Web Glossary
WebSite Terminology
A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H - I - J - K - L - M - N - O - P - Q - R - S - T - U - V - W - X - Y - Z
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56k Line-
A digital phone-line connection (leased line) capable of carrying 56,000 bits-per-second. At this speed, a Megabyte will take about 3 minutes to transfer. This is 4 times as fast as a 14,400bps modem.
-A-
Animation-
A dynamic image, which is comprising of a number of frames, which when turn give the impression of movements.
ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) -
This is the de facto world-wide standard for the code numbers used by computers to represent all the upper and lower-case Latin letters, numbers, punctuation, etc. There are 128 standard ASCII codes each of which can be represented by a 7 digit binary number: 0000000 through 1111111.
Authorware Macromedia's software, the leading tool for web-based multimedia and learning, a special plugin (Shockwave) is required to view such sites.
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-B-
B2B-
Business to business. Refers to a website which sells products primarily to other businesses.
B2C-
Business to business. Refers to a website which sells products primarily to customers.
Bandwidth Rate-
at which data can flow to and from the server.
Banner Ad-
Website advertising which uses animation to attract people's interest. Ads will contain a link to either a different section of the website or a different website altogether
Bps, (Bits-Per-Second) -
A measurement of how fast data is moved from one place to another. A 28.8 modem can move 28,800 bits per second.
Browser -
A client program (software) that is used to look at various kinds of Internet resources, such as Internet Explorer, Netscape, Opera.
Byte -
A set of Bits that represent a single character. Usually there are 8 Bits in a Byte, sometimes more, depending on how the measurement is being made.
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-C-
Content Management-
The process of updating the content (word and pictures) on a website. There are several options available for this, ranging from paying someone (either an hourly rate or set contract fee), through to doing it yourself using a fully-blown Content Management system. These systems can be expensive to implement, and most have limitations on what you can change. Changes to page layout or navigation still need to be done by a web designer. The right option for you will depend on what needs to change and how often. This should be decided near the beginning of the project, as it impacts how your site is designed and built.
Cookie-
A Cookie is a mechanism by which server side operations (such as CGIscripts) can store and retrieve information on the client side of the connection. In practice, this means that information submitted by a web browser to a web server via a form or other interactive method can be stored on the browser machine and resubmitted when the web server URL is accessed at some point in the future. Examples would include login or registration information, online "shopping carts" or user surveys. Since cookies can store user information (on the user's own computer), they are used to personalize the WWW experience by recognizing and acknowledging the user when reentering a web site. Cookies are typically set to expire after a predetermined amount of time. Cookies *do not* read your hard drive and send your life story to the CIA.
Counters-
A CGI script that visually shows the number of visits made (or hits) on a particular web page or site.
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-D-
Database-
A data-storage program.
Domain Name-
The unique name that identifies an Internet site. Domain Names always have 2 or more parts, separated by dots. The part on the left is the most specific, and the part on the right is the most general. A given machine may have more than one Domain Name but a given Domain Name points to only one machine. For example, the domain names: matisse.netmail.matisse.networkshop.matisse.net can all refer to the same machine, but each domain name can refer to no more than one machine. Usually, all of the machines on a given Network will have the same thing as the right-hand portion of their Domain Names (matisse.net in the examples above). It is also possible for a Domain Name to exist but not be connected to an actual machine. This is often done so that a group or business can have an Internet e-mail address without having to establish a real Internet site. In these cases, some real Internet machine must handle the mail on behalf of the listed Domain Name.
Dynamic Content-
Website content (words and pictures) which is updated either by an automatic process, or as a result of input from a site visitor (e.g. search results, login, etc). Either way, some form of programming is required to enable this. Implementing a website with dynamic rather than static content is more costly, but can greatly enhance your website's functionality.
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-E-
eCommerce-
(electronic commerce) is the buying and selling of goods and services on the Internet, especially the World Wide Web.
E-mail (Electronic Mail)-
Messages, usually text, sent from one person to another via computer. E-mail can also be sent automatically to a large number of addresses (Mailing List).
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-F-
Fire Wall-
A combination of hardware and software that separates a LAN into two or more parts for security purposes.
FTP (File Transfer Protocol)-
A very common method of moving files between two Internet sites. FTP is a special way to login to another Internet site for the purposes of retrieving and/or sending files. There are many Internet sites that have established publicly accessible repositories of material that can be obtained using FTP, by logging in using the account name anonymous, thus these
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-G-
Graphic Designer-
Graphic designers are professionals experienced in the art of graphic design, which is the creation of images for things such as : Logos, Business Cards, Banners, Posters, Web Sites
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-H-
Hosting/ Web Hosting-
Any computer on a network that is a repository for services available to other computers on the network. It is quite common to have one host machine provide several services, such as WWW and USENET.
Hyperlinks / Links-
Website links which, when clicked, take you to another area of the same website or to another website entirely.
Hyperlinks can be applied to text, images or buttons. Hyperlinked text is usually underlined or highlighted in some way. All hyperlinks show as a hand when you position the mouse over them.
An example is the Top button below, which takes you back to the top of this page.
HTML (HyperText Markup Language)- The coding language used to create Hypertext documents for use on the World Wide Web. HTML looks a lot like old-fashioned typesetting code, where you surround a block of text with codes that indicate how it should appear, additionally, in HTML you can specify that a block of text, or a word, is linked to another file on the Internet. HTML files are meant to be viewed using a World Wide Web Client Program, such as Netscape or Mosaic.
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-I-
Internet-
The vast collection of inter-connected networks that all use the TCP/IP protocols and that evolved from the ARPANET of the late 60's and early 70's. The Internet now (July 1995) connects roughly 60,000 independent networks into a vast global internet.
IP Number-
Sometimes called a dotted quad. A unique number consisting of 4 parts separated by dots, e.g.165.113.245.2 Every machine that is on the Internet has a unique IP number - if a machine does not have an IP number, it is not really on the Internet. Most machines also have one or more Domain Names that are easier for people to remember.
ISP (Internet Service Provider)-
An ISP provides you with access to the Internet either by dialing up through their server, or with a direct connection. There are a large number of ISPs offering different plans at different rates. Most ISPs provide services such as Email and web hosting. Some even provide free space for a personal web page. This is not usually suitable for business purposes. You do not have to host your website with your ISP.
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-J-
Java-
is a programming language invented by Sun Microsystems that is specifically designed for writing programs that can be safely downloaded to your computer through the Internet and immediately run without fear of viruses or other harm to your computer or files. Using small Java programs (called "Applets"), Web pages can include functions such as animations, calculators, and other fancy tricks.We can expect to see a huge variety of features added to the Web using Java, since you can write a Java program to do almost anything a regular computer program can do, and then include that Java program in a Web page.
JPG /JPEG-
A graphical data file format, widel supported on the world wide web, JPG file have a quality of containing true color palletes.
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-L-
LAN (Local Area Network)-
A computer network limited to the immediate area, usually the same building or floor of a building.
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Modem (Modulator, DEModulator)-
A device that you connect to your computer and to a phone line, that allows the computer to talk to other computers through the phone system. Basically, modems do for computers what a telephone does for humans.
-N-
Navigation-
Navigation is your visitors means of finding their way around your website. With well planned navigation, your visitor can quickly and easily find what they are looking for. It is even more important than the actual content of your website.
Network-
Any time you connect 2 or more computers together so that they can share resources, you have a computer network. Connect 2 or more networks together and you have an internet.
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-P-
PDF (Portable Document Format)-
Adobe's special format for documentation, Better quality then a normal text file, still it has a low file size, readable only by Acrobat Reader and Corel Draw.
POP-
Post Office Protocol refers to the way e-mail software such as Eudora gets mail from a mail server. When you obtain a SLIP, PPP, or shell account you almost always get a POP account with it, and it is this POP account that you tell your e-mail software to use to get your mail.
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-S-
Search Engines-
Programs that enable you to search the Internet for websites using specific words or phrases.
Some popular search engines are Search NZ, Anzwers, Alta Vista, Google, Yahoo.
All engines work differently and are changing constantly, so you will notice different results when you enter the same information into different engines.
Search Engine Optimisation / Registration-
As more websites are created around the world, the chances of your site appearing near the top of a search results list becomes less likely, depending on how much competition you have on the Internet.
Some companies specialise in promoting your site via search engines. Whether it is worthwhile to pay for their services or not, depends on the nature of your website, and who and where your expected site visitors are.
Search engine optimisation means designing and building a website in order to get the maximum exposure in search engines. Among other things, this involves building key words and phrases into the site which aren't seen by visitors.
Search engine registration is the act of registering your website with a number of search engines, either locally and/or internationally. Knowing which engines to register with, to target your audience, is half the battle. Registering with any engine doesn't guarantee that your site will show in the results list. Some allow you to register for free, while others make you pay.
Server-
A computer, or a software package, that provides a specific kind of service to client software running on other computers. The term can refer to a particular piece of software, such as a WWW server, or to the machine on which the software is running, e.g.Our mail server is down today, that's why e-mail isn't getting out. A single server machine could have several different server software packages running on it, thus providing many different servers to clients on the network.
Spam (or Spamming)-
An inappropriate attempt to use a mailing list, or USENET or other networked communications facility as if it was a broadcast medium (which it is not) by sending the same message to a large number of people who didn't ask for it. The term probably comes from a famous Monty Python skit which featured the word spam repeated over and over. The term may also have come from someone's low opinion of the food product with the same name, which is generally perceived as a generic content-free waste of resources. (Spam is a registered trademark of Hormel Corporation, for its processed meat product.)E.g. Mary spammed 50 USENET groups by posting the same message to each.
SSL (Secure Socket Layer)-
system for encrypting data transmission over the Internet.Requires a digital signature.
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-U-
URL (Uniform Resource Locator)-
The standard way to give the address of any resource on the Internet that is part of the World Wide Web (WWW). A URL looks like this:http://www.matisse.net/seminars.htmlor telnet://well.sf.ca.usor news:new.newusers.questionsetc. The most common way to use a URL is to enter into a WWW browser program, such as Netscape, or Lynx or Microsoft's Internet Explorer
-W-
Web Designer-
Web designers are professionals experienced in the art of website design.
Web Graphics-
Web graphics are used to enhance the look of websites. Text on websites can only be displayed in a limited number of fonts, so if you want to jazz it up, you need to turn that text into a graphic image. Other web graphics include photos, pictures, buttons, navigation menus, banner ads, animations.
Web Statistics-
Web statistics are reports which give you information on your site's usage.
Website Maintenance-
Website maintenance refers to on-going changes to a site once it is published on the Internet. As things change in your organisation, your website must be updated to reflect the changes. There is nothing more harmful to your credibility than having out-of-date information on the Internet for all the world to see.
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