Glossary

A registrar, or domain name server (DNS) registrar, manages the sale of domain names and the assignment of IP addresses, ensuring each domain’s uniqueness.

You can set any Collection field as "Required," which means that a value must be added to that field in the Collection item before it can be published. The only Collection field that cannot be made required is the Switch field.

Resolution is a metric measuring clarity and detail through the number of pixels displayed on a screen or used to render an image.

The Resource Description Framework (RDF) is a standardized framework developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) that facilitates automated data exchange between web systems and applications.

Responsive web design (RWD) is a web development and design approach to create websites, applications, and user interfaces (UIs) that display and function effectively on any device or screen size.

Return on investment (ROI) is a metric evaluating the profitability or gain of a venture.

Allows you to create and format headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, images, and video all in one place instead of having to add and format them individually.

A rich text field is an input tool for formatting or applying text styles, such as bold, colors, font sizes, italics, underline, and other visual modifications.

Right margin is a CSS property that defines the space between the right edge of an element and its surroundings.

The inside spacing between the right border of an element and the elements inside it.

The far right vertical panel in the Designer that houses the Style panel, Element settings panel, Style manager panel, and Interactions panel.

A robots.txt file instructs search engine crawlers which webpages and sections they can or can't crawl and index.

Mid-September 2019, new European requirements for authenticating online payments were introduced in Europe as part of the second Payment Services Directive (PSD2). The Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) requirements apply to businesses in the European Economic Area (EEA) that accept online card payments from cardholders whose banks are also located in the EEA.Webflow Ecommerce payments are PSD2 and SCA compliant (i.e., support 3D Secure payments) for European customers.If you’re a merchant in the European Economic Area (EEA), all you need to do to ensure that your Webflow Ecommerce store is PSD2 and SCA compliant for your European customers is to republish your store if it wasn’t published on or after September 11, 2019. Read more about how to make your ecommerce store compliant in our Payment gateway article.

SSL (secure socket layer) is the standard method for establishing an encrypted link between a web server and a browser.

SSL CDN, or Secure Sockets Layer Content Delivery Network, is an option that allows you to serve your images over your own CDN service while using SSL.

Scalable Vector Graphics, or SVG, is a file format for displaying scalable vector graphics on the web.

Software as a Service (SaaS) is a cloud-based approach to delivering software on a subscription basis without requiring local installation.

"Safe" is a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) method that doesn't modify the server's state or resources.

The Designer automatically saves your progress every 10 seconds.

The ability to manually save a version of your site that you can restore at a later date using the keyboard shortcut Command + Shift + S (on Mac) or Control + Shift + S (on Windows).‍

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a collection of strategies to enhance a website’s ranking and visibility on search engines.

A second-level domain (SLD) is the part of a domain name that precedes a top-level domain (TLD).

A section is an element of design layout that divides a web page into visually distinct segments.

A form element that allows you to make a selection in a dropdown list.

A selector identifies and selects specific HTML elements to apply CSS styles to.

A pseudo-class that allows you to change the styles of an element when it is hovered, pressed, or focused.

Semantics accurately represent the structure and purpose of content in computer languages, enabling web developers and programmers to ensure the written code produces an output legible to humans and machines.

Serialization is the process of converting data into an optimized format for storage, transmission, and sharing.

Shared Workspace templates are templates made from your own sites. They can help you create sites with similar layouts and increase your efficiency when designing. Your Workspace members will also have access to your shared Workspace template(s).

A shim is a code snippet enabling modern web features to function within older programming or browsing environments.

An element that shares the same parent of another element.

A sidebar, typically positioned on the left or right side of a website or app, is a vertical component that contains supplemental information to enrich a webpage’s primary content.

Single Instruction and Single Data Stream (SISD) is a computer architecture where a central processing unit (CPU) executes one instruction at a time on a single data piece.

What you create in Webflow! You can publish sites to a webflow.io staging subdomain for free, export the code on a paid plan, add hosting on any paid plan, or add a Site plan to any site to connect your custom domain and unlock hosting features.

A Webflow plan that you can add/apply to individual sites. You’ll receive access to different site and hosting features based on your Site plan.

The location your sitemap is stored in relation to your site, and what’s used when submitting your sitemap to search engines.

A slider is an interactive design element for scrolling through images, videos, and other multimedia content.

A slug, also known as a URL slug or a website slug, is descriptive text that appears at the end of a URL and identifies a web page.

A smoke test, also called build verification testing or confidence testing, is a preliminary examination to determine the basic functionality of a software, website, or application.

You can sort your Collection items in multiple ways — select the field from the Collection you wish to filter from, then select the ordering option.

The span tag is used to style inline-text.

The dropdown menu to the right of the Selector field that allows you to access and change the styles of an element when it is hovered, pressed, or focused.

Static content is content that’s not bound to any Collections or dynamic elements.

A static page is a document with fixed content that makes up an individual web page on your site.

The <strong> element defines important text with added semantic importance.

Structured Query Language (SQL) is a programming language that enables storing, retrieving, and manipulating information in a relational database.

The third tab in the right-side panel where you can rename element classes, preview your class and tag styles, search for classes and tags, and delete any classes that aren’t in use.

The first tab in the right-side panel that allows you to assign classes to elements and style them.

The part of a domain that comes before the root domain (e.g., blog.yourwebsite.com is a subdomain whereas yourwebsite.com is the root domain).

When a search engine crawls your site's Webflow subdomain (e.g., your-site.webflow.io).

Available in CMS Collections. This field offers you a powerful filtering tool for Collection items. For example, you could create a switch labeled "Featured?" for Blog Posts, and then switch on the toggle to showcase particular posts.

Synchronous programming refers to sequentially executed operations.

Syntax is the name for the rules specifying a programming language's structure and formatting.

Syntax error refers to a mistake in code that violates the programming language’s rules and prevents the code from executing correctly.

A Webflow canvas setting for creating styles that affect viewports with a minimum width of 768px and a maximum width of 990px. Also known as the tablet media query.

A Webflow component that displays a pane of content associated with a tab menu button.

A Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) tag is a code snippet that defines and describes the structure and content of web pages.

The currently selected element.

A form element that allows site visitors to enter multi-line data.

A typography element that is used when no other element is specifically suitable.

A typography element that is used to link to other pages or sections of a webpage.

Top margin is a CSS property that defines the space between the top edge of an element and its surroundings, such as other elements, the browser window, or the edge of a container.

Top of the funnel (TOFU) refers to the initial marketing funnel stage where potential customers become aware of a brand’s existence.

The inside spacing between the top border of an element and the elements inside it.

The amount of times a site visitor submits data using your site's form(s).

The amount of pages your site currently has.

The total weight of your site's HTML, CSS, JS, and images.

Traffic, or web traffic, refers to the number of users who visit a website over a period of time.

You can transfer sites from one Workspace to another Workspace.

The fastest way to learn how to use Webflow.

A Webflow element that embeds a Twitter Follow or Tweet button into your site.

A section in the Add panel that houses typography elements such as headings and paragraphs.

A section in the Style panel that houses CSS properties related to how typography is displayed such as font, font size and height, and align.

The UI state changes how Collection lists display when you’re designing. The Items state is the default option, and shows the items that you have within the Collection. The Empty state doesn’t show these items and gives the designer the opportunity to design for a circumstance if/when there is no data to be displayed in the Collection list.

A Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) is a string of characters identifying an online resource.

A Uniform Resource Locator (URL) is a standardized web address format that allows users to identify and access an online resource.

URL redirect, or URL forwarding, is a web server function that automatically sends users from one web address to another.

Form submission notifications that have no reference to Webflow (e.g., notifications sent from “no-reply@webforms.io” instead of “no-reply@webflow.com”).

To move backward one step while making changes to a Webflow site.

A change that has been made in the Webflow Editor but will not appear on the live website until it’s published. You can track any unpublished changes on the bottom right of the Editor toolbar.

Urgency is a marketing term and psychological trigger that incites potential customers and website visitors to act swiftly.

A user interface (UI) is any visual element humans interact with on a device, webpage, or application.

The ID used to log into your Webflow account.

Utility pages are default, customizable templates for your site’s 404 page, Password page, and Search results page.

A valid CSS pseudo-class is a keyword that enables styling HTML elements based on their state or position in the document structure or web page.

A Webflow element that displays externally hosted videos such as YouTube and Vimeo.

Available in CMS Collections. You can add videos via a link — not an embed code — from an online video host like Vimeo or YouTube. Just paste in the video link and it’ll appear in the native video format from the 3rd-party video player.

The Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) is a World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) project to enhance accessibility for users with disabilities.

A web server is a computer program or hardware device that delivers web content to clients using HTTP. It handles client requests for web pages, images, and videos.

A 256 x 256 px image associated with your website that shows up when your website link is saved to an iPhone home screen.

Webflow's content management system (CMS) is where dynamic content (Collections and their Collection items) is stored and maintained so you can reference it throughout your site. A CMS lets you input data in one location, then use Collection template pages or Collection lists to display that content without having to update the content displays one at a time.

Webflow's visual content editor. You can access it through the Webflow Dashboard by clicking the “3 disclosure dots” on a site thumbnail, then clicking “Editor.” Guest editors can access it anywhere on their live site by adding ?edit after the page URL (e.g., yoursite.com/page/?edit).

The place to go when you need help using Webflow.

A visible "Made in Webflow" badge displayed in the bottom right corner of Webflow sites on Starter plans.

A visible “Made in Webflow” badge displayed in the bottom right corner of Webflow sites. Webflow branding also appears in the site’s HTML. Learn more about Webflow branding.

The place to go when you need help with your site's design, custom code, etc. Visit the forum.

A website name, or domain, is the title of a website that appears in the browser tab and search engine results.

A widget is an interactive element embedded in a user interface that facilitates specific user actions or displays important information at a glance.

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

The way browsers calculate an element's width automatically where Block level elements fill the available space of its parent and Inline elements shrink to the size of its children/content.