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Business Websites

Welcome to English as a Second Language Podcast number 248: Business Websites.

This is English as a Second Language Podcast episode number 248. I’m your host, Dr. Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.

On this episode, we’re going to talk about vocabulary related to websites and setting up a business website. As usual, first we’ll listen to the dialogue at a slow speed, then the explanations, and finally, listen to the dialogue again at a normal rate of speech. Let’s get started.

[start of story]

I was hired to set up a website for a small bookstore and the owner knew very little about the Internet. I tried to find out what she wanted for her business website.

Octavio: Let me show you some websites I’ve designed. I have them all bookmarked. Okay, this is a website for a restaurant. As you can see, the homepage is fairly simple. The menu bar on the left-hand side allows visitors to navigate around the site.

Margaret: I like this layout a lot. Why are these words in a different color?

Octavio: Those are hyperlinks to other pages on the website. If you click on the text or the image, you’ll be taken to a different page.

Margaret: Oh, I see, so for my site, I can list the books I have for sale, and we can hyperlink each book title to a description of that book.

Octavio: Yes, that’s right. You’ll probably also want a search function so that people can type in the name of a book or the author to find out if you carry a specific book.

Margaret: Yes, definitely. Does it matter which browser customers use to look at my website?

Octavio: No, I’ll make sure that it’s compatible with all of the major browsers out there.

Margaret: Will people need to type in “www” before the web address?

Octavio: No, they should be able to just type in the name of the store and the domain, which in your case would be “.com.”

Margaret: Since I know so little about the Internet, do I have to learn HTML or some other type of computer language to maintain the site?

Octavio: No, not at all. Your website will have content management software installed that allows you to make basic changes. Once it’s done, I’ll show you how to use it. Should we look at a few more websites to get some other ideas for your site?

Margaret: That’s a great idea. Let’s do that.

[end of story]

This episode is about business websites. It’s a conversation between Octavio and Margaret; Octavio is the web designer. He says he “was hired,” or employed, “to set up a website for a small bookstore.” To set up means to put together - to get working properly.

He began by showing Margaret some of the websites he’s designed. He says he has all of the sites “bookmarked.” When we talk about a website being bookmarked, “bookmarked,” we mean that on the web browser, which is the software you use to look at web pages, you have a place where you can go to and simply click on a name and it will take you to that website.

To bookmark, as a verb, can also be used in its original context, which was when you would mark or put a small piece of paper in a book, which is also called a bookmark, in order to know where you stopped reading, so the next time you pick up your book, you know which page to start on. That little piece of paper is called a bookmark. Now we use it in the sort of the same way in talking about the Internet.

Octavio goes on to explain that “the homepage” for one of his websites “is fairly simple,” or very simple. A homepage, “homepage,” is what we called the main page of the website. So, if you go to www.eslpod.com, you will be on the homepage of our website.

Octavio says, “The menu bar on the left-hand side allows visitors to navigate around the site.” A menu, “menu,” bar, “bar,” is a list of options or links on the website, usually to other pages on your website. So, if you go to the ESL Pod website, you’ll see links to other parts of our website: information about the podcast, how to subscribe using iTunes and so forth. That list is called a menu bar, sometimes just simply a menu.

To navigate, “navigate,” is the verb we use to mean to go to different places on the Internet or on a website. You might say, “This website is very easy to navigate,” meaning it’s easy to find different parts of the website - to know where to go in the different parts of the website. The verb to navigate has other meanings as well; take a look at the Learning Guide for additional definitions.

Margaret says to Octavio that she likes the layout of the website he’s showing her. Layout, “layout,” is the same here as design. It’s the way you put things on a page or on a website page. We also use that word, layout, in talking about, for example, a magazine - where the pictures are, where the words are on the page, that’s all part of the layout.

Margaret asks why certain words on the web page have a different color.

Octavio explains that these “are hyperlinks to other pages on the website.” A hyperlink, “hyperlink,” are words that are usually underlined or have a different color on a web page, and when you click on them they take you to another page on the Internet or on that website. Sometimes we just call these links instead of hyperlinks.

Octavio says that “If you click on the text or the image” of the hyperlink, “you’ll be taken to a different page.” To click on is the verb we use meaning to move your mouse so that you can press the button down and that will do something, usually take you to a different web page. We use that a lot in talking about websites - to click on something.

Margaret says, “Oh, I see,” - I understand - “for my site,” she says, “I can list the books I have for sale, and each book title” can be hyperlinked - notice we use that as a verb - each book can be hyperlinked, or linked to another page that has a description of the book.

Octavio says, “Yes, that’s right” - that’s correct. He says, “You’ll probably also want a search function so that people can type in the name of the book or the author to find” it on your website more easily. A search function is the ability to type in a word into a small box on a website and have the website show you a list of all the places where that word is found - the different pages. So, for an individual website we would say the search function, or it has a search function.

If you are talking about websites such as Google or Yahoo, those are called search engines, “engines.” So, a search engine would be Google or Yahoo; a search function would be the ability to search on a particular website Margaret then asks it matters - if it is important - “which browser customers use to look at” her website. We mentioned the word browser before, “browser.” A browser, as you probably know, is the software you use to look at websites.

Internet Explorer, Firefox - on the Mac, Safari - these are browsers or web browsers.

Octavio says that he will “make sure that” the website is “compatible with all of the major browsers out there.” To be compatible, “compatible,” means to be able to work together - to be able to be used together. “This website is compatible with all the big browsers” - all the major browsers. Major here just means the most important ones. We also use that word compatible in talking about people people who you may be romantically interested in. You may say, for example, “I went on a date with a girl, but I found out that we were not compatible” - we weren’t a good match for each other.

Margaret then asks if people will “need to type in the ‘www’ before the web address.” Internet web addresses begin with the three letters “www” usually. A web address is the letters and numbers you type in in order to go to website. So, for our website, the web address is http-colon-forward slash-forward slash-www-dot-eslpod-dot-com (http://www.eslpod.com). Notice how I read the name of that web address; we say, “http-colon,” (http:) then “forward slash-forward slash” (//) because there are two of those characters in the web address.

Octavio says that it is not necessary - or will not be necessary - for people to type in the “www,” he says all they need to type in is “the name of the store and the domain.” The domain, “domain,” are the letters that come at the end of the website. For our website, the domain is dot-com (.com). Although actually, if you type in dot-org (.org), “org,” or dot-net (.net), “net,” you will be redirected to our main page - you will be taken to our page for all of those web addresses.

Other domains are government domains: dot-g-o-v (.gov) or dot-gov. For education institutions such as colleges and universities, we use dot-e-d-u (.edu).

Most countries have their own domain, so for Japan, it’s dot-j-p (.jp); for United Kingdom, it’s dot-u-k (.uk) and so forth and so on.

Margaret says that she doesn’t know very much about the Internet. Then she asks if she has “to learn HTML or some other type of computer language to maintain the site.” HTML stands for hypertext markup language; it’s the programming language that most websites use. To maintain, “maintain,” when we are talking about a website, means to make something stay at the same level - to keep it so that it is at a high quality, for example - to do the things necessary so that the website will function properly in the future.

Octavio says, “No,” she will not need to learn HTML. The “website will have a content management software” - or a content management system - “installed” so she can “make basic changes” to the website. Content management software - or more commonly, content management systems - are types of software that allow someone who doesn’t know very much about websites to still do some things on the website to change the website - to maintain the website. We sometimes call these CMS - content management systems.

To be installed, “installed,” means to have a program put on your computer or put on your website. This is the verb we use when you have new software, you have to install it - you have to put it on your computer.

Now let’s listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.

[start of story]

I was hired to set up a website for a small bookstore and the owner knew very little about the Internet. I tried to find out what she wanted for her business website.

Octavio: Let me show you some websites I’ve designed. I have them all bookmarked. Okay, this is a website for a restaurant. As you can see, the homepage is fairly simple. The menu bar on the left-hand side allows visitors to navigate around the site.

Margaret: I like this layout a lot. Why are these words in a different color?

Octavio: Those are hyperlinks to other pages on the website. If you click on the text or the image, you’ll be taken to a different page.

Margaret: Oh, I see, so for my site, I can list the books I have for sale, and we can hyperlink each book title to a description of that book.

Octavio: Yes, that’s right. You’ll probably also want a search function so that people can type in the name of a book or the author to find out if you carry a specific book.

Margaret: Yes, definitely. Does it matter which browser customers use to look at my website?

Octavio: No, I’ll make sure that it’s compatible with all of the major browsers out there.

Margaret: Will people need to type in “www” before the web address?

Octavio: No, they should be able to just type in the name of the store and the domain, which in your case would be “.com.”

Margaret: Since I know so little about the Internet, do I have to learn HTML or some other type of computer language to maintain the site?

Octavio: No, not at all. Your website will have content management software installed that allows you to make basic changes. Once it’s done, I’ll show you how to use it. Should we look at a few more websites to get some other ideas for your site?

Margaret: That’s a great idea. Let’s do that.

[end of story]

The script for today’s podcast was written by Dr. Lucy Tse.

If you have a question or comment about our podcast, you can email us. Our email address is eslpod@eslpod.com.

From Los Angeles, California, I’m Jeff McQuillan. Thanks for listening. We’ll see you next time on ESL Podcast.

English as a Second Language Podcast is written and produced by Dr. Lucy Tse, hosted by Dr. Jeff McQuillan. This podcast is copyright 2007.