Web development and QA terms in plain English.
Words you will hear from developers and testers, with short explanations: what each one is, why it matters to a site owner and where to read more.
Bug report
A description of a defect: what was done, what was expected, what actually happened, on which device and browser, and how severe it is. A good bug report lets a developer reproduce the problem on the first try, without follow-up questions. A sample bug report and test case
Checkout
The order step of an online store: cart, contact details, delivery, payment and confirmation. This is where a store loses the most money to bugs, because an error blocks a purchase the customer has already decided to make. Why orders get lost at checkout
CI (continuous integration)
An automated process that builds the project and runs the tests after every code change. If something breaks, the team finds out within minutes rather than from customers after a release.
CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift)
A Core Web Vitals metric showing how much a page jumps around while it loads: buttons, text and banners shifting. A good score is 0.1 or less. Core Web Vitals for store owners
Code review
A check of code by another developer before the changes reach the live version. It catches bugs, vulnerabilities and decisions that would be expensive to maintain later. Code audit
Core Web Vitals
Three Google user-experience metrics: how fast the main content appears (LCP), how quickly the page responds to input (INP) and how stable the layout is (CLS). They affect conversion and are one of the ranking signals. How to check Core Web Vitals yourself
Cross-browser testing
Checking that a site works the same in different browsers and on different devices: Chrome, Safari, Firefox, iPhone, Android. Especially important for mobile Safari, where forms and payments break most often. Manual website testing
INP (Interaction to Next Paint)
A Core Web Vitals metric for responsiveness: the time from a click or key press to a visible reaction on screen. A good score is up to 200 ms.
Laravel
A PHP framework for the back end: admin panels, APIs, payment, delivery and CRM integrations. Popular and well documented, so other developers can maintain the project too. Laravel development
LCP (Largest Contentful Paint)
A Core Web Vitals metric: how many seconds it takes for the largest element on the page — the main photo, heading or banner — to appear. A good score is up to 2.5 seconds.
MVP
A minimal working version of a product with the key features, built to test an idea with real users. Everything secondary is postponed to later releases. Full-stack MVP development
Nuxt
A Vue-based front-end framework. It can serve search engines ready-made HTML (SSR or SSG), so the site opens fast and is indexed well. Nuxt for a marketing website
Playwright
An automated testing tool that drives real browsers (Chromium, Firefox, WebKit) and walks through scenarios like a user: opens pages, fills in forms, places orders. Test automation
Prototype
A layout of the pages without the final design: which blocks, in what order, where each button leads. A cheap way to agree on the structure before drawing the design and writing code. UI/UX design
QA audit
A one-off, comprehensive check of a finished site or store: the customer journey, forms, payment, delivery, mobile versions, speed and SEO basics. The result is a report with priorities and a fix plan. E-commerce QA audit
Regression testing
Re-checking what already worked after every change. A new feature must not break an old one, and regression testing catches these side-effect bugs before a release. Manual testing before release
Smoke test
A quick check of the essentials after a release or deployment: the site opens, you can log in, add a product to the cart and place an order. It takes minutes and shows whether anything critical is broken.
SSR and SSG
Ways of serving pages as ready-made HTML. SSR (server-side rendering) builds the page on the server for each request; SSG (static site generation) builds it in advance at build time. Both are better for SEO than a site rendered only in the browser.
Staff augmentation (outstaffing)
A cooperation model where a contractor's specialist works inside your team under your processes and you pay for their time. Unlike outsourcing, you set the tasks, not the contractor. Dedicated specialist
Staging
A copy of the site for checking changes before they go live. The client sees new features, the tester checks them, and visitors to the live site notice nothing.
Tech lead
The technical head of a project: chooses the architecture, reviews code, estimates tasks and risks, and is accountable for quality. Can work with a team full-time or by the hour for a consultation. Fractional tech lead
Technical debt
Accumulated quick fixes in the code that once saved time and now slow development down and cause bugs. Like financial debt: if you don't pay it back, the interest grows. What a code audit is
Test case
A step-by-step scenario for checking one feature, with the expected result. A set of test cases lets you check a site the same way every time instead of by eye.
UI kit
A set of ready-made interface elements — buttons, fields, cards, colours, fonts — with all their states. It keeps the design consistent across pages, and the developer doesn't have to guess sizes and spacing.
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