The Web & the Internet
- Internet
- The global network of networks that lets computers anywhere exchange data.
- World Wide Web
- A system of linked pages and resources that you open in a browser, running on top of the internet.
- Website
- A group of related web pages published together under one domain name.
- Web page
- A single document on the web, with its own URL, that a browser displays.
- URL
- The address of a resource on the web, such as https://example.com/about.
- Domain name
- The human-readable name of a website, such as example.com, that points to its server.
- IP address
- A numeric address that identifies a device on a network, such as 93.184.216.34.
- Internet service provider (ISP)
- A company that connects homes and businesses to the internet.
How a Page Loads
- Browser
- The app you use to open and view web pages, such as Chrome, Safari, Firefox or Edge.
- Server
- A computer that stores websites or data and sends them out when asked.
- Client
- The side of a web connection that asks for something — usually your browser or app.
- HTTP
- The set of rules browsers and servers use to request and send web pages and data.
- HTTPS
- The secure version of HTTP, which encrypts traffic between browser and server.
- Request and response
- The basic exchange of the web: a client asks for something and the server answers.
- Status code
- A three-digit number in a server's response that says how the request went, such as 200 or 404.
- Domain Name System (DNS)
- The internet's address book, which turns domain names into IP addresses.
- Content delivery network (CDN)
- A network of servers around the world that keeps copies of a site's files close to visitors.
What Pages Are Made Of
- HTML
- The language that describes the structure and content of a web page: headings, paragraphs, links, images.
- CSS
- The language that controls how a web page looks: colors, fonts, spacing and layout.
- JavaScript
- The programming language that runs in the browser, making web pages interactive.
- DOM
- Document Object Model: the browser's live, editable version of a page's structure.
- Hyperlink
- Clickable text or an image that takes you to another page or resource.
- Form
- The part of a web page where you type or choose information and send it, like a login or checkout.
- Responsive design
- Building pages so they adapt to any screen size, from phone to wide monitor.
- Accessibility
- Making websites usable by everyone, including people with disabilities.
Browser Storage & Identity
- Cookie
- A small piece of data a website stores in your browser and gets back on every visit.
- Third-party cookie
- A cookie set by a different company than the site you're visiting, often an advertiser.
- Session
- The period a website remembers you as one visitor, usually from login until logout or timeout.
- Local storage
- Space in the browser where a website can save data on your device that stays after you close the tab.
- Cache
- A store of copies kept close by, so things load faster next time.
- Login
- Proving to a website who you are, usually with an email and password, to get into your account.
- Tracking
- Recording what people do online, on one site or across many, usually for analytics or advertising.
- Consent banner
- The pop-up asking visitors whether a site may use cookies and tracking.
Frontend Development
- Frontend
- The part of a website that runs in your browser: everything you see and click.
- Framework
- A ready-made foundation of code and conventions for building websites, such as React, Vue or Next.js.
- Component
- A reusable, self-contained piece of a user interface, like a button, card or menu.
- Single-page application (SPA)
- A website that loads once and then updates the page with JavaScript instead of loading new pages.
- Client-side rendering
- Building a page's content in the browser with JavaScript, after it arrives mostly empty.
- Server-side rendering
- Building a page's full HTML on the server for each request, so it arrives ready to show.
- Static site
- A website made of ready-built files that are the same for every visitor.
- Bundler
- A tool that combines a project's many code files into a few optimized files for the browser.
Backend & Data
- Backend
- The part of a website that runs on the server: data, business rules and everything users don't see.
- Web server
- Software that receives HTTP requests and sends back pages, files or data.
- API
- Application Programming Interface: a defined way for programs to ask another program for data or actions.
- REST
- A popular style for designing web APIs around resources and standard HTTP methods.
- JSON
- A simple text format for structured data, widely used for sending data between programs.
- Database
- An organized store of data that a website's backend reads and writes.
- Authentication
- Checking that someone is who they say they are, such as during login.
- Webhook
- An automatic message one system sends to another's URL when something happens.
Building & Shipping
- Hosting
- Renting space on a server, so a website is stored and available online.
- Deploy
- Putting a new version of a website live, so visitors see the changes.
- Cloud
- Computing power and storage rented over the internet from providers like AWS, Google Cloud or Azure.
- Domain registrar
- A company that sells and manages the registration of domain names.
- Version control
- A system that records every change to a project's files, so a team can collaborate and undo mistakes.
- Open source
- Software whose source code is published for anyone to use, study, change and share.
- Web performance
- How fast a website loads and responds, especially on real phones and connections.
- Search engine optimization (SEO)
- Improving a website so search engines understand it and show it higher in results.