Frequently Used Terminology: This is a partial list of terms
and abbreviations frequently used in the web development
field which you may encounter during the design of your
website.
Active Server Pages (ASP) - With ASP, you can add
interactive content to your Web pages or build entire
Web applications that use HTML pages as the interface
to your visitors. Active Server Pages (ASP) is a server-side
scripting environment that you can use to create dynamic
Web pages or build powerful Web applications. ASP pages
are files that contain HTML tags, text, and script
commands. ASP pages can call ActiveX components to
perform tasks, such as connecting to a database or
performing a business calculation.
Animated GIF - An animated GIF (Graphics
Interchange Format) file is a graphic image on a Web page that
moves - for example, a twirling icon or a banner with
a hand that waves or letters that magically get larger.
In particular, an animated GIF is a file in the Graphics
Interchange Format specified as GIF89a that contains
within the single file a set of images that are presented
in a specified order. An animated GIF can loop endlessly
(and it appears as though your document never finishes
arriving) or it can present one or a few sequences
and then stop the animation. Animated GIFs are frequently
used in Web ad banners. Java, Flash, and other tools
can be used to achieve the same effects as an animated
GIF. However, animated GIFs are generally easier to
create than comparable images with Java or Flash and
usually smaller in size and thus faster to display.
ASP - Short for Active Server Pages that is used for
creating dynamic content of a web page. Technically
said it is a server side scripting language. It is
mostly used on Windows platforms.
Bandwidth - Bandwidth is the maximum amount of data
that can travel a communications path in a given time,
usually measured in seconds. If you think of the communications
path as a pipe, then bandwidth represents the width
of the pipe that determines how much data can flow
through it all at once. Bandwidth: the capacity that
a telecommunications medium has for carrying data.
For analog or voice communication, bandwidth is measured
in the difference between the upper and lower transmission
frequencies expressed in cycles per second, or hertz
(Hz). For digital communication, bandwidth and transmission
speed are usually treated a synonyms and measured in
bits per second.
Banner - Also referred to as a banner ad, a banner
is a typically rectangular advertisement placed on
a Web site either above, below or on the sides of the
Website's main content and is linked to the advertiser's
own Website.
Browser - Very often called Web browser, a software
application used to locate and display Web pages. The
two most popular browsers are Microsoft Internet Explorer
and Netscape Navigator. There are many other browsers
like AOL Browser, Opera, NeoPlanet and many others.
? Client: A Client is a workstation or personal computer
in a client/server environment. Or One end of the spectrum
in a request/supply relationship between programs.
Database - A special way of organizing computer data.
It looks like a table implemented columns and rows
for fast accessing data from any of the cells in the
table. There are many different types of databases
but all of them work on the same principle. Databases
are very useful for storing and organizing data for
later retrieval. Very often used for managing accounts,
managing user information, creating guest books and
bulletin boards, even this page (dictionary) is implemented
with database.
Discussion Group - A web page that supports interactive
discussions by users. Users submit text content using
a form, that is saved on the server and that way make
it available to other visitors.
DNS - The Domain
Name System - which identifies each
computer as a network point on the Internet using an
internet protocol address systems to translate from
domain name to IP and reverse.
Domain Name - A unique name that identifies one or
more IP addresses. For example, the domain name "delmarvaconsultants.com" represents
one IP address. Domain names are used in URLs to identify
particular Web pages. Every website that you visit
is stored under a domain name.
Domain Name Extension - Part after the dot in the
domain name is a domain name extension. In the delmarvaconsultants.com
domain, the domain extension is .com. There are many
other domain name extensions such as .com, .net, .org
, .gov, .edu, .mil , .info, .web, .us, .uk, .cc, .it,
.mx, .ba, and many others.
Downloading - Downloading is the method by which users
access and save or "pull down" software or
other files to their own computers from a remote computer,
usually via a modem.
E-Commerce - E-Commerce means conducting business
on the Internet. It is mostly referred to buying and
selling items on line.
Encryption - A way of coding the information in a
file or e-mail message so that if it is intercepted
by a third party as it travels over a network it cannot
be read. Only the persons sending and receiving the
information have the key and this makes it unreadable
to anyone except those persons (your browser does it
automatically).
Firewall - A firewall is either the program or the
computer it runs on, usually an Internet gateway server,
that protects the resources of one network from users
from other networks. Typically, an enterprise with
an intranet that allows its workers access to the wider
Internet will want a firewall to prevent outsiders
from accessing its own private data resources.
Flash - Browser independent vector and graphic animation
technology owned by Macromedia Inc.. Most browsers
support Flash technology and one flash animation looks
the same on all browsers.
FTP - FTP stands for File
Transfer Protocol which
is one of the methods of transferring files over the
Internet.
GIF - GIF stands
for graphics interchange
format, and it is a bit-mapped
graphics file format used by the
World Wide Web. GIF supports color and various resolutions.
But it is limited to 256 colors.
Hard Disk Storage This is the space you have to store
your site. Every website is stored on a webserver,
which is the computer that broadcasts your site to
your visitors. Your hard disk storage is how much space
you are allocated on that server's hard drive. Even
most robust websites don't require more than 10 megs
of space, but having more is a nice luxury for storing
pictures, video, and graphics. HostMySite plans offer
100 to 500+ megs of storage.
Home Page - This is the first page (also called index
or opening page) of a Web site.
Hosting - Hosting
is a service provided by a hosting company that provides
a place, via a server (a
computer available on the Internet) where websites
are stored
and made available to website users to view the content
of that web site.
HTML - Stands for Hyper
Text Markup Language, the
authoring and editing language used to create web pages
on the World Wide Web.
Internet - The largest global network connecting millions
of computers. It is strictly based on TCP/IP protocol
for communication between host and server.
Intranet - A private network belonging to an organization,
usually a corporation, accessible only by the organization's
members, employees, or others with authorization. An
intranet is a network that is contained within an enterprise.
It may consist of many interlinked local area networks
and also use leased-lines in the wide-area network.
It may or may not include connections through one or
more gateways to the outside Internet. The main purpose
of an intranet is usually to share company information
and computing resources among employees. An intranet
can also be used to facilitate working in groups and
for teleconferences.
IP Address - An IP (Internet
Protocol) address is
a unique identifier for a point or host connection
on an IP network. An IP address is a 32 bit binary
number usually represented as 4 decimal values, each
representing 8 bits, in the range 0 to 255 (known as
octets) separated by decimal points. It is just a number
like 66.46.105.9
Java applet - A short program written in Java (not
JavaScript) that is attached to a World Wide Web page
and executed by the browser machine. Often used for
complicated web applications.
JavaScript - JavaScript is a client-side scripting
language that allows dynamic behavior to be specified
within HTML documents. Most browsers support java;
however some browsers are disabled for JavaScript use.
JPEG (JPG) - Stands for Joint
Photographic Experts Group. JPEG uses compression
technique for color images and therefore some details
are lost in the compression
yet giving relatively good quality. It is widely used
on the Internet and other digital applications.
LAN -
A LAN is a network of interconnected workstations sharing
the resources of a single processor or server within
a relatively small geographic area. Typically, this
might be within the area of a small office building.
Usually, the server has applications and data storage
that are shared in common by multiple workstation users.
A local area network may serve as few as four or five
users or, in some cases several thousand.
Link - Sometimes called hyperlink. A link is object
on the web page. When visitor of a website click with
the mouse on that object then user is taken to another
web page where the link is pointing to. Different types
of links are: text links, graphic links, java links,
form links and some other which are not very important.
MP3 - MP3 is the file extension for MPEG, audio layer
3. Layer 3 is one of three coding schemes (layer 1,
layer 2 and layer 3) for the compression of audio signals.
MP3 files could be embedded into website providing
music while visitors are viewing the site. MP3 files
are relatively small comparing to other audio files
and therefore are quite suitable for transferring over
the Internet.
PHP - PHP Hypertext Preprocessor is a server-side,
HTML embedded scripting language used to create dynamic
Web pages. Designed for Windows and Unix type platforms.
In Web programming, PHP is a script language and interpreter
that is freely available and used primarily on Linux
Web servers. PHP, originally derived from Personal
Home Page Tools, now stands for PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor,
which the PHP FAQ describes as a "recursive acronym." PHP
is an alternative to Microsoft's Active Server Page
(ASP) technology. As with ASP, the PHP script is embedded
within a Web page along with its HTML. Before the page
is sent to a user that has requested it, the Web server
calls PHP to interpret and perform the operations called
for in the PHP script. An HTML page that includes a
PHP script is typically given a file name suffix of ".php" ".php3," or ".phtml".
Like ASP, PHP can be thought of as "dynamic HTML
pages," since content will vary based on the results
of interpreting the script. PHP is free and offered
under an open source license.
POP3 - (Post Office Protocol 3) is the most recent
version of a standard protocol for receiving e-mail.
POP3 is a client/server protocol in which e-mail is
received and held for you by your Internet server.
Periodically, you (or your client e-mail receiver)
check your mail-box on the server and download any
mail, probably using POP3. This standard protocol is
built into most popular e-mail products, such as Eudora
and Outlook Express. It's also built into the Netscape
and Microsoft Internet Explorer browsers.
POP3 is designed to delete mail on the server as soon
as the user has downloaded it. However, some implementations
allow users or an administrator to specify that mail
be saved for some period of time. POP can be thought
of as a "store-and-forward" service.
Protocol - A formal set of conventions that allow communication
between two communicating functional units. Simply
said it is a language that
computers use to talk to each other. Of course there are many such languages.
Most popular is TCP/IP used officially on the Internet.
?
Router - On the Internet, a router is a device or,
in some cases, software in a computer, that directs
information packets to the next point toward their
destination. The router is connected to at least two
networks and decides which way to send each information
packet based on its current understanding of the state
of the networks it is connected to. A router is located
at any juncture of networks, including each Internet
point-of-presence.
Search Engine - A program that performs searching
on documents for specified terms or phrases and returns
a list of the documents where those terms were found.
Search Engines are lately referred to Internet Search
Engines. Most popular search engines today are Google,
Yahoo, MSN, AllTheWeb, Excite, Lycos, AOL, HotBot,
Altavista.
Search Engine Optimization - Search Engine Optimization
(SEO) is an act of of increasing the the number of
visitors to a particular Website by adding appropriate
keywords and phrases, and therefore ranking high in
the search results. The higher a Website ranks in the
results of a search, the greater the chance that your
site will be found by a search user. For general and
competitive websites it takes a lot of professionalism
to tweak the web site in order to be well optimized
and search engine friendly.
Server - As the name implies, a server serves information
to computers that connect to it. When users connect
to a server, they can access programs, files, and other
information from the server. Common servers are Web
servers, mail servers, and LAN servers. A single computer
can have several different server programs running
on it.
Spam - Spam is unsolicited
e-mail on the Internet. From the sender's
point-of-view, it's a form of bulk mail, often
to a list obtained from a spambot
or to a list obtained by companies that specialize
in creating e-mail distribution lists. To
the receiver, it usually seems like junk e-mail.
It's roughly equivalent to unsolicited telephone
marketing calls except that the user pays
for part of the message since everyone shares
the cost of maintaining the Internet. Spammers
typically send a piece of e-mail to a distribution
list in the millions, expecting that only
a tiny number of readers will respond to their
offer. Spam has become a major problem for
all Internet users.
SSL - (pronounced
as separate letters) Short for Secure Sockets
Layer, a protocol developed by Netscape for
transmitting private documents via the Internet.
SSL uses a cryptographic system that uses
two keys to encrypt data - a public key known
to everyone and a private or secret key known
only to the recipient of the message. Both
Netscape Navigator and Internet Explorer support
SSL, and many Web sites use the protocol to
obtain confidential user information, such
as credit card numbers. By convention, URLs
that require an SSL connection start with
https: instead of http:.
Submission Forms - Forms are web page "fields" for
a user to fill in with information. They are an excellent
way of collecting and processing information from people
visiting a website, as well as allowing them to interact
with web pages. Forms are written in HTML and processed
by CGI programs. The output can be sent as an e-mail
form, stored online, printed, and/or returned to the
user as an HTML page.
TCP/IP - TCP/IP is the acronym for Transport Control
Protocol/Internet Protocol, the suite of communications
protocols used to connect hosts on the Internet. TCP/IP
uses several protocols, the two main ones being TCP
and IP. TCP/IP is built into the UNIX operating system
and is used by the Internet, making it the de facto
standard for transmitting data over networks. Even
network operating systems that have their own protocols,
such as NetWare, also support TCP/IP
Thumbnail - A small version of a bigger image on a
web page. Usually containing a hyperlink to a full-size
version of the image.
URL - Stands for Uniform
Resource Locator, which is
a string that supplies the Internet address of a resource
on the World Wide Web, along with the protocol by which
the resource is accessed. The most common URL type
is "http," which gives the Internet address
of a World Wide Web page. Some other URL types are:
gopher and ftp.
Video Clip - A short video sequence that can be embedded
into a web page.
WAN - WAN distinguishes the broader telecommunication
structure from a local area network (LAN). A wide area
network may be composed entirely of private structures,
but the term seems to also connote the inclusion of
public networks and all kinds of transmission media.
Web Application - Web Applications are web programs
or real programs designed to be used on the website
using a browser. An example of a web application would
be an e-commerce website, web banking, stock exchange
on the web, web games and many others. Web applications
are becoming very popular due to wide availability
of the Internet access.
Web Based E-mail - Web based e-mail is a software
on a POP3 server that allows you the luxury, if desired,
to access your POP accounts by simply using a web-browser.
It allows users to send and receive emails via any
web-browser by viewing an HTML web page.
Web Page - One of the pages one the web site including
the home page.
Website - A site presence on the World Wide Web. Each
Websites contain a home page (index or opening page),
which is the first document users see when they enter
the site.
Workstation - A workstation is a client computer (stand
alone machine) on a (Local Area Network) or Wide Area
Network that is used to run applications and is connected
to a server from which it obtains data shared with
other computers. Workstation is also used to describe
a high-priced PC that uses a high-performance microprocessor
and proprietary architecture to create what some call
an "open" system.
World Wide Web - A system of Internet servers that
support specially formatted documents. The documents
are formatted in a script called HTML (Hyper Text Markup
Language) that supports links to other documents, as
well as graphics, audio, and video files. This means
you can jump from one document to another simply by
clicking on hot spots. Not all Internet servers are
part of the World Wide Web.
