Ready to build your first website but confused by the technical lingo?
In this post, we’ll provide a glossary of terms you might encounter as you build a website. We recommend bookmarking this page for easy reference—like a pocket dictionary you can return to whenever you encounter an unfamiliar term.
We’ll focus on WordPress websites throughout, but most of the principles and definitions apply to websites built on any platform.
- Technical parts of a website
- Website code
- Website metadata
- Navigational elements
- Website content
- Page elements
- Common website pages
- Blog
- Contact and content sharing
- Ecommerce
- WordPress-specific website parts
- Build your website: Easy as ABC
Technical parts of a website
Every website requires a few key technical components. Understanding what each does can help you choose the right location for your site and evaluate different providers.
Website hosting
Your site must be stored on physical servers through a website host. Hosting is essentially your site’s place of residence on the internet.
Managed hosting (like the hosting plans we have on WordPress.com!) is often an ideal choice for website owners because they take on an active role in running your website. In the case of WordPress.com, we take care of your server setup and the day-to-day management of your website, including security, uptime, and software updates, all for one flat price.
Domains
A domain is a website’s address, like mygroovywebsite.com. Like physical addresses, every website must have a unique domain name.
Domain prices vary depending on the web extension (like .com, .net, .org) and which domain provider you choose, and you can use a domain lookup tool to see what domains are currently available.
WordPress.com offers affordable domains with over 350 different domain extensions and averaging just $13/year!
URLs, permalinks, and slugs
Similar to domains, URLs are the specific page addresses for your web pages. URLs are a version of your domain with added information that tells your computer which page to load.
So if a website’s homepage is mygroovywebsite.com, subpages have additional path information, like mygroovywebsite.com/about, which would load the website’s about page.
Permalinks are permanent URLs that point to a specific piece of content (you can update your default permalink structure on a WordPress site with just a few clicks), while slugs are part of the URL that identifies a specific page (like “about” in our example above).
CDN
A content delivery network, or CDN, hosts your website on a system of distributed servers instead of one individual server. By utilizing location-specific servers, a CDN improves site speed by delivering content from a server that’s geographically closer to your visitors. Multiple servers also create redundancy, ensuring your site works even when you have a lot of visitors or if a server goes down.
All WordPress.com plans have a CDN, powered by 28+ data centers across 6 continents, that puts your content as close to your visitors as possible.
XML sitemap
An XML sitemap is a list of all of the crawlable URLs on your website so that search engines (like Google) can index and show them in search results. A sitemap helps search engines better understand your site’s structure and how your content is related.
Content management systems (CMS)
A CMS is a tool that helps you build and manage a website without needing to code it from scratch. It provides a user-friendly interface to make it easy to build pages, write posts, and share other content.
What is the most popular CMS in the world? WordPress!
Website code
“Code” is a computer-readable direction written in programming languages. Even if you use a CMS like WordPress to build your site, there’s still a bunch of code running behind the scenes to make everything work and run smoothly. There are many programming languages, but some that you’ll most commonly see when working with WordPress are HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and PHP.
HTML
HTML (HyperText Markup Language) defines the content structure of your website. Think of this as a computer-readable version of your website that includes all the page’s core content, including titles, text, lists, buttons, and images.
HTML uses “tags” to define each of these building blocks of your website, like <H1> for top-level headings and <p> for paragraphs.
CSS
CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) defines the style of your website. It is a design reference glossary for the browser, indicating what fonts, colors, sizes, and other elements to use when displaying your website. The cool thing about CSS is that your site updates automatically everywhere when you change a style in your glossary.
For example, if you have an <H1> primary header tag in your HTML, the computer will look to the CSS to see what <H1> headers should look like. The CSS might define an <H1> as Arial font, bolded, and 36 pixels. Anywhere that the computer sees the <H1> on your website, it will show that text in Arial font, bolded, and 36 pixels.
JavaScript
JavaScript controls the interactive elements of your website that move or change on your otherwise static web pages. JavaScript runs on the user’s side to create animations, popups, banners, alerts, and more.
For example, you might use JavaScript to alert users if they didn’t properly fill out a form or to change the screen once they submit it to show them that their response has been received.
PHP
PHP (Hypertext Preprocessor) is similar to JavaScript in that it “makes things happen” in real-time on your website. One big difference with PHP is that it runs “server-side,” meaning it changes data or dynamically updates a page’s content before it loads for visitors.
PHP is an open source programming language and the language that powers the WordPress software.
Metadata helps search engines identify what kind of content is on your website. This allows search engines to know when your website is relevant to someone searching the web for specific information.
Title tags
A title tag is an HTML element used by both search engines and visitors to understand what your webpage is about. Usually, this is the same as the post or page’s headline or title.
Meta descriptions
Meta descriptions are short paragraphs (ideally 120 to 160 characters) that offer additional information to engines about your content. These often include important keywords and phrases.
These descriptions may appear in search engine results, so it’s important to write strong, clear descriptions to make your website shine.
Schema markup
Schema markup is computer-readable information added to your site’s code to identify different types of content on your webpage. This helps search engines better understand your site’s purpose. Schema markup improves site SEO, contributing important information for search engine snippets and AI-powered search results.
For example, recipe plugins provide search engines with this kind of markup, enabling them to showcase recipes in search results with extra details such as images, ingredients, and cook times.
Navigational elements
Your website’s navigation elements define how site visitors move across your website. You will likely use a variety of navigation elements across your site to meet the specific goals of each page.
Your menu is the primary navigation tool for your website, linking to its high-level sections. Menu options may vary depending on your template, including primary navigation menus in your header and footer, sidebar menus from specific pages, and dropdown submenus.
“Hamburger menus” are common on mobile views, where detailed headers can take up too much space. These menus are hidden inside a button instead of always being visible in the header.
Links
Links are clickable text that take the site visitor to another page. They may direct users to another page on your site (internal links) or an external website (external links).
They also help search engines better understand the importance of your site pages—when a page has many relevant links that allow users to navigate to it, search engines will understand that it is a valuable page on your site.
Breadcrumbs
Site breadcrumbs show users the “path” they took to reach their current page. For example, on a blog, a user may go from Home > Category > Blog Post.
Breadcrumbs are useful on sites with many layers of interconnected pages like stores, forums, or Wikis.
Buttons
Buttons are clickable visual elements that encourage users to take a specific action or navigate to a specific page. A site usually has three “levels” of buttons, with the primary buttons being the biggest and brightest, followed by secondary and tertiary buttons for less important navigation items.
Buttons should be strategically placed on your pages to nudge visitors to the most important content or action, such as your storefront or blog.
Sharing buttons
Sharing buttons enable site visitors to easily share content from your website on other platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest. They are a great way to promote your content cross-platform and build your following organically.
Sharing buttons are included for free on WordPress.com with Jetpack.
The website header is the content at the top of every page. This section usually includes your logo, site name, tagline, and top-level site navigation (your menu!).
The footer is the bottom section of your site, visible below your content on every page. It can contain additional information such as website copyright, contact forms, newsletter subscription boxes, physical addresses, social media links, or lower-priority navigation items like your privacy policy or refund policy.
Website content
Your website content is what makes your website unique. Whether you are a blogger or a virtual store, your content helps you to create a personalized presence on the web.
Text and copy
Your website’s text or copy is anything you write or customize, from menu labels to page titles, blog posts, about pages, and more.
Want to learn how to write truly excellent blog copy? Use this blueprint.
Images
High-quality and relevant images are an essential part of any website. You can use your own high-quality images, license images through a stock image company, get free unlicensed imagery from sites like Pexels, or generate images with tools like Jetpack AI.
Check out our WordPress image size guide to ensure your images are optimized for the web.
Video
Videos are widely used on websites because they’re often more engaging than static images. If you have a WordPress site, you can use the YouTube block to easily embed YouTube-hosted videos on your posts or pages.
You can also upload your videos directly onto your site. WordPress.com offers 4K video hosting with VideoPress on the Premium plan and above.
Page elements
Sandwiched between your header and footer is your main page. Regardless of the page content or layout, many pages have a few standard parts.
Headline
Your headline, known in HTML lingo as the <H1>, describes what your page is about; this could be something short like “About” or more specific, like the title of your blog post.
You should only ever have one <H1> on a webpage.
Tagline
A website tagline, similar to a brand tagline, is a short, memorable phrase that explains your site’s purpose. Site taglines are usually displayed in the site header next to or under the site title or logo, in search engine results, and in social media blocks.
Body content
The body content is the meat of your webpage, located between the header and footer. It is specific to each page and includes all of its content elements, such as text, images, and videos.
WordPress makes it incredibly easy to add different kinds of content to your posts or pages with its block editor. There are many different blocks that come standard with any WordPress site, allowing you to customize your content exactly how you want.
Common website pages
Website pages can vary depending on your site’s purpose, but we recommend a few standard page types for every site.
Homepage
Your homepage is the first page people will visit on your site, so it’s key that it is visually appealing, explains who you are and what you do, and directs visitors to other important pages across your site.
Product and service pages
Businesses use product or service pages to explain their products and provide pricing. These pages vary in complexity, from simple text lists to full ecommerce stores.
Some product and service pages are purely informational; others are interactive, allowing users to purchase products directly from the page.
About page
An about page tells your site’s story, whether you’re an individual or a business. This should cover who, what, and why—that is who you are, what you do, and why you do it.
You may include your personal or company history, awards or accolades, brand values, and individual or team biographies.
Contact page
Your contact page is where site visitors can find information on how to reach you, whether they want to schedule a meeting, contact you via email, or visit a physical location. This can be a simple text page or include forms, maps, and scheduling tools.
404 error page
A 404 error page alerts visitors if they are trying to visit a web URL that won’t load because the page they’re trying to access doesn’t exist. Users may see a 404 if they mistype a URL or try to access a page that you haven’t created on your site. For example, they may try to go to example.com/about-me when your about page URL is actually example.com/about.
You may want to optimize your 404 page to provide assistance to anyone who accidentally sees it with a search bar and links to helpful pages on your site.
Blog
For many personal and professional websites, the blog is the heart of your site: this is where you will regularly create and post new content. Unlike standard web pages, a blog is designed for easy, ongoing publishing, engagement, and sharing.
Need to start a blog? Check out our 12-step guide.
Posts
A post is a piece of content on your blog. Posts can include text, photos, and videos, but they also have unique elements like status, publish date, author, tags, and categories. These elements enable better navigation, search, and sorting.
Posts can be structured in many different ways, but there are a few common types of posts, including lists, how-tos, personal stories, case studies, features, interviews, product reviews, and news articles.
Categories
Categories help you catalog and sort your blog posts. Categories split your content into a few high-level buckets. Categories should be broad enough to organize all of your posts but specific enough to be meaningful to your readers.
Category pages serve as an archive for all content grouped together under a specific category.
Tags
Similarly, tags group posts together, but they’re more specific ways to describe your content. For example, you may have a “Movies” category and “Adventure,” “Rom-Com,” “Horror,” and “Sci-Fi” tags.
You can use multiple tags on a single post, but to avoid clutter and to ensure your tags are useful for finding relevant content, you should only add tags for keywords that recur frequently across your website.
Contact and content sharing
There are a variety of reasons people may want to reach out to you through your website. Contact information—whether it’s a public email address, physical address, or form—is an important aspect of any website.
You’ll also want to ensure that you have ways for visitors to stay in the loop with what you’re up to. Whether you’re sending out a regular newsletter to your subscribers or sharing your content on social media, content sharing is a key component of a sustainable brand.
Contact forms
Contact forms allow website owners to receive messages—like questions, service requests, or feedback—without sharing their email addresses publicly. Visitors put their contact information and requests into a contact form, and the submitted form information is securely forwarded to an email address of your choosing.
There are many contact form plugins available, and the Form block is free to use for WordPress.com users with Jetpack.
Newsletter signup forms
Newsletter signup forms allow site visitors to sign up for your newsletter. These forms have inputs for a visitor’s email address and sometimes their name, and then this information is added to your mailing list.
Subscribe blocks are available out-of-the-box for sites hosted on WordPress.com. Plugins are also available for third-party newsletter providers.
Social media integrations
Social media integrations allow you to connect your blog to your social media platforms. Once these integrations are in place, you can easily pass content back and forth between your website and your social media platforms, posting directly from your blog to your social media sites or embedding your social media feeds directly on your website.
Ecommerce
An ecommerce website sells goods or services online. WooCommerce, an open source plugin, is a sister company to WordPress.com. This plugin adds key ecommerce features like product pages, shopping carts, and payment processing to your site.
Checkout carts
Checkout carts are virtual shopping carts that allow visitors to select or save products they want to buy in one place. Checkout carts enable users to keep track of their items and buy multiple products in one transaction.
Payment processors
In order for site visitors to be able to make a payment online, you need to use a payment processing software to securely accept credit card information and finalize payments.
For sites hosted on WordPress.com, you can easily collect payments through Stripe, the Paid Content block, and PayPal.
WordPress-specific website parts
WordPress websites have their own internal language for different aspects of your site. If you use WordPress as your CMS or WordPress.com for hosting, these terms will help you better understand the tool and all that’s possible with it.
Themes
WordPress themes are professionally designed templates that you can install and customize. Themes make it simple to start with a base design you really love to then make your own with fonts, colors, images, text, and layouts.
WordPress.com has many different themes available to suit every website’s needs and visual style, including free themes and paid third-party themes. You can also install your own third-party themes on the Business plan and above.
Plugins
Plugins are like apps for your website—they extend your site’s functionality and features. The WordPress plugin library offers free and paid plugins for security, SEO, marketing, forms, and more.
All WordPress.com users receive free essential functionality through the Jetpack plugin, with additional Jetpack features available at higher tiers. Third-party plugins can be added to sites on the Business plan and above.
Patterns
Patterns are professionally designed page layouts for commonly used web pages, like about pages, photo galleries, storefronts, and contact pages. Patterns use a series of WordPress blocks to build eye-catching layouts that are easy to customize.
Blocks
Blocks (aptly named) are the building blocks of your WordPress website. Blocks are drag-and-drop elements that you can add to any post or page. There are around a hundred unique block types available for text, media, formatting, embedded content, theme-specific designs, forms, and more, with new block types added regularly.
With WordPress.com, you get even more with Jetpack-enabled block types.
Backup
Site backups save previous versions of your website so that you can easily revert your site if something breaks. This can be useful when adding or updating plugins or updating your WordPress version or theme. WordPress.com offers backups with VaultPress on the Business plan and above.
Security
Web security is essential to ensure that both your data and your visitors’ data are protected. Security features include general site security to verify your website and block phishing or spam attacks, user-based permissions, and domain privacy to protect your personal data.
One benefit of using a managed hosting provider like WordPress.com is that many core security features—like automatic updates, SSL certificates, firewall protection, brute force attack prevention, downtime monitoring, and vulnerability scanning—come included, providing peace of mind for non-technical professionals.
Reader
The Reader is an aggregator from WordPress.com that compiles content from Jetpack-enabled WordPress sites. Your Reader feed will show every post from the blogs you follow in one place. You can also explore new blogs or be discovered by other readers in searches that utilize categories and tags.
Build your website: Easy as ABC
If you’ve read through this entire post, congratulations! You’re essentially a web development linguist. If you’re still looking to get oriented, WordPress.com has tons of additional resources for website builders on our blog, guides, and forums.
WordPress.com is built to support website owners of all levels, so you can feel confident that we’ve got your back as you dive into the exciting world of building your own website. Get started with WordPress.com today:
