When looking for someone to design a web site for you there are some terms that are commonly used and with which you might want to be familiar with.

Web Jargon Explained
  It's relatively easy to design a web site using simple HTML pages, and for some purposes this option is adequate, but when a web site is required to stand out against the competition, more sophisticated methods are required. Nowadays there are many programming methods that allow web sites to look better and have increased functionality. Listed below are explanations of some of the methods we use to produce web sites with fast download and impact

How does a web site work?
  A single web page is a file that can be viewed in a browser in much the same way that a text file can be viewed in a word processor program. The page can be created with a text editor and saved to the hard disc on your computer, then viewed in your browser window by 'pointing' your browser to the location of the file on your hard drive.
When you connect to the internet then give your browser the address of a web page, you are 'pointing' your browser to a file which is held on a remote computer that is permanently connected to the internet. Your browser sends a request instruction telling the remote computer to send a copy of the file down the telephone line where the page is put together in the same manner as it would be if the file were being read from your own hard disc. A web site is a collection of pages that have hypertext links which, when clicked, send a request for another page held on the remote computer.
This is usually called a Client Server Relationship where the web browser is the Client and the remote computer the Server.

What is the effect of slow download on my site?
  The time it takes for web pages to download to a user's browser is one of the most important aspects of a web site. If a user waits for any more than a few seconds without seeing at least some part of the page, then they're likely to lose patience and go elsewhere. A good web designer should be able to ensure that at least a significant proportion of the page will be viewable within 5 seconds and that the remainder should be available within 15 seconds. For more information on the factors that affect download speed, and how fast download can be achieved, check out fast web page download.

What is a Content Management System?
  If you have a static HTML website then to update your content you must edit your HTML files and upload them to the server. This is fine if you have a good knowledge of HTML but if you don't then you'll have to pay a programmer to do it. With a Content Management System, your pages contain the required code to pull content stored on an online database and write it into your pages. The Content Management System will include an easy to use interface that allows you to update the content held in the database without the need to know HTML or any programming techniques. Here you'll find more information on Content Management

What is HTML?
  HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) is the basic language used in web pages. It is designed to run in different browsers and different computers. It consists of a list of instructions that tell the browser how to render the page i.e. text size and colour, where to place graphic images etc. HTML has the limitation that, apart from hypertext links, it lacks interactivity. This is the most widely used language for web pages and is adequate where there's a requirement to display fixed information.

What is JavaScript?
  JavaScript is a scripting language that allows more interactivity than HTML and is normally embedded within HTML documents. JavaScript is so commonly used that all except the oldest of browsers can handle it. In contrast to HTML, which is only a list of instructions processed in list order, JavaScript is a proper programming language that allows decision branches to alternative instructions depending on set conditions. Since JavaScript can output HTML, this allows a script to effectively rewrite an HTML page depending on things such as the date or the content of a user's JavaScript cookie.
JavaScript is an example of a client side scripting language i.e. the JavaScript instructions are downloaded by the server and the client (the browser) takes care of parsing the script. Here is an example of JavaScript.

What is PHP?
  PHP is a comprehensive programming language that allows increased functionality to be built into web sites. PHP is a server side language, which means that the script is parsed by the PHP engine on the server before the page is downloaded. PHP pages have a .php file extension as opposed the normal .html file extension. This tells the PHP engine to intercept the pages, parse the PHP code then strip out the PHP instructions before sending the page to the browser. Since PHP can output HTML instructions (as well as JavaScript instructions), this allows different versions of pages to be output depending on preset conditions. PHP is also used to communicate with online databases, such as MySQL, which allows a user's query to a database to be output as an HTML page. Most of the pages on this web site are PHP pages.

What is MySQL?
  MySQL is a database system that can hold information online. It allows sophisticated searching facilities using SQL (Standard Query Language). MySQL isn't directly available to HTML pages but can be accessed using a language such as PHP which can bridge the gap. MySQL allows a web site to be database driven with features such as chat rooms, forums, stock catalogues or customer information.

What is DHTML?
  DHTML (Dynamic Hypertext Markup Language) is a combination of browser features that work together to allow version 4+ browsers to produce more interactive page effects (those features are HTML, Cascading Style Sheets, the Document Object Model and JavaScript). Whereas with standard HTML a user has to reload a page to change the content, DHTML allows content changes triggered by the mouse movements of the user.
Here is an example of DHTML.

What is Flash?
  Flash movies use a file format called Shockwave. Instructions embedded within an HTML page load in the Shockwave file which then runs in the browser. A Shockwave movie can manipulate text and graphics in real time as well as reading mouse events to allow the user to interact with it. It can produce spectacular animations with very short download times. You can see embedded Flash movies on many of the pages of this site as well as a version of this site programmed in Flash. Here you will find more information on Flash.