Glossary Of Hompage Terms

Bit (Binary DigIT)
A single digit number in base-2, in other words, either a 1 or a zero. The smallest unit of computerized data. Bandwidth is usually measured in bits-per-second.

Browser
A Client program (software) that is used to look at various kinds of Internet resources.

Byte
A set of Bits that represent a single character. Usually there are 8 Bits in a Byte, sometimes more, depending on how the measurement is being made

Cache
When you access a web page your browser temporarily stores the contents of the page on the hard drive called the cache. The next time you visit the same page the parts that havent changed are restored from the cache. Cache sometimes speeds up browsing.

Cookie
The most common meaning of “Cookie” on the Internet refers to a piece of information sent by a Web Server to a Web Browser that the Browser software is expected to save and to send back to the Server whenever the browser makes additional requests from the Server.

Counter
A counter is a program which as the name suggests counts the number of visitors to your page. This helps you in determining the popularity of your website.

Cyberspace
Term originated by author William Gibson in his novel Neuromancer the word Cyberspace is currently used to describe the whole range of information resources available through computer networks.

Domain Name
The unique name that identifies an Internet site. 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 given machine may have more than one Domain Name but a given Domain Name points to only one machine.

Downloading
It is the process of saving or transfering information or files from the internet onto your local computer's harddisk.

E-mail (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 (Mailing List).

FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)
FAQs are documents that list and answer the most common questions on a particular subject. There are hundreds of FAQs on subjects as diverse as Pet Grooming and cryptography. FAQs are usually written by people who have tired of answering the same question over and over.

Flash
It is a software which allows you to create animated and multimedia enabled webpages. It is created by the Macromedia software company.

Folder
A folder also know as a directory is a division of your file system in which you can store files seperately. Its a vital and nescessary part of any file system.

FTP (File Transfer Protocol)
A very common method of moving files between two Internet sites. FTP is a special way to login to another Internet site for the purposes of retrieving and/or sending files. There are many Internet sites that have established publicly accessible repositories of material that can be obtained using FTP, by logging in using the account name anonymous, thus these sites are called anonymous ftp servers.

GIF (Graphic Interchange Format)
A common format for image files, especially suitable for images containing large areas of the same color. GIF format files of simple images are often smaller than the same file would be if stored in JPEG format, but GIF format does not store photographic images as well as JPEG.

Gigabyte
1000 or 1024 Megabytes, depending on who is measuring.

Hit
As used in reference to the World Wide Web, “hit” means a single request from a web browser for a single item from a web server; thus in order for a web browser to display a page that contains 3 graphics, 4 “hits” would occur at the server: 1 for the HTML page, and one for each of the 3 graphics.

Home Page (or Homepage)
The web page that your browser is set to use when it starts up. The more common meaning refers to the main web page for a business, organization, person or simply the main page out of a collection of web pages,

Host
Any computer on a network that is a repository for services available to other computers on the network. It is quite common to have one host machine provide several services, such as WWW and USENET.

HTML (HyperText Markup Language)
The coding language used to create Hypertext documents for use on the World Wide Web. HTML looks a lot like old-fashioned typesetting code, where you surround a block of text with codes that indicate how it should appear, additionally, in HTML you can specify that a block of text, or a word, is linked to another file on the Internet. HTML files are meant to be viewed using a World Wide Web Client Program, such as Netscape or Mosaic.

HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol)
The protocol for moving hypertext files across the Internet. Requires a HTTP client program on one end, and an HTTP server program on the other end. HTTP is the most important protocol used in the World Wide Web (WWW).

Hyperlink
Generally, any text that contains links to other documents - words or phrases in the document that can be chosen by a reader and which cause another document to be retrieved and displayed.

Internet
The Internet is nothing more than a vast number of computers connected together.

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 (Internet Protocol Number)
Sometimes called a dotted quadruple number. A unique number consisting of 4 parts separated by dots, e.g. 101.111.200.17 Every machine that is on the Internet has a unique IP number - if a machine does not have an IP number, it is not really on the Internet. Most machines also have one or more Domain Names that are easier for people to remember.

ISP (Internet Service Provider)
An institution that provides access to the Internet in some form, usually for money.

JavaScript
JavaScript is a programming language that is mostly used in web pages, usually to add features that make the web page more interactive. When JavaScript is included in an HTML file it relies upon the browser to interpret the JavaScript. When JavaScript is combined with Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), and later versions of HTML (4.0 and later) the result is often called DHTML.

JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group)
JPEG is most commonly mentioned as a format for image files. JPEG format is preferred to the GIF format for photographic images as opposed to line art or simple logo art.

Kilobyte
A thousand bytes. Actually, usually 1024 (2^10) bytes.

LAN (Local Area Network)
A computer network limited to the immediate area, usually the same building or floor of a building.

Login
The account name used to gain access to a computer system. Not a secret (contrast with Password). The act of entering into a computer system, e.g. Login to the Email Account.

Megabyte
A million bytes. Actually, technically, 1024 kilobytes.

Modem (MOdulator, DEModulator)
A device that you connect to your computer and to a phone line, that allows the computer to talk to other computers through the phone system. Basically, modems do for computers what a telephone does for humans.

Netiquette
The etiquette on the Internet. An unofficial set of rules which should be followed while communicating with others on the net. Sometimes called Net-manners.

Netizen
Derived from the term citizen, referring to a citizen of the Internet, or someone who uses networked resources.

Netscape
A WWW Browser and the name of a company. Netscape has grown in features rapidly and is widely recognized as the best and most popular web browser. Netscape corporation also produces web server software.

Network
Any time you connect 2 or more computers together so that they can share resources, you have a computer network. Connect 2 or more networks together and you have an internet.

Password
A code used to gain access to a locked system. Good passwords contain letters and non-letters and are not simple combinations such as 1derful. A good password goes a long way in protecting your privacy.

Portal
Usually used as a marketing term to described a Web site that is or is intended to be the first place people see when using the Web. Typically a "Portal site" has a catalog of web sites, a search engine, or both. A Portal site may also offer email and other service to entice people to use that site as their main "point of entry" (hence "portal") to the Web.

Scan-a-snap
It is a service by rediff homepages where you can mail in a set of non-returnalbe photographs by post and we scan these snaps and send them to you via email.

Server
A computer, or a software package, that provides a specific kind of service to client software running on other computers. The term can refer to a particular piece of software, such as a WWW server, or to the machine on which the software is running, e.g.Our mail server is down today, that’s why e-mail isn’t getting out. A single server machine could have several different server software packages running on it, thus providing many different servers to clients on the network.

Templates
Templates are readymade designs for your page which let you build a homepage without any knowledge of programming. Templates allow even a newbie to create professional looking webpages easily and fast.

Uploading
It is a process by which you transfer files and folders from your local hard disk (your local computer) to the server (computer on the internet).

URL (Uniform Resource Locator)
The standard way to give the address of any resource on the Internet that is part of the World Wide Web (WWW).

Visitors
Visitors are the people who view your website in their browsers. They may follow seperate paths either from search engines or may just follow a link to your page.

WWW (World Wide Web)
Frequently used (incorrectly) when referring to "The Internet", WWW has two major meanings - First, loosely used: the whole constellation of resources that can be accessed using Gopher, FTP, HTTP, telnet, USENET, WAIS and some other tools. Second, the universe of hypertext servers (HTTP servers) which are the servers that allow text, graphics, sound files, etc. to be mixed together.