UX Glossary

The content on a web page that doesn’t require scrolling to experience

The design of products, devices, services, or environments for people with disabilities

Text that helps translate something visual, such as an image or graph, into a description that can be read by screen readers

Anchor is basically creating a unique URL within the same page with use of the Hash tag. Clicking on anchor link, it will jump right down to the section where the anchor component is integrated.

Having purposeful imbalance between different sides of a page

Favoring or having prejudice against something based on limited information

The visual appearance and voice of a company

A visual prompt (button or link) that tells the user to take action

Scrolling feeds of images or cards on a UI that can be sifted through with a click or that automatically loop while you’re on the page

Summarized presentation of a design project that typically includes project goal and objectives and final outcome.

The Gestalt Principle that describes how elements located within the same area are perceived to be grouped together

An overview of your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses

Having a uniform design, so users can expect the design to feel familiar across pages and device screens

Designing for the needs of a specific device and the way in which the user will use that device in any given situation

Providing users with a smooth and uninterrupted experience as they move between devices

Measures the percentage of users who complete a desired action

A phenomenon that describes how products and policies designed for people with disabilities often end up helping everyone

The phase of design thinking that involves leveraging the insights gained during the empathize phase to identify the problem you’ll solve with your design

Study of users' needs and behaviors to inform design, using qualitative (like usability test, interviews) and quantitative methods (like surveys, treffic analytics, heatmaps)

A series of reusable visual elements and guidelines that allow teams to design and develop a product following predetermined standards

A UX design framework that focuses on the user throughout all five phases: empathize, define, ideate, prototype, and test

A method of containment that uses single lines to separate sections of a page

The phase of design thinking that involves getting to know your user through research

An easily understood chart that explains everything designers have learned about a type of user

A way of attracting attention to text, a button, or another object in a design

Designing for groups that have been historically underrepresented or ignored when building products

A website layout that assumes that users will likely browse content on the page following an F-shaped pattern

The assumption that others will think the same way as you do

A website layout that places the user’s focus on a single image or video that often takes up the entire page above-the-fold

How closely a design matches the look and feel of the final product

Helps designers understand why or if they should build the product and to better understand the user problem they are trying to solve

Describe how humans group similar elements, recognize patterns, and simplify complex images when we perceive objects

One or two sentences that describe a product and its benefits for the user

A layout system that divides a page into columns and rows, allowing for the organized placement of content

A nickname for the type of navigation menu that is represented by an icon with three lines. When you click on the icon, it unfolds by sliding in from the side or taking over the whole page, revealing a menu of options to navigate through pages

Titles or subtitles that stand out at the beginning of a paragraph, article, section, or another area of a website

A visual design principle that orders elements on a page and highlights them by their importance

A design that closely matches the look and feel of the final product and is more refined or polished; called “hi-fi” for short

Our best educated guess on what we think the solution to a design problem might be

The phase of design thinking that involves brainstorming all potential solutions to the user’s problem

Making design choices that take into account personal identifiers like ability, race, economic status, language, age, and gender

Organizes content to help users understand where they are in a product and where the information they want is

An option to configure a navigation element that links to anchors within the same page

An observation about people that helps you understand the user or their needs from a new perspective

Revise the original design to create a new and improved version

Main headline on a web page. It should use strong, emotive language to drive the user’s interest while still being informative about what the user can expect on the page

Critical measures of progress toward an end goal

A series of columns and alleys that allow you to organize elements in a design

A design that has a lower amount of complexity and is less refined or polished; called “lo-fi” for short

Internal maps that allow humans to predict how something will work

A method of design that starts by designing the mobile version of a product and later adapts it to fit larger screens

A static, high-fidelity design that’s used as a representation of a final product

A web page layout that uses two or more columns for content

UX issues that frustrate the user and block the user from getting what they need 

A fictional user whose goals and characteristics represent the needs of a larger group of users

A clear description of the user’s need that should be addressed

The Gestalt Principle describing how elements that are close together appear to be more related than those that are spaced apart

Focuses on observations about why and how things happen

Focuses on data that can be gathered by counting or measuring

Allows a website to change automatically depending on the size of the device

Software that reads aloud any on-screen text, interactive elements, or alternative text

The Gestalt Principle describing how elements that look similar are perceived to have the same function

A web page layout that has only one column for content

A diagram of a website or application that shows how pages are structured, prioritized, linked, and named

An activity where many people are asked the same questions in order to understand what most people think about a product

Method of comparing two versions or more of a webpage, an email or app against each other to determine which oneperforms better at achieving a given goal. There are usually two variants, A (control) and B (challenger).

The ordering of typefaces and fonts in a layout to create divisions that show users where to focus and how to find information

The number of people who use a website or app’s navigation compared to the number of people who use the search functionality

Any individual person who interacts with a digital product or service (webpage or mobile app)

Puts the user front-and-center

How a person, the user, feels about interacting with, or experiencing, a product

The path taken by a typical user on an app or a website, so they can complete a task from start to finish

A set of people who have similar interests, goals, or concerns

The series of experiences a user has as they interact with a product

The reason why a consumer should use a product or service

The sense that a design is equally weighted on both sides of its emphasized center

A measure of the force that an element exerts to attract the eye

A set of rules that explain how to make web content more accessible to people with disabilities