Web Design References

Web Design Glossary

A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z

W

WAVE
The WAVE is an accessibility tool originally written by Dr. Len Kasday at Temple. It helps people perform design tasks that require human judgment (e.g. "Does this ALT text provide a functional equivalent for this image?" "Does this reading order make sense?". Visit the WAVE site for more information.
Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)
Started by W3C and its members in 1997, this initiative addresses web accessibility issues. Visit the WAI site for more information.
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)
These are the guidelines built by the W3C WAI to address issues in building accessible web pages. Visit the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 site and the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 site for more information.
Web Standards

The term Web Standards refers to the World Wide Web Consortium's (W3C) specifications and guidelines. It means the full support the W3C recommendations for XHTML, CSS, and the DOM/ECMA Script (among others like XML, SVG, and MathML). Complying with web standards is using these technologies according to W3C specifications.

Most assistive and adaptive technologies are based on W3C standards. Error-free, well-formed, standards-compliant HTML is the foundation of an accessible Web site. Standards compliance is an essential ingredient for a higher level of accessibility, portability platform independence, conversion to XML, reusablity and forward compatibility. In itself following web standards, does not guarantee that a page is semantically meaningful, structurally sound, or accessible.

Standard and valid (X)HTML and CSS is the base to start from. Semantically rich, well structured, accessible documents that validate are the goal. Following standards, especially in terms of creating structured, valid markup and removing presentational elements and attributes makes a document inherently more accessible. The future of the web as laid out by the World Wide Web Consortium is based on two underlying concepts. These rwo concepts are the heart of Web Standards. They are:

  1. Separating content and presentation.
  2. Semantically meaningful markup (Good document structure).
    For more information visit The Web Standards Project's Frequently Asked Questions.
Website
A website is a related group of web pages published on the World Wide Web.
Well-Formed
A well formed XML document follows the rules set forth by the XML specification, including having all tags closed, all attributes quoted, a XML declaration, correct comments etc.
White Space
White space, also known as negative space, is the open space between visual elements on a web page. The term describes the unused areas. White space gives the eye rest. Cluttered designs hinder clarity and tire the eye. Judicial placement of white space can emphasis page elements and help to direct the eye. You shouldn't use HTML to create whitespace. Use cascading style sheets for this purpose.
While Structure
In programming, a while structure continues to loop while an expression is true. It evaluates a Boolean expression. If the expression is false, the code inside the braces is skipped over. If true, the code within the braces is executed. When the close brace } is reached, the test condition is reevaluated, and if it evaluates to true, the code in the loop is re-executed. This continues until the condition is met. Note that the condition is only tested at the beginning of each iteration, so even if the truth of the condition changes during the middle of the code block, the code will be executed to the end.
Wireless Application Protocol (WAP)
A specification that allows users to access information via wireless handheld devices. These devices usually have small screens.
Wireframe
A wireframe is a skeleton version of a website that depicts navigational concepts and page content. It is a set of cross-linked pages that acts like a functional prototype of the final website without the graphics. A wirefraame often has only sketchy text content. It is often accompanied by a tree diagram or flowchart of the website. It doesn't take into account visual design or page layout. For more information see: Wireframes.
World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)
An international consortium of companies and organizations involved with the Internet and the World Wide Web, responsible for maintaining web technology standards, such as HTML and CSS. It was "created in October 1994, to lead the World Wide Web to its full potential by developing common protocols that promote its evolution and ensure its interoperability." Visit the W3C site for more information.