Glossary

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.

A custom font is any non-system-default typeface you manually upload to your website.

DHTML, or Dynamic HTML, is a web-development technique combining HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to create dynamic, interactive web pages and complex web applications.

DNS records store important information about domains and hostnames. They function like maps, directing DNS queries to the desired endpoint.

From your Dashboard, you can access, create, and manage all your sites.

A field available in CMS Collections. This field lets you display a date and time in a Collection and/or Collection item.

Decryption is the process of reverting encrypted data to its original format.

In programming, a deep copy is a replica of an object that doesn’t share the same references as the original. That way, if you make changes to the duplicate, the original stays the same.

To remove an element and its content from your website.

In software and web development, deployment is the process of moving code from one environment to another, usually in the form of changes or updates.

Deprecated HTML tags are old tags replaced by updated alternatives in modern web design and development.

A descendant selector is a CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) selector that targets elements nested inside a parent element.

A CSS descriptor sets specific properties and values of an at-rule (@-rule) element, dictating its appearance and behavior on a web page.

The mode that enables a designer to build in Webflow.

The main interface where you can build sites.

A breakpoint, or media query, is the width at which a website’s design and layout adjust to fit screens of different sizes. When designing in Webflow, breakpoints for smaller devices inherit styles from the base — or desktop — breakpoint by default.

Display properties operate like instructions that tell a browser how to display the different parts of a webpage. You can customize an element’s appearance and layout by changing its display property.

Display properties tell browsers how an element should behave on the page. The most common display property keyword category is display: block.

The most flexible display property in CSS is the aptly named display: flex, which allows you to create flexible layouts with elements that you can align and distribute vertically or horizontally.

The display: grid CSS property defines a website element (such as a button or header) as a grid container.

The display: inline CSS property is a display option that controls an element’s appearance and layout.

The display: inline-block CSS property defines an element’s appearance and behavior. CSS designers use this code to create website layouts.

Display: none is a CSS property that hides website elements. This code tells the document flow to ignore the element entirely, making it invisible.

Dithering is a design technique that simulates additional colors on a display to smooth transitions in images with limited color palettes.

A generic element that is typically used to group content, or when no other element is specifically or semantically suitable. Div blocks have no effect on the content or layout until styled with CSS.

The document object model is a platform- and language-neutral interface that lets programs and scripts dynamically access and update the content, structure, and style of documents.

A document type definition (DTD) defines the structure, validity, and attributes of standard generalized markup language (SGML) documents, such as GML, HTML, and XML.

A domain, or domain name, is the unique address that directs to a website on the internet.

Domain name forwarding is a process that automatically redirects visitors from your domain name to a different web address.

A Domain-Specific Language (DSL) is computer script that solves software problems in a specific domain.

You can exclude pages from being published to your site by setting them as drafts. These can be unfinished pages, internal pages such as style guides, archived pages saved for backup, etc. Learn more about drafted pages.

A dropdown, or dropdown menu, is a pre-built navigation element you can add to almost any part of a website.

To copy an element and its content, styles, and settings.

Content you create once, then publish in many different places across your website. As you update this content in the CMS, it automatically updates wherever it exists on your site, making it convenient to create and manage larger websites.

Dynamic elements are web page components that can change based on user interaction or external factors, like a live news feed, without requiring a page refresh or reload.

The toolbar that appears at the bottom of the Editor. From here, you can access the various Editor panels to manage page settings, dynamic content, forms, and your Editor account. You can also see and publish the changes you make through the Editor.

A section in the Style panel that houses CSS properties for changing how an element appears, such as its opacity, outline, and box shadows.

Elements are individual HTML components that constitute a webpage’s structure and contents.

A navigational aid that displays in the bottom of the Webflow Designer to help you keep track of the element you're interacting with in relation to its hierarchy.

The color-coded borders of elements you'll see in the Webflow Designer.

The second panel on the right side of the Designer. Here, you can change element-specific settings such as the element ID, Custom attributes, Search index settings, Editor settings, etc. You can learn more about the element settings for a specific element by searching for the element’s name on Webflow University.

An em in CSS is a scalable and relative unit of measurement that defines the size of an element relative to its parent's font size.

Email templates — or pre-designed HTML layouts — ensure consistent branding and visual aesthetic in marketing campaigns.

A Webflow component you can use to embed HTML to display external content, plugins, or applications.

Empty or void elements are HTML elements that don’t require a closing tag because they contain no content.

The state displayed when a Collection contains no Collection items, which gives you the opportunity to design for a situation where there's no content to display. Check out the Empty States blog for inspiration.

Encapsulation is an object-oriented programming (OOP) process that combines functions and the data they manipulate into a single entity.

An end user is an individual or group who directly interacts with a particular product, service, or user interface (UI), such as a website or application.

An entity is a representation of a special character that causes syntax conflicts in HTML (Hypertext Markup Language).

A downloadable ZIP file that contains your Webflow site's HTML, CSS, JS, and image files.

External links direct users to different websites and impact a site's search engine visibility and rankings.

A Facebook button is a clickable element on a website that allows users to connect to or share content on the social media platform.

A 16x16 px image that displays in browser tabs, bookmarks, and other browser areas. It's typically a simplified version of the site's logo.

A field label is descriptive text that helps users understand what information to enter in an input field on a web form.

File Transfer Protocol (FTP) allows for the transfer of files between two parties over TCP/IP-based communication channels, such as the internet.

An element contained within a parent element that has display: flex set.

A flexbox property that lets you customize the alignment behavior of flex children, based on the cross-axis of the flex container. The cross axis is the opposite of the flex-direction property, so if you set the direction to vertical, the cross axis is horizontal. Options include start, center, end, baseline, and stretch.

Flex-basis is a CSS property used in flexboxes that sets the initial size of a flex item before it grows or shrinks.

Flex-direction is a CSS property that defines the main axis and direction of flex items, dictating the arrangement of the items within a flex container.

The flex-grow CSS property defines how much an element grows relative to other flexible items inside the same flex parent.

A flexbox property that lets you customize the alignment behavior of flex children, based on the main axis of the flex container — that is, whatever you defined as the flex-direction. Options include start, center, end, baseline, and stretch.

In CSS, flex-order is a property that allows you to manipulate the default source order of the items within a flex container. Flex-order is especially useful when you want content to display differently on mobile than on desktop.

The flex-shrink CSS property defines how much an element shrinks relative to other flexible items inside the same parent element.

A flexbox property that determines the resizing behavior of flex children across viewport sizes. They can shrink, grow, or remain static.

Flexbox is a CSS layout mechanism that offers precise alignment and stacking control for the content inside an element.

The fold distinguishes the visible portion of the webpage immediately visible to users without scrolling from the remaining content viewable by scrolling down.

A folder is a subdirectory of your site's root folder for organizing web pages.

Allows you to manage your folders.

Font weight refers to the thickness or density of a typeface’s strokes.

A footer is a section at the bottom of a web page.

Footer code creates a section at the bottom of every web page that displays important information like disclaimers, copyright or contact information, and links to related documents.

Form blocks allow you to add form elements to a website, including appointment booking, surveys, applications, polls, and contact forms.

A form element that lets website visitors submit data to your form handler.

When someone sends data through one of your site's forms.

A section of the Add panel that houses form elements like inputs, checkboxes, and radio buttons.

The perfect Webflow subscription for getting started, giving you access to all Designer features, so you can start building a site right away.

The front-end refers to the visual and interactive part of a website or application that users directly interact with.

A GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) is a digital image format that uses multiple frames of an image or soundless video to create a short, looping animation.

Color gamut describes the full range of colors a device can reproduce on its display.

A unique ID you can use to link your Google Analytics account to your Webflow site.

Adding a Google site verification meta tag to your website's HTML code allows Google to verify that you own the site.

A Graphical User Interface (GUI) is a visual medium that enables visual interaction with software applications or electronic devices through elements like icons, buttons, and menus.

Gutters refer to the whitespace between content columns on a webpage.

Custom code that's added just before the closing </head> tag in your site's HTML file. Learn more about custom code in head and body tags.

A header is a section at the top of a webpage.

A heading is a text element that provides a title or headline for a section of content on a webpage. These elements guide users and search engines through your content.

A headless content management system (CMS) separates the front-end presentation layer from the back-end management layer, allowing for more flexible content delivery.

Defines how tall an element can be. This can be defined in absolute terms (pixels) or relative terms (ems, rems, percentages, viewport-height, or viewport-width).

The "height: auto" CSS property automatically adjusts an element’s height based on its content.

Help text is a user interface design element that provides additional information or guidance to users to clarify which content should go in a given Collection field.

A hit is a request to a web server from a browser for a specific resource.

The page people see when they visit your site's root domain. Read more about the homepage.

A hotlink — also known as a remote or inline link — is a hyperlink that directs to a resource, such as an image or a file, without the owner’s explicit permission.

A standard markup language that web browsers use to display websites.

Hyperlinks are clickable elements that allow users to navigate between web pages, documents, or other types of digital content.

Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) is a secure protocol facilitating encrypted exchanges of information between web browsers and servers.

You can assign element IDs from the Element settings panel in the Designer. ID selectors are useful for HTML anchors, linking to page sections, or for custom code.

An IP (Internet Protocol) address is a unique string of characters identifying devices connected to the internet.

Idempotency is a computing principle where multiple applications of a function or operation produce the same result as a single execution.