Understand the terms
You do not need to know website terminology before using Vivlab. This page explains the words you will encounter in the guides. Names shown in bold in a procedure usually match a button or field in the dashboard.
Your site and its address
| Term | What it means |
|---|---|
| Dashboard | Your private workspace for managing the site, products and orders. |
| Website or storefront | The site your visitors see. |
| Domain name | Your site's address, such as your-shop.com. |
| URL | A complete web address, such as https://your-shop.com/contact. It can point to a page, image or file. |
| Domain provider or registrar | The company where a domain is registered and renewed. |
| Registry | The organization that manages a domain extension, such as .com. Your provider works with it to register the domain. |
| DNS records | Instructions that tell the internet where to find the website or email service for a domain. Copy the values shown in Vivlab into the provider's matching fields. |
| Nameservers | The service that holds the domain's active DNS records. |
| DNS propagation | The time needed for a DNS change to become visible across the internet. |
| HTTPS or SSL certificate | The protection that encrypts the connection between a visitor's browser and your site. |
| Redirect | A rule that sends visitors from an old web address to another address automatically. |
For the actual values and steps, use Domain name or Redirects.
Building a page
| Term | What it means |
|---|---|
| Canvas | The large editing area where you see and arrange your page. |
| Element or block | One part of the design, such as text, an image or a button. |
| Section | A larger part of a page containing several elements, such as a banner or contact area. |
| Parent or container | The element or section that contains another element. A “child” is an element inside it. |
| Handle | A small control on a selected element that you drag to resize, rotate or adjust it. |
| Desktop / mobile | The version shown on a computer / phone. |
| Preview | A view of how the page will look, used to check your work. |
| Saved / published | Saved changes are kept in the editor. Publishing makes the page changes available on the site. Some shared settings, such as the logo, apply immediately; their guides say when this happens. |
| Active / inactive | Whether a page or feature is enabled. This is separate from having a published version. |
| Padding | Space inside a block, between its content and its border. |
| Pixel (px) | A unit used for on-screen sizes, such as text size, spacing and border thickness. |
| Aspect ratio | The relationship between width and height. For example, 1:1 is square and 16:9 is a wide rectangle. |
| Override | A setting for one element or screen format that replaces the shared default for that case. |
Start with the page editor guide for the controls and publishing steps.
Selling and managing customers
| Term | What it means |
|---|---|
| Variant | A version of a product, such as a size or color, with its own price or stock. |
| Product option | A choice collected from the customer that does not change the price or stock. |
| Facet | A choice within a catalog filter, such as “Red” in the “Color” filter. |
| CSV | A file containing rows and columns of data. Spreadsheet applications can open it; Vivlab uses it to import or export lists. |
| SKU / product reference | A code used to identify a product or variant. |
| Member | A visitor who has created an account on your site. |
| Guest checkout | Buying without creating a customer account. |
| Abandoned cart | Items added to a cart without completing payment. |
| Payout | Money transferred to your bank account from your sales. |
| Proration | A price adjustment that takes account of the time remaining in a period already paid for. |
The Products and Customer accounts guides explain the available settings.
Connecting services and understanding search results
| Term | What it means |
|---|---|
| Integration | A connection between Vivlab and another service. |
| API credentials / key | Details supplied by a service so that Vivlab can connect to it. They may differ from your usual sign-in details. |
| OAuth | A way to authorize an account connection, used for services such as Google sign-in. |
| SMTP server and port | The outgoing mail service's address and connection number. Your email provider supplies these values. |
| HTML / CSS / JavaScript | Website code: HTML describes content, CSS its appearance, and JavaScript its behavior. |
| Iframe / embed | Content from another service displayed inside your page, such as a map or booking calendar. |
| SEO / indexing | SEO helps search engines understand your site. Indexing means a search engine has added a page to the pages it can show in results. |
| Sitemap | A file listing your site's pages for search engines. |
| Alternative text | A written description of an image, used by screen readers and search engines. |
| Variable | A placeholder replaced with real information, such as a customer's name in an email. Use the insertion buttons provided in the form. |
| Impression / click | An impression is an appearance in search results; a click means someone followed the result to your site. |
Use Email sending, SEO or Marketing extensions for setup. If a required value is unclear, contact support with the name of the screen and field.