Web Terminology Fundamentals

Some of this may be familiar to you, and a lot may not be. Regardless of whether you are an experienced ‘digital native’ Zoomer (Gen Z) or a Gen Xer who prefers to focus on the real world, it is very possible to learn the basics of this industry. We are going to start extremely basic. Let’s break it down:

Pages

Much like the name implies, a page is a specific place, except in this context we don’t mean in a book, we mean on a website. Imagine you visit Meta (formerly Facebook). You load it up and see what your friends, family, and other contacts are posting. This is the first page you arrive at (assuming you are set to automatically log in). Because it is the first page you arrive on, it is called the home page (or homepage).
Next, you see a post from your Great Uncle Bob. It shows him and his family standing in front of a new house. “Oh wow.” You think. “I wonder what he’s up to these days, he just got a new house.” So you click on the words “Bob Levinson”, the device loads for a moment, and it takes you to his profile. This is another page. Much like turning a page in a book, you have just traveled to a new page. If you click a link and it merely scrolls down instead of loading entirely new content, you have just traveled inside of the same page, much like the next paragraph in a book.

Now imagine you are visiting the website of a local plumber. At the top of the page are a selection of links that each take you to a unique page—Contact Us, About, Our Services, and Hours. In addition, when you first load the page, there is a page that describes the business, the homepage. So if we add all these up, we are looking at a five-page website, which is extremely common.

At Echo Summit Digital we have a similar offering, tailored for our clients:

• Home
• Our Services
• About Us
• Contact Us
• Portfolio Gallery

We also allow customization, free of charge.

Hosting

Every website needs to be hosted on a server. Essentially, a server is a powerful computer with redundancies built into it, connected to the internet. When a user goes to visit the website, their device asks the server for the information on the site, the images, text, etc. The user’s device can then show the site to the user. Without a server, there is no infrastructure in place for the website to be broadcast to a user. This is where hosting comes in. A site is ‘hosted’ on a server. There are several ways this can be done, but the most common way is to purchase server space. This can be done relatively cheaply in the modern market. Be warned, however, that a cheap hosting service is likely overburdened—their server is hosting lots of sites in order to be profitable at a low rate for each. This may result in slow load times for your site, especially any media that is present.

At Echo Summit Digital, we do it a little differently. We purchase dedicated server space from a provider, which guarantees us a certain amount of dedicated bandwidth, reserved exclusively for our clients. We implement stopgaps to prevent one site from drowning out all of the other sites and slowing them down. What this means for you as a customer is you don’t have to worry about someone else slowing your site wayyyyyy down.

Chat Widgets

Let’s talk about a simple but powerful tool you’ve probably seen on countless websites: chat widgets. These aren’t the kind that start a full conversation—these are streamlined, action-based widgets designed to help visitors take quick steps without the hassle of searching around.

A button-based chat widget acts as a shortcut for users. Instead of typing out questions, they can simply click a button to:

• Get More Info – A visitor wants details on your services? A quick tap provides an instant response with key information.
• Book an Appointment – No need for back-and-forth emails. A booking button takes users straight to a scheduling form.
• Join an Email List – A simple opt-in button lets visitors subscribe without hunting for a sign-up form.

These widgets are perfect for businesses that want to engage customers without overwhelming them. They keep things clean, direct, and user-friendly. At Echo Summit Digital, we integrate chat widgets that fit your business goals. Whether you need a quick way for customers to book services, get essential info, or sign up for updates, we design widgets that keep it simple—no distractions, just action.