“Basic computer skills” is a term that is used to identify the essential skills for working with a computer. A harder skill to learn is understanding the various jargon and vocabulary for computers, web use and e-life.
Most of us already know the difference between a keyboard and a mouse, but are less familiar with the difference between a motherboard, and a CPU, and where would you find them, and what would they look like.
There are terms which are specifically relating to the building of websites. such as an Admin Area, a plugin, a URL, a domain, SEO, responsive, Static page and text editor.
An admin area is the area in the website, which is not open to the general public. It is a secured area which will allow you full access rights to the website. As an administrator you are able to change and add pages, add and delete posts, add images and do a variety of actions to assist you in keeping your site fresh and new.
Access to the admin area can also be restricted so other people have the rights to add or delete posts, but not be able to do other actions in the administration areas. These users may be given roles such as editor, contributor, or author and have limited access to the admin area.
The backend is another name for the administration area. The main difference here is the people that use the terminology. The admin area allows the administrator and the various other roles to manipulate the website, where as when a developer is talking about the backend, they are usually talking about the function, and a deeper application of the admin area, something which generally requires specialised skills.
Developers will often refer to the CMS. Many website are now built with components. When websites were first developed, code would be written from scratch, Many websites today are built using code or components which are written by other people. In this case we use a Content Management System to allow each of these components to work together in harmony.
Most people don’t have much to do with the cpanel. The cpanel, or Control Panel, is a backend management system controlled by the hosting provider. The cpanel allows the website to be view live, manage files, and create email accounts and various other functions.
Think of the cpanel as the backend of the backend. Often hosting providers will not allow access to the cpanel, but access to the cpanel can be an integral part of the development of complex websites.
The domain name has numerous names. Site address, URL, web address, are just a few of the names, and in some cases you may hear IP address. However the IP address is a number and the domain name is a human readable part of the IP address.
As with normal addresses, a street name may be called a street, an avenue, a place, or a court. In the web these are known as domain name extensions. There are many different domain name extensions that are available. Some of the most popular domain name extensions are: .com, .net, .org, biz. There are specialised ones, such as .edu, and .gov. There numerous other country level domains such as .us, .in, .ly, .io, and many more.
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A plugin is a piece of software, usually developed by an external part, that can be added to a website. Plugins can extend functionality or add new features to your websites.
Many plugins have free versions, that can be used at no costs, but many have a yearly rental for the functionality.
Examples of plugins may be adding the functionality of a from of your website, or adding a gallery, or maybe a newsletter, all of which are functionalities which are achieved by adding a plugin.
Having your website responsive aims to create a website, which changes depending on the device the customer is viewing the website.
If your customer is viewing your website on a tablet or on a PC, they must smoothly adjust and fit within the screen. If you view your website on a smart phone and then on a PC, a responsive website will change depending on what you are viewing it on.
There is always lots of talk about SEO. Search Engine Optimisation. SEO is a specialised area of web design and is usually done after the completion of the building of the website, and is also an ongoing process of manipulation, to achieve the highest possible ranking on a search engine.
As SEO’s around the world are looking for ways to get a higher ranking, SEO becomes a constant process of manipulation of the website to gain advantage over your competitors.
Over the years, SEOs have used various techniques to gain an advantage and search engines have deemed these illegal by the search engine, and have often blocked websites for using these techniques. It is important to find an SEO who is reputable and not use spam links and other discouraged activities.