Glossary — Godot ↔ C05¶
Every word this tutorial uses, in one place. Use it to decode external tutorials and the Godot docs. The C05 design vocabulary follows the C05 essential terms; the Godot column is what the editor calls the same idea.
The C05 design words¶
These are assessed vocabulary — use them exactly in your design log and annotations.
| Term | Meaning (C05) | In this tutorial |
|---|---|---|
| Mock-up | An annotated visual representation of the user interface of a software solution, used to aid the design of an interface. | Your Godot layout, captured as an image and annotated (Level 3). |
| Annotate | Add comments to a document or diagram. | Callouts on your captured image saying what each control does and why. |
| Design principles | alignment, balance, contrast, space, text formatting, usability, navigation. | Achieved through layout + theming: containers give alignment & space; colours give contrast; tabs give navigation. |
| UX characteristics | affordance, interoperability, security, usability. | E.g. a button that looks clickable has good affordance (see the Save button). |
| Feasible & complete | The rubric's top band for designs. | Building in the real toolkit makes a layout feasible; capturing every screen makes it complete. |
The Godot editor words¶
| Godot word | What it is | YouTubers / docs also say |
|---|---|---|
| Editor | the program you build in | "Godot", "the engine" |
| Dock | a panel attached to a window edge (Scene, FileSystem, Inspector) | "the panel", "the tab on the side" |
| Node | one building block of an interface | "a UI node", "an element" |
| Scene | one saved tree of nodes (one screen) | "the scene", "the tscn" |
.tscn |
the file a scene is saved as | "the scene file", "the tscn file" |
| Control | the node family for user interfaces (green icon) | "a UI node", "a control" |
| Node2D | the node family for 2D games (blue icon) — not for mock-ups | "a 2D node", "a game object" |
| Container | a Control that arranges its children automatically | "a box", "a layout node" |
| VBoxContainer | stacks children vertically | "a VBox", "a vertical box" |
| HBoxContainer | arranges children in a row | "an HBox", "a horizontal box" |
| GridContainer | wraps children into N columns | "a grid" |
| PanelContainer | a framed box (background) around one child | "a panel", "a card" |
| MarginContainer | adds padding around one child | "a margin", "padding" |
| TabBar | the strip of tab buttons only (no content switch) | "the tabs", "the tab bar" |
| TabContainer | shows a different child per tab | "tabs", "tabbed panel" |
| Anchor | a point on the parent an edge is pinned to (0–1) | "anchors", "pin" |
| Offset | the gap from an anchor to the node's edge | "margin" (Godot 3 word!) |
| Anchor preset | one-click anchor layouts (Full Rect, Center…) | "layout presets", "the anchor menu" |
| Property | a single setting of a node | "a setting", "a field" |
| Inspector | the dock showing the selected node's properties | "the settings on the right" |
| Size flags | how a child shares space in a container (Fill, Expand) | "size flags", "expand/fill" |
| Theme override | changes one property of one node's look | "an override" |
| StyleBoxFlat | a resource that draws a flat coloured box (fill, corners, border) | "a stylebox", "the button style" |
| Theme | one resource of default styles applied to many nodes | "the theme", "a UI theme" |
| OptionButton | a dropdown selector Control | "a dropdown", "a select" |
| LineEdit | a one-line text field | "a text input", "an input box" |
| TextEdit | a multi-line text box | "a text area" |
| Label | a node that shows text | "a label", "text" |
| Preview / Run | open the scene in its own window to see it at real size | "run it", "play it" |
Version word-swaps (Godot 3 → 4)¶
If an external tutorial's words don't match your editor, it is probably Godot 3. The ideas are identical; the names moved:
| Godot 3 says | Godot 4 (your editor) says |
|---|---|
| Margin (gap from anchor to edge) | Offset |
| Rect / Rect Min Size | Layout / Custom Minimum Size |
| "Add Node" wording/menus differ slightly | Add Child Node (the +) |
Prefer tutorials that say Godot 4. And whenever a creator adds a script, a signal, or any code — skip it; that is behaviour, which is out of scope for a mock-up.
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