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is a client/server protocol used for transferring files to or exchanging files with a host computer.

What is FTP ?

G

GUI

Stands for "Graphical User Interface" and is pronounced "gooey." It is a user interface that includes graphical elements, such as windows, icons and buttons.

Git

Git is a distributed version-control system for tracking changes in source code during software development. It is designed for coordinating work among programmers.

Github Course

H

HTML

Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML) is a markup language for creating a webpage. Webpages are usually viewed in a web browser.

HTML Course HTML5 Course

HTTP

"Hypertext Transfer Protocol." HTTP is the protocol used to transfer data over the web. It is part of the Internet protocol suite and defines commands and services used for transmitting webpage data.

I

IDE

An Integrated Development Environment (IDE) is a software environment used to write other programs using tools like an editor and compiler.

ip

An IP address, or simply an "IP," is a unique address that identifies a device on the Internet or a local network.

What is ip ?

J

Javascript

JavaScript is a text-based programming language used both on the client-side and server-side that allows you to make web pages interactive

Javascript Course

JSON

JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) is a standard text-based format for representing structured data based on JavaScript object syntax. It is commonly used for transmitting data in web applications

JSON Course

jQuery

jQuery is a lightweight, "write less, do more", JavaScript library. The purpose of jQuery is to make it much easier to use JavaScript on your website.

jQuery Course

K

Kernel

Typically, the kernel is responsible for memory management, process and task management, and disk management. The kernel connects the system hardware to the application software. Every operating system has a kernel

Kali Linux

Kali Linux is a Debian-derived Linux distribution designed for digital forensics and penetration testing. It is maintained and funded by Offensive Security.

L

Loop

A loop is used for executing a block of statements repeatedly until a particular condition is satisfied.

What is Loop ?

M

Meta Tag

Meta tags provide information about the webpage in the HTML of the document. This information is called "metadata"

Meta Tag

MIME Type

Media type (also known as a Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions or MIME type) is a standard that indicates the nature and format of a document.

N

Network

A network consists of two or more computers that are linked in order to share resources.

npm

npm is a package manager for the JavaScript programming language. It is the default package manager for the JavaScript runtime environment Node.js

npm ?

O

OOP

Object-oriented programming (OOP) is a computer programming model that organizes software design around data, or objects, rather than functions and logic.

Opening/Closing Tag

An opening tag is a general term for the beginning of an html element, and An closing tag is a general term for the closing of an html element.

P

Property

Selectors, Properties, and Values. Whereas HTML has tags, CSS has selectors. ... For each selector there are “properties” inside curly brackets, which simply take the form of words such as color , font-weight or background-color . A value is given to the property following a colon (NOT an “equals” sign).

Q

Query

A query is a request for data or information from a database table or combination of tables. This data may be generated as results returned by Structured Query Language (SQL)

SQL Course

R

Responsive Design

Responsive web design is an approach to web design that makes web pages render well on a variety of devices and window or screen sizes.

What is Responsive Design ?

S

Server

A server is a type of computer or device on a network that manages network resources

Server ?

T

Terminal

The Terminal app allows you to control your Mac using a command prompt. ... Terminal is a Mac command line interface.

Terminal Guide

U

UI

The user interface (UI) is the point of human-computer interaction and communication in a device. This can include display screens, keyboards, a mouse and the appearance of a desktop. It is also the way through which a user interacts with an application or a website.

UX

User experience is a person's emotions and attitudes about using a particular product, system or service. It includes the practical, experiential, affective, meaningful and valuable aspects of human–computer interaction and product ownership.

V

Variable

In programming, a variable is a value that can change, depending on conditions or on information passed to the program.

Variable ?

VPN

A virtual private network extends a private network across a public network and enables users to send and receive data across shared or public networks as if their computing devices were directly connected to the private network.

What is VPN ?

W

Wireframe

A website wireframe, also known as a page schematic or screen blueprint, is a visual guide that represents the skeletal framework of a website.

Wireframe Course

WebPack

webpack is a module bundler. Its main purpose is to bundle JavaScript files for usage in a browser,

WebPack Course

X

XML

Extensible Markup Language is a markup language that defines a set of rules for encoding documents in a format that is both human-readable and machine-readable.

What is XML ?

Y

Yarn

Yarn is a new JavaScript package manager that aims to be speedy, deterministic, and secure.

What is Yarn ?

Z

Z-index

The z-index property specifies the stack order of an element. An element with greater stack order is always in front of an element with a lower stack order.

Z-index

Zettabye

A zettabyte is a measure of storage capacity and is 2 to the 70th power bytes, also expressed as 1021 (1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 bytes) or 1 sextillion bytes. One Zettabyte is approximately equal to a thousand Exabytes, a billion Terabytes, or atrillion Gigabytes.