Glossary of Terms for
Art, Books, Computers, Therapy, Writing

Your best source for taking the confusion out of technical terms — from KD Did It. This glossary of computer, art, and therapy terminology is designed to give artists a quick definition — and examples of HTML/CSS code as well as links where you can find more information.

If you’re looking for a computer or art term that is not listed in the Glossary of Terms Relating to Art, Computers, Therapy ++, please email Kathy.

A

Accessibility

Disability Access, Legal

Required for users who are disabled in some way and are not able to use a website easily or at all

Some of the considerations a website designer must consider includes:

Include alt="..." text and labels so that screenreading software can voice information for a seeing-impaired person
Provide a good color contrast
- One example is color blindness which is experienced by some 5-20% of men and less than 1% of women
- There is a website, Colorblind Web Page Filter, which will test your page for its contrast effectiveness
Make your text size big enough — and don’t make your smallest font size too small!
Enable flexible sizing of your font size
Provide information using links or labels for acronyms and abbreviations
Create intuitive navigation making it simple for users to move around in the website

Active Voice

Writing

The opposite of active voice is passive voice

The subject performs the action denoted by the verb.

For example:

Mary mailed the letter.
The guy must have eaten five pies!
Vampires tossed large chunks of asphalt into the air.

Address

Computers

Path that a browser or computer follows to find a file

For example:

A computer file address might read:
- On a PC: ..\MyDocuments\MyWebs\kddidit\images\originals\bkgrdNavFooter.jpg, or
- On a Mac: HD:Users:kathydavie:Documents:MyWebs:kdDidIt: images:originals:bkgrdNavFooter.jpg
A web address might read: http://www.w3.org/
- If any part of this path is wrong, the file will not be found

Afterword

Writing

Written by someone other than the author of the book, generally as an ending, commentary, or some sort of final comments (Live Write Thrive)

.AI

Computers, Graphics, Typography

Adobe Illustrator image file

Uses vector graphics

Allegory

An allegory is a work of fiction in which the symbols, characters, and events come to represent, in a somewhat point-by-point fashion, a different metaphysical, political, or social situation. In Western culture, allegories have often been used for instructive purposes around Christian themes. For example, in John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, a protagonist named Christian goes on a journey in which he encounters complicating characters and situations such as Mr. Worldly Wiseman, Vanity Fair, and the Slough of Despair, thus depicting the struggles of a Christian trying to stay pure. In some ways Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Young Goodman Brown is structured as an allegory, as is evident in the character Faith, the Devil offering his snake-like staff, the temptation scene, and so on. Hawthorne skillfully manipulates the conventions of allegory, however, to resist a fixed meaning and create an ending that is open to interpretation (Virtual Lit).

Foster states that an allegory can evolve from a symbol once it is “reduced to standing for only one thing” with but one mission to accomplish. It must be clear. He cites George Orwell’s Animal Farm as an allegory that is simple to figure out (Foster, pp 105).

B

Backlist

Books, Marketing, Publishing

All the books published over the years by a publishing company that have found a permanent audience, no matter how small. The best backlist books have a permanent spot on bookstore shelves, which whenever the store runs out of them, the same book gets re-ordered (Joel Friedlander).

Backlist, social media

Books, Marketing

This is about a blog’s article archives and includes foundation content, evergreen articles, process overviews, resource directories, and best practices (Joel Friedlander)

Although blog articles don’t have to prove themselves in the market the same way a book does, they have some of the same characteristics of great backlist books. Some kinds of articles that fall into this category include:

Foundation content: articles that explain basic concepts will be in demand as long as those concepts are relevant to your readers
- Word Confusions, definitions, grammar, Track Changes
Evergreen articles: software changes constantly, but general principles rarely change, and people always want to understand them
- Checklists for authors to have
Process overviews: quick-reference summaries of basic processes in your field are great to orient new readers to your topic
- Track changes??
Resource directories: readers will always need tips on where to find tools, vendors, and other necessities
- Resources for Writers
Best practices: whittling down the number of choices beginners face to just a few appropriate options will be helpful to many people
- Being consistent
- Making your own checklist of words to pay attention to

Bar code

Books, Marketing, Publishing

A bar code is the graphic with vertical lines that encodes numerical information for scanning purposes. It’s used by warehouses to track their shipments and inventory as well as by the bookstore when selling your book to a buyer.

The U.S. standard is the EAN Bookland barcode using an Encapsulated PostScript Format (EPS) graphic image. Check out Joel Friedlander’s post on “Self-Publishing Basics: Deciphering the Bookland EAN Bar Code“. It’s funny and informative.

You must have an ISBN before you can get a barcode and if you are planning to add the MSRP (manufacturer’s (you) suggested retail price), you MUST be firm about the price at which you want to sell your story (you can always put it on sale at a discount!). You can skip adding the price, and then you won’t have to buy another barcode if you decide to change the price later.

Barcodes can be purchased through a variety of sources: your book designer, printing company, MyIdentifiers (a Bowker unit; stores it in your account and can be downloaded from there), or your own source.

Once a barcode is made, it cannot be revised. If you want to change the price of an item, you must purchase a new bar code. However, you can use the same ISBN as long as the product and price have not changed.M

Bitmap graphics

Graphics

Also known as “raster graphics”

Used by paint programs

Not easily scalable; can look fuzzy

Uses dots to compose the image (see “resolution)

.BMP

Graphics

Bitmap

File format used for digital images

One bit per pixel

Uncompressed (saves as huge files)

Bookplate

Books, Marketing

A.k.a., ex libris, meaning from the library of

Placed inside the front cover of a book to denote the owner

Bot

Computers, Internet

A.k.a., robot

A program used on the Internet to perform mindless, automated tasks such as web crawling, searching for people’s email addresses so they can send spam to them

Usually includes its URL and/or an email address so the bot’s operator can be found by a webmaster

A benign example is a spider which reads pages on websites and indexes the words used on that website. These words become keywords.

Bounce rates, hard or soft

Marketing

Email marketing metrics

A bounce is when an email can’t be delivered:

Hard – can’t be delivered for permanent reasons, such as it’s a fake address, the email domain isn’t real, the recipient’s server won’t accept emails. Remove this email from your address list to retain your sender reputation.
Soft – can’t be delivered for temporary reasons, such as a full inbox, email file is too big, etc. If that address keeps popping up for several days that it can’t be delivered, delete it.

It’s important “try to keep your total bounce rate under 2% — much higher than that, and you’ll start noticing some deliverability issues (HubSpot).

Broadside

Original term for a landscape-oriented page

Browser

Computers, Internet

A software program which enables you to access the Internet

Some of the more popular browsers include Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, Mozilla’s Firefox, Apple's Safari, and Opera.

They are all free

Burnish

Art

Rubbing or polishing with a tool to:

Make a surface smooth
Turn an edge and flatten it
Transfer a product onto a surface
Make a surface shiny or lustrous

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Button States

CSS, HTML, Websites

Refers to the appearance of a “button” link on a website

A “button” may have up to four different looks depending on:

if it is a link
if it has been "pushed" by clicking with a mouse
if it has used to indicate the user's location in the website, or
if it has previously been clicked by the user

Different programs and/or web designers use different terms to refer to the same states:

*Adobe Dreamweaver* uses:**
Down	Button appears to have been pressed
Out, a.k.a., “up”	Appears when page is first loaded
Off	Button does not function
Over, a.k.a., “on” or “hover”	Changes appearance when a viewer moves his/her mouse over it
Over While Down	Allows the button to look pressed and still change its appearance when the viewer “hovers” over it
*Adobe Flash* uses:**
Up	Appearance of the button when the mouse is not over it
Over, a.k.a., “hover”
Down	Button's appearance when the viewer clicks on it
Hit	Defines the area that will respond to a mouse click Without a “hit” area, the viewer must click on the actual letter in the text

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C

Call-to-action

Marketing

CTA

Encouraging viewers and potential buyers to follow through and spend their money or sign up for something by using text and links

Converting leads into sales

Typical language includes register, download, subscribe, enroll, buy, get, follow, share, update, tweet, sign up, start, contact, watch, etc.

Camera-ready artwork

Graphics

Crisp, black-and-white printout of desired image

Image must be saved as:

If using Adobe Illustrator:
- Save as either an EPS or an AI file
If using Adobe Photoshop:
- Save with an EPS file extension
- Only as a 4-color graphic process
- Use CMYK color format
- Type must be in vector format
At the desired, final size
- Use an 800 dpi resolution
Convert all text and graphics to outlines or paths

CAPTCHA

Computers, Internet, Security

Small box of really weird text that a user has to type into to prove that s/he is a human so the site can avoid spam bots, etc. You can’t provide a text alternative as it would make the CAPTCHA accessible to a spam bot so you need”text that describes the purpose of the CAPTCHA and [provide] alternate forms usng different modalities…to address the needs of people with different disabilities” (Non-Text).

.CDR

Graphics

File format used by CorelDRAW, a digital image processing software program

File format used for digital images

Good software program but rarely used due to the difficulty in sharing its files across software programs

Certificate authority

Computers, Security, Websites

Company authorized to provide digital signatures

VeriSign is considered a very reliable and reputable source

CGI

Programming, Viewer Interaction, Websites

Computer Graphic Interface

Requires server-side interaction

Character development

Writing

Two primary characters exist in every fictional story: the protagonist and the antagonist

Protagonist is the hero/heroine, the story’s main character
Antagonist is the anti-hero, the character or force in conflict with the protagonist

Main characters need to be well-rounded, complex and fully developed with the capacity to change; ideally, they engage the reader (Virtual Lit)

Character arc

Writing

Character growth or change

The internal change that a character undergoes over the course of a story is called the character arc. At the beginning, he views himself and the world one way, but through growth and inner transformation, he comes to view his life on a deeper, more meaningful level. – Becca Puglisi

Child

CSS, HTML, Websites

Relates to classes assigned to selectors in CSS coding

In CSS, it is possible to create “classes”, sub-categories of a selector such as ul.footer. The selector is ul and the child class is .footer (I generally use ul.footer to set up my footer menu).

Using a child/class, allows you to change only those property:values of the parent selector that you choose.

selector
ul.footer	{	font-size	:	0.85em;}
parent . child		property		value
		declar		ation

Children

The age ranges for children vary even more than for teens and are more dependent upon the individual child’s reading development level. Ideally, a reader shouldn’t read too much into the age range but explore books outside the indicated age ranges for their child. That said, the age ranges noted below are a useful general guide.

Babies and Toddlers – 0–2
Ages 3–25
Ages 6–29
Middle grade – 8–212

Young Adult is the next age range up.

Class

CSS, HTML, Websites

A.k.a., child

Label for CSS coding which modifies a selector

Client-side

Programming, Websites

Code or script which does not require the web host’s server

Uses the viewer’s computer to “chat back and forth”

D

Declaration

CSS, HTML, Websites

Label for the property:value portion of the CSS element code

p {	font-size	:	1em	;}
selector {	property	:	value	;}
	declar		ation

Deprecated

CSS, HTML, Websites

An element or attribute that has become updated and may become obsolete with future updated browsers.

As future browser versions are released, there is less and less support for deprecated elements which means parts of your website won’t work.

Detail shot

Art, Graphics

Close-up image of a small, interesting detail of an individual “art piece”

Diacritic marks

Editing, Writing

Diacritic marks are the accents, graves, cedillas, umlauts, over dots, under dots, and more that can be found on all sorts of letters. I’ve got a few of the basics memorized, but there are many that I rarely encounter or are impossible to find, so I’ve made up my own collection — that keeps getting added to!

Examples include déjà, café, résumé, Françoise, bitte schön, Sûreté…

If you find a need for an obscure diacritic, visit Chart of Diacritical Marks on KD Did It.

Dialect

Writing

Dialect is how they structure their sentences and the words or idioms they choose to use.

To explore more, check out the Grammar Explanation on “Dialect“.

Dialogue

Writing

Dialogue is the formatting of what a character is saying, texting, or writing.

It is a critical component of a story as it allows characters to communicate with each other and with the reader.

This post on “Dialogue” is concerned with the mechanics of dialog. How to punctuate conversations of any sort, convey character emotions, AND keep the reader subconsciously informed as to who is speaking.

Diction

Writing

Author’s choice of words

Diction is a literary device and involves the choice and use of words and phrases in speech or writing and how it affects dialect.

Download

Computers, Websites

Transfer files, images, words, programs, etc. from the Internet to your computer

Also see “Upload“

dpi

Graphics, Typography

Dots per inch

Measure of the printer’s density of dot (e.g. ink droplet) placement

E

Element

CSS, HTML, Websites

In CSS, selectors, the chunks of code you create, are elements.

In HTML, an element consists of a start tag, content, and an end tag — styling an element: paragraph <p>, lists <ul>/<ol>, tables <table>, headings <h1>, to name just a few.

<p>	Then the content slips in here.	</p>
<td>	Then the content slips in here.	</td>
<Start tag>	Content (your contribution)	</End tag>

Embedding

CSS, HTML, Websites

Now deprecated in HTML 4.0 and replaced by <object>

However, it’s not yet fully supported by all browsers (as of June 2010)

Epigraph

Book Layout, Writing

Short quotation at the start of a chapter or a section

Regarding fair use of musical lyrics, consult the It is up to the song’s publisher the actual songwriter to defend and protect those rights

Regarding fair use of poetry in an epigraph, consult the Poetry Foundation. Be sure to include a credit to the poet and the poem’s title.

Epilogue

Writing

C.S. Lakin at Live Write Thrive provides a great definition: “summarizes and reflects on the story as a whole. It isn’t the ‘ending’ of the novel’s plot. A true epilogue will feel different from the rest of the novel, and may be presented as if years later, with a character reflecting back on the whole story or telling how things turned out for all the players. The kind of thing we see often in plays, where a character sums everything up (think The Tempest or A Midsummer Night’s Dream)” (Live Write Thrive).

.EPS

Graphics

Encapsulated Postscript Format

File format used for digital images

Used to store vector images so applications that work with Postscript can read or edit them

F

Fair Use

Section 107 also sets out four factors to be considered in determining whether or not a particular use is fair:

The purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes
The nature of the copyrighted work
The amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole
The effect of the use upon the potential market for, or value of, the copyrighted work
The distinction between what is fair use and what is infringement in a particular case will not always be clear or easily defined

There is no specific number of words, lines, or notes that may safely be taken without permission.

Acknowledging the source of the copyrighted material does not substitute for obtaining permission (Library of Congress: Fair Use).

Faux column

CSS, HTML, Websites

Tiling does not work in a confined section of a webpage so if you are using a particular image or color in a sidebar and that sidebar’s height varies depending on a page’s contents, you want to use a faux column effect

A good example is the sidebars on this glossary page versus the sidebars on the Home page

File

Computers

In computerese, a “file” is a document, image, graph, webpage, etc. that is saved on a computer

In this instance, a “file” is the webpage you saved under your root folder, or an image you saved under your images folder, or…

File compression

Compression, Computers, Graphics

Used primarily for graphic images. Graphic images can be so big that they cannot be sent via email. By using a file compression format, you can “squeeze” the file into a smaller size.

In Adobe Photoshop, a graphic file can be compressed by choosing File > Save for Web & Devices

Macintosh and Windows use a variety of different file compression programs. The most popular are:

StuffIt Expander (Macintosh)
WinZip (Windows)

File extension

Computers

3- or 4-letters that follow a computer file name, for example:

.doc / .pdf / .tif / .jpg
- My story.doc
- dog.bmp
.jpeg / .tiff / .html

Useful for the user as it indicates the software program used to save the file

ALWAYS preceded by a period

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Folder

Computers, Organization

A “folder” is capable of holding multiple file(s)

It can also hold multiple folders

Ideal for organizing the hard drive on your computer

A root folder is another type of “folder”

Forward(ing)

Websites

A service provided by the company which registers your domain name

The registering company may provide a hosting service which you choose not to use so when a user types in your web address, their inquiry must be “forwarded” to where your web site is being hosted

Foreword

Writing

Written by someone other than the author of the book, generally as an introduction, commentary, or some sort of prefatory comments (Live Write Thrive)

Read more in the Word Confusion post, “Foreword versus Forward“.

FTP

Websites

File Transfer Protocol

A process by which files are up- or downloaded to the Internet

G

Galley

Editing, Publishing

See ARC

Genre

A genre is a category of literature, characterized by similarities in form, style, or subject matter.

Check out the post on “Writing & Reading: Genres” for even more detail.

Genres include:

Fantasy
- Paranormal
- Urban Fantasy
Fiction
- Chick Lit
- Literature
History
Horror
Military
Mystery
- Amateur Sleuth
- Cozies
- Crime
- Detective
- Historical Mystery
- Police Procedural
- Private Investigator
New Adult
Romance
- Romance Sub-genres:
  - Contemporary
  - Historical Romance
  - Inspirational Romance
  - Paranormal Romance
  - Romantic Suspense
  - Young Adult Romance
- Sexual Distinctions of the Romance Genre:
  - Erotic Romance
  - Erotica
  - Porn
  - Sexy Romance
Science Fiction
- Alternate Planes of Existence
- Alternate Timeline
- Dystopian
- Parallel World/Universe
- Space Opera
- Steampunk
Suspense
Thriller

.GIF

Graphics

Graphics Interchange Format

File format used for digital images

Designed to compress images to make them as small as possible using lossless compression

Internally compressed bitmap

Best for Internet use where quality is not an issue and you need a small file size

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Global changes

Programming, Websites

Change information in one file and it applies that change to every page in the website when you save and upload that file to your website

Glossies

Graphics

Shiny-surfaced, smooth photographic print

Generally refers to an 8" x 10" size

Usually in black-and-white

Usually requested by newspapers, magazines, and art festivals

H

Hack

Programming, Websites

A.k.a., work-around

A bit of code written to fix a specific problem in a version of a browser

Hard code

HTML, Websites

Many web editors provide shortcut options to create links — DO NOT trust them

These types of links always break or they create a link to the file on your computer

You want links which connect to your UPloaded files:

NOT ...My Documents\websites\kddidit.com\howICanHelp.html (a link to a file on your computer)
NOT ..howICanHelp.html (shortcut; always breaks)
YES https://kddidit.com/howICanHelp.html (a link to a page on the Internet)

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Hard drive

Computers

Generically used to refer to the box that holds the CD/DVD drive, memory, fans, etc. into which you plug all the peripherals used with a computer such as a printer, scanner, monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers, etc.

A.k.a., the computer

Specifically refers to a small piece of hardware installed inside the “computer” that acts as the storage unit holding your software, drivers, files, and folders.

Horizontal rule

CSS, HTML, Websites

Horizontal line that spans all or part of a page acting as a divider

HTML code to insert a horizontal line is <hr color="#xxxxxx">

I

Icon

Computers, Graphics, Marketing, Typography

Small image that takes the place of text and is meant to catch the eye

Can represent an action, a program, or device on a computer operating system

Identifier

Books, Publishing

Recognizes a book as unique using ISBNs, SANs, and barcodes

Image

As it relates to symbols and allegory

An image is a sensory impression used to create meaning in a story. For example, near the beginning of “Young Goodman Brown,” we see Faith, Brown’s wife, “thrust her own pretty head into the street, letting the wind play with the pink ribbons of her cap.” While visual imagery such as this is typically the most prominent in a story, good fiction also includes imagery based on the other senses: sound, smell, touch, and taste (Virtual Lit).

Visual = sight
Aural = sound, e.g., the soft hiss of skis
Olfactory = smell, e.g., the smell of spilled beer, frying onions, popcorn in a movie theater
Tactile = touch, e.g., bare feet on a hot sidewalk, the softness of velvet,
Gustatory = taste, e.g., the bland taste of starchy bananas

J

Jacket copy

Marketing, Writing

a.k.a., sales copy

Information that appears on the back of your book and includes the book description, an author bio, endorsements, etc.

.JPG .JPEG

Graphics

Joint Photographic Experts Group

File format used for digital images

Used extensively for photos used or sent on the Internet / continuous tone images

Very popular with Web designers

Internally compressed bitmap

Uses lossy compression

K

Keyword

Marketing, SEO

Carefully chosen words which are specific to a topic or website

From a viewer’s standpoint, keywords are those words or phrases used when doing a search on a particular topic or for a particular type of website

Indexed by bots and used to help direct searchers to the desired website(s)

L

LCC

Books, Publishing

Library of Congress Control Number

Different from a copyright registration number. The Cataloging in Publication (CIP) Division of the Library of Congress is responsible for assigning LC Control Numbers and is operationally separate from the Copyright Office. A book may be registered in or deposited with the Copyright Office but not necessarily cataloged and added to the Library’s collections.

For information about obtaining an LC Control Number, see the following website: http://www.loc.gov/publish/pcn/. For information on International Standard Book Numbering (ISBN), write to: ISBN, R.R. Bowker, 630 Central Ave., New Providence, NJ 07974. Call (800) 269-5372. For further information and to apply online, see www.isbn.org. For information on International Standard Serial Numbering (ISSN), write to: Library of Congress, National Serials Data Program, Serial Record Division, Washington, DC 20540-4160. Call (202) 707-6452. Or obtain information from www.loc.gov/issn.

Link

HTML, Internet, Websites

Also known as a “hyperlink”

Uses an HTML code to create an address which, when clicked, connects the viewer to other web pages

<a href="http://www.yoursite.com>
Your Site
<a>
If the desired link is to an external website, it’s usually best to have it open into a new window. Add target="_blank" to the <a> address

<a href="http://www.yoursite.com/target="_blank">
Someone Else’s Site<a>
There are three states for coding a link in CSS:

Unvisited – an unclicked link
- Uses some version of a brightish blue color
- Represented as a in CSS
  - a:link adds a special style to an unvisited link (W3C)
Visited – a link that has been clicked
- Helps the viewer know when s/he has already clicked that link
- Uses some version of a purple color
- Represented as a:visited in CSS
Hover – appearance of a link when a viewer’s mouse is stationary over it
- Confirms to the viewer that it is a link
- Color is your choice
- Represented as a:hover in CSS
Active – indicates a change in the link text when the viewer hovers over a link that s/he has not yet clicked
- Color and decoration is your choice
- Represented as a:active in CSS

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Local/Network

Computers, Internet, Websites

A type of protocol used to upload pages to the Internet

Generally refers to an internal website accessible only for company employees or the occupants of a house

Lossless data compression

Compression, Graphics

Type of digital image compression

A.k.a., lossless compression

No data information is lost when it is compressed

Lossy data compression

Compression, Graphics

Type of digital image compression

A.k.a., lossy compression

Some data information is deleted or lost forever

M

Marketing, inbound

Marketing

Creating value that helps your subscriber at different stages of a subscriber’s lifecycle and sharing it with the “world”, i.e., the Internet (HubSpot)

Personalize the message to the subscriber as you learn more about potential clients/readers
Figure out which social media channels your subscribers use to respond to you
Use publishing and analytic tools together, so you can focus on posting the right content in the right place at the right time

Four ways to market:

Attract the people who are most likely to want what you’re selling by using:
- Blogs – create content that grabs their attention and answers their questions
- Social Media – spread the word of what you’re saying on your blog, talk to them, let them know you’re a real person. Spend time on the social media where your ideal buyers spend their time.
- Keywords – Find out what words and phrases your customers use “on a search engine to find something they have questions about. You need to make sure you’re appearing prominently when they search. To get there, you need to carefully, analytically pick keywords, optimize your pages, create content, and build links around the terms your ideal buyers are searching for.”
- “Pages – You must optimize your website to appeal to and speak with your ideal buyers. Transform your website into a beacon of helpful content to entice the right strangers to visit your pages.”
Convert (turn) visitors to your site into leads
- Gather their contact information, at least their email addresses
- Offer them something in return, i.e., ebooks, whitepapers, or tip sheets — whatever information would be interesting and valuable to each of your visitors
- Tools to help with conversion include:
  - Calls-to-Action buttons or links that encourage your visitors to take action, like “Download a Whitepaper” or “Attend a Webinar”.
  - Landing pages are where the offer in the call-to-action is fulfilled, and where the prospect submits information that makes them a lead
  - Forms for your visitor to fill out, giving you that essential email address
- Leads must be kept track of in some kind of centralized marketing database
  - Having all in one place helps you make sense out of every interaction you’ve had with your contacts — email, a landing page, social media, etc.
Close means transforming those leads into customers:
- Closing tools include:
  - Lead scoring is knowing when to contact your lead
  - Emails with useful, relevant content can build trust with a prospect and help them become more ready to become a customer
  - Marketing automation is a process involving email marketing that pinpoints what they were interested in on your site in the first place (or places!)
  - Closed-loop reporting tells you which marketing efforts are bringing in the best leads
Delight your customers into continuing with you. Engage them with more excellent content and encourage them to buy more:
- Tools used to delight customers include:
  - Smart calls-to-action that present different users with offers that change based on buyer persona and lifecycle stage
  - Using various social media platforms to provide real-time customer service
  - Email and marketing automation to provide existing customers with remarkable content that can help them achieve their own goals, as well as introduce new products and features that might be of interest to them

Meme

Writing

Coined by Richard Dawkins in 1976

An idea, pattern of behavior, practice, or style that spreads quickly from person to person within a given cultural context (Alena Graedon’s The Word Exchange)

Meta tag

HTML, Websites

Coding statement that describes the contents of a web page

A wide variety of specific meta tags are possible:

Author
Copyright
Description *
Keywords **
Language
Title *

* Essential in improving your page rank

** Spiders look for keywords in a meta tag as well as extremely similar words used within the page

Mood

Writing

Underlying feeling or atmosphere produced by a story

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N

Naming convention

Computers, Organization, Websites

A standard by which the reader can determine something from a small amount of information

Some examples of conventions include:

The corner of 5th & Main tells you a location
1-800- is probably part of a phone number
“mm” refers to millimeters

Files for websites ALWAYS uses a small letter to begin a file name, e.g., “aboutKathyDavie.html”, “navTop.gif”, “contact.html”, “portfolio.html”, “logo.jpg”, etc.

There are three types of naming conventions for web design use:

camelBack
under_score
hyphen-ated

Neutral position

Ergonomics

Relaxed, balanced posture of the body which permits a neutral alignment

Stress to joints and muscles is minimized

Even better if you can incorporate Pilates training with its emphasis on core strength

New Adult

Technically a genre, but most readers see it as focused on a reading audience that is young but older than Young Adult

As a book or series genre, its protagonists are in the 18-25 age bracket

Novel

Books, Writing

A book that is 80,000 to 100,000 words

DAW The average length of the novels we publish varies, but is almost never fewer than 80,000 words.

Novella

Books, Writing

A short book that is considerably longer than a short story but shorter than a novel

Must be able to stand on its own as a book

The word count may range from 20,000 to 60,000 words; different organizations, publishers, and contests may use a different range.

If published in its own individual binding, italicize its title

O

Object

CSS, HTML, Websites

As of HTML 4, <object> is intended to replace <embed> and <img> but not all browsers are supporting it yet

Omnibus

Books, Publishing

A grouping of short stories in one book:

Same author
Reprinted works related in interest or theme

Compare it against anthology and collection under Short Stories

OpenType

Typography

Considered a fusion font format because it combines Postscript and TrueType

P

Pace, narrative

Writing

Pace plays an important role in the narrative. Through the correct use of pacing, the writer can keep the reader on the edge of his seat and then give the same reader a bit of a reprieve when the plot becomes tense. This element of writing determines whether the person reading the book continues to read or puts it down because of boredom.

Page proofs

Editing

So-called because they are laid out as exactly as they will appear in the final printed book.

Page rank

Marketing

Position a website occupies after a search using a search engine such as Google or Bing

The higher your rank, the more likely your website is to appear on the first page of a list of searched websites

Paint

Graphics

Image manipulation/editing software program available for free on a Windows-based computer

Panster

Writing

Someone who dives in and writes by the seat of their paints. No planning ahead of time.

Parent

CSS, HTML, Websites

Relates to selectors in CSS coding

In CSS, it is possible to create “classes”, sub-categories of a selector such as ul.footer. When a class is created, the selector is referred to as the “parent”, in this case, ul. The class created is then referred to as the “child”, .footer.

UL is a selector frequently used in a CSS stylesheet. Frequently enough that you’ll need classes/subcategories, or children for uls. Some examples include ul.menuTop, ul.table, etc.

selector
ul.menu {	margin-left	:	0.5em	;}
parent . child {	property	:	value	;}
	declar		ation

Passive Voice

Writing

The opposite of passive voice is active voice

The subject of the sentence is being acted upon.

For example:

The letter was mailed by Mary.
Five pies were eaten by the guy.
Large chunks of asphalt were tossed into the air by vampires.

PC

Computers

Personal computer

Typically runs a Windows operating system (OS)

.PDF

Portable Document Format

Used by Adobe Acrobat

Adobe Acrobat is used to create & save the text file or the form file as well as enable the user to create a form which anyone can fill out
Adobe Acrobat Reader permits anyone to open and read a PDF file but not to access it

Originally developed for cross-platform use

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Photo Gallery

Computers, Graphics, Organization

Image manipulation/editing and organizing software program available for free on a Windows-based computer

Photoshop

Computers, Graphics

Image manipulation/editing professional software program available for both PC and Macintosh

Manufactured by Adobe

php

Programming, Websites

Stands for “PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor”

A scripting language that is ideal for use in developing a Web site

Can be embedded into HTML

Must be used server-side

Pixel

Graphics

(pix) picture (el) element

Smallest single unit that goes into making up a digital image

May use a square or a circle as its single unit

Depending on usage, it can take from 1- to 8-pixels to make up 1 byte

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Plot

Writing

The series of events that give a story its meaning and effect, due to the conflict experienced by the main character. The conflict may come from something external, like a dragon or an overbearing mother, or it may stem from an internal issue, such as jealousy, loss of identity, or overconfidence. As the character makes choices and tries to resolve the problem, the story’s action is shaped and plot is generated. In some stories, the author structures the entire plot chronologically, with the first event followed by the second, third, and so on, like beads on a string. However, many other stories are told with flashback techniques in which plot events from earlier times interrupt the story’s current events.

The usual pattern of a plot is (Virtual Lit):

Introduction of the character and the conflict facing him/her
Issues or complications that arise as the character attempts to deal (or not) with the problems
Tension and drama rises toward the climax of the conflict
Climax: the most dramatic, tense moment of the story ___
Resolution finds the conflict resolved and the drama drifts away into the end of the story

Read more in the post, “Plot, Its Beats and Devices

.PNG

Graphics

Portable Network Graphics

File format used for digital images

Ideal for when you really, really have to have an invisible background on the Internet BUT still not widely supported

Bitmap image

Uses internal lossless data compression

Created to replace the GIF format

Use with gray scale, RGB, or palette-based 24-bit RGB colors

Cannot be used with CMYK (print images)

POD, see Print-on-Demand

Publishing

Point-of-View (POV)

Writing

The source and scope of the narrative voice, who is observing and relating events in the story

The author’s choice of point-of-view will determined the story’s voice and what information can be given to the reader (Virtual Lit).

Read more in the post, “Point-of-View and Perspective are Intertwined Yet Distinct“.

Postscript

Typography

Page description language, which evolved from InterPress at Adobe “designed to describe any printed ‘event’ on a page” Felici

Installed on printers to enable fancier page layouts than the old typewriter-styled pages

Not linked to a specific printer, computer, operating system, or softwe

Uses a scalable, vector-based image

R

.RAW

Computers, Graphics

Image data from a digital camera or scanner

File format used for digital images

Sometimes referred to as a “digital negative”

Not directly usable as an image until processed through an imaging software program

Standard file extension used when original photos first downloaded from a digital camera

Used for original images by professionals

RDS

Radio Data System (European Broadcasting Union)

Radio Broadcast Data System (U.S. version)

Protocol sending small amounts of digital information using conventional FM radio broadcasts on a 57kHz subcarrier wave

Information transmitted includes time, track and/or artist information, and station identification

Resolution

Graphics

Number of pixels used to create the image. The more pixels used, the greater the number of color values that are possible and the better the image

It also means a very large file size

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RGB

Computers, Graphics

Red-green-blue

Additive color model

Color process used for your digital and/or Internet-intended images

RGB, palette-based 24-bit

Computers, Graphics

Highest color depth normally used

Available on most modern monitors and software

RGBA

Computers, Graphics, Websites

Lets you set the transparency of the color

Ranges from 1 to 10 with 10 fully transparent and 1 is fully opaque

For example:
Hexadecimal: #1B452C is RGB: 27,69,44,5
(the “,5” indicates the level of transparency)

Ranges from 0 to 1 are translucent (0.9, 0.8,..0.2, 0.1, 0)

27,69,44,0.5 indicates a translucency of 0.5

Root folder

Computers, Websites

Folder set up on your hard drive to hold all the files and pages that make up your website

Running feet

Books, Book Layout

Title, chapter, and/or author information sometimes found at the bottom of each page

For more detail, see running head

Running head

Books, Book Layout

Title, chapter, and/or author information usually found at the top of each page. Besides creating a finished look to book pages, they also:

Orient the reader within the book. Any material that takes up more than one page should have a running head. In books with long chapter titles, it’s common to shorten the title to fit on one line along with a page number.
Sometimes running heads reflect the content of specific pages by using subheads or other editorial text
Often omitted in novels unless specifically used as a design element or as a marketing tool

S

Sales copy, see Jacket copy

Marketing

SAN

Books, Publishing

Standard Address Number

A unique seven-digit identifier used to signify a specific address of an organization that participates in repetitive transactions with other members of the industry (including “U.S. book and journal publishers, booksellers, book wholesalers, subscription agents, jobbers and distributors, printers, binders, compositors and other manufacturing suppliers to the publishing industry, college and university bookstores, libraries, library systems, elementary and secondary schools and school systems” Standard Address Number (SAN) for the Publishing Industry) in order to facilitate communications among them.

Script

Programming, Websites

Programming language which operates inside of a website or page; think of it as a tiny program

First created to take over tedious, repetitive computer tasks

Uses tags in either the or tag of a webpage

There are a lot of scripts possible:

JavaScript is very popular; less commonly known as ECMAScript – language
Perl – general purpose scripting language and third most popular
C, C++ – powerful, complex programming language
AppleScript
Macros
CGI
ASP
Ruby on Rails
Ajax – combination of XML and JavaScript
Visual Basic
Java – powerful, complex programming language developed by Sun Microsystems
.Net
PHP – second most popular
TCL
Rexx
Python
Coldfusion – language
CSS – language
HTML, XML, XHTML

Also known as:

Applets (Applets have, technically, been replaced by <object> since HTML 4.0)

Selector

CSS, HTML, Websites

There are two parts to CSS code: selectors and declarations

The selector is usually the HTML element you want to style, such as paragraph <p>, lists <ul>/<ol>, tables <table>, headings <h1>, to name just a few.

p {	font-size	:	1em	;}
selector	property	:	value	;}
	declar		ation

SEO

Marketing, SEO

Search Engine Optimization

Process by which you perform a number of tasks on each webpage to make that page/your website more inviting to spiders so they are more likely to increase your page rank<

Use of meta tags
A minimum of 2.5% of each page’s content shuld consist of keywords

/dd>

Server

Computers, Websites

Computer program which responds to users’ requests to see a particular website using http or https

Stored on a computer which may also be referred to as a server

Server-side

Programming, Websites

Code or script which can only function from the web host’s server (if you want to use php, be sure that your web host will allow it)

T

Tagline

Marketing

A.k.a., tagline, strapline, slogan

Key phrase that identifies your business by capturing the essence of three elements:

Your mission
Your promise
Your brand

Telegraphic Speech

a.k.a., Hulk speech

A style that evolved from the original practice of leaving off words that weren’t necessary to a telegram to save money to the Hollywood idea of Hulk-speak “leav[ing] off the fancy, civilizing stuff — pronouns, conjugations that tell you tidily who is doing what, truncating word endings, articles and other particles that refer to what is and isn’t already known” (“A linguist’s guide to HULK SMASH” by James Harbeck in The Week).

Read more about telegraphic speech in the post on “Dialect”.

Text separator

Books, Book Layout

A graphic object which separates text. It may be asterisks, a rule, a graphic image, but it separates sections of text which make a leap from one scene or thought or character to another

Theme

Writing

The meaning or concept we are left with after reading a piece of fiction.

It answers the question, “What did you learn from this?”

May be a prominent element and somewhat unmistakable.

.TIF .TIFF

Graphics

Tagged Image File Format

File format used for digital images that will be printed

Originally designed so images could be passed around to work with different applications

All popular image editing / e-publishing programs use this format

Internally compressed bitmap

Saves uncompressed using lossless compression

Tends to save as large files; don’t make it smaller

Best for printing onto paper

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Tile

Graphics, Websites

Create a background using the same image multiple times

Think of it as a bathroom wall that’s been tiled with 12" x 12″" tiles

Trade book

Books, Writing

A book published for distribution to the general public through booksellers (American Heritage Dictionary).

Translucent

Graphics

Details are fuzzy

Examples include foggy mirrors, privacy glass

Used as the fourth set of digits, 0 to 1, in RGBA to affect the color

Transparency

Graphics

Also known as a “slide”

Transparent

Graphics

The opposite of opaque/solid

Details are clear

The more easily one can see through a color, the more transparent the color

Used as the fourth set of digits, 1 to 10, in RGBA to affect the color

Trope

Writing

A common or overused theme or device

Cliché

Examples:
Horror	Abandoned buildings as per the Friday the 13th movies Going down into basements as in Home Alone The Scary Movies with their parodies of horror films
Romance	Older stories “required” that the heroine is raped by the “hero” so she can escape the guilt of wanting sex The arranged marriage that either forces the hero and heroine to work together or causes one of them to run The girl is always a virgin The man is tamed by the love of a good woman
Paranormal / Urban Fantasy	The fated mate in which the hero and heroine must bond or one or both will die or live forever without ever knowing love and/or sex.There’s the insta-love trope which appears in romances as well in which the hero and heroine see the other and are instantly in love. The sexual side in which the man always knows how to bring the woman to orgasm — and satisfies her first. There’s the trope in which he’s a were and she’s a human with the ending changing her to suit him…or vice versa. Or s/he receives immortality as a reward or gift.
Science Fiction	Robots How easy space travel is to accomplish and the distances that are achieved Existence of ancient races Time machines Superpowers and transformations like the Fantastic Four and The Fly Alien invasions à la H.G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds Immortality as epitomized by The Highlander, Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, and The League of Extraordinary Gentleman
Stupid	Don’t tell anyone important information in order to heighten the tension, drama, what have you Expecting a character to know how to do something because it’s part of their bloodline, race, etc. The heroine who can’t stay put I can’t possibly take the time to eat, because, gasp, whatever would we do for drama? (October Daye and Anita Blake)

TrueType

Typography

Created through a collaboration by Apple and Microsoft in response to Adobe requiring font vendors to buy their “hinting” system to create fonts Felici

U

Upload

Computers, Websites

Transfer of files to a web host (or web server)

Enables users to access web pages

V

Validate

CSS, HTML, Websites

Checking the HTML and/or CSS code for errors

Errors in the code create problems for the layout and the viewer

The W3C is one of many services on the Internet providing validation for CSS and HTML

Vector graphics

Graphics

Also known as “object-oriented graphics”

Used by draw programs, CADD systems, animation software such as:

Adobe Illustrator, Flash, Fireworks, Acrobat

Uses math to represent the images

When resized or restretched, the image retains its resolution

Ideal to use for text

Looks better on monitors and printers

Can be imported into Photoshop which will convert it into a bitmap

Viewport

Computers

Browser window, computer monitor, cellphone screen

W

WebDAV

Websites, Writing

Web-based Distributed Authoring and Versioning

Allows reading AND writing to a Web page

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Web editor

Websites, Writing

Software program that eases the coding of web pages

Popular programs include TinyMCE (preferred by WordPress), CoffeeCup HTML Editor, and MacRabbit’s Espresso (Macs only)

WordPress allows you to use a visual post editor, which means you don’t need to know CSS or HTML code.

Web host

Websites

Also referred to as a “web server”

A “host” is a company which has a lot of space in a particular type of computer hard drive that you rent by the month (or year)

How much rent you pay depends upon how much space you need to hold the pages of your website, how many users access your site monthly, if you need CGI or php capability, if you want email addresses which relate to your website, etc.

Whitespace

Typography, Graphics

A.k.a., white space, empty space, negative space, breathing room

Not necessarily “white” space

Refers to the blank areas of the “page”

Used to separate or unite elements on a page

WWW

Computers, Internet, Websites

World Wide Web, the Web for short

Indicates the primary host name for the location of your web site

Today’s Web and its http:// standard was created by Tim Berners-Lee at the European Organization for Nuclear Research in Geneva, Switzerland, in 1989. The World Wide Web was released in 1992.

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WYSIWYG

Computers

What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get

Creating content that looks the same as what others will see

In the beginning, there were 1’s and 0’s, binary programming…today, you can “draw a box” and fill it with text or pictures

X

x-coordinate

CSS, HTML, Websites

Horizontal line

From left to right

Used in positioning graphics

Y

y-coordinate

CSS, HTML, Websites

Vertical line

From top to bottom

Used in positioning graphics

Young Adult

An age range to which an author writes.

In this case, adolescents ranging from 12 to 18 years of age with the subject matter and storyline consistent within that age and experience using a protagonist within the same age range.