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Web Design References

Web Design Glossary: F


A favelet is a small snippet of JavaScript embedded in a bookmark URL, which allows bookmarks in browsers to do various advanced things.
Feature Inspection
Feature inspections analyze only the feature set of a site, usually given end user scenarios for the end result to be obtained from the use of the website. For example, a scenario for the training site would be to register for a workshop. The features that would be used are navigating to the workshop site, selecting a class, adding it to their shopping cart, filling out the registration form, and pressing the submit button. Each set of features used to produce the required output (a registration) is analyzed for its availability, understandability, and general usefulness.
Field Observation (Ethnographic Study)
Field observation is simply observing users at their work using your website. Observing them in their own environment may help pinpoint problems that you might not think of in your own office or even in a testing lab. However, even though a skilled observer can be subtle, the very nature of the observation process will likely change the way the user works.
File Transfer Protocol (FTP)
File Transfer Protocol is a method to upload and download files over the Internet.
Flash is a multimedia special effects plug-in developed by Macromedia. For more information consult Flash.
In Cascading Style Sheets, floated images are removed from the document flow, and yet affect the layout of content. Margins on floated elements are not collapsed with anything. If you float an image, it will behave more or less like in HTML. The basic rule is that a floated element will go as high and as far to one side as possible, so long as it doesn't rise above where it would have been in normal flow, nor move outside its parent element (but negative margins can have the usual strange effect)
Fluid Grids
The fluid grid concept utilizes relative page element sizing such as percentages or ems, rather than absolute units like pixels or points.
Focus Groups
Focus groups are formal, structured events where you directly interact with users, asking them to voice their opinions and experiences regarding a website.
Following Element
In HTML an element A is called a following element of an element B, if and only if B is a preceding element of A.
font Element
The font element is obsolete and should not be used. Instead use markup and style sheets to control the appearance of text. Relative units such as percent, ems or exs should define size. Do not use absolute units such as picas, or inches.
The value used with the em-box to scale a font for display. CSS defines the font size to be "the size of the font when set solid". This means that the height of the font is the distance from the highest point in the highest glyph to the lowest point in the lowest glyph.
Formal Usability Inspection
This evaluation method formalizes the review of a specification or early prototype. The basic steps are to assemble a team of four to eight inspectors, assign each a special role in the context of the inspection, distribute the design documents to be inspected and instructions, have the inspectors go off on their own to do their inspection, and convene later in a formal inspection meeting. Defects found are assigned to responsible parties to be fixed, and the cycle continues.
A feature of HTML, that allows a web author to divide a page into two or more separate windows. If the frame does not have a <title> element, or the <title> element is not meaningful this can cause accessibility issues. In addition, some browsers do not support frames.
Front Door
The home page of a website.
In programming, functions are blocks of code that can be defined once and then be invoked from their parts of the program. Typically, a function takes an argument or series of arguments, performs a predefined set of operations upon them and returns a resulting value. Functions allow you to write very modular, structured applications. Code that would otherwise be repeated often can instead exist in one place and be invoked (or called) through the rest of your program.