Webspeak for Beginners

Here’s a little guide to demystifying common phrases and words that you might encounter in your quest to learn more about web design.

Top-level Navigation – These are the elements that appear in the highest-level menu on a website, often at the very top of the homepage, that help users easily navigate a site. Common top-level navigation items might include About, Contact, Products or Services.

Above/Below the Fold – Anything above the fold is what you see immediately upon arriving at a website—it’s like the front page of a newspaper before it’s unfolded. Anything below the fold is information you must scroll down the page to see. 

Copy – This describes any text on a website, whether it's a heading, a blurb, a description or a testimonial. 

CTA – The CTA (Call to Action) is the behavior that you want your audience to engage in. For example, if you want users to sign up for a newsletter, your CTA will nudge users towards a sign-up module or button.