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Glossary


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Keyword


A word entered into a search engine to find information or a site.

Kludge


A kludge is an awkward (but at least temporarily effective) solution or work-around to a design problem.

Label Element


 The label element associates a label with a form control. For more information see: Labels in Accessibility.

Labels


 Labels are the names and terms used throughout a website that identify menu options, site categories or other elements. For more information see: Labels in Navigation

Language Attribute


 An easy accessibility feature to add (and it is even AAA WCAG) is the language attribute lang="en-us" to the HTML tag to identify the primary natural language of a document. For example:
    <html lang="en-us">
    The "en-us" means English as spoken and written in the United States. Identifying language helps a user agent to display text appropriately for that language. For example, IBM Home Page Reader knows a few languages, and if the language is not indicated in the document using the lang attribute, then it applies the rules of whatever language has been selected the default in its settings.
    If language changes inside a document it should also be indicated, since the user cannot (in practice) modify the settings on the fly in the middle of a document. Thus, if you have French words or phrases in a document, you should use lang markup for them, e.g.
    <span lang="fr">Loire</span>
    For more information visit Language.

Layout Table


A table that uses rows and columns to organize content visually on the screen. In a layout table, the positioning of content in particular cells does not imply a relationship to the content in other cells as it does in a data table.

Leading


The difference between the values of line-height and font-size. It is the extra space between the lines of text above and below the font's size.

Legibility


Legibility indicates how clear text is visually.

Likert Scale


A likert scale is a type of question where respondents are asked to rate the level at which they agree or disagree with a statement. For instance on a scale from one to five a user can strongly disagree or strongly agree with a statement.

Line-box


 In CSS, a line-box is the box which bounds the highest and lowest points of the inline boxes which are part of the line. It is the distance from the top of the highest inline box in the line to the bottom of the lowest inline box in the line. A line-box is as tall as the inline boxes within a line. That is, the top of the tallest inline box and the bottom of the lowest inline box define the top and bottom of the line box. That determines the separation between baselines.

Line-height


This style sheet property determines the amount by which the height of each element's line box is increased or decreased. Basically it is not a set measurement, but a calculation. In CSS, line-height is the difference between the values of line-height and font-size for a given element. The line-height property specifies the logical height of an inline element. This is the height used in the vertical alignment of inline elements and the construction of line boxes. It defines the height of the inline box for a given element. It determines the amount by which the height of each element's linebox is increased or decreased.

Linearized Table


A table rendering process where the contents of the cells become a series of paragraphs (e.g., down the page) one after another. The paragraphs will occur in the same order as the cells are defined in the document source.

Lines Per Inch


 Lines Per Inch is a vertical measure of density but it's not worth worrying about. If you're have your Dots Per Inch high enough then you won't have Lines Per Inch problems and you don't have to bother with it. It refers to the frequency of horizontal and vertical lines on a halftone screen. I think photoshop occasionally brings up the subject of LPI just to make sure amateurs continue to find it impenetrable. When you come across the term, think of lpi as around half or two thirds of Dots per inch and you won't go far wrong.

Link Element


The link element defines the relationship between two linked documents. It goes in the head section, but it can appear repeatedly.

Link Rot


 Link rot is the degeneration of a web page due to the links that become invalid. For more information see: Link Rot.

Liquid Design


 A liquid designed web page re-scales to fit different resolutions and different window sizes. For more information see: Liquid Design.

Local Navigation


Local navigation is a type of navigation where choices lead to subtopics defined by one of the main menu subjects.

Logical Operators


In programming, logical operators are used to combine conditions, so that multiple conditions can be evaluated together as a single expression. For instance, they allow a script to determine the status of conditions and in the context of if...else or while statements and execute code based on which conditions are true or false.

Longdesc


Similar to alt text, the longdesc associates an image description with the code that places the image in the page. This is in contrast to the D link, which simply places a link near the image.

Look and Feel


Look and feel is the visual appearance that identifies a web site. It is comprised of a consistent color scheme, layout, typography, design treatments and graphic elements - all of which should work in harmony.

Lorem Ipsum


 Lorem Ipsum or Lipsum is random text. It is a common piece of garble that designers use as mock-content when testing layouts. It has been well established that if you write anything in a sample layout or design, people will spend more time reading the copy than looking at the full concept. "Lorem ipsum dolor" is sufficiently like ordinary text to show "text goes here" but it doesn't distract the reader. For more information see: lipsum.com.

Low Vision


The term used to describe a person who is without a significant measure of vision but is not totally blind.

Lynx


 A text only browser that is popular in amongst UNIX users, and commonly used by people with disabilities and those in low bandwidth areas. It can be downloaded from the Lynx site.

Margin


 In CSS, a margin is a property that allows the author to specify how much space will be inserted between other exterior elements and the current element border.

Markup


 Markup is the textual description of data that provides information about the data type. It is the codes and characters that change a text document into an XHTML or other Markup Language document. Text is marked up with elements, delineated by tags that are keywords contained in pairs of angle brackets

Media Access Generator (MAGpie)


 MAGpie is a free tool available for download from the National Center for Accessible Media. This software lets you add captions to RealVideo, QuickTime, and Windows Media files. For more information visit MAGpie.

Microsoft Active Accessibility (MSAA)


An interface for enabling assistive devices such as screen readers to work with software applications. It provides a standard means for client software and assistive technologies to communicate.

Multimedia


Using a computer to present multiple types of media simultaneously, in an integrated manner. These can include sound, graphics, video, text, animation, or any other form of information representation.

MySQL


 MySQL is officially pronounced "My Ess Que Ell'' not MY-SEQUEL. But they try to avoid correcting people who say MY-SEQUEL :-) MySQL is a popular relational database system. It is open source and integrates well with PHP. In addition to supporting standard SQL (ANSI), it compiles on a number of platforms and has multithreading abilities on Unix servers, which make for great performance.

Navigation


 Navigation is the process of finding things in large or complex information spaces, such as on websites. Its purpose is to a help users find the content they want quickly. There are many navigation methods to make a website easy to navigate. For more information see: Navigation.

Negative Space - See White Space.Non-replaced Element


 In general, those elements whose content is contained in the document.

News aggregator


 A software program the periodically reads a set of news sources, in one of several XML formats, finds the new bits, and displays the results on a single page.

On Screen Keyboard


  A keyboard that appears on screen so a user who cannot use their hands can use Assistive Technology (such as a Head Pointer) to enter keyboard input.

One-way Mirror


 One-way mirror is a a piece of glass that is a mirror on one side but can be seen through from the other side. One-way mirrors are sometimes used in usability testing or focus groups so that observers may watch the session without being distracting or disruptive.

Ontology


 In information technology, an ontology (pronounced ahn-TAH-luh-djee) is the working model of entities and interactions in some particular domain of knowledge or practices. It is a set of concepts that are specified in some way in order to create an agreed-upon vocabulary for exchanging information. A formal ontology is a controlled vocabulary expressed in an ontology representation language. This language has a grammar for using vocabulary terms to express something meaningful within the specified domain of interest.

Operators


In programming, operators are used to combine and manipulate expressions. They tell the computer which actions to perform.