Higher Images has put together a complete Glossary of Technical Terms for you. Use our search bar to find any Internet Technical Term you may be looking for. This section is updated often.

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A [Back to Top]

Access (Microsoft Access) A database system developed by Microsoft. Part of Microsoft Office Professional. Mostly used on low traffic web sites running on the Windows platform.

Accessibility Structuring and presenting website content to make it available to everyone, including people with disability eg. partially sighted and from any access device eg. mobile phone

Active Movie A web technology for streaming movies from a web server to a web client. Developed by Microsoft.

ActiveX A programming interface (API) that allows web browsers to download and execute Windows programs. (See also Plug-In)

ADO (ActiveX Data Object) A Microsoft technology that provides data access to any kind of data store.

ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) A special type of DSL line where the upload speed is different from the download speed.

Alt tag The alternative text that the browser displays when the surfer does not want to or cannot see the pictures present in a Web page. Using alt tags containing keywords can improve the search engine ranking of the page for those keywords.

Amaya An open source web browser editor from W3C, used to push leading-edge ideas in browser design.

Anchor A word or set of words that has a URL embedded behind it. When clicked on, it will take the user to a different part of the same page, a different page of the same web site, or a different web site

Animation A set of pictures simulating movement when played in series.

ANSI (American National Standards Institute) An organization that creates standards for the computer industry. Responsible for the ANSI C standard.

ANSI C An international standard for the C programming language.

Anti-Virus Program A computer program made to discover and destroy all types of computer viruses.

Apache An open source web server. Mostly for Unix, Linux and Solaris platforms.

API (Application Programming Interface) An interface for letting a program communicate with another program. In web terms: An interface for letting web browsers or web servers communicate with other programs. (See also Active-X and Plug-In)

Archie A computer program to locate files on public FTP servers.

ARPAnet The experimental network tested in the 1970's which started the development of the Internet.

ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) A set of 128 alphanumeric and special control characters used for computer storing and printing of text. Used by HTML when transmitting data over the web.

ASF (Advanced Streaming Format) A multimedia streaming format. Developed by Microsoft for Windows Media.

ASP (Active Server Pages) A Microsoft technology allowing the insertion of server executable scripts in web pages.

ASX (ASF Streaming Redirector) An XML format for storing information about ASF files. Developed by Microsoft for Windows Media.

Authentication In web terms: the method used to verify the identity of a user, program or computer on the web.

Autoresponder When a customer sends an e-mail to a certain address manned by an autoresponder, this powerful mailbot automatically fires back an e-mail response, usually an informative sales letter. And it does it immediately and for a fairly low additional monthly fee (some hosts offer autoresponders for free). Autoresponders are the e-mail equivalent of a fax-back service. They can save you hundreds of dollars when used for basic tech support, product inquiries for more details, sales-oriented letters to all kinds of questions etc.

AVI (Audio Video Interleave) File format for video files. Video compression technology developed by Microsoft.

B [Back to Top]

Backlinking - Back-Linking Backlinking, or link campaign, is one of the most important aspects of the SEO process. Back linking involves getting other relevant web sites to create links to your web site. The text used in your back links is also very important. It should contain your most desirable keyword phrases. Many web sites have very high positioning in Google without meeting any other SEO criterion except for back links.

Bandwidth The range of frequencies a transmission line or channel can carry: the higher the frequency the higher the bandwidth and the greater the information carrying capacity of a channel. Bandwidth is most accurately expressed in cycles per second, or hertz (Hz), which measures the amount of information that can flow through a channel. But, it's also common to use bits or bytes per second instead.

Banner ads Those graphic advertisements that you see at the top of so many Web pages.

Baud The number of symbols per second sent over a channel.

BBS (Bulletin Board System) A web based public system for sharing discussions, files, and announcements.

BGP - Border Gateway Protocol The Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) is the core routing protocol of the Internet. It works by maintaining a table of IP networks or 'prefixes' which designate network reachability among autonomous systems (AS). It is described as a path vector protocol. BGP does not use traditional IGP metrics, but makes routing decisions based on path, network policies and/or rulesets. BGP was created to replace the EGP routing protocol to allow fully decentralized routing in order to allow the removal of the NSFNet Internet backbone network. This allowed the Internet to become a truly decentralized system. Since 1994, version four of the protocol has been in use on the Internet. All previous versions are now obsolete. The major enhancement in version 4 was support of Classless Inter-Domain Routing and use of route aggregation to decrease the size of routing tables. From January 2006, version 4 is codified in RFC 4271, which went through well over 20 drafts from the earlier RFC 1771 version 4. The RFC 4271 version corrected a number of errors, clarified ambiguities, and also brought the RFC much closer to industry practices.

Binary Data Data in machine readable form.

Bit (Binary Digit) The smallest unit of data stored in a computer. A bit can have the value of 0 or 1. A computer uses 8 bits to store one text character.

Blog A web log (abbreviated to Blog) is like an on-line diary or journal. Written in date order Blogs can contain news, views, information and photographs.

BMP (Bitmap) A format for storing images.

Body The body section of a web page, in HTML terms. Unlike the Head section, everything in the body is shown on the page.

Bookmark In web terms: A link to a particular web site, stored (bookmarked) by a web user for future use and easy access.

BPS (Bits Per Second) Term to describe the transmission speed for data over the web.

Bridge page See doorway page.

Broken Link Checker A tool that checks each link on a website to ensure its links, both internal and external are available and still current. That is, when clicked on, they do not receive error messages.

Browser Software that reads and translates HTML-coded Web pages automatically, allowing you to view, download, upload or otherwise access documents on Internet sites and navigate from one site to another. Netscape makes Navigator (NN) and Microsoft makes Internet Explorer (IE).

Bulletin board A bulletin board is a location on a Web site where people come to share information. Typically, you see a list of postings for a certain topic. You can read each posting, choose to respond to one or more of them, and then enter and post your response. Or you can start your own thread, a continuing sub-topic within the topic under discussion. If this type of concept fits with your product and target market, it can be a great way for visitors to trade information.

Byte (Binary Term) A computer storage unit containing 8 bits. Each byte can store one text character.

C [Back to Top]

C An advanced programming language used for programming advanced computer applications.

C# (C Sharp) A Microsoft version of C++ with added Java-like functions.

C++ (C Plus Plus) The same as C with added object-oriented functions.

Cache Your browser stores everything it reads on the user's hard disk. Every HTML page, every graphic. The next time it comes to pull down the same page, it uses the cached version, which is much faster - no need to download again via the Internet.

Case Sensitive A term used to describe if it is of importance to use upper or lower case letters.

Catch-all e-mail account If you have your own domain "domain.com" and catch-all e-mail account, no matter what word you put in front of "@domain.com," you'll get it. So "jack@domain.com" comes to you. So does "jill@domain.com." Yes, even "anything@domain.com" will reach you!

CGI (Common Gateway Interface) A set of rules that describes how a CGI program communicates with a web server.

CGI Bin The folder (or directory) on a web server that stores CGI programs.

CGI Program A small program that handles input and output from a web server. Often CGI programs are used for handling forms input or database queries.

CGI script Common Gateway Interface. Interface standard that sets the rules for running external programs (gateways) on a Web server. Gateway programs, or scripts, are external, executable programs that can be run under various information servers interchangeably. All the work is done by the server. CGI offers total cross-platform, cross-browser compatibility. Gateway scripts conforming to this standard can be written in any language that produces an executable file. The most popular language for CGI scripts is PERL - a cross-platform programming language that is ideal for CGI programming. And it's free. Some of the more common CGI scripts found on the Web are used to put the content of a form into an email message, to query a database query and to generate HTML pages.

Chat A popular form of interactive, online communication that allows Internet users to have real-time conversations with others via computer. When participating in a chat discussion, Internet users enter virtual chat areas, usually organized by topic of interest, where they can exchange instant communications with like-minded individuals.

Chat An on-line text-based communication between Internet users.

Cinepac A codec for computer video.

Click In web terms: A mouse click on a hyperlink element (such as text or picture) on a web page which creates an event such as taking a visitor to another web page or another part of the same page.

Clickthrough Rate The number of times visitors click on a hyperlink (or advertisement) on a page, as a percentage of the number of times the page has been displayed.

Client A remote computer connected to a host or server computer that represents the customer side of a client/server relationship. Client can refer to you, to your computer, or to the software running on your computer.

Client-side Client-side pertains to programming that is done on YOUR desktop computer.

Cloaking The process by which your Web site can display different pages under different circumstances. Primarily used to show optimized page to the search engines and a different page to humans. Most search engines will penalize a site if they discover that it is using cloaking.

Codec (Compressor / Decompressor) Common term for the technology used for compressing and decompressing data.

ColdFusion Web development software for most platforms (Linux, Unix, Solaris and Windows).

Comment tag The text present within the tags in a Web page. While most search engines will ignore the text within the Comment Tags, some, like Excite, will index the text present within them. Hence, using Comment Tags containing keywords can improve the search engine ranking of the page in Excite for those keywords.

Communication Protocol A standard (language and a set of rules) to allow computers to interact in a standard way. Examples are IP, FTP, and HTTP.

Compression A method of reducing the size (compress) of web documents or graphics for faster delivery via the web.

Computer Virus A computer program that can harm a computer by displaying messages, deleting files, or even destroying the computer's operating system.

Cookie A cookie is a small file that gets written onto your hard disk, either by javascript or by a CGI script from the Web site you are visiting. It is only a file that serves as an ID tag. It is not an application. So there is zero danger to the integrity of your hard disk. The cookie can only be accessed by the Web site that wrote the cookie to your disk. And the only thing that they really know is that the person with this ID tag is back. But if you provide personal information like full name, address, credit card info, this can be tied to the cookie. Then the site, but that site only, will be able to know that it is you personally returning to the site.

CPM This means "cost per thousand impressions" (thousand is "mille" in French). An impression counts each time a visitor looks at ad.

Crawler See spider.

Credit card For our purposes, a credit card is any commonly used credit, debit, charge, or other payment card such as Visa, MasterCard, American Express or Discover.

Credit card processor An Internet service that verifies that a customer has sufficient funds for a purchase and then releases funds from the customer's credit card account. Your bank chooses the credit card processor.

CSS Cascading Style Sheets are an extension of HTML used for editing. They provide a way to make one change on a web page that automatically changes other pages

D [Back to Top]

Database Data stored in a computer in such a way that a computer program can easily retrieve and manipulate the data.

Database System A computer program (like MS Access, Oracle, and MySQL) for manipulating data in a database.

DB2 A database system from IBM. Mostly for Unix and Solaris platforms.

DBA (Data Base Administrator) The person (or the software) who administers a database. Typical task are: backup, maintenance and implementation.

DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) is a protocol used by networked devices (clients) to obtain the parameters necessary for operation in an Internet Protocol network. This protocol reduces system administration workload, allowing devices to be added to the network with little or no manual configurations. The Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) automates the assignment of IP addresses, subnet masks, default gateway, and other IP parameters.

DHTML (Dynamic HTML) A term commonly to describe HTML content that can change dynamically.

Dial-up Connection In web terms: A connection to Internet via telephone and modem.

Directory A Web site containing links to other sites which are organized into various categories. Examples of directories are Yahoo!, Open Directory, LookSmart, etc. The most well-known directory is Yahoo!. Many people feel that Yahoo! is more important to traffic-building than any single engine. The advantage of the directories is that the Web sites listed are usually of a higher, more uniform quality. They are selected by humans, so it's not as easy to get in as it is for Search Engines.

DNS (Domain Name Service) A computer program running on a web server, translating domain names into IP addresses. The Domain Name System (DNS) associates various information with domain names; most importantly, it serves as the "phone book" for the Internet by translating human-readable computer hostnames, e.g. www.example.com, into IP addresses, e.g. 208.77.188.166, which networking equipment needs to deliver information. A DNS also stores other information such as the list of mail servers that accept email for a given domain. By providing a worldwide keyword-based redirection service, the Domain Name System is an essential component of contemporary Internet use .

DOM (Document Object Model) A programming model for web page objects.

Domain name A network name associated with an organization (e.g., google.com or yahoo.com). Domain names are organized in a hierarchy, with each level separated by a "dot." Common organizational types are commercial (.com), government (.gov), and network (.net). In the U.S., most Internet addresses follow a standard format: name of server.name of organization.type of organization.

Doorway page A Web page which has been specially created in order to get a high ranking in the search engines. Also called gateway page, bridge page, entry page etc.

DOS (Disk Operating System) A general disk based computer operating system (see OS). Originally developed by Microsoft for IBM personal computers. Often used as a shorthand for MS-DOS.

Download Users transfer a document or file from your website to their own computers.

DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) An Internet connection over regular telephone lines, but much faster. Speed may vary from 128 kilobit per second, up to 9 megabit per second.

DTD (Document Type Definition) A set of rules (a language) for defining the legal building blocks of a web document like HTML or XML.

Dynamic Interactive elements of a site

Dynamic content Information in Web pages which changes automatically, based on database or user information. Search engines will index dynamic content in the same way as static content unless the URL includes a ? mark.

Dynamic IP An IP address that changes each time you connect to the Internet.

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E-mail (Electronic Mail) Messages sent from one person to another via the Internet.

E-mail Address The address used for sending e-mails to a person or an organization. Typical format is username@hostname.

E-mail publications There are several kinds of publications that are e-mailed to customers: e-zines - the equivalent of an electronic magazine. Collection of articles of varying originality are e-mailed on a regular basis to subscribers. newsletters - same as e-zines. moderated mailing lists - joining one of these enables you to post to the list. If the moderator accepts the posting as relevant and valuable to the readership, it gets mailed to everyone in the next issue, either in digest format (all the postings in a single e-mailing, the best way to receive it), or one by one as they are accepted (too bothersome).

E-mail Server A web server dedicated to the task of serving e-mail.

EBook A document, consisting of many pages which can be transferred electronically. It is an electronic book, which can also be printed as a hard copy.

Ecommerce Electronic commerce (also known as ebusiness.). Buying and selling products and services via the Internet.

Encryption Transforming data so that it is unreadable to everyone except the intended recipient. The recipient of the encrypted data must have the proper decryption key to decipher the message.

Encryption To convert data from its original form to a form that can only be read by someone that can reverse the encryption. The purpose of encryption is to prevent unauthorized reading of the data.

Entry page See doorway page.

Extensible Hypertext Markup Language, or XHTML The Extensible Hypertext Markup Language, or XHTML, is a markup language that has the same depth of expression as HTML, but also conforms to XML syntax. While HTML is an application of Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML), a very flexible markup language, XHTML is an application of XML, a more restrictive subset of SGML. Because they need to be well-formed, true XHTML documents allow for automated processing to be performed using standard XML tools—unlike HTML, which requires a relatively complex, lenient, and generally custom parser. XHTML can be thought of as the intersection of HTML and XML in many respects, since it is a reformulation of HTML in XML. XHTML 1.0 became a World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Recommendation on January 26, 2000. XHTML 1.1 became a W3C Recommendation on May 31, 2001.

Extranet An extranet is a private network that uses Internet protocols, network connectivity, and possibly the public telecommunication system to securely share part of an organization's information or operations with suppliers, vendors, partners, customers or other businesses. An extranet can be viewed as part of a company's Intranet that is extended to users outside the company (e.g.: normally over the Internet). It has also been described as a "state of mind" in which the Internet is perceived as a way to do business with a preapproved set of other companies business-to-business (B2B), in isolation from all other Internet users. In contrast, business-to-consumer (B2C) involves known server(s) of one or more companies, communicating with previously unknown consumer users. Briefly, an extranet can be understood as a private intranet mapped onto the Internet or some other transmission system not accessible to the general public, but is managed by more than one company's administrator(s). For example, military networks of different security levels may map onto a common military radio transmission system that never connects to the Internet. Any private network mapped onto a public one is a virtual private network (VPN). In contrast, an intranet is a VPN under the control of a single company's administrator(s).

Ezine Electronic newsletter, usually sent by email

F [Back to Top]

FAQs Frequently Asked Questions. This efficient type of customer support takes advantage of the Net's "24 hr. X 7 days/week" nature.

File Document or set of instructions

Firewall Software that acts as a security filter that can restrict types of network communication. Most often used between an individual computer (or a LAN) and the Internet.

Flash A Web-based animation application that transforms Web pages into a swirl of action, colors, and excitement. Without broadband access, this involves a long loading time (and the potential loss of visitors who are unwilling to wait). As well, a Flash application means no content for Search Engines spiders to crawl and rank (which means that you can't take advantage of free Search Engine traffic).

Font The style and size of text.

Form (and FORM tag) tags are special HTML tags that allow you to build forms on your Web page. Customer completes your form, entering the info that you request, then clicks on the SUBMIT button. Your CGI script picks up the data and processes it.

Forum A forum is a "meeting place" on a Web site where you go to ask and answer questions and to share information. Moderated or not, they function very much like newsgroups. Moderated ones work best, since spam and flames get weeded out.

Frames An HTML technique allowing Web site designers to display two or more pages in the same browser window. Most search engines do not index framed Web pages properly - they only index the text present in the NOFRAMES tag. Unless a Web page which uses frames contains relevant content in the NOFRAMES tag, it is unlikely to get a high search engine ranking.

FrontPage Web development software for the Windows platform. Developed by Microsoft.

FTP File Transfer Protocol. An Internet standard for uploading and downloading files over the Internet. FTP utilities are used to transfer Web pages and other files from your hard drive to a remote Web server.

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Gateway A computer program for transferring (and reformatting) data between incompatible applications or networks.

GB Same as Gigabyte. 10GB is ten gigabytes.

GIF Graphics Interchange Format. A compact graphics file format developed by CompuServe, that was once the standard for online color photos and images. It's still widely used for graphics that use only a limited number of colors, such as backgrounds. In recent years, however GIF has been superseded by JPEG for photos. While GIF images are limited to 256 colors, JPEGs can have up to 16 million colors. A "transparent" GIF has an invisible background, allowing the Web page to show around the edges of the graphic. JPEG does not permit this, so all JPEGs are rectangular.

Gigabyte 1024 megabytes. Commonly rounded down to one billion bytes.

Graphic Is an image or picture used on a web page.

Graphic Monitor A display monitor that can display graphics.

Graphic Printer A printer that can print graphics.

Graphical Banner See Banner Ad.

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Hallway page A page containing links to various doorway pages.

Heading tags A paragraph style that is displayed in a large, bold typeface. Having text containing keywords in the Heading Tags can improve the search engine ranking of a page for those keywords.

Helper application In web terms: A program helping the browser to display, view, or work with files that the browser cannot handle itself. (See Plug-In).

Hidden text Text that is visible to the search engines but is invisible to humans. Mainly accomplished by using text in the same color as the background color of the page. Primarily used for the purpose of including extra keywords in the page without distorting the aesthetics of the page. Most search engines penalize Web sites which use such hidden text.

Hits / pages / visits / visitors When someone comes to your Web site, that's a visitor. No matter how long he stays on your site, he's still the same visitor. And that visit counts as one visit. If he goes away and comes back tomorrow, that's a new visit. But it does not count as a new visitor - he would best be counted as a repeat visitor. During one of his visits he starts at your home page, then goes to another. That's two page views (i.e., he has seen 2 different HTML documents). And that's not the same as hits. Each page view might trigger many hits - if that HTML page has 5 graphics on it, then the HTML document itself and each graphic are registered as a line in the log file. Each line in a log file counts as a hit. So that's a total of six hits. So a visitor can account for many visits. A visit can have several page views. And each page view triggers several hits (unless it's only an HTML document and words, in which case a page view would create only one hit).

Home Page The top-level (main) page of a web site. The default page displayed when you visit a web site.

Hosting Every Web site is stored on a computer--called a server--that is connected to the Web. When your site is stored on one of these servers, your site is being "hosted" by the server.

HTML Hypertext Mark-up Language. The coding language to create hypertext documents (HTML files) on the Web (Web pages). With HTML, you can "mark up" text (like old-fashioned typesetting code) by placing formatting commands ("tags") around it that tell the browser software how to format it for display. For example, HTML uses tags like and to structure text into headings, paragraphs, lists, hypertext links and more.

HTML Editor A software program for editing HTML pages. With an HTML editor you can add elements like lists, tables, layout, font size, and colors to a HTML document like using a word processor. An HTML editor will display the page being edited exactly the same way it will be displayed on the web (See WYSIWYG).

HTML Tags Code to identify the different parts of a document so that a web browser will know how to display it.

HTTP Hypertext Transfer Protocol A text based set of rules by which files on the web are transferred from web servers to browsers. The vast majority of web addresses (URLs) are prefixed by http://

Hub A website which acts as a hub or directory on one topic, and indexes links to other websites of the same topic

Hyperlinks The underlined words or phrases you click on in Web documents to jump to another screen or page. Hyperlinks contain HTML-coded references that point to other Web pages, which your browser then jumps to.

Hypertext Hypertext is text that is cross-linked to other documents in such a way that the reader can read related documents by clicking on a highlighted word or symbol. (see also hyperlink)

I [Back to Top]

IAB (Internet Architecture Board) A council that makes decisions about Internet standards. (See also W3C).

ICMP - Internet Control Message Protocol The Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) is one of the core protocols of the Internet protocol suite. It is chiefly used by networked computers' operating systems to send error messages—indicating, for instance, that a requested service is not available or that a host or router could not be reached. ICMP [1] relies on IP to perform its tasks, and it is an integral part of IP. It differs in purpose from transport protocols such as TCP and UDP in that it is typically not used to send and receive data between end systems. It is usually not used directly by user network applications, with some notable exceptions being the ping tool and traceroute.

IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force) A subgroup of IAB that focuses on solving technical problems on the Internet.

IIS (Internet Information Server) A web server for Windows operating systems. Developed by Microsoft.

Image Is a picture, photograph or graphic used on a web page

Image map An image containing one or more invisible regions which are linked to other pages. If the image map is defined as a separate file, the search engines may not be able to index the pages to which that image map links. The way out is to have text hyperlinks to those pages in addition to the links from the image map. However, image maps defined within the same Web page will generally not prevent search engines from indexing the other pages.

IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) A standard communication protocol for retrieving e-mails from an e-mail server. IMAP is much like POP but more advanced.

Incoming Links Links pointing to your website from other websites. Also known as Backlinks.

Indeo A codec for computer video developed by Intel.

Index When a search engine searches and catalogues a web site, for later retrieval for keyword searches. Also the name given for a home page of a website.

Internet A world wide network connecting millions of computers. (See also WWW)

Internet Explorer A browser by Microsoft. The most commonly used browser today.

Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) is a network layer for packet-switched internetworks. It is designated as the successor of IPv4, the current version of the Internet Protocol, for general use on the Internet. The main change brought by IPv6 is a much larger address space that allows greater flexibility in assigning addresses. The extended address length eliminates the need to use network address translation to avoid address exhaustion, and also simplifies aspects of address assignment and renumbering when changing providers. It is common to see examples that attempt to show that the IPv6 address space is extremely large. For example, IPv6 supports 2128 (about 3.4×1038) addresses, or approximately 5×1028 (roughly 295) addresses for each of the roughly 6.5 billion (6.5×109) people alive today.[1] In a different perspective, this is 252 addresses for every star in the known universe[2] – more than ten billion billion billion times as many addresses as IPv4 supported.

Intranet A private (closed) Internet, running inside a LAN (Local Area Network). An intranet is a private computer network that uses Internet protocols and network connectivity to securely share part of an organization's information or operations with its employees. Sometimes the term refers only to the most visible service, the internal website. The same concepts and technologies of the Internet such as clients and servers running on the Internet protocol suite are used to build an intranet. HTTP and other Internet protocols are commonly used as well, such as FTP. There is often an attempt to use Internet technologies to provide new interfaces with corporate "legacy" data and information systems.

IP address When you get on the Web, your computer is assigned an IP address. This is a number that looks like 192.168.123.100. These numbers belong to a host name, for example AOL or your local ISP or company where you work (if they have their own server). If you access the Internet via a dial-up service, your service provider assigns you a different temporary IP address every time you log on. If you access the Web via cable modem or DSL, your IP address remains static - it is always the same one.

IP Address (Internet Protocol Address) A unique number identifying every computer on the Internet (like 197.123.22.240)

IRC (Internet Relay Chat) An Internet system that enables users to take part in on-line discussions.

IRC Client A computer program that enables a user to connect to IRC.

IRC Server An Internet server dedicated to the task of serving IRC connections.

ISAPI (Internet Server API) Application Programming Interface (See API) for Internet Information Server (See IIS).

ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) A telecommunication standard that uses digital transmission to support data communications over regular telephone lines.

ISP/Web host ISP stands for Internet Service Provider. It is the company that provides you access to the Internet. Some ISPs provide only dial-up access. This means that your modem can dial the ISP's phone number, which gets you on the Net, so that you can surf the Web and get e-mail. Other companies provide only Web hosting services. Basically, a Web host rents you space on a computer that has 24 hour access to the Internet. You ftp your Web site onto their computer. Some companies, of course, provide both dial-up access and Web hosting services.

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Java A programming language developed by Sun Microsystems specifically for writing programs that can be safely downloaded to your computer through the Internet without fear of viruses or other harm to your computer. Using small Java programs (called "applets"), Web pages can include functions such as animations, calculators, and other jazzy enhancements. Java is a simple, robust, object-oriented, platform-independent multi-threaded, dynamic general-purpose programming environment. It is best for creating applets and applications for the Internet, intranets and any other complex, distributed network.

JavaScript A scripting language for Web pages designed by Sun Microsystems and Netscape as a supplement to the Java programming language. With Javascript, developers can create really sophisticated Web pages and make them interactive. Java and JavaScript are not the same thing. Java was built as a general purpose object language, while JavaScript is intended to provide a quicker and simpler language for enhancing Web pages.

JPEG (also known as JPG). This file format for color-rich images was named after the Joint Photographic Experts Group, the original name of the committee that wrote the standard. JPEG is designed for compressing either full-color or gray-scale images of natural, real-world scenes. It compresses graphics of photographic color depth better than competing file formats like GIF, and it retains a high degree of color fidelity. It works well on photographs, naturalistic artwork, and similar material; not so well on lettering, simple cartoons, or line drawings. JPEG files are smaller and, therefore, quicker to download that GIF files.

JSP (Java Server Pages) A Java based technology allowing the insertion of server executable scripts in web pages. Mostly used on Linux, Unix and Solaris platforms.

K [Back to Top]

K Same as kilobyte 10K is ten kilobytes..

KB Same as kilobyte 10KB is ten kilobytes..

Keyword A word or phrase that you type in when you are searching for information in the search engines.

Keyword Density The number of times a keyword or keyword phrase appears on a web page

Keyword frequency Denotes how often a keyword appears in a Web page or in an area of a page. In general, higher the number of times a keyword appears in a page, higher its search engine ranking. However, repeating a keyword too often in a page can lead to that page being penalized for spamming.

Keyword prominence Denotes how close to the start of an area of a Web page that a keyword appears. In general, having the keyword closer to the start of an area will lead to an improvement in the search engine ranking of a page. However, in some cases, having the keyword in the middle or the end of an area may lead to an improvement in the search engine ranking of the page.

Keyword weight Denotes the number of times a keyword appears in a Web page as a percentage of all the other words in the page. In general, higher the weight of a particular keyword in a page, higher will be the search engine ranking of the page for that keyword. However, repeating a keyword too often in order to increase its weight can cause the page to be penalized by the search engines.

Kilobyte Although kilo is Greek for a thousand, a kilobyte actually contains 1,024 bytes (that's 2 to the 10th power). Abbreviated as K.

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LAN (Local Area Network) A network between computers in a local area (like inside a building), usually connected via local cables. See also WAN.

Layout A drawing that shows the general appearance of a web page design, indicating position of text, images, form regions etc.

Link A piece of text, or an image, with a URL embedded in it, which takes the user to another location of the same or different web site by clicking on it.

Link exchanges Find Web sites with similar interests to yours. Look for sites with similar customer demographics that do not compete directly with you. Offer them to put a link on your Web site in exchange for a link on their Web site. If they agree, that's a link exchange.

Link popularity The number of Web sites which link to a particular site. Most search engines use link popularity as a factor in determining the search engine ranking of a Web site.

Linux Intel-processor-based operating system developed as an alternative to Unix. It is currently used by hundreds of thousands of people worldwide.

Loading The speed at which a web page loads from the server to the user’s browser.

Log files and log file analyzers Every time someone logs onto your Web site, information like IP address, time/date, error messages, originating page (called referrer page), are recorded by your server into log files. There are up to four files: - access (or transfer) file - error file - agent (or browser) file - referrer file Sometimes, the last two (agent and referrer) are combined into the access file, called a combined file. If your ISP can't or won't supply all four, it's worth switching to one that will - the referrer file is invaluable. It is the referrer file, or the referrer field in the combined file, that tells you where your visitors are coming from, and what keywords they use to find you. A "log file analyzer" analyzes these files and assembles the data into results like: - number of hits, page views, visits, and visitors - most popular pages - most frequent entry and exit pages - most frequently used keywords

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Mail to: link This is an HTML link that automatically opens an e-mail software, with the address already entered. All the sender has to do is enter the body text and the subject.

Mailing list A mailing list is much like a newsgroup, except that it is e-mailed to everyone in the group. First, you subscribe to the mailing list (usually via e-mail, or by filling in a form). You will receive e-mail from the mailing list, either one by one as they are sent by others in the group, or all at once as a single digest e-mail at the end of the day (or week). A mailing list can be either moderated or unmoderated. A moderator will generally keep the group spam-free and on a higher plane. When you see a topic of interest, reply by composing and sending an e-mail. It will be sent to everyone in the group.

Megabyte 1024 kilobytes. Commonly rounded down to one million bytes.

Menu A set of links that displays the names of different pages on a website eg Home, Contact, Products etc. It can be displayed across the top, down one side, or across the bottom of a web page

Merchant A business entity that sells goods and/or services and determines the methods of payment they will accept (e.g., cash, check, credit card, debit card).

Meta Data Data that describes other data. (See also Meta Tags).

Meta Description tag The tag present in the header of a Web page which is used to provide a short description of the contents of the page. Some search engines will display the text present in the Meta Description tag when the page appears in the results of a search. Including keywords in the Meta Description tag can improve the search engine ranking of a page for those keywords. However, some search engines ignore the Meta Description tag.

Meta Keywords tag The tag present in the header of a Web page which is used to provide alternative words for the words used in the body of the page. The Meta Keywords tag is important based on keyword to content ration. Keyword tags much match the actual match the actual text content in the website.

Meta Refresh tag The tag present in the header of a Web page which is used to display a different page after a few seconds. If a page displays another page too soon, most search engines will either ignore the current page and index the second page or penalize the current page for spamming.

Meta Search The method of searching for meta data in documents.

Meta tag An optional HTML tag that is used to specify information about a Web page. Some search engines read the information contained within the tag and use it to index the page. There are several meta tags, but the most important for search engine indexing are the Description and Keywords tags. The Description tag returns a description of the page in place of the summary the search engine would ordinarily create. The Keywords tag provides keywords for the search engine to associate with your page. An example might look like this:

Meta Tags Tags inserted into documents to describe the document.

Microsite - Business Profile This is a single page business website that has more than just address and phone number. It would include such things as: Your Business Logo Coupons Business Hours Google Maps Details of Business Phone Call Tracking Phone Call Recording Your Phone Number Years in Business Certifications Directions to your business Moneys excepted (Visa, Master Card etc) Refer a Friend Mailing Address Email Forms Statistical Reporting You can learn more about this at www.searchmagnetlocal.com

MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) A standard protocol for communication between computers and musical instruments.

MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) An Internet standard for defining document types. MIME type examples: text/plain, text/html, image/gif, image/jpg.

Modem Hardware equipment to connect a computer to a telephone network Typically used to connect to the Internet via a telephone line.

Monitoring Checking a web site for broken links, uptime, display elements

Mosaic The first commonly available web browser. Mosaic was released in 1993 and started the popularity of the web.

MOV A codec for computer video developed by Apple. Common file extension for QuickTime multimedia files.

MP3 Mpeg Layer 3 is an amazing standard for audio compression. It is capable of 10:1 compression with no noticeable loss in quality. It's the latest rage on the Internet. A heated controversy is currently raging over whether it's legal.

MPEG (Moving Picture Expert Group) An ISO standard codec for computer audio and video.

MS-DOS (Microsoft Disk Operating System) A general disk based computer operating system (See OS). Originally developed by Microsoft for IBM computers, then developed by Microsoft as a basis for the first versions of Windows.

Multimedia In web terms: A presentation combining text with pictures, video, or sound.

MySQL MySQL is a relational database management system (RDBMS)[1] which has more than 11 million installations.[2] The program runs as a server providing multi-user access to a number of databases. MySQL is popular for web applications and acts as the database component of the LAMP, BAMP, MAMP, and WAMP platforms (Linux/BSD/Mac/Windows-Apache-MySQL-PHP/Perl/Python), and for open-source bug tracking tools like Bugzilla. Its popularity for use with web applications is closely tied to the popularity of PHP and Ruby on Rails, which are often combined with MySQL. PHP and MySQL are essential components for running popular content management systems such as Drupal, e107, Joomla!, WordPress and some BitTorrent trackers. Wikipedia runs on MediaWiki software, which is written in PHP and uses a MySQL database.

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Navigate In web terms: The same as Browse.

Navigation Bar A set of links that displays the names of different pages on a website eg Home, Contact, Products etc. It can be displayed across the top, down one side, or across the bottom of a web page

NetBEUI (Net Bios Extended User Interface) An enhanced version of NetBIOS.

NetBIOS (Network Basic Input Output System) An application programming interface (API) with functions for local-area networks (LAN). Used by DOS and Windows.

Netscape The browser from the company Netscape. The most popular browser for many years. Today IE has the lead.

News Reader A computer program that enables you to read (and post messages) from an Internet newsgroup.

News Server An Internet server dedicated to the task of serving Internet newsgroups.

Newsgroup An on-line discussion group (a section on a news server) dedicated to a particular subject of interest.

Newsgroups Newsgroups use a different communication means called "Usenet." Technically speaking, Usenet is neither the Web nor e-mail, so you use a different piece of software to access newsgroups (built into Explorer and Navigator). When you find a group that fits your needs, read all the posts. If you find a topic of interest, simply reply and your post will be almost immediately visible in the groups list of postings. Available for others to reply to. As for mailing lists and forums, newsgroups can be moderated or unmoderated -- most are not moderated.

Node In web terms: A computer connected to the Internet, most often used to describe a web server.

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Opera The browser from the company Opera.

Opt-in e-mail marketing Many Web marketers create a newsletter that offers content of value to the reader. The Web site asks visitors to subscribe to this newsletter. When they fill in and submit their e-mail address, they are said to be opting-in. The process of sending an e-zine or newsletter to people who have specifically requested to receive it is called opt-in e-mail marketing. It's a powerful, long-term relationship.

OS (Operating System) The software that manages the basic operating of a computer.

OS--operating system The low-level software that schedules tasks, allocates storage, handles the interface to peripheral hardware and presents a default interface to the user when no application program is running.

OSPF - Open Shortest Path First The Open Shortest Path first (OSPF) protocol is a hierarchical interior gateway protocol (IGP) for routing in Internet Protocol, using a link-state in the individual areas that make up the hierarchy. A computation based on Dijkstra's algorithm is used to calculate the shortest path tree inside each area. The latest version, Version 3, defined in RFC 2740 (OSPFv3 1999)[1], supports IPv6 only, while OSPF version 2 supports IPv4. (OSPFv2 1998)[2]. A link state database (LSDB) is constructed as a tree-image of the network topology, and identical copies of the LSDB are periodically updated on all routers in each OSPF-aware area (region of the network included in an OSPF area type - see "Area types" below). By convention, area 0 represents the core or "backbone" region of an OSPF-enabled network, and other OSPF area numbers may be designated to serve other regions of an enterprise (large, business) network - however every additional OSPF area must have a direct or virtual connection to the backbone OSPF area. The backbone area has the identifier 0.0.0.0. Inter-area routing goes via the backbone.

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Packet See TCP/IP Packet.

Page Hits The number of times a web page has been visited by a user.

Page Impressions The same as Page Hits.

Page Rank Page Rank (PR) is the importance that Google places on each each web page, decided by its own, secret algorithm. It can be displayed on the Google tool bar, and ranks sites from 0 – 10.

Page Views The same as Page Hits.

Pay Per Click (PPC) Pay per click (PPC) is an advertising model used on search engines, advertising networks, and content websites/blogs, where advertisers only pay when a user actually clicks on an ad to visit the advertiser's website. Advertisers bid on keywords they predict their target market will use as search terms when they are looking for a product or service. When a user types a keyword query matching the advertiser's keyword list, or views a page with relevant content, the advertiser's ad may be shown. These ads are called a "Sponsored link" or "sponsored ads" and appear next to or above the "natural" or organic results on search engine results pages, or anywhere a webmaster/blogger chooses on a content page. Pay per click ads may also appear on content network websites. In this case, ad networks such as Google AdSense and Yahoo! Publisher Network attempt to provide ads that are relevant to the content of the page where they appear, and no search function is involved.

Pay-Per-Click search engine A search engine in which the ranking of your Web site is determined by the amount you are paying for each click from that search engine to your site. Think of Pay-Per-Click search engines as a low-cost advertising method.

PDF (Portable Document Format) A document file format developed by Adobe. Most often used for text documents.

Perl (Practical Extraction and Reporting Language) A scripting language for web servers. Most often used on Unix servers.

PHP (PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor) A technology allowing the insertion of server executable scripts in web pages. Mostly for Unix, Linux and Solaris platforms.

Ping A method used to check the communication between two computers. A "ping" is sent to a remote computer to see if it responds.

Pixels Picture Element, is a single dot of light on a computer screen, and can be displayed in different colours

Platform In web terms: The computer's operating system like Windows, Linux, or OS X.

Plug-In An application built into another application. In web terms: A program built in (or added) to a web browser to handle a special type of data like e-mail, sound, or movie files. (See also ActiveX)

PNG (Portable Network Graphics) A format for encoding a picture pixel by pixel and sending it over the web. A W3C recommendation for replacing GIF.

POOSTERS Value Index PVI The PVI is a methodology that has proven techniques that make your website work for you! This index evalutes all areas of your website to ensure the user has the best experience and focuses on making the website meet the owners goals. Presentation and Functionality Optimization Overall Conversion Search Rankings Technical Design Effortless Navigation Return on Investment Security and Infrastructure

POP (Post Office Protocol) A standard communication protocol for retrieving e-mails from an e-mail server. (See also IMAP).

Port A number that identifies a computer IO (input/output) channel. In web terms: A number that identifies the I/O channel used by an Internet application (A web server normally uses port 80).

Post Office Protocol (POP3) In computing, local e-mail clients use the Post Office Protocol version 3 (POP3), an application-layer Internet standard protocol, to retrieve e-mail from a remote server over a TCP/IP connection. POP3 and IMAP4 (Internet Message Access Protocol) are the two most prevalent Internet standard protocols for e-mail retrieval. Virtually all modern e-mail clients and servers support both.

PPP (Point to Point Protocol) A communication protocol used for direct connection between two computers.

Protocol The communications rules computers have to follow to talk to each other on a network. The Internet is a very heterogeneous collection of networked computers and is full of different protocols, including PPP, TCP/IP, SLIP, and FTP.

Proxy Server An Internet server dedicated to improve Internet performance.

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QuickTime A multimedia file format created by Apple.

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RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) A standard for connecting multiple disks to the same server for higher security, speed and performance. Often used on web servers.

RDF (Resource Description Framework) A framework for constructing languages for describing web resources.

Real Audio/Video Progressive Networks' RealAudio client-server software system enables Internet users equipped with conventional multimedia personal computers and voice-grade telephone lines to browse, select, and play audio/video or audio/video-based multimedia content on demand, in real time. This is a big improvement in download times.

Real-time authorization A credit card purchase is authorized in real time, as the customer completes the checkout process online. If the authorization is positive, the order will proceed. Otherwise, the customer will receive an error message, and the order will be discontinued.

Reciprocal Link A system whereby websites swap links with each other, usually displayed on a dedicated Links Page. Also known as Reciprocal Links.

Redirect A redirect occurs whenever the surfer gets sent to an address different than the one actually requested. It is often intentionally programmed, through rather simple code, either a META tag or a CGI script, that sends your visitor to a different Web page.

Redirect In web terms: The action when a web page automatically forwards (redirects) the user to another web page.

Residual income Income that occurs for a prolonged period of time, after the original sale has been made. When applied to affiliate programs, once you succeed in referring a customer who buys, you should earn an ongoing (reduced) commission for every future purchase that customer makes.

Resolution Of monitors, is the number of pixels across and down that will display the size of your web page on a browser’s screen. The most common resolution at present is 800 x 600.

RGB (Red Green Blue) The combination of the three primary colors that can represent a full color spectrum.

Robot In the context of search engine ranking, implies the same thing as Spider. In a different context, it is also used to indicate a software which visits Web sites and collects email addresses to be used for sending unsolicited bulk email.

Robots.txt A text file present in the root directory of a Web site which is used to control which pages are indexed by a robot. Only robots which comply with the Robots Exclusion Standard will follow the instructions contained in this file.

Router A hardware (or software) system that directs (routes) data transfer to different computers in a network.

Routing Information Protocol (RIP) The Routing Information Protocol (RIP) was one of the most commonly used interior gateway protocol (IGP) routing protocols on internal networks (and to a lesser extent, networks connected to the Internet), which helps routers dynamically adapt to changes of network connections by communicating information about which networks each router can reach and how far away those networks are. Although RIP is still actively used, it is generally considered to have been made obsolete by routing protocols such as OSPF and IS-IS. Nonetheless, a somewhat more capable protocol in the same basic family (distance-vector routing protocols), was Cisco's proprietary (IGRP) Interior Gateway Routing Protocol. Cisco does not support IGRP in current releases of its software. It was "replaced" by EIGRP, the Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol, which is a completely new design. While EIGRP is still technically distance vector, it relates to IGRP only in having a similar name.

RSS feeds Are headlines and news stories, usually from major newspapers, that can be fed onto any web site on any chosen topic

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Screenshot An image taken of a web page

Scripting In the Internet world, a script is a program that runs on a server and processes requests in response to input from the browser. There is client scripting as well as server scripting.

Scripting Language In web terms: A simple programming language that can be executed by a web browser or a web server. See JavaScript and VBScript.

Search engine A program that indexes Web sites according to words, phrases, and subject matter. Search engines help a user find desired information or resources by searching for keywords that the user specifies. Examples of search engines are AltaVista, Google, Lycos, etc.

Search Engine Optimization Is a set of strategies used to increase a site’s positioning or ranking in a search engine

Search engine placement The practice of trying to ensure that a Web site obtains a high rank in the search engines. Also called search engine positioning, search engine optimization etc.

Search Magnet Local Search Magnet Local is a Business Microsite Profile Directory that allows search engines to find you in your local area. It is designed to give our clients a great oppurtunity to have a single page website that can be found easily on the internet. Learn More at www.higherimages.com

Secure server A Web server that uses special software, called security protocols, to protect against third-party tampering. Making purchases from a secure server ensures that a user's payment or personal information is translated into a code so that it cannot be stolen.

Secure Shell or SSH Secure Shell or SSH is a network protocol that allows data to be exchanged using a secure channel between two computers. [1] Used primarily on Linux and Unix based systems to access shell accounts, SSH was designed as a replacement for TELNET and other insecure remote shells, which sent information, notably passwords, in plaintext, making it possible to intercept.[2] The Encryption SSH uses provides confidentiality and integrity of data over an insecure network, such as the Internet.

Secure sockets layer (SSL) A transaction security standard developed by Netscape Communications to enable commercial transactions to take place over the notoriously non-secure Internet. SSL delivers server authentication, data encryption, and message integrity. With SSL implemented on both the client and server, your Internet communications are transmitted in encrypted form. The information you send can then be trusted to arrive privately and unaltered to the server you specify.

Semantic Web A web of data with a meaning in the sense that computer programs can know enough about the data to process it.

SEO Is a set of strategies used to increase a site’s positioning or ranking in a search engine

Server The business end of a client/server setup, a server is a host computer on a network that stores information files, Web pages and other services and responds to requests for information from clients. The term server is also used to describe the software and operating system that makes the act of serving information possible.

Server-side Something that is done totally on your Web host's computer (or your own server, if you run you own), not on your desktop computer. It is generally a much faster way to get stuff done.

SGML (Standard Generalized Markup Language) An international standard for markup languages. The basis for HTML and XML.

Shareware Software that you can try free of charge, and pay a fee to continue to use legally.

Shockwave A format (technology) developed by Macromedia for embedding multimedia content in web pages.

Shopping cart A section of an online store where a customer can order products and provide credit card information.

Sig file A short text file that contains a brief info-sales-message that appears at the end of your e-mail. You can generally compose and store many different sig files in your e-mail software. Then simply choose the one that fits the circumstances.

Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) The Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) forms part of the internet protocol suite as defined by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). SNMP is used in network management systems to monitor network-attached devices for conditions that warrant administrative attention. It consists of a set of standards for network management, including an Application Layer protocol, a database schema, and a set of data objects.[1] SNMP exposes management data in the form of variables on the managed systems, which describe the system configuration. These variables can then be queried (and sometimes set) by managing applications.

Site Map A set of ordered text links on a web site, that shows all of its publicly available pages, in one location.

SMIL (Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language) A W3C recommended language for creating multimedia presentations.

SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) A standard communication protocol for sending e-mail messages between computers.

SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) A standard protocol for letting applications communicate with each other using XML.

Solaris Computer operating system from SUN.

SPAM In web terms: The action of sending multiple unwelcome messages to a newsgroup or mailing list.

Spamming Using any search engine ranking technique which causes a degradation in the quality of the results produced by the search engines. Examples of spamming include excessive repetition of a keyword in a Web page, optimizing a page for a keyword which is unrelated to the contents of the Web site, using invisible or tiny text, etc. Most search engines will penalize a page which uses spamming. Also called spamdexing. In a different context, spamming is also used to mean the practice of sending unsolicited bulk email.

Spider A software that visits Web sites and indexes the pages present in those sites. Search engines use spiders to build up their databases. Examples: The spider for Google is called Googlebot, the spider for Yahoo! is called Yahoo! Slurp.

Splash page A media-rich (usually Flash) entry page to a Web site. Usually, these pages take much time to load, and provide no real additional value to the site ("cool" is not a necessity for making the sale). Using a splash page means a good portion of impatient visitors won't wait for your page to load, but will resort immediately to the BACK button.

Spoofing Addressing a web page or an e-mail with a false referrer. Like sending an e-mail from a false address.

Spyware Computer software hidden in a computer with the purpose of collecting information about the use of the computer.

SQL (Structured Query Language) An ANSI standard computer language for accessing and manipulating databases.

SQL Server A database system from Microsoft. Mostly used on high traffic web sites running on the Windows platform.

SSI (Server Side Include) A type of HTML comment inserted into a web page to instruct the web server to generate dynamic content. The most common use is to include standard header or footer for the page.

SSL (Secure Socket Layer) Software to secure and protect web site communication using encrypted transmission of data.

Static IP (address) An IP address that is the same each time connect to the Internet. (See also Dynamic IP).

Stickiness The length of time a user stays on the same website, whether on the one page, or on different pages

Stop word A word that often appears in Web pages, yet has no significance by itself. Most search engines ignore stop words while searching. Example of stop words are: and, the, of etc.

Store design A pre-designed online store that is ready to be customized and have products added to it.

Streaming On the Web, usually you wait for a file to download before you can see it. Same goes for music - you wait for a midi file to download, then you can listen to it. But streaming plug-ins, like RealAudio, play the music as it downloads!

Streaming Format The format used for files being streamed over the Internet. (See Windows Media, Real Video and QuickTime).

Subdomain A separate website, with its own URL, that belongs to a main domain. eg www.subdomain.maindomain.com. Subdomains can have unlimited pages

Submission Registering a website’s title and description for inclusion in a search engine, directory or other website

SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) A W3C recommended language for defining graphics in XML.

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Tag In web terms: Notifications or commands written into a web document. (See HTML Tags)

TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol) A collection of Internet communication protocols between two computers. The TCP protocol is responsible for an error free connection between two computers, while the IP protocol is responsible for the data packets sent over the network.

TCP/IP Packet A "packet" of data sent over a TCP/IP network. (data sent over the Internet is broken down into small "packets" from 40 to 32000 bytes long).

Telnet (also known as remote login). An Internet protocol for connecting to a remote host or server on the Internet. It is primarily used to access online databases or to read articles stored on university servers. A user typically has to enter their user name and password before gaining access the system. With Telnet access users can: check email, download a program, or chat with other Telnet users.

Text Links A word or set of words that has a URL embedded behind it. When clicked on, it will take the user to a different part of the same page, a different page of the same web site, or a different web site

Thumbnail Is a small picture, image or photograph on a web page, used to make loading of a page faster than a large image would take. It can sometimes be linked to a larger picture on another web page for users if desired.

Title tag The contents of the Title tag is generally displayed by the browser at the top of the browser window. The search engines use the Title tag to provide a link to the sites which match the query made by the user. Having keywords in the Title tag of a Web page can significantly increase the search engine ranking of the page for those keywords.

Traffic The number of hits a web site receives

Trojan Horse Computer program hidden in another computer program with the purpose of destroying software or collecting information about the use of the computer.

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UDDI (Universal Description Discovery and Integration) A platform-independent framework for describing services, discovering businesses, and integrating business services using the Internet.

Unix A flexible, portable and powerful operating system, dominant around the world. It was invented in 1969 at AT&T Bell Laboratories and made available to researchers and students in 1973. It was used to develop the Internet's communication software protocols. Much of the Internet is hosted on Unix machines, and it is still the most common operating system for servers on the Internet.

Unix Computer operating system, developed by Bell Laboratories. Mostly used for servers and web servers.

UNZIP To uncompress a ZIPPED file. See ZIP.

Upload Transfer of your website from the program it was located in, to a server

Upload To transfer a file from a local computer to a remote computer. In web terms: to transfer a file from a web client to a web server. (see also Download).

URI (Uniform Resource Identifier) Term used to identify resources on the internet. URL is one type of an URI.

URL The Uniform Resource Locator is used to specify the address of Web sites and Web pages. Having keywords in the URL can improve the search engine ranking of the page in a few of the search engines. However, most search engines do not give any preference to a page which has the keyword in the URL.

URL (Uniform Resource Locator) A web address. The standard way to address web documents (pages) on the Internet (like: http://www.w3schools.com/)

USENET A world wide news system accessible over the Internet. (See Newsgroups)

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VBScript A scripting language from Microsoft. VBScript is the default scripting language in ASP. Can also be used to program Internet Explorer.

VIEW SOURCE Both Netscape and Explorer allow you to see the HTML coding behind the actual Web page that you see with your Web browser software. The command is under the View menu. It's a terrific way to quickly learn how Web sites accomplish neat effects, what kind of keywords are used by your competition, etc., etc.

Visit In web terms: A visit to a web site. Commonly used to describe the activity for one visitor of a web site.

Visitor In web terms: A visitor of a web site. Commonly used to describe a person visiting (viewing) a web site.

VPN (Virtual Private Network) A private network between two remote sites, over a secure encrypted virtual Internet connection (a tunnel).

VRML (Virtual Reality Modeling Language) A programming language to allow 3D effects to be added to HTML documents.

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W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) The organization responsible for managing standards for the WWW.

WAN (Wide Area Network) Computers connected together in a wide network, larger than a LAN, usually connected via phone lines. See also LAN.

WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) A leading standard for information services on wireless terminals like digital mobile phones.

Web Short for WWW – world wide web

Web address Uniform Resource Locator is the unique address of every page on the web.eg http://how-to-build-web-sites.com/website_glossary.html

Web Address The same as an URL or URI. See URL.

Web Applet A program that can be downloaded over the web and run on the user's computer. Most often written in Java.

Web Browser A software program used to display web pages.

Web Client A software program used to access web pages. Sometimes the same as a Web Browser, but often used as a broader term.

Web Colors - Web Safe Colors Web colors are colors used in designing web pages, and the methods for describing and specifying those colors. Authors of web pages have a variety of options available for specifying colors for elements of web documents. Colors may be specified as an RGB triplet in hexadecimal format (a hex triplet); they may also be specified according to their common English names in some cases. Often a color tool or other graphics software is used to generate color values. The first versions of Mosaic and Netscape Navigator used the X11 color names as the basis for their color lists, as both started as X Window System applications. Web colors have an unambiguous colorimetric definition, sRGB, which relates the chromaticities of a particular phosphor set, a given transfer curve, adaptive whitepoint, and viewing conditions. These have been chosen to be similar to many real-world monitors and viewing conditions, so that even without color management rendering is fairly close to the specified values. However, user agents vary in the fidelity with which they represent the specified colors. More advanced user agents use color management to provide better color fidelity; this is particularly important for Web-to-print applications.

Web Document A document formatted for distribution over the web. Most often a web document is formatted in a markup language like HTML or XML.

Web Page A published HTML document that forms part of a web site

Web Safe Colours Not all browsers can display all colours, but most have a selection of standardised 256 colours available. Using web safe colours ensures your site will be displayed in the colour you intend. If a browser cannot display that clour, it will display a different colour

Web Site Or website, is the address, location (on a server) and collection of documents and resources for any set of webpages linked by its main domain name.

Website Builder Software or program used to create a web page or web site

Webtracker Webtracker uses advanced, patent-pending technology and innovative thinking to provide clients with a state-of-the-art local Internet advertising solution. Dynamic Budget Allocation and Automated Keyword Selection our patent-pending internet marketing platform automatically identifies the best search engines and directory sites for targeting specific geographic areas and/or customers, as well as the optimal budget allocation among them. It also selects the best keywords for a business's products or services, based on their campaign budget and marketing objectives. Our platform takes care of the complex media-buying/keyword-bidding process, while providing constantly up-to-date information for campaign reporting. Visit Higher Images to learn more

WYSIWYG Short for ‘What You See Is What You Get’, and refers to a website building program or software where you can see results of actions and changes immediately. An HTML editor works in the background to convert the actions into HTML.

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XML eXtensible Markup Language. A programming language/specification that provides a powerful set of tools for developing the next generation of Web applications. XML is a smaller version of SGML, designed specifically for Web documents. It enables Web authors and designers to create their own customized tags to provide functions not available with HTML. For example, XML supports links that point to multiple documents, as opposed to HTML links, which can reference only one destination each.