Words you'll meet
A short explanation of the words this guide and the admin use, in plain terms. Each one links to where it is explained in full.
Your content
Entry : Any single page, post or other item you write. Kestello says "entry" when something applies to all of them. See Pages, posts and other content.
Page : A standalone page such as About or Contact. Pages can be nested under each other: /about/team.
Post : A dated article, listed on your blog under /blog.
Content type : A kind of entry, with its own fields. Pages and posts are built in; a site can add more, such as events or team members. See Content types.
Draft, Scheduled, Published, Private : Where an entry stands: only saved, set to go live at a later time, on the site, or kept off the public site. See Statuses.
Revision : A saved earlier version of an entry. You can compare versions and go back to one. See Revisions.
Address : The part of a web address after your domain that leads to one entry, such as /blog/fresh-bread. Other systems call it a slug or permalink. See Addresses.
Excerpt : A short summary of a post, shown in lists of posts and sometimes in search results.
Featured image : The picture that stands for a post in lists and in shared links.
Category and tag : Two ways to sort posts. Categories are the broad sections of your blog and can nest; tags are free keywords. See Categories and tags.
Building pages
Block : One building piece of a page: a heading, a paragraph, an image, a set of columns, a button. You build pages by adding and arranging blocks. See The visual editor.
Pattern : A ready-made group of blocks from your theme, such as a pricing table, that you add to a page in one go. A synced pattern stays the same everywhere it is used.
Template : The layout around an entry's own blocks, such as where the header, the title and the sidebar go. See Templates, parts and patterns.
Template part : A shared piece of a template, such as the header or the footer, that every page uses.
Theme : The design of the whole site: layout, colours, fonts and templates. See Themes and design.
Menu : A list of links visitors use to find their way around, usually across the top. See Menus.
Pictures and files
Media library : Every picture and file uploaded to the site, in one place. See Media library.
Alt text : A short description of a picture, read aloud to people who can't see it and shown when the picture doesn't load.
Focal point : The part of a picture that must stay in view when the picture is cropped to fit a smaller space. See Set the focal point.
Visitors and search engines
Redirect : A rule that sends anyone who opens an old address to the new one. See Redirects.
Sitemap : A list of your public pages that Kestello keeps at /sitemap.xml for search engines.
robots.txt : A small file that tells search engines which parts of the site to leave alone. Kestello writes it for you.
Page cache : Ready-made copies of your pages that Kestello keeps for visitors, so pages open fast. They are refreshed whenever the content on them changes.
People and access
Role : A named set of things a person may do, such as Editor or Author. Every account has one. See People and roles.
Permission : One thing a role allows, such as Change site settings. The admin and developers also call it a capability.
Two-step sign-in : Signing in with a code from an app on your phone as well as your password, so a stolen password alone isn't enough.
Access token : A long secret that lets another program, such as an app or a script, use the site on your behalf, with only the rights you give it.
Running the site
Plugin : An add-on that gives the site new features. See Plugins.
Backup : A copy of the site's database, and optionally its files, that you can bring back later. See Backups.
Cron job, scheduled tasks : Kestello's jobs that run by the clock, such as the nightly backup and publishing scheduled posts. The cron job is a line in your hosting control panel that wakes Kestello up every minute to run them. See Background tasks.
Background worker : A program on the server that runs longer jobs, such as an import, without anyone keeping a screen open. Most shared hosting doesn't have one, and Kestello works without it.
Site Health : The page that checks the site and the server and says what needs attention. See Site Health.
Maintenance page : The short "Back in a moment" page visitors see during an update or a restore.
Document root : The folder on the server that a domain shows to the web. For Kestello, it should be the public folder. See Installing Kestello.
DNS : The address book of the internet. Changing your domain's DNS settings is how you point the domain at a new site.
HTTPS : The secure connection shown by the padlock in the browser. Your host turns it on for your domain.
SMTP : The way email is sent through a real mail provider, so messages from the site don't land in spam. See Settings.