The Plain-Language Web Dictionary.
Twenty web words, explained without using other jargon to define them. For board members, volunteers, and anyone who has nodded along in a meeting without knowing what a DNS is. Bookmark it, print it, send it to whoever needs it.
The basics
Three different things that people buy together. The domain is your address (yourgroup.org). The hosting is the land the house sits on. The website is the house. You can move the house to new land and keep the same address.
The program you look at websites with: Chrome, Safari, Edge, Firefox.
Google, mostly. The card catalog of the internet. Being findable there is a separate job from having a website.
Anything you can click that takes you somewhere else, usually colored or underlined. If clicking it surprises you, the link was badly made.
Someone else’s computer, professionally maintained. When your photos are “in the cloud,” they’re on such a computer, which is usually safer than keeping them only on yours.
The system this site, and about four in ten websites, is built on. The frame and wiring of the house. The design goes on top.
Behind the scenes
The padlock next to a web address means the connection is scrambled so nobody can read along. Every legitimate site has one now. If there’s no padlock, don’t type anything personal.
A complete spare copy of the website, kept elsewhere, so a mistake can be undone. A backup nobody has tested restoring isn’t yet a backup.
An add-on that gives a website a new ability, such as a contact form. Each one needs updating, which is why a pile of old plugins is where websites usually break first.
A saved snapshot of a page, shown because it’s faster than rebuilding the page for every visitor. It’s also why you sometimes have to refresh to see a change: you were looking at the snapshot.
The internet’s phone book. It translates your domain name into the location of your website. Changed rarely, and less frightening than its reputation.
A website that rearranges itself for phones, tablets, and computers. Not optional, since for many visitors the phone is the only computer.
Designing so everyone can use the site: readable text sizes, strong contrast, buttons that say what they do, descriptions on photos for screen readers. It helps every visitor.
Money and safety
A fake message pretending to be from a real company, hoping you click and type a password. The tell is urgency. The defense is a pause: anything urgent involving money gets checked through a channel you already trust.
A second lock on an account, usually a code sent to your phone, so a stolen password alone isn’t enough. Turn it on for your email before anything else.
A vault that remembers a different strong password for every account so you don’t have to. Safer than a notebook, and much safer than reusing one password.
The specialized, insured company that handles card numbers when someone donates or pays. Card numbers should never be stored on your website; they live with these companies.
Any arrangement where leaving means losing your work: a site builder you can’t export from, or a designer who owns your hosting. The question to ask is what you keep if you part ways. The right answer is everything.
The bouncer for your inbox. Sometimes too strict, which is why “check your spam folder” solves a lot of mysteries.
Counting visits so you know what people read. It can be done politely (anonymous counting) or rudely (following people around the internet). Ask which kind your site uses.
Looking for a word that isn’t here?
Ask, and it gets added. If the whole subject makes your shoulders tense, the tech help visits exist for that.