Glossary of key terminology used in web
design and web animation
A
Alpha Channel
The alpha channel is the image’s channel
carrying the transparency information. An image already has three channel: red,
green. blue (RGB). The alpha channel is the fourth channel (RGBA). The matte or
transparency information is stored in this fourth channel. An image without an
Alpha Channel is always opaque.
Animation
A simulation of movement created by
displaying a series of pictures, or frames in rapid succession.
Applet
A Java program or application designed to be
embedded in, and invoked from, a web page, or other application. It cannot be
run by itself.
Aspect Ratio
The aspect ratio is the relationship between
the width and height dimensions for any scene, frame or film format. The
television ratio is 4:3 and the widescreen ratio is 16:9.
Authoring Tool
A software application used to create web
pages and web sites.
Axis
An axis is an imaginary line around which an
object rotates.
For 2D
graphics, there are two axes:
X
which is horizontal
Y
which is vertical
For 3D
graphics there are three axes:
X
which is horizontal
Y which is vertical
Z which is for the depth
B
Bitmap
A bitmap image is composed of pixels and has
a single resolution (size); if it is enlarged too much, it will start losing
definition and pixels will start to appear. This is known as pixelation.
Browser
The software on a computer that allows
websites to be rendered so they can be "read" by users. This maybe a
browser that renders things visually, in a manner confined to text only, or in
any other manner that may be appropriate, such as voice output.
C
Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)
Style sheets refer to a set of rules that
allow you to control how you would like your document to be rendered. It is a
mechanism to primarily separate presentation from content. With the HTML and
style sheets approach, structured content goes into the HTML document, and the
appearance, or presentation information goes into a style sheet. CSS allow you
to control the rendering of elements on a web page without compromising its
structure.
Cookie
A cookie, also known as an HTTP cookie, web
cookie, or browser cookie, is usually a small piece of data sent from a website
and stored in a user's web browser while a user is browsing a website. When the
user browses the same website in the future, the data stored in the cookie can
be retrieved by the website to notify the website of the user's previous
activity
D
Dots Per Inch (DPI)
Dots Per Inch is a term that also refers to
printing and the amount of ink that actually is placed upon the print medium.
Dots Per Inch is a property of a print graphic and determines how it prints -
its size and quality. Color printing isn't done in continuous color, it's done
with individual dots of Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black (CMYK), lots of them,
giving an impression of continuity. These are the dots in dpi. Dots per inch
(number of pixels) also measures resolution on output devices such as monitors
and printers. The horizontal and/or vertical density of the output device, is
arrived at by dividing the resolution of the device by the physical dimensions
of its imaging region.
E
Element
In XHTML , an element is of node in the
document tree. A XHTML element is represented by a start tag like <h1>
and an end tag like </h1>.
External Style Sheet
An external type of style sheet is a separate
file apart from the HTML file(s). The external style sheet is given a .css
extension. It is associated to the HTML document using a link element or an @
import directive in the head of the html document. Any html document associated
to an external style sheet gets the styles, and that is where the maintenance
power of CSS is found. Not only do external style sheets allow reuse of rules
within one specific document. They allow the style sheet itself to be shared
across multiple documents. Using external CSS allows you to maintain a single
style sheet for an entire site.
Extensible Hypertext Markup Language (XHTML)
XHTML is a reformation of HTML as an XML
vocabulary.
Extensible Markup Language (XML)
XML A language specification from the W3C
that allows users to develop their own markup languages (often called
vocabularies), and format their documents using stylesheets to be presented on
a browser if desired. It is a syntax/format, establishing rules for XML
-compliant languages with a very strict set of rules that must be adhered to,
allowing lots of control over document format.
F
File Format
A file format is a standard way that
information is encoded for storage in a computer file.
File Transfer Protocol (FTP)
File Transfer Protocol is a method to upload
and download files over the Internet.
Frame
A frame is a single photographic image in a
movie. In traditional animation, a second generally contains 24 frames in North
America or 25 frames in Europe.
Frame Rate
Is the measurement of the frequency (rate) at
which an imaging device produces unique consecutive images called frames. The
term applies equally well to computer graphics, video cameras, film cameras,
and motion capture systems.
G
GIF
GIF is an abbreviation for Graphics
Interchange Format. It suited for flat color images and drawings. GIF images
display up to 256 colors. The format was created by CompuServ and is often used
for animated images.
H
HyperText Markup Language (HTML)
The markup language that is used on most of
the World Wide Web to create web pages. The standards for HTML are controlled
by the W3C .
I
Inline Style Sheet
An inline style controls the appearance of a
single element. CSS rule(s) are placed in the HTML via the style attribute.
With inline, style and content are intermingled in the body of the document.
J
JavaScript
JavaScript is a client-side scripting
language that allows dynamic behavior to be specified within HTML documents.
JavaScript is not Java. Java is a full programming language similar to C.
JavaScript is similar to C, but is only a scripting language, and cannot be
used to write full blown applications. For accessibility reasons, JavaScript
should not be relied on. For more information consult JavaScript Accessibility.
JPEG
JPEG is an abbreviation of "Joint
Photographic Experts Group" and pronounced jay-peg. It is a a lossy
compression file format used frequently for photographs.
K
Keyframe
Important positions in the action defining
the starting and ending points of any smooth transition.
L
Language Attribute
An easy accessibility feature to add (and it
is even AAA WCAG ) is the language attribute lang="en-us" to the HTML
tag to identify the primary natural language of a document. For example:
<html lang="en-us">
M
Margin
In CSS , a margin is a property that allows
the author to specify how much space will be inserted between other exterior
elements and the current element border.
MySQL
MySQL is a database. The data in MySQL is
stored in database objects called tables. A table is a collection of related
data entries and it consists of columns and rows.
N
Navigation
Navigation is the process of finding things
in large or complex information spaces, such as on websites. Its purpose is to
a help users find the content they want quickly. There are many navigation
methods to make a website easy to navigate.
P
Padding
In CSS , padding is a property that allows
the author to specify how much space will be inserted between the element
border and the element content. Negative values are not allowed.
PHP
PHP is an acronym for PHP hypertext
Preprocessor. It is a server side scripting language for creating dynamic web
pages.
Pixel
The word "pixel" is derived from
"picture element". In graphics, it refers to smallest resolvable
rectangular area of an image.
Pixels Per Inch (PPI)
Pixels Per Inch (PPI) is the resolution of an
image file. Web graphics and screenshots are made up of dots called pixels, and
they usually contain 72 pixels per inch, though other resolutions are common.
Plug-in
A module (either hardware or software) that
adds a special feature to a larger system or program. For example, a program to
allow a browser to play movies or to display Flash content.
Portable Network Graphics format (PNG)
PNG is an image format was developed as the
successor to the GIF format. It has a more efficient compression algorithm than
GIF.
S
Serif
Serif is a typeface, in which each character
has small strokes at the ends of the lines that form it. Serifs are found in
typestyles such as Times Roman, Palatino, Garamond, and Baskerville.
Stop motion
Stop motion (also known as stop frame) is an
animation technique to make a physically manipulated object appear to move on
its own.
Storyboard
A Storyboard is a sequence of sketches
showing major actions or outlining a process, such as the steps of interacting
with a computer or website.
T
Tag
A tag is the markup characters that designate
the start or end of an element , but not the element content itself.
Timeline
The timeline is a horizontal representation
of the scene’s elements, timing and keyframes.
Typography
Typography is the balance and interplay of
letterforms on a web page. It helps the user understand the form and absorb the
substance of the page content. It is important in both visual and verbal
communication.
U
URL
Uniform resource locator (URL) (originally
called universal resource locator) is a specific character string that
constitutes a reference to an Internet resource.
V
Vector
A vector-based image is composed of points
and bezier curves
W
Web Standards
The term Web Standards refers to the World
Wide Web Consortium's (W3C) specifications and guidelines. It means the support
of W3C recommendations such as XHTML, CSS, and the DOM HTML.
Web Banner
A web banner or banner ad is a form of
advertising on the World Wide Web delivered by an ad server.
Website
A website is a related group of web pages
published on the World Wide Web.
World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)
An international consortium of companies and
organizations involved with the Internet and the World Wide Web, responsible
for maintaining web technology standards, such as HTML and CSS . It was
"created in October 1994, to lead the World Wide Web to its full potential
by developing common protocols that promote its evolution and ensure its
interoperability."
