Web design terminology beginning with the letter D

Domain

A domain is an internet metaphor for a virtual home or office. These domains have been given identifiable names such as designtalkboard.com. They have been sub-divided into various categories, such as .com (for commercial), .gov, (for governmental), .org, (for non-profit organisations), .edu (for educational establishments) and so on. These are known as domain names.

Domain names are also available on a country specific basis, such as .co.uk (for the United Kingdom) and .com.au (for Australia). Some of these have become very sought after (and expensive) as they have very memorable or useful extensions - for example .tv and .cc. There are a whole range of other domain name categories and many more are being added every year.

Dreamweaver

From Macromedia, Dreamweaver is the most popular WYSIWYG web page design and HTML development tool. It allows the creation of whole web sites, without the need to have an in-depth knowledge of coding or scripting and has close integration with Macromedia's other products, such as Flash and Fireworks.

Downloads

Simply means the copying of data from a remote computer to your local computer. Viewing a web page involves downloading it to your computer, as does downloading a piece of software or an image.

Dynamic web pages

Dynamic web pages are web documents that are generated automatically, usually using information from a database and utilising server or scripting technology, for example PHP, ASP, Cold Fusion, .NET.