Help

Some technical terms have been used within our help section to help to explain how our website works. However, we are aware that ‘jargon’ may be confusing in some instances; therefore we’ve provided an explanation of certain words below:

Author – The person or people who write text for web pages. In the case of the Durham Connects search engine, results are gathered from all of the Durham Connects partner websites. Therefore the authors of information are usually ‘Content Editors’ within local authorities. These individuals provide text on specific subjects, usually covered by their area of work/specialism.

Classification List – A list used by website developers to arrange web pages by subject. Often classification lists used by local authorities are predetermined by central government in order that all authorities arrange information using a standard method, which in turn helps users to find information in similar locations across all government websites.

LAWS – (Local Authority Websites) Local Government category list defining a controlled vocabulary for authorities.

Keyword – A significant word or phrase that relates to a particular topic. With reference to searching a website, a ‘keyword’ is the term entered into the search box by the user.

Metadata - 'Data about data'. In the case of websites metadata is hidden information which describes what a web page is about, for example metadata might describe how, when, and by whom a web pages was created/modified/published and what subject its content relates to.

Search Engine - A computer program that searches websites for specified keywords and returns a list of the documents where the keywords were found.

Taxonomy - The science of categorisation, or classification, of things based on a predetermined system. In reference to websites, a site’s taxonomy is the way it organises its data into categories and subcategories.

Please contact us if you'd like any additional help to understand this website.