This glossary has basic terms you will see on the WEB. Please feel free notify me if you feel a word or phrase should be added to the list for a newcomer on the Web would need to know. Thank you.
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address - It a location you can access a site on the Internet or the Web "address" and to receive and send e-mail. An address is made up of numbers, letter or symbols. (look under e-mail address and URL)
address book - E-mail programs lets you store your important e-mail address.
B
bookmark - It’s a place holder to remind you of a URL (web site) you may wish to revisit again without having to type out the address, especially if it’s a long address.
browser - A program the provide an interface for access to the World Wide Web to view web pages.
C
case sensitive - This term refers to the way you type any URL or e-mail address. So if you seem that you can not reach a site you want or send an e-mail message make sure it’s type either upper or lower case.
chat - It's real time text conversations in "chat rooms" or IRC channels with other people on your computer.
client - Software that allows a user to connect to a server.
cookie - A piece of information that is placed on your hard drive from a Web site you have visited (usually it a mall type site). It's main purpose is to track what kind of things you are interested in that site or what kinds of items in a cyber mall (meaning software to clothes, depends on the site you visited).
D
dial-up account - It's type of Internet account that let up dial-up to the Internet Service Provider computer using your modem.
dial-up connection - A connection between your computer to your host computer (your ISP) over the Internet.
DNS - It stand for "Domain Name System". Its a database of numeric address which translate into a domain name.
domain name - Is an address or URL of a Web site. No two domain name is the same, they may be similar but never the same. An example would be "widget.com", the company's name is usually the first part of the address (it's not always the company, but for this example it is). After the period is "com", this tell you it's a company.
download - It's the ability to get software from Web sites that offer you shareware, freeware, or trial versions of software.
DVD - New technology that is a read on a drive, similar to a CD-ROM drive, which can hold a vast amount of data.
E
e-mail - Stands for "electronic mail". On-line services or software packages sends your message thorough a network of computers.
e-mail address - Here's the example first: smith@jones.com. The "smith" is the "ID user name" the "@" sign means at then the "jones.com" tells the host name (Internet Service Provider) that send out the e-mail for you.
emoticon - These are cute little pictures that are represent by certain symbols on computer keyboard that expresses how you feel. For example if you want to give a happy face it would look like this :-) , or a wink to represent joke ;-). If you want to know more go the Resource page and look at "Surf" the site is "YIL - Surf School".
encryption - It is encoded information for security when you want to give sensitive information over the Internet.
extranet - Is the connection of two or more "intranets". This enables companies to exchange information with their clients or partners that they do business with.
F
flame - This term is used when you talk to anyone on over the Internet like chat rooms or newsgroups where someone talk angrily at a person or topic.
frames - When you look at a Web page you sometimes are actually look at two or more pages at the same time, this is the help with frames. Frames give the ability to layout and design Web pages invoke more than one page on the view screen at the same time.
freeware - Is software that is free of charge, but the developer own the rights to the program.
FTP - An abbreviation for "File Transfer Protocol". The ability to transfer files over the Internet, which is how you would put your web page on the internet.
FAQ - An abbreviation for "frequency asked questions". This is an area on sites you visit where it give you the ability to answer questions about that site, a product to services.
GIF - An abbreviations for "Graphic Interchange Format". Most web pages that have pictures and graphics are save in "GIF" format because the file is compressed smaller to load fast on to a page.
gif animation - Graphics or picture that are layered on top of one another to give it the ability to make it move.
gopher - A document retrieval that can access files from computers.
GUI - Stands for "Graphical Interface User". Software that lets users point with a device, such as a mouse, to images instead of typing text commands.
H
hit - When you or any person visits any Web site on the World Wide Web it consider a "hit". The more hits a site get it consider a popular site, there is usually a counter that informs that site how many people has visit it in a day.
home page - It's a term used to represent the first of a web site. This page is usually the navigation area to jump to different pages on that site.
HTML - An abbreviation for "Hyper text Markup Language" is text files that make up a web page.
hyper link - Is text on a web page that can be click on to jump you to another page within the same site. Hyper links are usually text that is color highlighted, underlined or both.
hyper text - Is text that is linked to other related documents similar to the site that you had visited.
I
internet - Global telecommunications of computers that stored information.
intranet - It's where a company uses the same type of software to hook-up to the internet, but used internally with a company to exchange information.
IP address - Stands for Internet Protocol address which is a set of numbers to make a domain name.
IRC - It's the abbreviation for "Internet Relay Chat". It's uses certain type software where you have the ability to speak to people in real-time using text to communicate.
ISDN - Stands for "Integrated Services Digital Network." Is one of the faster way to link up to the Internet versus the regular way with the telephone lines. ISDN uses fibre optics instead of the telephone to transmit information. and are much faster than the highest-speed modem. ISDN lines are offered by many telephone companies.
ISP - It's the abbreviation for "Internet Service Provider". This is the company you've signed on with and pay your monthly bills to be able to connect to the Internet
J
Java - A programming language developed by "Sun Microsystems". It give the ability to create animation and interactive web pages.
java applet - I a small program written in Java, but there are programs out there you do not need to know how to program in Java to make these applets. If you look at my home page the confused man with his thoughts above is a java-applet.
JPEG - It's stands for "Joint Photographic Experts Group". It's another type of graphics format like "GIF". The difference is the quality of the color is better, but the compression of the file is not as good as "gif files".
K
kpbs - It's abbreviations for kilobytes per second. It is the speed is measured in number of bits it can transfer in seconds over your modem.
keyword - A word by which subjects can be search on a database. Search engines uses keyword or words.
L
link - It's a jump point to another page within the Web site your at or URL address at a Web site.
log-in - It's an account to get on the computer system, usually is you account name or number and you password.
log-off When you disconnect from the computer system.
log-on - Connecting to the computer system.
lurk - In Usenet newsgroups a person who reads messages, but never post messages.
M
mail box - It an area that hold incoming electronic mail (e-mail).
MIME - Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions, is an attachment of non-text files with e-mail. Some of these files are usually are graphics, video, word-processing documents and spreadsheets.
mirror site - When you go to a Web site that offers you downloading of software the server which holds the information is sometimes busy, that will offer an alternative site the "mirrors" the original site to download the software.
modem - A device that connects computers to each other for sending communications via the telephone lines. Modems are used for sending and receiving electronic mail, connecting to bulletin board systems, and surfing the Internet. There are faster modem, but the connect-up is different called "ISDN". other must use the same speed.
Mosaic - The first browser software created.
mozilla - Is another for Netscape Navigator.
N
NCSA - National Center for Supercomputing Applications
netiquette - A proper way of talking on the Internet.
newbie - A newcomer to the Internet or computers. Hopefully this site will help you become a non-newbie.
newsgroup - Newsgroups are on-line bulletin boards. Each group has their own particular subject where people can voice their thoughts. When visiting this area you your netiquette and try not to flame up.
newsreader - A computer program to post and read articles in newsgroups. If you need a newsreader there is a free software called Free Agent.
netiquette - It's the rules etiquette on Internet.
O
off-line - Not connecting to computer or the Internet.
on-line - When you connected to a computer or the Internet.
P
ping - Packet Internet Groper, is a internet program used to see if an IP address is accessible.
pixel - An abbreviation for picture element. It's the small squares that make up a picture the more square the better the picture will look. A monitor that you have depends on the resolutions of the pixels it can handle for pictures.
plug-in - It's a small program that enhances the ability of a larger program. An example would be your Web browser. Plug-ins give you enhance feature of sound and multimedia.
pkzip - pkunzip - A shareware program to compress files and decompression files.
pop - This abbreviation stands for "Point of Presence". What ever ISP you are using has telephone dial-up numbers called "POPs". The ISP's can have "POPs" located anywhere in the United States or even in certain countries, it depends on them where they want to do business. So you would try to find the closes "POP" to pay a local call when you log-on to the Internet.
POP - An abbreviation for Post Office Protocol is used to retrieve messages for mail server.
pop-up menu - A menu that expands when you click on with a mouse for options, if there are a lot of option you can scroll down to see the rest.
post - To send an article to a newsgroup.
Q
quick-time - It's a program that give application the ability of motion picture and sound.
R
ROTFL - It shorthand for "Roll On The Floor Laughing", which is used in chat rooms or e-mail.
S
server - A host computer on a network that answer request for information like files or services.
shareware - A software program you download from certain Web sites to try out for a limited time and pay a nominal fee for the program to registered it to get updates and bulletins about the product.
smiley's - It's another term for emoticon.
snail mail - Some Web sites have e-mail address to contact them, but if you can't or won't use it mail they say use "snail mail" which refers to the post office service
spam - To post message in newsgroups that have nothing to do with the topics or junk mail.
surf - To search through cyberspace or the World Wide Web, just checking things from Web site to Web site with no particular topic in mind.
T
TCP/IP - Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol enables different types of computers to communicate with each other.
Telnet - A facility to allow access to databases via the Internet.
threads -
U
Unix - Is an operating system for Internet communications software.
upload - To copy files from your computer to a server. When you design a Web page and is ready to be seen on the World Wide Web (WWW) you have to "upload" all the files to a server to be seen on the WWW.
URL - Uniform Resource Locator is a location (address) to access a Web site.
Usenet - A bulletin board system for a newsgroup.
V
VRML - Virtual Reality Modeling Language produces 3-D images on the Internet.
virus - A file that replicates itself and attaches to other programs. These viruses are designed to damage data or other components.
W
web page - It's a page in a document on the World Wide Web written in HTML.
web site - It a bunch of web pages that make up the site on the World Wide Web.
Win Zip - Is a windows program to compress and decompress files.
WWW - World Wide Web is what you looking at right now. It's all the pages the make up the World Wide Web for people to view.
WYSIWYG - An abbreviation for "What You See Is What You Get". When you use a program to do web pages the HTML editors let use see the codes that make up the web page. WYSIWYG program lets you actual see how your web page would look on your browser with HTML codes hidden.
X
Y
Z
zip file - A file that has been compressed by programs like "PKZip" and "Win Zip"
| 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 |