At the Downtown Agency we make every effort to break down technical jargon into everyday language. The following are some of the most common terms involving websites. If you don't see something you're looking for, please submit a comment.
| Term | Definition |
| content management system (CMS) | The software used to assemble and maintain a website. Common content management systems include WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal. At the Downtown Agency we've found that WordPress works well for most small business websites. Many hosting providers also provide easier-to-use systems for nonprofessionals. Some companies such as Square Space, Weebly, and Wix specialize in providing do-it-yourself website development tools that they bundle with domain registration and hosting. The Downtown Agency provides do-it-yourself Website Builders; we also provide workshops to help you get the most out of them. |
| DNS | Abbreviation for Domain Name System. DNS is the Internet's address book. Each domain name (for example, yourbusiness.com) has it's own little section of the address book called its DNS records. In your DNS records you can do things like redirect an old domain name to your new domain. You also use DNS to configure email for your domain (for example, [email protected]). If you need to make changes to your DNS records, we recommend you call our 24/7 technical support line at (480) 624-2500 for assistance. |
| domain | A unique name used as an address on the Internet (for example, yourbusiness.com). Domain names have extensions such as .com (most common), .org (typically used by nonprofit organizations), .gov (used only by official government entities), .me (usually a personal website). There are many more extensions--too many to list here. In years past, most domains included the prefix www (stands for World Wide Web), which is no longer needed. Domain names must be registered by an official registrar. The Downtown Agency provides its clients with domain registration through a partner named Wild West Domains. |
| host | A specialized computer called a server that makes a website available on the Internet. Some large companies own their own servers and host their own websites. Most companies have their websites hosted by other companies. Many domain registrars also provide hosting services and content management systems. Where this can get confusing is that your host and registrar can be the same company or separate companies. The Downtown Agency provides hosting services as well as domain registration and content management systems, which allows us to consolidate all of these services for you. |
| registrar | An organization that manages the reservation of domain names. A domain name registrar must be accredited by a generic top-level domain (gTLD) registry or a country code top-level domain (ccTLD) registry. The Downtown Agency provides domain registration through our partner Wild West Domains. |
| URL | Abbreviation for uniform resource locator. A URL is simply an address on the Internet such as https://yourwebsite.com/about-us. The first part of the address, https, describes the protocol used to access the page. The middle part, yourwebsite.com, is the domain name or host name on the website. The part after the domain name, about-us, directs the browser to a specific page or resource on the website. |
| website | A location on the Internet. Websites usually have three main components: 1) a domain name (for example, yourbusiness.com), 2) the software used to assemble and maintain the site (also called a content management system), and 3) a host (a specialized computer called a server that makes the site available on the Internet). |
| www | Abbreviation for World Wide Web. Many website addresses (URLs) begin with www. The use of www is not required, and many websites no longer display the ws in their URL. The Downtown Agency's default DNS settings automatically route visitors to your website if they happen to type in www in front of your domain name. |