Glossary
Headless
Separation of content (backend) and presentation (frontend), connected via an API.
Composable / MACH
A stack of interchangeable best-of-breed building blocks; MACH stands for Microservices, API-first, Cloud-native and Headless.
Headless CMS
A content management system that delivers content via API, without its own frontend.
DatoCMS
The headless CMS Gridonic works with – cloud-native, fast and editor-friendly.
Core Web Vitals
Google's metrics for loading (LCP), responsiveness (INP) and visual stability (CLS).
Edge Rendering
Delivering content from a node close to the user – for maximum speed worldwide.
GEO / LLMO
Optimisation to be cited in the answers of AI systems such as ChatGPT or Gemini.
Design System
A library of reusable components and design tokens as a single source of truth.
Progressive Web App (PWA)
A web app that behaves like a native app – installable and offline-capable.
SXO
Search Experience Optimization – classic SEO plus visibility in AI/LLM search, combined with good UX.
LCP (Largest Contentful Paint)
Measures when the largest visible element of a page has loaded; good value: under 2.5 seconds.
INP (Interaction to Next Paint)
Measures a page's response time to user interactions across the whole session; good value: under 200 milliseconds.
CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift)
Measures the visual stability of a page while loading; good value: under 0.1.
TTFB (Time to First Byte)
Time until the server delivers the first data to the browser – often a hosting or CDN issue.
FCP (First Contentful Paint)
Time until the first visible content appears on screen.
CDN (Content Delivery Network)
A distributed server network that delivers content from the geographically nearest location.
Lazy Loading
Content such as images outside the viewport is only loaded when needed.
Caching
Temporarily storing files so that repeated page visits are significantly faster.
Nuxt
Vue-based web framework for fast, server-side-rendered frontends.
Astro
Web framework that ships little JavaScript by default – ideal for high-performance sites.
Three.js
JavaScript library for 3D graphics in the browser, based on WebGL.
WebGL
Browser technology for hardware-accelerated 2D and 3D graphics.
GSAP
Animation library for high-performance, complex web animations.
API
An interface through which systems exchange data and functionality.
GraphQL
A query language for APIs that returns exactly the requested data – no more, no less.
SSR (Server-Side Rendering)
HTML is rendered on the server and delivered ready to the browser.
SSG (Static Site Generation)
Pages are pre-rendered at build time and served as static files.
Hydration
The process of making statically delivered HTML interactive in the browser.
Microservices
An architecture of small, independently deployable services instead of one monolith.
API-first
A development approach in which every function is available as an API first.
Cloud-native
Software designed to run in the cloud – scalable and resilient.
IndexNow
A protocol that instantly informs search engines about new or changed content.
Webhook
An automatic system-to-system notification on an event – e.g. publishing triggers a build.
Modular Content
A DatoCMS field type for flexibly composable content blocks.
Structured Text
A structured, machine-readable rich-text format in DatoCMS.
Visual Editing
Click and edit content directly in the preview, without hunting for fields.
Drupal
An established open-source CMS that can also be used headless.
Statamic
A flat-file CMS, ideal for lean, static websites.
Imgix
An image CDN that delivers images automatically optimised for device and network.
Mux
A platform for high-performance on-demand video streaming.
UX (User Experience)
The overall experience a user has with a product.
UI (User Interface)
The visual and interactive surface of a product.
User Flow
The path a user takes through an application to reach a goal.
Prototyping
An interactive model for testing concepts before development.
Conversion
A user's desired action – such as an enquiry or a purchase.
Accessibility
Design that is usable for everyone, including people with disabilities.
Generative UI
AI generates functional interface building blocks from a natural-language description.
SEO
Search engine optimisation for better visibility in organic search.
Meta Description
A short description of a page for search results and social media previews.
Canonical Tag
Points to the preferred URL of a page and prevents duplicate content.
hreflang
Markup of the language and country versions of a page for search engines.
Sitemap
A machine-readable list of all indexable URLs of a website.
robots.txt
A file that tells crawlers which areas of a website they may crawl.
Open Graph
Meta tags that control how a link is displayed on social media.
Zero-Click Search
Search queries answered directly, without a click through to a website.
Visual Design
The aesthetic layer of an interface: colours, typography, imagery and composition.
Fluid Design
Layouts that scale smoothly with the viewport – e.g. via CSS clamp() – instead of only snapping at fixed breakpoints like classic responsive design.
Information Architecture (IA)
The structure and organisation of content so users can orient themselves and find content logically.
Grid
A design grid of columns and spacing that structures layouts consistently and in balance.
Styleguide
Documentation of a brand's visual rules – colours, typography, components – as the basis for consistent design.
User Journey
A user's entire journey across multiple touchpoints, often over a longer period of time.
User Interface Design
The discipline of designing the visual and interactive surface to be clear, consistent and easy to use.
Module
A reusable content or layout building block from which pages are assembled – e.g. the content modules in DatoCMS.