Morley Interactive


Overview
Books/Publications
Internet Glossary

Bandwidth
How much data you can send through a connection. Usually measured in bits-per-second. A full page of English text is about 16,000 bits. A fast modem can move about 57,000 bits in one second. Full-motion full-screen video would require roughly 10,000,000 bits-per-second, depending on compression.

BMP or Bitmap
Any picture you see on the Web (or off a scanner, or on a page created with a desktop publishing application) is called a bitmap. As its name suggests, a bitmap is a map of dots--similar to what you see when you look at a newspaper photo under a strong magnifying glass--that looks like a picture when viewed from a distance. Bitmaps come in many file formats (GIF, JPEG, TIFF, BMP, PICT, and PCX, to name a few) and can be read by paint programs and image editors such as Adobe Photoshop.

If you zoom in on or try to scale up a bitmap, it will look blocky in contrast to vector graphics. See vector graphics.

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

CGI - (Common Gateway Interface)
A set of rules that describe how a Web Server communicates with another piece of software on the same machine, and how the other piece of software talks to the web server. Any piece of software can be a CGI program if it handles input and output according to the CGI standard.

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. Depending on the type of Cookie used, and the Browser’s settings, the Browser may accept or not accept the Cookie, and may save the Cookie for either a short time or a long time. Cookies might contain information such as login or registration information, online "shopping cart" information, user preferences. When a Server receives a request from a Browser that includes a Cookie, the Server is able to use the information stored in the Cookie. For example, the Server might customize what is sent back to the user, or keep a log of particular users’ requests. Cookies are usually set to expire after a predetermined amount of time and are usually saved in memory until the Browser software is closed down, at which time they may be saved to disk if their "expire time" has not been reached. Cookies do not read your hard drive and send your life story to the CIA, but they can be used to gather more information about a user than would be possible without them.

CSS
Short for Cascading Style Sheets, a constantly evolving feature being added to HTML that gives both Web site developers and users more control over how pages are displayed. With CSS, designers and users can create style sheets that define how different elements, such as headers and links, appear. These style sheets can then be applied to any Web page.

The term "cascading" derives from the fact that multiple style sheets can be applied to the same Web page. CSS was developed by the W3C.

DNS
Short for Domain Name System (or Service or Server), an Internet service that translates domain names into IP addresses. Because domain names are alphabetic, they're easier to remember. The Internet however, is really based on IP addresses. Every time you use a domain name, therefore, a DNS service must translate the name into the corresponding IP address. For example, the domain name www.example.com might translate to 198.105.232.4.

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 (bobsbakery), and the part on the right is the most general(.com). A given machine or server can have more than one Domain Name but a given Domain Name points to only one machine.

Domain names can be purchased, or registered, with a company called a Domain Registrar.

DSL - (Digital Subscriber Line)
A method for moving data at high speeds over regular phone lines. A DSL circuit is much faster than a regular phone connection, and the wires coming into the subscriber’s premises are the same (copper) wires used for regular phone service. Using special hardware data is transmitted a frequencies other than those used for voice traffic.
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.

EPS - (Encapsulated PostScript)
An extension of Adobe System's PostScript graphics file format. EPS is often used for high-resolution images that will be added to another document. EPS documents can contain bitmap/raster graphics and vector graphics.

Extranet
A private website for a company or organization that is externally accessible to users only when they log in using a password and username.

Fire Wall
A combination of hardware and software that separates a Network into two or more parts for security purposes.

GIF - (Graphic Interchange Format)
Pronounced "giff" with hard g. 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. GIF also allows for embedded animation commonly seen in online banner advertising.

Hexidecimal
While the more common decimal system uses a base of ten to represent all possible numbers, hexadecimal notation uses a base of sixteen: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, A, B, C, D, E, F. While such a system may seem confusing at first, it works extremely well in computing environments. For example, a single byte of information can be represented as eight bits (10011101), decimal numerals (913), or simplified to hex (9D). In hex, every byte can be shown as two hexadecimal characters.

As it relates to Web design, hexadecimal is the alphanumeric system used to specify colors in HTML. For example, the hexadecimal equivalent of white is FFFFFF, while black is 000000.

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. This term is often interchanged with "visits," which describes the actually number of unique users visiting a web site or web page.

Home Page (or Homepage)
Several meanings. Originally, 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, e.g. "Check out so-and-so’s new Home Page."

Hosting
See Web Host

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. 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. HTML files are meant to be viewed using a "Web Browser".

HTTP - (HyperText Transfer Protocol)
The protocol for moving hypertextfiles across the Internet. Requires an 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).

Hypertext
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 vast collection of inter-connected networks that are connected using the TCP/IP protocols and that evolved from the ARPANET of the late 60’s and early 70’s. The Internet connects tens of thousands of independent networks into a vast global internet and is probably the largest Wide Area Network in the world.

Intranet
A private website inside a company or organization's network that secured and only for internal use.

IP Number - (Internet Protocol Number)
A unique number consisting of 4 parts separated by dots, e.g.165.113.245.2. Every machine that is on the Internet has an IP number. All domain names eventually point to, or resolve to, an IP address. A good comparison is think of an IP Number as a street address(123 Main Street, Suite 206, Dallas, TX) and a domain name as a business name(Bob's Bakery).

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

Java
A high-level programming language developed by Sun Microsystems. Java was originally called OAK, and was designed for handheld devices and set-top boxes. Oak was unsuccessful so in 1995 Sun changed the name to Java and modified the language to take advantage of the burgeoning World Wide Web.

Java is a general purpose programming language with a number of features that make the language well suited for use on the World Wide Web. Small Java applications are called Java applets and can be downloaded from a Web server and run on your computer by a Java-compatible Web browser, such as Netscape Navigator or Microsoft Internet Explorer.

JavaScript
JavaScript, which should not be confused with Java, 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.

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

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

Plug-in
A (usually small) piece of software that adds features to a larger piece of software. Common examples are plug-ins for the Netscape browser and web server. Adobe Photoshop also uses plug-ins.

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.

Raster Graphics
Refers to any form of graphic that is built using a bitmap method (see bitmap) and not a vector method(see vector graphic). The image is a series of dots that combined make up an image, versus a vector image where a mathematical calculation is used to create the image. Raster graphics can not be scaled up in size without degrading the picture quality, whereas vector graphics can be scaled infinitely up and down without loss of quality.

Search Engine
A (usually web-based) system for searching the information available on the Web. Some search engines work by automatically searching the contents of other systems and creating a database of the results. Other search engines contain only material manually approved for inclusion in a database, and some combine the two approaches.

Search Engine Optimization (or SEO)
The process of increasing the amount of visitors to a Web site by ranking high in the search results of a search engine. The higher a Web site ranks in the results of a search, the greater the chance that that site will be visited by a user. It is common practice for Internet users to not click through pages and pages of search results, so where a site ranks in a search is essential for directing more traffic toward the site.

SEO helps to ensure that a site is accessible to a search engine and improves the chances that the site will be found by the search engine.

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."

Spam (or Spamming)
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.

SSL - (Secure Socket Layer)
A protocol originally designed by Netscape Communications to enable encrypted, authenticated communications across the Internet.

T-1
A leased-line connection capable of carrying data at 1,544,000 bits-per-second. At maximum theoretical capacity, a T-1 line could move a megabyte in less than 10 seconds. That is still not fast enough for full-screen, full-motion video, for which you need at least 10,000,000 bits-per-second. T-1 lines are commonly used to connect large LANs to the Internet.

T-3
A leased-line connection capable of carrying data at 44,736,000 bits-per-second. This is more than enough to do full-screen, full-motion video.

URL - (Uniform Resource Locator)
The global address of documents and other resources on the World Wide Web. Web addresses and domain names are often referred to as URLs.

UCE - (unsolicited commercial email)
Another term for Spam.

Vector Graphics
Refers to software and hardware that use geometrical formulas to represent images. The other method for representing graphical images is through bit maps, in which the image is composed of a pattern of dots. This is sometimes called raster graphics. Vector-oriented images are more flexible than bit maps because they can be resized and stretched infinitely without degrading the quality of the image. Because of this, vector graphics are often the file format of choice for graphic designers who need the flexibility to work with graphics at different sizes for different projects. Another advantage of vector graphics is that representations of images often require less memory than bit-mapped images do making file sizes smaller.

Web Host
A Web host is in the business of providing server space for Web sites controlled by individuals or companies that do not have their own Web servers. Many Internet Service Providers, or ISPs, such as America Online, will allow subscribers a small amount of server space to host a personal Web page. Other commercial ISPs will charge the user a fee depending on the complexity of the site being hosted.