Jargon Buster

Alt Text is an abbreviation for for 'alternative text', which is a written description of an image used if the image can not be displayed or seen for any reason. You will be prompted to enter "Alt Text" when adding images to your page. Alt text is important for visually impaired visitors.

All non-text content that is presented to a visitor should have a text alternative that serves the equivalent purpose. Many visually impaired users will have screen reader software that will read out the contents of the Alt Text.

If you are unsure what to write in the "Alt Text" box, imagine you are audibly describing the image to a friend over the phone. Your description should be accurate, relevant and concise.

Everything in Squiz Matrix is an asset. You can think of an asset as a thing or an object: anything you have uploaded or created in Squiz Matrix will be an asset.

Find out more: Assets

Every asset has a status: Live, Under Construction etc.

Every asset status has a different colour. The status of the asset determines who will be able to see it on the live website. If you want an asset to be seen on the live site you will need to ensure it has a "Live" status.

Find out more: Asset Status

The Asset Tree is frequently used tool that allows you to quickly select and navigate between assets.

Find out more: The Asset Tree

CMS stands for Content Management System and is a piece of computer software that allows collaborative publishing and editing of content online.

The CMS we use is called Matrix, which is developed by a company called Squiz.

Find out more: http://www.squiz.net

CSS, Cascading Style Sheets, is a language used to style webpages and web content.

Learn more here: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Learn/Getting_started_with_the_web/CSS_basics

HTML, or HyperText Markup Language is the computer language commonly used in the creation of websites.

Find out more: http://www.htmlgoodies.com/primers/html/article.php/3478141/Basic-HTML-Introduction.htm

A Hyperlink or simply a Link is how documents are connected online.

As the name suggests, Hyperlinks are used to link things together. You can add a hyperlink to text or an image, clicking on that text or image will then take visitors to the place you have specified.

You can add hyperlinks to your own pages, and to external pages.

For example clicking here will take you to the home page of the manual, clicking here will take you to Google.

Find out more: https://www.w3schools.com/html/html_links.asp

Preview Mode allows you to see exactly what your page will look like on the website before you publish it. You can then quickly made amendments if necessary before it goes live on the website.

Find out more: Admin mode

Squiz are the company that built the software powering this website.

Matrix is the software we use, while the Admin Interface is the editing tool web editors use to create and edit their pages.

Find out more: http://www.squiz.net

A Standard Page asset is the type of asset you create to add a new page to your site. It is a blank canvas within your section of the website allowing you add your own text, images and hyperlinks.

Every time you add a new page to your federation or WI you will start by creating a Standard Page asset.

A URL, or a Uniform Resource Locator is the address of a web page (a web address).

Each page, image and file on the internet will have its own unique URL.

Find out more: https://www.verisign.com/en_US/domain-names/online/what-is-a-url/index.xhtml

A Web Browser is the software on your computer, tablet, phone etc. that allows you to visit and interact with websites.

Common web browsers include Microsoft Edge, Chrome, Firefox and Safari.

Workflow is the approval process a WI web editors assets go through before being made live in the system. Federation web editors will check the changes have been made to an asset, and offer advice as necessary.

In order to edit an existing asset, a WI web editor needs to change the status to "Safe Edit". Once the editing is finished, a WI web editor needs to start the approval process by selecting "Apply for Approval" in the "Status" field on the "Details" screen of the asset.

This also applies to newly created assets with a status of "Under Construction".

For federation web editors, Workflow involves receiving automated emails from the system once a WI web editor has submitted a change, and accepting or approving via an assets "Workflow" screen as appropriate.

Find out more: Workflow

WYSIWYG stands for What You See Is What You Get.

If you have used a word processor (such as Microsoft Word) before you will have worked with a WYSIWYG editor.

When you edit a Microsoft Word document, the content on your computer closely replicates the final printed product. What you see on your screen is what you expect to get when you pick up your document from your printer.

The same is true online. What you see in the editing interface as you are creating your pages should be what you get once you have published your pages online.