I usually write these Terms of Endearment posts without quoting the dictionary because I want to gain insight as to my personal experience with these words. It’s like a self-study into personal linguistics, if there is such a thing (if not, there is now).
I also hope to give others basic understanding of what some terms mean in the world of the internet. In my work, I’ve found some folks getting spooked about tech jargon1, maybe because it involves “code,” almost like these terms were “in code.”
So here’s a little explainer by someone who’s been wrangling all kinds of stuff ’round the web for more than two decades, and keeps getting surprised by how often folks get spooked by those tossing around terms like servers, hosts, links, tags, code, <head>, and embeds2.
The web has kind of been like the Wild West, and today, I’m feeling kinda like a cowboy, so here goes…
We all know what the term means in general, right?
Embedded is firmly implanted and integrated into something, but not necessarily as a designated actor within that embedded environment.
In wartime, reporters might be embedded into a combat unit, so that they can share real time information to the public via a news organization. The relationship between the unit and the reporter may be helpful and friendly, but their allegiances are up different chains of command.
In a material sense, an embedded gemstone is well lodged into the surrounding gold.
ON THE WEB: embedded YouTube videos are everywhere. YouTube hosts the videos using YouTube servers. In most cases, anyone can copy a bit of code to embed a video into their website to display the video there too. The code functions a bit like a window to another place. A portal of sorts.
OWNERSHIP of EMBEDS: The ownership of the video does not transfer upon embedding, because the electrical and server resources are paid by YouTube. So the ownership of the video belongs to the artist (if a copyrighted song, for instance), the video-maker, and YouTube, not the website where the video appears.
Other common embedded bits of code can make a website work a certain way (like show related articles or links). And an embedded theme can help the website display a certain way. While other embedded code can do things like display widgets, integrate your social media posts, track visits, and your website behavior.
DIY or Website Wrangler?
Since websites don’t own embeds which are powered by resources hosted elsewhere, if someone wants to own everything, they need to do the technical, skilled and creative work to make all the parts of a website come together. Things like shooting and hosting their own videos, taking their own photos, making their own graphics, running a webserver, configuring cpanels and databases, writing, graphic design, photography, hand-coding php, html, java and/or css, and planning and executing it all in proper sequence when needed.
The point of putting anything on the web, in my opinion, is to create a good User Experience. (UX with the User being anyone surfing your website trying to find or do something, including your team).
This is daunting, but doable. Most web professionals lean on at least some customizable tools (like this website runs on lovely and free open source WordPress), and ubiquitous search services and tools Google Analytics, or even parent-child themes to shortcut design customization.
Since most folks don’t want to “do it all,” it is common practice to utilize shortcuts like YouTube for video hosting; videographer services for making the videos to begin with; and experts to help them make all the information paths work correctly so the user has a great experience.
That’s still my day job, by the way: knowing which tools work best where, and employing their use for highest happiness of the public and business owner. I work part-time for small and medium-sized businesses create appealing and compelling branding, SEO-friendly, scalable websites, and help connect elements like e-commerce and ticketing, sometimes handling social media integrations & content, and setting up email campaigns, occasionally running ads.
I don’t work selling Google Ads or Meta Ads or any particular technical products. Instead I help people wrangle their current digital products and platforms, recommending adding only those that provide the highest value for your kind of business and increase your sales.
If it doesn’t look beautiful and work efficiently with minimal operational strife, I won’t recommend it.
It’s like having a kind cowboy showing you the Wild West, helping you set up your homestead as it needs to be, without getting fleeced by tech bros, malware, or huge conglomerates. You can reach me for that kind of thing by emailing em@elizabethmullen.com or find out more on my website.
On one digital marketing job I added some css (Cascading Style Sheets) code into a website <head> so that a <hr> (horizontal line) would display like flowers. I also added another snippet of code to link the social media ads tracking work properly, because I’d been contracted to do so. The owner of the website was very concerned about this, like I had done magic.
I have seen people come at me with really odd questions around ownership, design & coding, SEO, and the web, probably because they were baffled by the mechanisms and terminology of the web. It’s natural, because everyone wants to control it. What I know, is with the endless sprawl of tech bro businesses, algorithms, and hacking characters, the web is kind of like Wild West and all you can do is make yourself a decent homestead, treat your neighbors well, and do right by people. But it doesn’t mean you actually own the land, or will be 100% safe there forever either. Updates, backups, and maintenance are all critical too.
Big difference between <head> and <body> and head and body, lol.
↩︎- Did I ever tell you about the time I realized I flipped careers from being a host and server in a restaurant, to configuring hosting and servers as a web designer? Yeah, funny language coincidences happen… ↩︎
