404 Error
The server cannot find the document you requested. It may be that you
entered the wrong address, or that there's a broken link on the site, or
that the page has been moved.
CSS
Cascading Style Sheets. Assigns page elements such as size, colour
and position.
Country Codes
The two letter designation for all countries. US, UK, AU, DE, FR etc.
List of country codes here
DHTML
Dynamic HTML. Further expands HTML by incorporating the ability
to change the CSS values in a document after it has been loaded, resulting
in animated and interactive web pages.
Domain
A domain name, also referred to as URL, is the address at which your
site will be found on the internet. Typically, www.mysite.com.
Domain Name
The name of a website that is mapped to an IP address
using a URL.
URL
Universal Resource Locator. The address of any
resource on the World Wide Web - it can refer to a domain, or any page
found at a domain, for instance:
www.mydomain.com/directory/page.htm
Drag and Drop
An application which allows you to use your mouse to drag elements
from one location to another.
GUI
Graphical User Interface. A program that uses a visual interface
instead of a command line interface. DOS and Unix use command lines,
Windows and Macs use a GUI. The dropdown menu at the top of the browser
in which you are viewing this is a GUI. Linux, a development of Unix, uses
both. If you're fed up with the major players, have a look at Linux. It's
still a far cry from being user friendly, but thousands of developers are
working on it.
HTML
HyperText Markup Language. A relatively simple programming language
still used as the basis for most webpages.
Index, Indexed
A search engine will index your site and add the contents of the pages
it has indexed (not necessarily all of them) to its database, analyse them,
and make them available to surfers according to what it judges to be the
site's relevance. The search engine's database is also referred to as its
index.
ISP
Internet Service Provider. A company that provides internet services
such as domain hosting and internet connection.
Dialup Service Provider
An ISP that provides telephone connection services so
that you can connect to the Internet with your modem. A surprising percentage
of people still use this system, even in first world countries like Australia.
Dialup internet speed is very slow.
Access Service Provider
An ISP that provides any kind of access to the Internet
such as broadband.
Keywords & Key Phrases
Words and phrases used by search engines to give relevance to a page.
If your site is about "famous madmen" then it would be wise to mention
the term a few times on the first couple of pages, and in the metatags.
Metatags are code within web pages which, among other things, inform search
engines of the page and site contents. The keywords tag in particular has
been much abused and these days has little relevance as far as SEO goes
but can be useful for internal searches.
Linkpages
A page which has outgoing links to related sites, friends, colleagues
and other sites with which you may have a link exchang arrangement.
Modem
MOdulator, DEModulator. A device which, when connected to your
computer and activated, makes a sound somewhat like a flock of magpies
being strangled. It translates digital signals produced by the computer
into analogue signals which may be transmitted over a phone line.
Mailto Form
HTML code to collect information from a visitor to a site and transmit
it via email.
Optimised
A site should be optimised to give it the best chance of being found
by the search engines. In other words, if the site is about "famous madmen",
the phrase should be added to the title of one or more pages, and the subject
should be emphasised. See also under keywords.
Perl
Practical Extraction and Report Language. A scripting language
commonly used for web server applications such as Mailto Forms.
CGI
Common Gateway Interface. A protocol for gathering
data from, for instance, a Mailto Form and sending it to a program or script
such as Perl.
TCP/IP
Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol. TCP/IP is the
method by which all computers talk over the Internet.
LAN
Local Area Network. Used in most businesses to connect their
computers to a server and to one another. Rather like a tiny version of
the Internet.
IP
Internet Protocol. The protocol that sends packets of data over the
Internet.
IP Address
Internet Protocol Address. Defines where an IP packet is going.
Written as a series as numbers and periods, it will look something like
this: 123.234.01
FTP
File Transfer Protocol. The protocol used to transfer files from
one computer to another over the Internet. Most commonly used to
upload files to a server. Examples are CuteFTP and WSFTP.
PDF
Portable Document Format by Adobe. A most useful method of transmitting
formatted information such as news letters and sales brochures over the
web. Requires a plug-in. Read more
Popup, Pop-up
A link or image which when clicked (or in some cases mouse-overed)
pops up a page or larger image. Click here for an example...
Spam (or Spamming)
Electronic junkmail.
An inappropriate attempt to use a mailing list, or USENET or other
networked communications facility as if it was a broadcast medium (which
it is not) by sending the same message to a large number of people who
didn't ask for it. The term probably comes from a famous Monty Python skit
which featured the word spam repeated ad infinitum. The term may also have
come from someone’s low opinion of the food product with the same name,
which is generally perceived as a generic content-free waste of resources.
(Spam is a registered trademark of Hormel Corporation, for its processed
meat product.)
The term has been extended to refer also to misleading information submitted
to search engines. Penalties for spamming can be harsh.
Tooltips
Hints and tips about the contents of a web page which show up on mouseover.
For example, Tigra
Hints. There are also many jquery examples.
Virus
A program designed to in some way modify the operation of a computer,
and usually transmitted by email, media (cd or floppy disk) or directly
via an open port. Symptoms and effects range from a simple popup screen
through to the demolition of the contents of your hard drive. Opinions
vary as to who writes them and why, but the consensus is that it would
be universally beneficial to remove them from the gene pool.
More on viruses...
XML
Extensible markup language. The next generation of HTML, still under
development.
WYSIWYG
What You See Is What You Get. Usually refers to an HTML editing
program which enables the user to display a reasonably accurate version
of the code being written, without actually reading and writing the code
oneself. Examples are Dreamweaver and the Netscape editor.
The following resources expand considerably on this theme.
Glossary of Internet Terms
http://www.idea.org.uk/online_training/course/gloss.htm
Glossary of Internet Terms
http://www.matisse.net/files/glossary.html
Garry Herman's Glossary
http://www.labourtel.org.uk/glossary.html.
