Annual turnover
Money value in sales over a year; how a business judges its success.
Glossary
A
B
Banners
Headlines across a web page.
Biopic
Video about someone’s life, such as a pop musician.
Brief
Instructions from a client to a firm like the Agency about a project. It can be delivered during a meeting or as a written document, setting out what the client wants.
C
CMS
This stands for content management system, its function is to manage what’s on a website (words, pictures, animation and so on).
Compilation showreel
A demo video, with short clips to show different aspects of a performer or organization.
Compressed
This means ‘made smaller’ – electronic files are compressed so they take up less room.
Creative licence
This means being able to use your imagination freely to create something new, by perhaps adding some fictional background to liven up a few bare facts.
Critical path
A sequence of tasks showing the order in which they must be done to get a project finished in the shortest time possible, a bit like a line on a maths graph.
D
Delivery milestones
Stages in a project when key elements have to be delivered – the expression comes from the milestones on a road showing distances between places.
Dependencies
Parts of a project that can’t be done without another part being done first. For example, you can’t get from stage A to stage C without stage B being done.
Development server
This is an area on the company’s computer network where ‘Work in Progress’ is kept, sometimes clients can be give access to this to view work.
F
Flash
Commercial computer software that enables animation and other technologies to work easily on a computer, and on websites.
Frames
Outdated HTML markup that isn't really used very much any more.
G
Gantt chart
A bar chart that shows a project schedule.
H
HTML
This stands for HyperText Mark-up Language used to build websites.
K
Kick-off
The start of a project. Just as a kick-off starts a football match.
Kick-off Meeting
At a kick-off meeting there is usually a first exchange of ideas when the team decides how a new project is going to take shape, following the brief from the client.
L
Look and feel
This usually describes how the website will look including colours, layouts and fonts. It might also describe the types of buttons, boxes and menus the site has.
M
Milestones
Important stages along the way in a project schedule. For example: sign-off of the design by the client.
Mood boards
Preliminary designs for a new website, using colours, images and frame layouts to create a project-mood. The aim is to use the mood boards to see which styles suit a project best, and fix the one that will be built.
N
O
Outcomes
The results. What are you trying to achieve?
P
Pending any changes
The client will undoubtedly have last minute changes.
Production plan
Overall plan showing start and finish dates, actions in stages, and costs.
Project plan
Plan made by the producer to show what each team member does and how it fits into the project, with milestones.
R
Requirements
What is needed or required, what the client asks for when commissioning a new project.
S
Search engines
Software programs which find and retrieve information from the Internet, such as Google.
Showreel
See compilation showreel.
Storyboard
Synopsis or outline with sketches to show the sequence of images and action in a website, commercial, TV show or film. The creative team use the storyboard as their plan.
U
Upload
To send data from one computer to a bigger media system.
User testing
Market research, trying out a new product such as a website on a small group of people, asking them to say how they like it, maybe asking questions and evaluating their responses.
W
Wire Frames
Wireframes are a 2 dimensional description of the website where navigation, design and content are refined. It could also include a flow chart and site map to show the structure and flow of the site.