Working on the Web requires learning a new language. The following are terms and definitions to help you understand and speak it fluently.
Address — Internet users encounter two important types of addresses: e-mail addresses for sending e-mail to someone and Web page addresses called URLs.
Attachment — A computer file electronically stapled to an e-mail message and sent along with it.
Bitmap — Little dots put together to make a black-and-white or color picture.
Bookmark — The address of a Web page to which you may want to return. Netscape lets you maintain a list of bookmarks to make it easy to go back to your favorite Web pages.
BPS (bits per second) — A measure of how fast data is transmitted that is used to describe modem speed.
Browser — A super-duper, all-singing, all-dancing program that lets you read information on the World Wide Web.
Client/Server model — A division of labor between computers. Computers that provide a service other computers can use are known as servers such as e-mail, Web data, Usenet or FTP. The users are clients.
.com — When these letters appear as the last part of an address, it indicates that the host computer is run by a commercial organization, probably in the United States.
Cookie — A small text file stored on your computer by a Web site you have visited that is used to remind that site about you the next time you visit it.
E-mail — Electronic messages sent via the Internet.
Favorites — A list of files or Web pages you plan to use frequently. Internet Explorer lets you maintain a list of your favorite items to make it easy to see them again.
Firewall — A specially programmed computer that connects a local network to the Internet and, for security reasons, lets only certain kinds of messages in and out.
Home page — The entry or main page of a Web site that usually contains links to other Web pages.
Host — A computer/server on the Internet that “hosts” or “serves” data for users.
HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) — The language used to write pages for the World Wide Web. Web pages are stored in files that usually have the extension .htm or .html.
Hypertext — A system of writing and displaying text that enables the text to be linked in multiple ways, be available at several levels of detail and contain links to related documents. The World Wide Web uses both hypertext and hypermedia.
Internet — A global network of computers, connected together so that they can talk to each other. When you connect your PC to this network it becomes part of it.
JPEG — A type of still-image file found all over the Internet that ends in .jpg or .jpeg.
Link — A hypertext connection that can take you to another document or another part of the same document. On the World Wide Web, links appear as text or pictures that are highlighted.
Mail server — A computer on the Internet that provides electronic mail service.
Modem — A gizmo that lets your computer talk on the phone or cable TV.
MPEG — A type of video file found on the Internet that ends in .mpg.
Net — A network, or when capitalized, the Internet itself. When these letters appear as the last part of an address, as in http://www.abuse.net, it indicates that the host computer is run by a networking organization, frequently an Internet service provider in the United States.
Network — Computers that are connected together. Those in the same or nearby buildings are called local-area networks, those that are farther away are called wide-area networks. When you interconnect networks all over the world, you get the Internet.
.org — When these letters appear as the last part of an e-mail address or URL, as in https://thealabamabaptist.org, it indicates that the host computer is run by a noncommercial organization.
POP (Post Office Protocol) — A system by which a mail server on the Net lets you pick up your mail and download it to your PC or Mac. A POP server is the computer from which you pick up your mall. Also called POP3.
Protocol — The accepted rules that computers rely on to talk among themselves. A set of signals that mean “go ahead,” “got it,” “didn’t get it, please re-send,” “all done” and so on.
Router — A computer that connects two or more networks by “routing” traffic and messages.
Shockwave/Flash — A program for viewing interactive multimedia on the Web.
Spam — E-mail sent to thousands of uninterested recipients or Usenet messages posted to many uninterested newsgroups or mailing lists. It’s antisocial, ineffective and often illegal.
Streaming Audio — A system for sending sound files over the Internet that begins playing the sound before the sound file finishes downloading, letting you listen with minimal delay. RealAudio and Windows Media Player are the most popular types.
URL (Uniform Resource Locator) — A standardized way of naming network resources, used for linking pages on the World Wide Web.
Usenet — A system of thousands of newsgroups. You read the messages by using a newsreader.
Web page — A Web page can be any page displayable on the World Wide Web using a browser. A page usually contains text and specifications about where image or other multimedia files are to be placed when the page is displayed. You can think of a Web site as a book that arrives a page at a time as you request each one.
WWW (World Wide Web) — A hypermedia system that lets you browse through lots of interesting information. It seems probable some advanced version of the Web will become the central repository of humanity’s information in the 21st century. (TAB)
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