Some notes about this Glossary

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This Glossary is excerpted from a book by Boogie Jack and

created with the help and talents of the members of TaxMama’s

I-HelpDesk & WebReview.

Glossary

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

Absolute address: The full address of a file. See also, relative address.

Access Provider: An Internet service provider who provides local access to the Internet. Also known as a local dial-up provider or ISP.

Adware: Software that is free to the user, but supported by advertisers.

Anchor: A named point (anchor) on a Web page. All links use the anchor tag.

Animated GIF: An image that is actually a series of images shown one after another to simulate animation.

Announcement list: A mailing list that restricts who may send messages to the list of subscribers.

AOL: America Online, the largest commercial online service today.

ASCII: American Standard Code for Information Interchange. Basically, it is the 'lowest common denominator' method of transferring information with near universal support.

ASP: (1) Active Server Pages - This is a form of programming that is only available on servers that run NT for their operating system.

(2) Application Service Provider - An ASP is a company who creates
business software applications, and then makes the applications available
on a subscription basis to other businesses.

Attachment: A file attached to an e-mail message that can be sent to anyone with an email account. This can be a graphic, text document, or software program, etc.

Attributes: Describes an aspect of an HTML tag that is modified with a value.

Autoresponder (or Infobot): A type of email account that automatically responds to requests for information with a prewritten message. (See also, smart autoresponder.)

Bandwidth: How much data you can send through a connection. Usually
measured in kilobits per second (Kbps) or kilobytes per second (Kbps).

Baud (or kbps): A measurement of how fast data flows through your modem.

Binary file: A file not in ASCII text format, such as images or programs.

Bit: a single binary piece of information (a "one" or a "zero").

Bookmark (or Favorite): A feature included in browsers like Netscape
Communicator and Microsoft Internet Explorer, which allows you to 'save' your
favorite sites and quickly access pages of interest.

Browser: The software used to view the World Wide Web.

Bulletin Board: A bulletin board is an electronic message center that
usually serves a specific interest group. One reaches a bulletin board
through the Internet, and then reads or posts messages to relate to others
who frequent the specific board. These are often topical in nature.

Byte: One word of binary information (usually eight bits long).

Cache: The temporary storing of recently visited Web pages on your computer so they may be accessed faster. When returning to a recently visited Web site you may be viewing a page from your computer rather than fresh content, depending on how you configure your browser.

Cascading style sheets: (CSS) An addition to HTML that provides greater page formatting control.

CGI: Common Gateway Interface. CGI allows HTML pages to interact with
programming applications.

Chat Room: A chat room is a virtual room where people can communicate in
real time while on the Internet. Users type their messages with a keyboard
and the entered text will appear on the monitor, along with the text of the
other chat room visitors.

Client-side image map: An image that is divided into click-able regions with each region having the ability to be linked to a different file.

Compression: A technology used to make files smaller for faster transmission or to take up less space. A compressed file has to be uncompressed to be used.

Compuserve: The second largest commercial online service, primarily
business oriented.

CPM: Cost per Thousand Impressions. Usually used for pricing banners where
$5 CPM means that one pays $5 for one thousand displays of the banner on a
web site. Also used for mail lists where one impression is usually the
same as one email address that the list is sent to.

Cyberspace: Sweeping term used to refer to anything Internet.

Dedicated Server: A dedicated server is a computer that only runs one type
of server software, and is usually constructed according to the user's
specifications. Dedicated servers are typically used for websites that have
high traffic, and need many resources and much processing power.

Definition list: An indented list of items that does not use bullets or numbering.

Demoware: Similar to shareware, except it often has one or more features disabled. Disparagingly called crippleware.

Digital: Electronic information using on/off sequences to convey information.

Discussion list: A moderated or unmoderated mailing list that allows any member to send messages to the other members (subscribers).

DNS: Domain Name Server. A method of indexing the Internet based on the
sites name. Sometimes referred to as domain name system.

DNS Aliasing: The Internet relies on Domain Name Servers (DNS’s) to
translate domain names into IP addresses. Every Web hosting company must
have a domain name server.

Domain Name: The name defines your presence online. A domain name is much like a trademark or a license. It allows people to find a website by name instead of by number (IP address). Domain names are like fingerprints, there can only be one of any domain name in the world. Domain names can be 67
characters long in total. The length includes the ".com" at the end but
does not include the "http://www" at the beginning.

Downloading: Copying files from the Internet onto your computer or a disk.
This can be done thru a variety of ways, see Browser, FTP and Telnet.

E-Commerce: Electronic commerce (e-commerce) is the wave of the future. It
basically means to conduct business online, or electronically.

Electron Estate: A term coined by Tom Koziol for a web site or URL. After
all, what is your web site but your electronic real estate?

E-Mail: E-mail is short for electronic mail. It is a way of sending letters, sales notices, brochures, and countless other things over the Internet.

E-Mail Alias: Sometimes called a forwarding account. This type of e-mail
allows you to appear to have an address on one domain, yet behind the
scenes the mail is forwarded on to your real e-mail account.

E-Mail POP Account: (post office protocol) The account is an actual e-mail box located on the server for which the address is made. When e-mail is sent to a real POP account, the mail is stored on the server until the user logs in with their e-mail software and downloads it.

Encryption: A process of scrambling information so that it is unusable to all but the intended users.

FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions - An easy-to-read list of questions and
answers about a web site, individual or company, or specific topics.

Firewall: Software or Hardware that creates a protective barrier between
the network and the rest of the Internet.

Flame: A fiery (read angry) complaint sent via email. Often generated when sending unsolicited email or posting commercial ads to non-commercial areas of the Internet.

Form: A web page that has input fields for a user to submit information.

Frames: A feature that divides a Web page into separate windows, each of
which can be scrolled independently of the others. Many search engines can’t index framed sites.

FreeBSD: An operating system, which is a version of UNIX. FreeBSD runs on
Intel microprocessors, and powers the servers of the Web's largest sites.

Freeware: Software that is free.

FrontPage: FrontPage is a Microsoft Office website creation and management
tool used as a means to easily manipulate and publish Web pages with no
coding knowledge.

FTP: File Transfer Protocol. A means of uploading files to the Internet or downloading files to your computer.

GIF: Graphics Interchange Format. A common image format using up to 256 colors. Gif images work best for text, sharp lines, and large areas of continuous color. The may also be animated.

Helper Application: An application that is launched to view files that browsers can’t parse.

Hit: A request from a browser to a server. A web page with 14 images will
count 15 hits, one for the main page and 14 (one per image) for the images.
Often confused with other measurements, such as page views or users.

Host: A company that provides disk space on their servers to other companies and individuals so that their web sites are available on the Internet.

HTML (Hypertext Markup Language): The simple programming language of the World Wide Web.

Hyperlinks: See Hypertext Links.

Hypertext Links: A hypertext link is a method of embedding a URL into an
object, such as a segment of text or an image. When this object is clicked, the browser activates the embedded URL to retrieve the linked file. As a general rule of thumb, most colored and underlined words, and many graphics, are linked and can be clicked on.

ICANN: The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN,
is an organization that was recognized by the U.S. government in November of
1999 to administer the Internet’s core technical functions and foster competition among domain name registrars.

IDE: Integrated Drive Electronics. A standard connector for connecting
computer peripherals.

Internet: The catchall word used to describe the massive worldwide network of computers. The word "Internet" literally means, "network of networks". In itself, the Internet is comprised of thousands of smaller regional networks scattered throughout the globe. On any given day it connects roughly 200 million users in over 100 countries.

INTERNIC: Network Solutions, was the original domain name licensing
authority for the United States. They previously had a monopoly on domain
name registration that was granted to them by the U.S. Department of
Commerce, until November, 1999, when competition was enforced and they were required to share their database and registry services with anyone who
qualified as a registrar. ICANN is the newly appointed organization that
oversees domain name registration issues.

Internet Service Provider (ISP): Responsible for managing the technical
aspects of providing Internet access, and may offer hosting services as well.

Intranet: Private network(s) of computers that restrict access.

IP Address: Internet Protocol. IP addresses are the numerical addresses
that relate to a specific domain name, however, a domain name may identify
one or more IP addresses. The format of an IP address is a 32-bit numeric
address written as four numbers separated by periods. Each number can be
zero to 255. For example, 1.120.15.185 could be an IP address.

IRC: Internet Relay Chat. IRC is a massive network of text-based chat
channels (rooms) and users all across the world.

ISDN: Integrated Digital Services Network. Basically, it’s just two phone lines to your computer so that you can access the Internet at a higher speed.

ISP: Internet Service Provider. An Internet service provider who provides local access to the Internet. Also known as a local dial-up provider or access provider.

Java: Developed by Sun Microsystems as a response to problems programming
in the C++ language. It is a general programming language that is suited
for use on the World Wide Web and is intended to be simple, cross-platform,
high performance, multi-threaded, and dynamic.

JavaScript: A mini version of Java. The advantages of JavaScript over Java
are that JavaScript is simplified, it doesn't have to be compiled, and the
source code resides within your HTML document.

JPEG: Joint Photographic Experts Group. A common image format capable of having over 16 million unique colors. Best suited for textures, photographs, and gradients.

JSP [Java Server Pages]: A scripting language similar to ASP and PHP,
allows the use of Java on the server side to produce dynamic web pages.

Kbps: Kilobits per second. The transfer rate of information from point to point.

Kilo: One thousand. Examples: kilobit = 1,000 bits. Actually in computers, kilo is 2 to the 10th power, or 1024.

Mac: A Macintosh computer.

Mbps: Megabits per second. Equal to 1,000 kbps.

Modem: Modulator/demodulator. A device to convert digital signals to analog for transfer over phone lines.

MRA: Multiple-recipient alias. An e-mail alias account that forwards mail to multiple e-mail addresses.

MSQL: Mini Structured Query Language. It is a lightweight database engine
that has been designed to provide fast access to stored data with low
memory requirements.

Multimedia: A system capable of displaying/playing images, sound, video, and animation.

Navigation: The system of access to files on the Internet.

Network: Two or more computers connected together so they can communicate with each other.

Netiquette: Net etiquette - the art of using the Internet, e-mail, newsgroups and
other resources with common courtesy. Although the rules are informal, when you break them, some people get quite upset.

Newbie: A somewhat affectionate term for someone new to the Internet. It
generally takes a while to learn the Netiquette and find your way around
the World Wide Web.

Newsgroup: An individual newsgroup within a Usenet group.

NT: Microsoft's NT operating system is the most advanced version of the
Windows operating system. It is designed to act as a server in networks.

Operating System: An operating system (OS) is what runs your computer. Most
computer users have most likely heard of "Windows", "DOS", or "Macintosh". These are operating systems that are normally used on private individual computers. A computer that is used as a Web server must also have an operating system. The two most common operating systems used on Web servers are Unix and NT.

Opt-In List: Email addresses of people who have agreed to receive email messages, usually ezines or announcement lists.

Ordered list: An indented list of items prefaced with a number or letter.

Pageview: The complete display of a web page to a viewer. This is a good
measure of web site popularity.

Password: A secret code that allows a user to access a restricted area.

PC: Refers to any IBM compatible personal computer.

PDF: Refers to Adobe Acrobat files. These files are cross-platform (Windows and Mac) and are useful for electronic publishing.

PERL: Popular Extraction and Report Language. Designed for processing text. It is also a popular programming language used for creating interactive websites.

Pixel: An individual dot of color in a computer environment.

PLUG-IN/PLUGIN: Often refers to a product that is not part of the original browser (Netscape, Internet Explorer, Opera, etc.). For example, Macromedia's Flash/Shockwave, Real Audio, and a number of other companies have these plug-in programs to make web sites more interactive. Also refers to components added to software programs such as Corel Photopaint and Adobe Photoshop that extend the programs capabilities.

POP: Post Office Protocol. An email account to send and receive email. When e-mail is sent to a real POP account, the mail is stored on the server until the user logs in with their e-mail software and downloads it. (Same as E-Mail POP and POP account.)

POP Account: See POP.

Protocol: Specific rules governing how data is exchanged between two electronic devices.

Public Domain: These are things that are available to the public at no charge because their copyrights, trademarks or patents have expired or somehow, been nullified. This may include information on government sites. This does not include information that is publicly visible on private or commercial websites. Just because it's there, does not mean you may copy it for your own site or publications without permission from the copyright holder.

RAM: The most common type of memory found in computers and other devices.
It is an acronym for random access memory, meaning that any byte of memory
can be accessed without touching the preceding bytes. It is commonly known
as the amount of memory in a computer that is available to programs.

RealAudio/RealVideo: RealMedia technology allows you to stream audio and
video from your site.

Registrar: A company or organization that registers domain names. Previously, Network Solutions was the only domain name registrar, but competition for registrars was opened in November of 1999, and now there are about 25 registrars globally. ICANN is the new governing body for registrars.

Relative address: An internet address defining the path to a file within a domain (doesn’t use the full Internet address).

Remove List: A file containing the email addresses those who have asked to be removed from a mailing list.

Resolution: The number of pixels per inch.

Router: Routers integrate WAN technologies such as Frame Relay, ISDN, leased lines, and LAN connections with feature-rich multi-protocol software, including robust SNA routing.

SCSI: Small Computer Systems Interface. It's a standard for connecting peripherals to your computer via a standard hardware interface, which uses standard SCSI commands.

Search Engine: A searchable index on the Web. Currently, search engines
index approximately only 20-25% of the materials and Web sites on the
Internet. Search engines are consistently ranked among the most popular sites on the Internet because they help people find what they are looking for.

Smart Autoresponder: Smart autoresponders are similar to standard autoresponders, but the can send multiple e-mails at varying intervals of time, from one hour apart to many days.

Secure Server: A Web site using encryption technology to protect information being transferred over the Internet.

Servlet: Server Side Java that replaces CGI and allows access to Java
functionality from both client and server side web applications.

Servlet Container: Program that plugs into your web server and allows it to
serve Servlet and JSP technologies.

Shareware: Software that you may download and use at no initial charge. If you like the software want to keep using it some form of payment is usually required. Sometimes referred to as nagware, as it often prompts you to register if you keep using it.

Sig File (Signature File): Contact information and marketing materials in a
brief format at the end of an email message. The only accepted way to advertise within newsgroup posts.

SIT: Similar to ZIP files, except that it's a Macintosh program (also available for Windows) called Aladdin’s StuffIt Expander. Both ZIP and SIT files are utilities to compress files.

SMTP: The server address of the account through which you send email.

SPAM: The practice of sending massive amounts of e-mail promotions or
advertisements (and scams) to people that have not asked for it. Spam e-mail lists are often created by "harvesting" e-mail addresses from discussion boards, newsgroups, chat rooms, IRC, and Web pages. Spam is universally hated by almost everyone except the spammer.

SSL: An acronym for secure sockets layer. SSL protects transmissions over
the World Wide Web from spectators by encrypting the data while it gets
transmitted over the Internet. SSL works through a certificate that
authenticates the domain. With this certificate, secure transmissions on the server are "certified" and valid. Many websites use this protocol to obtain confidential user information, such as credit card numbers. Web pages that require an SSL connection start with (https:) instead of (http:).

Storefront: In order to sell your products on the Web, you must build an
electronic storefront where users can browse your products, put desired
products into an electronic shopping cart, and "check out" and pay for the
items in their cart.

Streaming: This promises quick access to media content without the wait for the file to download. Downloading requires that files be sent to the user's PC in
their entirety before they can be played. Streaming sends files to the user's PC in such a way that they can begin viewing or listening to the file after an initial buffer is set. Downloaded files are left on the PC until deleted; when a streaming file has ended no data is left behind on the user's machine.

Sub domain: Anything that appears before your master domain in the URL, i.e.
http://www.yourchoice.masterdomain.com.

Surfer: A Web "surfer" is a colloquialism for a person browsing the Web.

Surfing: The act of exploring the Internet.

Table: A formatting method for arranging content into orderly rows and columns.

Tag: The term for an HTML command.

TCP/IP: Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol. The set of protocols which allows the Web, Telnet, FTP, email and other services function between computers using varied networks and operating systems.

Telnet: A common way to remotely control Web servers. The Telnet program
runs on your computer and connects your PC to a server on the Internet. You
can then enter commands through the Telnet program and they will be executed as if you were entering them directly on the server console. Requires a valid username and password.

Templates: A format programmed to accept information from someone simply by
typing or pasting the text. It enables a less (or non) skilled Web site owner or newsletter operator to do regular updates without having to do any programming and without the danger of messing up the site's code.

Tracking Code: The means by which you keep track of the response generated
by your marketing messages. Often expressed as a department number,
operator code, extension or specific email box.

Undeliverables (returns): Email addresses that return to you when the
person at the other end has closed their account, has a full email box, or
has contacted you with the wrong information.

UCE: Unsolicited commercial email. Informally referred to as spam.

Unique User: One person. When talking about the number of unique users to
a web site over a specific time frame, this counts each user once, no matter how many times they may return. A website that has the same 1,000 users returning every day will have 30,000 user sessions in a month, but only 1,000 unique users for that month. This statistic is a good measure of site popularity.

Unordered list: An indented list of items prefaced with bullets.

UNIX: A popular multi-user, multi-tasking operating system developed at
Bell Labs in the early 1970s. Due to its portability, flexibility, and power, UNIX has become the leading operating system for workstations.

Uploading: Taking files from your computer or disk and sending them to the
Internet. Generally done using FTP or through a template provided by your
host. You need to do this to put your site's pages onto the Internet. Many
sites also offer online templates or forms to let you simply paste in the
information and put it into their pages.

Upstream Provider (Backbone): a larger, faster Internet provider, which
gives connectivity to local or smaller ISPs.

URL: Uniform Resource Locator (Sometimes referred to as Universal Resource Locator). It is the address for which to find a specific Web site or file. Typically, a URL will be listed in a browser as the "location" or "address" of where exactly you are virtually situated.

Usenet: A collection of newsgroups and the system to index and access them.

User session: A person visiting a web site over a short period of time. Usually a user session is considered ended if there is no activity from that user for 30 or so minutes.

USP (Unique Selling Proposition): The reason(s) a consumer should use your products over a competitors.

Virtual Server: A Web server that shares computer resources with other
virtual servers on a single machine. Virtual Web servers are a way of
providing low-cost Web hosting services. Instead of requiring a separate
computer for each server, dozens of virtual servers can co-reside on the
same computer. This allows a single machine to act as many separate
systems.

Visitors: The people that come to your web site.

Web Browser: A software program that allows your computer, once connected
to the Web, to retrieve documents from Web servers around the World, translate
the HTML code in the documents and display the information to your screen.

Web Designer: A person who creates websites. Web designers may use
Web-authoring software, an HTML editor, or a simple text editor to create the actual pages, or they may design the overall look and let a Webmaster do the actual coding. They are usually proficient with Web graphics and images.

Web Developer: They can also be a Web designer, but a Web developer
typically has more database, CGI, and engineering experience. He or she
develops the interface between the front and back end of a website.

Webmaster: The person or persons responsible for managing a website,
promoting it, making sure everything works right. May include web design
functions but many tasks are incurred when site design is complete.

Webmaster Service Provider: A company in the business of providing
webmaster services on a contract basis to clients.

Web page: Any one particular page that is located on the World Wide Web.

Web pages comprise a website, and are distinct from other pages by their
URL (Web address).

Web Server: A computer on the World Wide Web (connected to the Internet
Backbone) that stores HTML documents that can be retrieved via a Web
browser.

Website: A location on the World Wide Web. Each website contains a home
page, which is the first document or web page that users see when they enter
the site. The site might also contain additional documents, files, or web pages, which are sometimes called "child pages."

WWW: See World Wide Web.

World Wide Web: (AKA: the Web) The graphical, fastest growing part of the
Internet. Sometimes disparagingly referred to as the World Wide Wait because of slow Internet connections, slow servers, or slow web sites.

ZIP: A compressed file format. A zip file may contain one or more files, which are compressed to save space or allow for faster transmission to others. Zip files are generally for PC operating systems.

This Glossary was developed for Boogie Jack.com’s book Website Design Made Easy, by Dennis Gaskill . It is reprinted here with his permission.

The material in this glossary was contributed by Dennis Gaskill (Boogie Jack, himself) and the members of the I-Sales HelpDesk &Webreview, a daily digest for anyone with any questions about doing business on the WWW. Moderated by Your Humble Guide, Eva Rosenberg, TaxMama, http://adventive.com/lists/ihelpdesk/summary.html

[BW] Brad Wailer mailto:waller@ep.com EPage http://ep.com/

[DB] Dustin Bruzenak mailto:Alexander@digitalvalence.com http://www.digitalvalence.com

[TK] Tom Koziol mailto:deadrun@jps.net http://www.cashclique.com/page4.htm

[RR] Ronni Rhodes mailto:Ronni@wbcimaging.com http://www.wbcimaging.com

[ER] Eva Rosenberg mailto:taxmama@taxmama.com http://taxmama.com

[SS] Scott T. Smith mailto:scott@infowriter.com http://www.copywriting.net.

[BS] Barbara Sybal mailto:gfx@gfxinc.com http://www.gfxinc.com

[SV] Steve Veltkamp mailto:steve@bizshop.com http://bizshop.com

[VSI] Virtualis Systems, Inc. < http://virtualis.com > was kind enough to provide their entire on-line glossary for this project.

Print publication rights granted to Dennis Gaskill and his publisher