For those of you new to the Showit platform, it can be a little daunting to learn and figure everything out. On top of that, they seem to have their own unique terminology related to their product. First things first: yes, this is true, but Showit has also disrupted an entire industry by building out this gorgeous platform. Of course, there will be a learning curve and some fun new names for tools that didn’t exist until recently. Secondly, don’t worry—I will save you the hassle of hunting down all the terms.

Here is my mega list of all Showit terms and how they pertain to designing a website.

Site Panel: The Site panel is the flyout on the left hand side of the screen that allows you to edit and design within the design app, aka the backend of of your website.

Page Tab: The page tab allows you to see all the elements within a page design. Things like images, text, site canvases and more.

Page Heading: The page heading is what you click on to add blank canvases or site canvases from your library.

Canvases: Canvases are the separate sections within a page that make up the entire design. Think of it like Legos, they build off of one another to make a design cohesive.

Canvas View: This is folder-ception! Its a view within a view. Think of it like a photographers portfolio. They could specialize in family photos and landscapes. Separating these two things makes for a more cohesive viewing experience. This canvas is perfect for artists who have variations of work within the same medium.

Site Tab: The site tab allows you to see a birds eye view of your website design. Think of it as your drivers seat for all things design related. If you want to look at individual pages you’ll need to click the pages tab, just to the right of it.

Media Library: A library of all your uploads, videos, Images, logo, and fonts!

Site Settings: The site setting button gives you access to things like your social media links, favicon, and Google Analytics.

Design Settings: Where you set the stage for your websites with the colors, fonts, and style.

Pages: Just like pages in a book there are pages to a website. This is your about page, contact, services, etc.

Blog Templates: This area allows you to edit the look of your blog, both the homepage of the blog and what single posts will look like.

Site Canvases: Site canvases are premade canvases that remain the same no matter where you add them. These are a tool to make website designing faster. If you edit the site canvas all the locations and different pages where it was placed will also update with the changes. I use this tool for my “Get in touch” form fill and the footer of my sites.

User Settings: This button leads you to your account settings like your other site designs and subscription.

Mobile & Desktop Design Views: This is a great feature to check out if you only want to focus on one view at a time instead of everything all at once. It helps not to feel overwhelmed with the look of everything.

Guidelines, Overlays, & Snapping: One of my personal favorite tools. This guy is perfect if you want everything aligned and centered! The guides were my saving grace when I first started designing.

Zoom Functions: If you want to get really granular and zoom in on something. I use this one more than I thought I would.

Text Icon: To input text somewhere on a canvas or site canvas

Element Icon: This button is used to add lines, social icons, videos, galleries, and shapes into your website design.

Media Library Icon: If you want to add in an image or video you have already uploaded.

Undo/Redo: For when you make 100 mistakes like myself and dislike the look of everything. The undo button will be your best friend. 🙂

Help Documents: USE THESE! Showit has thought of everything when it comes to the help documents. They are user friendly, easy to understand, and will help you exponentially.

Contact Support Pro: ALSO USE THIS! The staff are so sweet and kind. They will literally help you with anything and give you step by step instructions and help documents.