The following terms may be of assistance in developing a better understanding of some aspects of our work: Definitions from the Sharpened Glossary Bandwidth : This refers to how much stuff (data) you can send through a network or modem connection - the more bandwidth, the more information that can be transferred at one time. It is usually measured in bits per second, or "bps." Browser : It's what you're probably using to read this right now. A Web browser, often just called a "browser," is the program people use to access the World Wide Web. It interprets HTML code including text, images, hypertext links, Javascript, and Java applets. After rendering the HTML code, the browser displays a nicely formatted page. Some common browsers are Microsoft Internet Explorer and Netscape Communicator. Broadband : This refers to high-speed data transmission in which a single cable can carry a large amount of data at once. The most common types of Internet broadband connections are cable modems (which use the same connection as cable TV) and DSL modems (which use your existing phone line). Cookie : A "Cookie" on the Internet refers to a piece of information sent to your computer by a Web server. Cookies might contain information like your user name and password, "shopping cart" information or user preferences - a Server is able to use this information to customize what is displayed on the page. Some people don't like to have their information recorded by Web sites that they visit, so most Web browsers have an option to accept or deny cookies. Cookies are usually set to expire after a predetermined amount of time. DNS : Stands for "Domain Name System". Web sites are actually located by their IP addresses but it's easier to remember domain names. When you type in "http://www.incend.co.uk", your computer doesn't immediately know that it should look for incend's web site. It sends a request to the nearest DNS server, which finds the correct IP address for "incend.co.uk". Your computer then attempts to connect to the server with that IP number. Domain Name : The unique name that identifies an Internet site for example "incend.co.uk" is the domain name of incend. Domain Names always have 2 or more parts, separated by dots. The part on the left is the most specific, and the part on the right is the most general. A Domain Name can only point to one machine. Email (Electronic Mail) : Messages, usually text, sent from one person to another via computer. E-mail can also be sent automatically to a large number of addresses. Flash : When you see the term "Flash" on the Web, it most likely refers to Macromedia's Web animation technology. Flash allows Web developers to incorporate colorful animations with text, shapes, and images into their Web pages. To view Flash content in your Web browser, you need to have the Flash plug-in - it comes standard with most browsers today, but if you don't have the Flash plug-in, you can get it directly from Macromedia. FTP (File Transfer Protocol) : A very common method of moving files via the Internet from one computer to another. FTP is a way to login to another Internet site for the purposes of retrieving and/or sending files. FTP was invented and in wide use long before the advent of the World Wide Web and originally was always used from a text-only interface. There are some specific FTP programs like "SmartFTP" and "WS_FTP" and you can also use a Web browser like Netscape or Internet Explorer to access FTP servers. Many FTP servers are "anonymous FTP" servers which means you can log in with the user name "anonymous" and your e-mail address as the password. Other FTP servers require a specific login in order to access the files. GIF (Graphic Interchange Format) : GIFs are compressed image files, especially suitable for images containing large areas of the same color. GIF files are great for small icons and animated images, but they lack the color range to be used for high-quality photos. HTML (HyperText Markup Language) : This is the language that Web pages, also known as hypertext documents, are written in. Web pages must conform to the rules of HTML in order to be displayed correctly in a Web browser. The HTML syntax is based on a list of tags that describe the page's format and what is displayed on the Web page. The "hyper" in Hypertext comes from the fact that in HTML you can specify that a block of text, or an image, is linked to another file on the Internet. internet : Any time you connect 2 or more networks together, you have an internet Internet : The Internet was created back in 1969, by the United States military as a "nuke-proof" communications network. Today, the Internet spreads across the globe and connects countless independent networks and computers into a vast global internet using the TCP/IP protocols, allowing millions of people to share information. The Internet and the World Wide Web are not the same thing - the World Wide Web is one of the many features of the Internet which also includes E-mail, FTP, and Instant Messaging among others. Intranet : A private network inside a company or organization that uses the same kinds of software that you would find on the public Internet, but that is only for internal use. IP Number or IP Address (Internet Protocol) : Every machine that is on the Internet has a unique IP number - this is a code made up of numbers separated by three dots that identifies a particular computer on the Internet. Every computer requires an IP address to connect to the Internet. Your Internet Service Provider (ISP), will assign you either a static IP address (which is always the same) or a dynamic IP address, (which changes everytime you log on). ISP (Internet Service Provider) : An institution or company that provides access to the Internet in some form, usually for a monthly fee. Once connection is established with the ISP via your dial-up ,cable or DSL modem, one of the ISP's routers, routes you to the Internet "backbone" and from there, you can access information from anywhere around the world. JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) : JPEG is a compressed image file format which is preferred to the GIF format for photographic images as opposed to line art or simple logo art. However, JPEG is a "lossy" format, which means some quality is lost when the image is compressed. If the image is compressed too much, the graphics become noticeably "blocky". Link : When you are browsing the Web and you see a highlighted or underlined word or phrase on a page, there is a good chance you are looking at a link. By clicking on a link, you can "jump" to a new Web page or a completely different Web site. Images can also serve as links to other Web pages. Search Engine : A (usually web-based) system for searching the information available on the Web. By creating indexes, or large databases of Web sites (based on titles, keywords, and the text in the pages), search engines can locate relevant Web sites when users enter search terms or phrases. Google, Excite, Lycos, AltaVista, Infoseek, and Yahoo are all search engines. Server : A server serves information to computers that connect to it. The term can refer to the machine on which the software is running or to a particular piece of software, such as a WWW server - a single computer can have several different server programs running on it. Common servers are Web servers, mail servers, and LAN servers. TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) : This is the suite of protocols that defines the Internet - TCP/IP software is now included with every major kind of computer operating system. To be truly on the Internet, your computer must have TCP/IP software. URI (Uniform Resource Identifier) : An address for a resource available on the Internet. The first part of a URI is called the "scheme" - the most well known scheme is http, but there are many others. For example http://www.incend.co.uk/index.html URL (Uniform Resource Locator) : The term URL is basically synonymous with URI. Virus : Computer viruses are small programs or scripts that can negatively affect the health of your computer. These malicious little programs can create files, move files, erase files, consume your computer's memory, and cause your computer not to function correctly. Typically viruses spread by attaching themselves to programs or files and and some can duplicate themselves or travel across networks. It's a good idea to prevent a virus attack rather than try and cure it. There are many anti-virus programs available that scan incoming files for viruses before they can cause damage to your computer. Web / World Wide Web / WWW : The Web is a subset of the Internet. The Web consists of pages that can be accessed using a Web browser - things like FTP, Internet gaming, instant messaging, and e-mail are all part of the Internet, but are not part of the World Wide Web. Web page : Web pages are what make up the World Wide Web. These documents are typically written in HTML (hypertext markup language) and are translated by your Web browser. Web pages can either be static or dynamic. Static pages show the same content each time they are viewed. Dynamic pages have content that can change each time they are accessed. Web site : A Web site is a collection of Web pages usually providing information or products and services and can be owned by companies, organisations or individuals.
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