Glossary

.htaccess is a powerful configuration file that allows you to configure and control how your website functions.

A 404 page is an error page a visitor sees when they try to access a non-existent or broken URL on a website.

A/B testing compares two different versions of something — like a web page or campaign — to determine which performs better.

Asynchronous JavaScript and XML (AJAX) is a web development approach that combines technologies to allow web content to update without reloading.

ALPN stands for Application-Layer Protocol Negotiation. It’s a Transport Layer Security (TLS) extension that aids client and server identification during secure data transfers.

APIs, or Application Programming Interfaces, are common code protocols that let apps safely exchange data with other apps, software, and hardware.

The American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) is an encoding standard that assigns numerical values to characters and translates them into computer-readable code.

Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines (ATAG) are a layered rule-set that influence how designers and developers create a more accessible internet.

In object-oriented programming (OOP), abstraction conceals irrelevant details so they don’t interfere with the task at hand.

A webpage’s accessibility tree indicates which parts of the page are compatible with assistive technologies such as braille displays, screen readers, and voice commands.

Account notifications update you about activity in your account. New notifications appear on your Webflow Dashboard after you log in.

An Adobe Fonts API token protects and supports your data from Adobe Fonts with other programs you may be using to personalize your website’s fonts.

An algorithm is a set of rules or steps that help solve problems or carry out specific tasks.

Alt text, short for alternative text, refers to text that describes online images.

Any element that is further up the element hierarchy of the document tree. For example, the Body element is the ancestor of all elements on the Designer canvas.

An application context is a set of data that identifies an application’s tasks, where those tasks originate, and how those tasks are configured.

An argument is an independent value a function receives to deliver a specific output.

An array is an ordered, random-access collection of data. This data can be either primitive or object, depending on the coding language.

Asynchronous programming is an approach where programs simultaneously run multiple operations independently without waiting for previous tasks to complete.

Third-party applications that you've given access to your personal and/or website data.

Automagically describes complex content or functions that appear as if they were created using magic.

A website background is a visual element behind webpage content, enhancing aesthetic appeal and user engagement.

A backlink, also referred to as an inbound link, is a hyperlink from one website to another website.

A backup is a copy of data stored in an alternate location, including hard drives, cloud servers, or network-attached storage (NAS) servers.

Bad neighborhoods are groups of websites that search engines have downgraded because they violate search engine guidelines.

The base tag specifies the base URL for all relative links within HTML code for a specific page or document.

The baseline is the fixed invisible line that serves as the base for letters. It’s used as a measurement for line height and x-height.

A section of the Add panel that contains the elements that act as a website's fundamental building blocks (e.g., div block, list, button, etc.).

A beacon — also called a web beacon or web bug — is an HTML-embedded object that tracks user behavior on a web page.

Behavioral targeting is a marketing technique that leverages user data to deliver personalized ads to drive conversions.

Below the fold refers to the lower portion of a webpage that isn’t immediately visible to visitors upon loading until they scroll down.

BiDi stands for bidirectional. When a document is BiDi, it supports text that reads from right to left and left to right.

BigInt, which stands for “big integer,” is a JavaScript data type. JavaScript uses data types to decide how to treat a piece of data.

The CSS border property delineates an HTML element.

A bottom bar is a navigation bar at the bottom of an app or webpage.

The spacing between the bottom border of an element and the element(s) below it.

Bottom padding is the space between the bottom of an element and its border.

A bounding box is a rectangular border around a website element (e.g., a heading, paragraph, or image) that appears during the design process.

A breadcrumb, or breadcrumb trail, is a navigational element representing a user’s current location within a website's hierarchical structure.

A browser, or web browser, is a software program that allows users to access, navigate, and interact with websites on the internet.

A buffer is a temporary storage area that holds data while transferring it between different components or systems.

Bundling, or bundle pricing, is a pricing technique in which retailers sell products together at a lower price than they would be sold at individually.

A button is an interactive element that facilitates user actions.

A dynamic page that Webflow automatically creates for each Collection item. When you design a Collection page, all the pages that are created for each Collection item will have the same template but different content.

A section in the Add panel that contains elements associated with the CMS.

On Windows-based systems, the sequence of two ASCII characters representing a line break in text files is called "Carriage Return, Line Feed," or CRLF.

CRUD stands for Create, Read, Update, and Delete — the four basic operations all software applications should perform.

Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) is a web development language that controls the appearance of elements on a webpage.

CSS filters apply visual effects to HTML elements and their children using Cascading Style Sheets (CSS).

A CSS preprocessor is a program that helps developers write Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) by providing advanced features such as variables, functions, and nesting.

A call stack is an ordered list of the functions (or stack frames) a program has to execute before it returns a result.

A call-to-action (CTA) is a website feature that prompts visitors to perform a specific action.

A callback function is passed as an argument to another function and executed upon completing the latter’s task.

The <canvas> tag in HTML5 creates a container for dynamic graphics and image rendering on a webpage.

The order in which a Webflow site's CSS styles flow from desktop to mobile breakpoints.

A certificate authority (CA), also known as a certification authority, issues digital certificates that verify a website’s owner.

A digital certificate is a data file embedded in the site that signals the site’s safety to visitors, internet service providers (ISPs), and servers.

Character encoding is the process of representing characters (such as “a” or “3”) in a particular way, such as text on a computer screen.

Checkboxes are HTML structures that allow visitors to input data.

The checkout process in ecommerce is the process that online customers go through to complete a purchase.

A child element is an element nested within a parent element in a hierarchy.

In cryptography, a cipher is a digital security algorithm that encrypts and decrypts data.

A cipher suite is a collection of encryption algorithms that work together to secure a network connection.

Ciphertext is unreadable, encrypted data that ciphers use for security during data transit.

A class is a template that defines variables for objects with similar properties.

Clickjacking is when a malicious actor deceives website visitors into clicking buttons or links hidden in a fake layer to steal sensitive data or install malware.

Client-side is the user-facing part of a web app, responsible for processing user input and displaying content.

Cloneable sites are open source (made available under the CC0 (“no rights reserved”) license). When you enable cloning, you allow any user to copy, modify, and use any part of your site for personal or commercial purposes.Sites with cloning turned off do not give others access to copy your site or open it in the Designer.

Closed-loop marketing is an ecommerce marketing strategy that uses customer data to create and improve targeted content.

A closing tag is an instructional piece of code that ends a section of page content in HTML.

A content type (blog posts, recipes, etc.) represented by a group of fields you define. Once created, you can add individual Collection items.

The slug that represents the parent folder for your individual Collection item URLs. For example, if you created a Collection called “Blog posts,” the URL would be website.com/blog-posts, while a Collection item URL for a blog post called “Hello world” would be website.com/blog-posts/hello-world.

An individual field within a Collection. You'll select which fields to display in dynamic Collection lists and Collection pages.

An individual item within a Collection. For example, in a “Blog Posts” Collection, the Collection items are individual blog posts.

By default, Collection lists display all items in a Collection, but you can add limits to control the number of Collection items that display.

A Collection list is a Webflow element that lets you dynamically display content from a CMS Collection.

Lets you control how Collection items display inside a Collection list. The default layout option has each item covering the full width of the parent element. You can change this to display Collection items in 2, 3, 4, or 6 columns.

The color field is available in CMS Collections. You can add the color field to a Collection, then use it to add color to dynamic elements in your site.

The color wheel shows several colors in a circle to represent primary, secondary, and tertiary colors and their relationships.

Columns let you create sections of content that sit side by side on your website, like the columns in newspapers. You can choose how many columns you want and their widths. You can also control how they display on smaller screens — such as stacking them.

Combining two or more classes into a single selector to target an element.

A comment is a text note in source code that offers context, internal information, or other guidance to any developers using it.

All elements on the page targeted by the same selector.

A comparison shopping engine (CSE) is a search engine that compares ecommerce pricing, shipping costs, and customer reviews.

Compiling is the process of converting code from a high-level programming language into a low-level language that computers can understand.

Compile time is the length of time it takes for a compiler to convert high-level code into low-level code.

A section in the Add Panel that houses pre-built Webflow elements such as sliders, tabs, and lightboxes.

Conditionals, also known as conditional statements or expressions, are coding instructions that tell a program to execute an action for a certain condition.

In coding, a constant is a fixed value that can’t change, no matter where it appears or what the program uses it for.

An element that contains content.

A content management system (CMS) is a tool for creating and managing a website and its content.

A content network is a collection of websites where advertisers can pay to display digital ads.

A content optimization system (COS) is software that lets you optimize website content to attract more traffic.

A design approach that prioritizes content planning and production in the design process.

Contextual advertising is a form of paid advertising that matches web content with ad intent.

The control flow is the order in which a computer program executes its instructions or statements, guided by control structures.

Cookies are small text files sent by a website to a user’s web browser that enhance their browsing experience by remembering site preferences and activities.

Cryptanalysis examines cryptographic systems to find weaknesses that could allow attackers to uncover plaintext or break encryption.

A cryptographic hash function takes an input message of any length, such as a file, message, or password, and uses a mathematical formula to produce a fixed-size output (hash).

A Webflow service that lets you point a custom domain to your Webflow-hosted site.