Knowledge base

The glossary

Every term we use with clients, defined plainly. Browse a subject area, jump to a letter, or search.

Browse by subject

Each area collects the concepts that belong together.

Web Development The terms that come up when we build or rebuild a website or a web application. 4 Cybersecurity How systems are attacked, and the words we use for defending them. 31 Hosting & Infrastructure Where software actually runs, and what the numbers in a hosting contract mean. 2 SEO & Marketing The vocabulary of being found — search, content and measurement. 30 Programming Languages The languages software is written in, and what each one is genuinely good at. 12 Frameworks & Platforms The toolkits built on top of a language so teams do not rewrite the same foundations every time. 6 Databases & Data Where your records actually live, and why the choice changes what the system can do. 4 Cloud & Operations How software gets shipped, run and kept alive after it is written. 5 AI & Automation What the machines are actually doing when a product says it uses AI. 4 Design & User Experience How a screen is laid out, and why some sites feel easy while others feel confusing. 0 Mobile Apps The words you meet when you build an app for a phone and put it in a store. 28 Digital Marketing Paid ads, email, offers and the numbers that tell you whether any of it worked. 29 Social Media Posts, followers, reach and the everyday words of running an account well. 0 E-commerce Systems Selling online: the cart, the checkout, the stock and everything after the order. 29 Shops & Point of Sale The counter, the barcode, the till and the stock room of a real shop. 1 Maintenance Centres Repair jobs, spare parts, warranty and getting a device back to its owner. 0 School & University Systems Students, classes, attendance, marks and fees — the software a school runs on. 0 Hospital Management Beds, admissions, departments and the file that follows a patient through a hospital. 0 Clinic Management Appointments, visits, prescriptions and payments in a small medical practice. 0 Medical Laboratories Samples, tests, reference ranges and how a result reaches the person who ordered it. 0 Radiology Centres Scans, images, reports and the systems that store and share them safely. 0 Property & Rentals Units, tenants, contracts and rent — the paperwork of property, done in software. 0 Property Developers Projects, phases, instalment plans and selling a unit that is not built yet. 0 Salons & Spas Bookings, chairs, staff commission and keeping regulars coming back. 0 Gyms & Fitness Memberships, check-ins, classes and trainers — how a gym keeps track of everyone. 0 Web Applications Software that runs in a browser and does real work — dashboards, portals and systems staff use all day. 23 Custom Software Building a system around how a business actually works, instead of changing the business to fit a product. 0 Integrations & APIs Making two systems talk to each other, so the same number does not get typed twice. 0 Payments & Billing Taking money online, sending invoices and knowing exactly who has paid and who has not. 0 ERP & Accounting One set of books behind every department, so the numbers agree at the end of the month. 0 Software Projects How a software project is scoped, priced, built and handed over — and where they usually go wrong. 0 CRM & Customer Support Keeping track of who your customers are, what they asked for, and what you promised them. 0

Where people start.

PHP PHP is a programming language that builds a web page on the server before sending it to your screen, and much of the web still works that way. Programming Languages Application Programming Interface API An API is an agreed way for one program to ask another for information or for an action, so neither program needs to know how the other works inside. Web Development C# and .NET C# and .NET are Microsoft's pair for business software, where C# is the language you write in and .NET is the toolkit that runs it. Programming Languages Dashboard A dashboard is the first screen a person sees after logging in, and a good one carries today's numbers and the decisions still waiting for an answer. Web Applications JavaScript JavaScript is the language every web browser understands on its own, which is why anything that changes on a page without reloading it is written in it. Programming Languages TypeScript TypeScript is JavaScript with labels on the data, so a mistake is caught while the code is still being written instead of after it reaches customers. Programming Languages Two-Factor Authentication 2FA Two-factor authentication is a sign-in that asks for your password and then for something you are holding, so a stolen password alone is not enough to get in. Cybersecurity Backend The backend is the part of a system you never see, where the records are kept and the rules are checked for every screen that asks. Web Applications Java Java is the programming language large organisations settled on long ago, because a program written in it keeps running even when the computers underneath it are replaced. Programming Languages Chatbot A chatbot is an automated conversation that answers your customers in writing on your website or in WhatsApp, with nobody sitting on the other end. AI & Automation CSS CSS CSS is the language that decides how a web page looks, and because it sits in its own file, one change there restyles every page at once. Web Development Native App A native app is built in the phone's own language, which makes it fast but means paying for an iPhone version and an Android version separately. Mobile Apps

All concepts, A to Z

E

E-commerce SEO E-commerce SEO is the work of making a shop's category and product pages easy to find in search, because those are the pages that bring buyers. Read the definition E-E-A-T E-E-A-T E-E-A-T is Google's short name for the experience, expertise, authority and trust that its paid raters look for on every page they judge. Read the definition Ecommerce Platform An ecommerce platform is the software behind an online shop, and its real work starts after the payment, when the sale becomes an order somebody must pack. Read the definition Email Deliverability Email deliverability is whether your message reaches the inbox instead of the spam folder, which depends on three small domain settings and on how people treat your mail. Read the definition Email Marketing Email marketing is sending useful messages to people who handed you their address themselves, so you reach them directly instead of paying a platform to show your post. Read the definition Encryption Encryption is a way of scrambling your information into nonsense, so that only the person holding the right key can read it again. Read the definition End-of-Life Software EOL End-of-life software is a program its maker has stopped repairing, so any weakness someone finds in it from that day on stays open forever. Read the definition Enterprise App Distribution Enterprise app distribution is the way a company puts its own app straight onto staff phones, without ever listing it in the public App Store or Google Play. Read the definition Ethical Hacking Ethical hacking is an attack on your own system that you asked for and paid for, so a trusted expert finds the holes before a criminal does. Read the definition

F

Fake Reviews Fake reviews are star ratings that were paid for or written by the seller, rather than left by a real customer who bought the product and used it. Read the definition Featured Snippet A featured snippet is the box Google puts above its normal results, where it shows a short answer copied straight from a page and links back to it. Read the definition Flutter Flutter is a toolkit from Google for building a single phone app that runs on both iPhone and Android instead of paying for two separate builds. Read the definition Forced Update A forced update is the screen that stops an app until the newest version is installed, because the older one can no longer work with your system. Read the definition Form Abandonment Form abandonment is what happens when someone starts filling in your quote or booking form and then closes the page before the enquiry ever reaches you. Read the definition

G

GDPR GDPR GDPR is the European law that sets out how a business may collect, keep and use the personal information of the people it serves. Read the definition Geotargeting Geotargeting is the setting that tells an ad platform to show your ads only to people inside the towns or the delivery area you can actually serve. Read the definition Git Git is the system that records every change made to a piece of software, along with who made it and why, so any change can be undone. Read the definition Go Go is a small programming language from Google, built so that one service can answer very many requests at the same time without falling over. Read the definition Google Search Console GSC Google Search Console is a free Google report that tells you which searches your site turned up in and how many people clicked through to it. Read the definition GPS Tracking GPS GPS tracking shows you where a vehicle or a member of staff is on a map, using the position their phone or tracker sends over the mobile network. Read the definition Guest Checkout Guest checkout lets a customer buy without making an account, so they pay in one step and the shop still gets the order and their contact details. Read the definition

H

Headless Commerce Headless commerce splits a shop into a selling engine and its screens, so one product list feeds the website, the phone app and the counter in the branch. Read the definition Heatmap A heatmap is a coloured picture laid over one page of your website, showing at a glance where visitors clicked and how far down they read. Read the definition How Long Does SEO Take How long SEO takes depends on your market, but in most cases the numbers start moving somewhere between the third and the sixth month. Read the definition Hreflang Hreflang is a short line of code that tells Google which language version of a page to show each visitor, so nobody lands on a page they cannot read. Read the definition HTML HTML HTML is the set of labels that tells a browser whether a piece of a page is a heading, a paragraph, a link or a field in a form. Read the definition HTTPS HTTPS is the protected version of a web address, and it scrambles everything sent between a visitor's browser and your site so nobody in between can read it. Read the definition Hybrid App A hybrid app is a phone app whose screens are mostly web pages, wrapped in a small shell so that it installs from the app store like any other. Read the definition

I

In-App Purchase IAP An in-app purchase is a payment made inside a phone app through the store's own billing, where Apple or Google keep 15 to 30 percent. Read the definition Indexing Indexing is the step where Google saves a copy of your page in the list it searches, so a page it skips can never appear in a result. Read the definition Influencer Marketing Influencer marketing is paying someone with an audience to talk about what you sell, which only works when that audience turns out to be real. Read the definition Internal Linking Internal linking is the set of links running from one page of your site to another, which is how you tell Google which of your pages matters most. Read the definition Inventory Turnover Inventory turnover is the number of times a shop sells and replaces a product in a year, so a low number means money sitting on the shelf. Read the definition Invoice Fraud Invoice fraud is a fake or altered supplier bill that gets you to pay a real amount into a bank account the criminal controls. Read the definition

J

Jailbreak and Root Detection Jailbreak and root detection is a check an app runs when it opens, to see whether the phone has had the maker's safety limits removed. Read the definition Jailbroken Device A jailbroken device is a phone whose built-in protections have been removed on purpose, which lets one app read what another app keeps private. Read the definition Java Java is the programming language large organisations settled on long ago, because a program written in it keeps running even when the computers underneath it are replaced. Read the definition JavaScript JavaScript is the language every web browser understands on its own, which is why anything that changes on a page without reloading it is written in it. Read the definition JavaScript SEO JavaScript SEO is the work of making sure Google sees your real words on a site whose pages are put together inside the browser. Read the definition Job Queue A job queue is the waiting line where a system parks heavy work, like five hundred invoices, so the screens people are using stay fast. Read the definition Journey Mapping Journey mapping is a written list of every real step a customer takes with you, in order, so you can see which step keeps going wrong. Read the definition Just-in-Time Inventory JIT Just-in-time inventory is a way of buying stock in small, frequent orders, so goods reach your shelf only a few days before you sell them. Read the definition

K

Key Account Management KAM Key account management is the habit of naming the few clients who bring in most of your money, so each one has a person looking after them. Read the definition Key Performance Indicator KPI A key performance indicator is a single number you have chosen to watch because someone on your team can actually act on it. Read the definition Keylogger A keylogger is a hidden program that records every key someone types on a computer, including the password to the company bank account. Read the definition Keyword Research Keyword research means finding the exact words your customers type into Google, so your pages can use their words instead of the ones your company uses. Read the definition Kiosk Mode Kiosk mode is a setting that locks a phone or tablet onto one app, so whoever is holding it can do the job and nothing else. Read the definition Kitting Kitting is selling several separate items together as one product with one price, such as a gift box or a starter kit for a new barber. Read the definition

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