- ASCII
- (pronounced "Ask-ee") An acronym for
American Standard Code for Information Exchange. ASCII essentially
is plain, unadorned text without style or font specifications and
it is easily transferred over networks.
- Authoring Software
- This is software that enables the creation
of multimedia or hypertext documents and presentations.
- Backgrounds
- Think of the background as the type of
paper you choose to print your brochure or advertisement on. This
is simply a color you select that will appear behind your text and
graphics on the computer monitor.
- Bandwidth
- This term describes the amount of data
that can travel across telephone or network wiring. The larger the
bandwidth the more information can be transferred over that
network at one time. The term bandwidth also broadly includes
throughput, meaning the amount of data sent. For reference look at
the definitions for POTS, ISDN, T-1, and T-3.
- Baud
- The maximum speed at which data can be
sent down a channel, or a unit of speed in data transmission. Baud
is often equivalent to bits per second. Named after J. M. E.
Baudot (died 1903).
- BBS
- This is an acronym for Bulletin Board
System, a computer equipped with software and telecommunications
links that allow it to act as an information host for remote
computer systems.
- Bit
- A bit is the smallest unit of information
that a computer can hold. It is a contraction of the words binary
digit. Eight bits is equivalent to a byte. The speed at which bits
are transmitted or bit rate is usually expressed as bits per
second or bps.
- Browser
- A type of software that displays Web
pages. The most popular are: Netscape Navigator, NCSA Mosaic, and
Microsoft Internet Explorer.
- Byte
- The number of bits used to represent a
character. Eight bits equal a byte.
- CD-ROM
- Compact Disk-Read Only Memory. It is used
to store and play back computer data. A CD-ROM is an optical disk
that can contain up to 650MB of data. Use this term to refer to
the actual discs but not the hardware you play the discs on. That
is a CD-ROM drive.
- CGI
- Common Gateway Interface. The CGI standard
outlines the rules for running external programs in a Web server.
External programs are called gateways because they open up an
outside world of information to the server.
- Cyberspace
- This term was coined by William Gibson in
his novel "Neuromancer." It refers to a near-future computer
network where users mentally travel through tables of data. This
has become a popular term which is now used to loosely describe
the Internet, the World Wide Web, and many other computer
networks. A much hipper term, but used the same way, is the
"Information Superhighway."
- Dial-up Connection
- The most popular form of Net connection
for the home user, this is a connection from your computer to a
host computer over standard telephone lines.
- Direct Connection
- A permanent connection between your
computer system and the Internet. This is sometimes referred to as
a leased-line connection because the line is leased from the
telephone company.
- Domain Name
- Domain names are issued by the Inter-NIC.
They are assigned to individuals or companies seeking their own
unique name on the Internet. They are used for electronic mail as
well as Web site addresses. For instance if your name is Joe
Smith, and your company name is Acme, your email address would be
jsmith@acme.com and the Web site address (URL) would be
http://www.acme.com. Domain names are issued with several
different extensions to further identify what type of organization
uses the domain. For example .com is for commercial
establishments, .edu is for educational institutions, .gov is for
a government body, .mil for the military and .org for nonprofit
organizations. Some domains use geographical notations as well for
example, .jp for Japan.
- DNS
- An acronym for Domain Name Server. DNS
refers to a database of Internet names and addresses which
translates the names to the official Internet Protocol (IP)
numbers and vice versa. For example if you try to view a Web site
at www.acme.com, the DNS will translate this URL into a series of
numbers that is the official IP address which looks something like
this: 202.237.113.27.
- email
- This is an abbreviation for electronic
mail. Email allows you to send and receive messages to and from
other people around the world who also have email accounts. To
have email, you need to have 3 things. First your computer system
needs to have a modem installed. Secondly you need to install
software which allows you to send and receive messages. Thirdly,
you need to set up an account with an email provider such as
Netcom, AOL, or Microsoft.
- FAQ
- This is the acronym for Frequently Asked
Questions. A common feature on the Internet, FAQs are files of
answers to commonly asked questions. These files are designed to
reduce calls and emails to support departments.
- Firewall
- This term refers to security measures
designed to protect a networked system from unauthorized or
unwelcome access.
- FTP
- File Transfer Protocol allows the transfer
of files from one computer to another. FTP is also the verb used
to describe the act of transferring files from one computer to
another.
- GIF
- This acronym stands for Graphic
Interchange Format, a commonly used file compression format
developed by CompuServe for transferring graphics files to and
from online services. A GIF file is limited to 256 colors.
- GUI
- An acronym for Graphical User Interface,
this term refers to a software front-end meant to provide an
attractive and easy to use interface between a computer user and
an application. The Macintosh operating system has a GUI, DOS does
not.
- Home Page
- The document displayed when you first open
your Web browser. Home Page can also refer to the first document
you come to in a Web site. The first page serves as the site's
introduction, starting point, and guide. This starting point is
often referred to as the Index page or Cover page.
- Hotlists
- Lists of frequently used Web locations and
URLs (Uniform Resource Locators).
- Host
- A computer acting as an information or
communications server.
- HTML
- An acronym for HyperText Markup Language,
HTML is the language used to format the documents on the World
Wide Web. HTML uses formatting commands or "tags" that are
embedded around the various parts of a Web document so browsing
software will know how to display that document's links, text,
graphics and attached media. The tags do not appear on the browser
screen, but translate the information for the browser.
- HTTP
- The abbreviation for Hypertext Transfer
Protocol, HTTP is used to link and transfer hypertext
documents.
- InterNIC
- The abbreviation for Network Information
Center, NIC is an organization responsible for supplying
information for component networks that comprise the
Internet.
- IP
- The abbreviation for Internet Protocol, IP
refers to the set of communication standards that control
communications activity on the Internet. An IP address is the
number assigned to any Internet-connected computer.
- ISDN
- The abbreviation for Integrated Services
Digital Network. The ordinary telephone system doesn't handle
large quantities of data, therefore the ISDN was established in
1984 to allow for wide-bandwidth digital transmission. ISDN is a
telecommunications standard that uses digital transmission
technology to support voice, video and data communications
applications over regular telephone lines. ISDN lines can transfer
64 kilobits of digital data per second.
- Java
- Sun Microsystems' programming language for
adding animation and other action to Web sites. The small
applications (called applets) that Java creates can play back on
any graphical system that's Web-ready, but your Web browser has to
be Java capable for you to see it.
- JPEG
- The acronym for Joint Photographic Experts
Group, JPEG is an image compression format used to transfer color
photographs and images over computer networks. Along with GIF,
it's one of the most common ways photos are moved over the Web.
JPEG files can contain up to 16 million colors, therefore
retaining a high degree of color fidelity.
- Keyword
- These words should appear on the first
page of you Web site and allow search engines and browsers to
easily locate you Web site. They also allow these search engines
to easily categorize your Web site so that people looking for
information on a particular subject will easily find your
site.
- Links
- Links are the hypertext connections
between Web pages. This is a synonym for hotlinks or hyperlinks,
hotbuttons, or hypertextlinks. Links allow you to navigate
throughout a Web site (internal links) or move about between
different sites on the WWW (external links). Links are identified
on a Web page because a word is highlighted in a different color,
or a graphic/drawing/photograph has been programmed to link to
another place. It is similar to turning the page in a book or
moving from chapter to chapter in a book.
- Mosaic
- This is the common name of a World Wide
Web multimedia browser program developed at the National Center
for Supercomputing Applications in Urbana-Champaign, Ill. The
official, copyrighted name of the program is NCSA
Mosaic(tm).
- MPEG
- The acronym for Moving Pictures Expert
Group, MPEG is an international standard for video compression and
desktop movie presentation. A special viewing application is
needed to run MPEG files on your computer.
- POP
- An acronym for Point of Presence. POPs
refer to the location where people can dial into an Internet
provider's host computer to allow you access the Net. Most
providers have several POPs to allow low-cost access via telephone
lines.
- POTS
- This is an acronym for Plain Old Telephone
Service.
- Search Engine
- This term refers to a software program
that helps users find information in text-oriented
databases.
- Server
- A computer system that manages and
delivers information for client computers.
- Shareware
- This term refers to a concept of trying
software prior to purchasing it. Shareware isn't software it is a
way to distribute it. This software is available on public
networks and BBSs. Users are asked to remit a small amount to the
software developer, but it's on the honor system.
- T-1
- If an ISDN line doesn't handle enough data
for you, this high-speed data line connection, a T-1 operates at
1.45 Mbps.
- T-3
- It handles almost 30 times more data than
the T1 at 44.736 megabits of data transfer.
- URL
- This is the abbreviation for Uniform
Resource Locator, the addressing system used in the World Wide
Web. The URL contains information about the method of access, the
server to be accessed, and the path of any file to be accessed.
For example: http://www.acme.com is the URL for a company called
Acme, Inc.
- Web Browser
- This is the software that allows a user to
access and view HTML documents. Examples of Web browsers include
Netscape, , Netcruiser, Mosaic, Cello, and Lynx.
- Webmaster
- This term refers to the person in charge
of administrating a World Wide Web site.
- Web Page
- An HTML document that is accessible on the
Web.
- World Wide Web
- Also known as The Web, WWW or W3, the
World Wide Web is a hypertext-based Internet service used for
browsing Internet resources.
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