ESL Podcast 631 - Customizing a Personal Webpage
layout - the position of text, photos, and graphics on a piece of paper or screen; the way a page has been designed
When Clarke was hired as the new graphic designer for the magazine, he immediately changed the layout.
lame - not cool; uninteresting and boring
Staying home to watch TV on a Friday night is so lame! Let's go do something else instead.
to customize (something) - to personalize; to change something so that it is unique, unlike anything else, often to reflect the characteristics of a person, company, or brand
We can customize our software to meet your company's specific needs.
Why bother? - an informal phrase used to show that one thinks something is a waste of time and doesn't want to do it
Please make your bed.
Why bother? I'm just going to sleep in it again tonight.
background - the large area of a piece of paper or screen behind what one is reading or looking at, normally just white, but sometimes with other colors, designs, or photos
It's easiest to read black text on a white background.
graphics - small pictures, symbols, or icons used to make printed or electronic information more interesting
Do you prefer the graphics in the old or new version of this software?
profile editor - a tool in a social networking website that allows one to control what information is displayed when people look at one's page
The profile editor allows you to select the information other people can see when they visit your website, such as your hobbies and your birthday.
hometown - where one is from; the town or city where one was born and raised
Fran has lived in Atlanta for more than 10 years, but her hometown is Fairbanks, Alaska.
relationship status - whether one is single, dating, engaged, married, divorced, or widowed
When Olivia updated her relationship status from engaged to single, she started receiving a lot of emails from men who wanted to date her.
mood - the way one feels at a particular moment in time
Getting a parking ticket put me in a really bad mood.
to link to - to include a hyperlink (underlined words that, when clicked, take someone to another webpage) to another webpage or another part in the current page
Let's make sure our website includes a link to our email address so that customers know how to contact us.
to upload - to put a file on a server so that it can be accessed from a website or email and is no longer stored only on one's own computer
Don't forget to upload the attachments to your email before you click "send."
custom cursor - a special graphic that indicates where the mouse is on a webpage
Why do you use a boring white arrow as a cursor? You could have a custom cursor instead, like a yellow happy face.
scrolling text - words that move across a screen
I like watching CNN News, because I can read scrolling text at the bottom of the screen to learn about current events while I'm listening to the reporters talk about another story.
dizzying - making one feel dizzy or disoriented, as if one might fall down or faint
Don't you find it dizzying to fly up so high?
animated gifs - small graphics that change or move in a certain way on a computer screen
She puts a lot of animated gifs in her emails, mostly using small faces that smile or blink their eyes in surprise.
uncluttered - bare; without unnecessary objects or elements; plain
Their house is surprisingly uncluttered, considering how many people live there.
better spent - used in a better, more productive, or more fulfilling way
Are you going to spend your entire summer vacation at the swimming pool? Your time could be better spent working on college applications.