Those new to web design often need help with some of the commonly used words and phrases associated with web design and development. This portion of the series focuses on words beginning with L, M, and N.
L
Leading [lee ding]
When used in regards to web design, the term leading refers to the space between lines of text. This whitespace helps make text more legible on web pages.
Link [lingk]
Link, also referred to as a hyperlink, allows a user to click on a piece of text to connect them to another page on the same site or to an altogether different site.
Link Farm [lingk fahrm]
The term link farm refers to a web site that has only been created to direct traffic to other web sites. Usually the sites have long lists of links to other sites that may or may not be topically related. These sites are frowned upon by search engines and are typically removed from their directories when found.
Log [lawg]
When used in regards to web design, the term log refers to the record kept by a web site server of who has visited a specific web site. The log can be useful in determining which pages are most popular and can provide an indication of the direction a site should take.
M
Marquee [mahr kee]
When used in regards to web design, the term marquee refers to text scrolling horizontally across a web page. This is usually created with Javascript.
Meta Tag [mee tuh tag]
A meta tag is a HTML tag that is not visible to visitors when the document is being viewed. It gives search engines the description they store in their database including the keywords associated with that page.
Mirror Sites [mihr er sahyts]
A mirror site is a replica of an existing site that is created to reduce the network traffic and increase the ability of visitors to reach the original site. These are typically used for sites that have more traffic than one server can support.
.mil [doht em eye ell]
The suffix of a domain name used to indicate that the web site has a military purpose.
MPEG [em peg]
MPEG is an acronym for Motion Picture Experts Group. This format is typically used for audio or digital compression.
N
.net [dot net]
The suffix of a domain used to indicate that a web site is part of a network domain.
New visitor [nyoo viz I tehr]
When used in regards to web design, the term new visitor refers to someone who has never before visited a particular web site.