Glossary: Web Glossary

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Accessibility: Refers to the practice of making pages on the Internet accessible to all users, especially those with disabilities.
ASP: Short for Active Server Page. Used for creating dynamic content of a web page (or, if you're a techie, it's a server side scripting language, mostly used on Windows platforms).
Bandwidth: Refers to the maximum amount of data that can travel a communications path in a given time, usually measured in seconds. The faster, the better!
Blog: (short for "web log"): Used to describe websites that maintain an ongoing chronicle of information. It's a type of web page that serves as a publicly accessible personal journal for an individual. Check out our article on blogs.
Breadcrumb Navigation: Breadcrumb navigation is a representation of where and how you are located within the site in text format. It displays a sequential path of where you are at in order of how you got there. The location of the navigation is often displayed in the upper left quarter of the web page. Example: juxtaflo > resources > glossary
Broadband: Refers to a high-speed internet connection (T1, cable, DSL). We like broadband! Broadband systems are capable of carrying a large number of moving images or a vast quantity of data simultaneously.
Browsers: These are special software programs that enable you to view web documents and graphics on the Internet. Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, and Opera are popular examples of web browsers.
Cascading Style Sheets: Refers to a standard for formatting the appearance of web pages and provides the ability to separate the layout and styles of a web page from the data or information. Styles such as fonts, font sizes, and margins set up once, and the rest of the site follows these styles without extra coding. CSS also makes updating your website easier in the future, because most style changes only need to be made once.
CD-R: Short for Compact Disk-Recordable. Refers to computer peripheral disk drives that allow the user to record content on to a blank compact disk.
CD-ROM: Short for Compact Disk-Read Only Memory. Is an optical disk from which information may be read or saved to your desktop.
Chat: A method of online communication that allows users to communicate in "real time." Information is typed on one user's computer and immediately is displayed on the other user's computer.
Content Management System (or CMS): A system used to manage the content of a website. With a good CMS, you will not need a web designer to make the changes. You can easily make changes yourself. It is common that users have no knowledge of HTML in order to create new or modify web pages. Want to read our article on CMS?
Cookie: Refers to a small file, usually sent through a website, which is saved on your computer. This file can then be referenced when the user revisits the same website. The main use for a cookie is to provide you a customized web page. When you log onto a "customize" type of invitation on a web page and fill in your name and other information, this may result in a cookie on your computer which that web page will access to appear to "know" you and provide what you want. If you fill out these forms, you may also receive e-mail and other solicitation independent of cookies.
CSS: Short for Cascading Style Sheets. Refers to a standard for formatting the appearance of web pages and provides the ability to separate the layout and styles of a web page from the data or information. Styles such as fonts, font sizes, and margins set up once, and the rest of the site follows these styles without extra coding. CSS also makes updating your website easier in the future, because most style changes only need to be made once.
Database: An effective way of storing and organizing data. Have you ever seen an Excel spreadsheet with columns and rows of data? This is a good example of a (simple) database. There are many different types of databases (Access, MySQL, Oracle, FileMakerPro). Many online websites today use databases.
Description Meta Tag: Used as the summary of the web site when listed in the search results. Some search engines will generate their own based on some arbitrary text gleaned from your web page.
DOM: Document Object Model; The DOM or Document Object Model is the API that binds JavaScript and other scripting languages together with HTML and other markup languages. It is what allows Dynamic HTML to be dynamic.
Domain Name: Let's start with examples. Juxtaflo.com, Yahoo.com, Netflix.com - these are all examples of a domain name. A domain name is a part of a website or other URL, or an e-mail address.
Domain Name Extension: Part after the dot in the domain name is a domain name extension. In Juxtaflo.com, the domain extension is ".com. " There are many other domain name extensions such as .com, .net, .org, .info, .us, and .ca.
Download: To transfer to your computer a copy of a file that resides on another computer.
E-Commerce: E-Commerce means conducting business on the Internet. It is mostly referred to buying and selling items on line.
Encryption: A way of coding the information in a file or e-mail message so that if it is intercepted by a third party as it travels over a network it cannot be read. Only the persons sending and receiving the information have the key and this makes it unreadable to anyone except those persons (your browser does it automatically).
Firewall: Refers to security measures designed to protect a networked system from unauthorized or unwelcome access (aka hackers).
Flash: Adobe Flash Player is the standard for delivering high-impact, rich Web content. Designs, animation, and application user interfaces are deployed immediately across all browsers and platforms, attracting and engaging users with a rich Web experience.
FTP: Short for File Transfer Protocol. A protocol that allows the transfer of files from one computer to another over the Internet.
GIF: Short for for graphics interchange format. A graphics file format used on the web.
Home Page: The first, introductory page at a website, from which other pages at the site can be accessed.
Host/Hosting Company: A computer that stores your website. Most people rent space for their website from a hosting company (see below). We love Media Temple! .
HTML: Short for HyperText Markup Language. The authoring and editing language used to create web pages on the World Wide Web. HTML is used to tag various parts of a web document so browsing software will know how to display that document's links, text, graphics and attached media.
HTTP: Short for Hypertext Transfer Protocol. The standard prefix for most addresses on the Web. HTTP is used to link and transfer hypertext documents.Interactive: An electronic document that is designed to allow the audience to interact with it. Often referred to as "multimedia," these documents usually take the form of a website or computer program. An example of an interactive project would be a presentation where the user could select from various options on a main menu.
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 is only for internal use.
IP Address: Short for Internet Protocol Address. Refers to the set of communication standards that control communications activity on the Internet. An IP address a unique number consisting of 4 parts separated by dots, e.g. 165.113.245.2 Every machine that is on the Internet has a unique IP address. Each active Domain Name has an IP number assigned to it.
ISP: Short for Internet Service Provider. A company that provides a means for their users to access the Internet. Most people use their phone company (e.g., Verizon) or cable company (e.g., Charter or Cox)
JPEG: Short for Joint Photographic Experts Group. It is widely used on the Internet for the display of photographs.
JPG: Short for Joint Photographic Experts Group. It is widely used on the Internet for the display of photographs.
Keywords: Refers to a word searched for in a search command. For example, if you wanted to find a sofa store, you would go to Google or Yahoo and type in "sofa." In this case, "sofa" is a keyword. Search Engines use this information when indexing and are sometimes used as a general term to describe words you wish to target as part of search engine optimization.
Link: Sometimes called a hyperlink. When you click on a link or a linked image, you are taken to another web page where the link is pointing to.
Meta Tags: Meta tags supply information about a web page but do not affect its appearance. Very important for search engines as they use this information when indexing.
Modem: A device that allows a computer to connect to the Internet over conventional phone lines. Modem speeds are expressed in "bits per second" (bps). Modems with speeds lower than 14.4k bps will not be able to navigate the Web effectively. At present, a speed of 28.8k bps is recommended for optimal Web navigation.
MP3: MP3 is the file extension for MPEG, audio layer 3. Layer 3 is one of three coding schemes (layer 1, layer 2 and layer 3) for the compression of audio signals. MP3 files could be embedded into website providing music while visitors are viewing the site. MP3 files are relatively small comparing to other audio files and therefore are quite suitable for transferring over the Internet.
Plug-ins: These are small programs that work in conjunction with a Web browser to give it added capabilities such as the ability to play sounds or video.
Router: An electronic device that connects two or more networks and routes incoming data packets to the appropriate network.
RSS: Short for Really Simple Syndication. A format used to syndicate news and the content of news-like sites. Includes major news sites like Wired, news-oriented community sites and personal weblogs. By subscribing to an RSS feed, you are alerted to new additions to the feed since you last read it. In order to read RSS feeds, you must use a "feed reader," which formats the XML code into an easily readable format (feed readers are to XML and RSS feeds as web browsers are to HTML and web pages.
Search Engine: Refers to a program that helps users find information in text-oriented databases. One of several services on the Web designed to help users locate websites on specific subjects. The user types in a search word or phrase and is given a range of sites to choose from. Two popular search engines which can search the entire Web are Yahoo and Google .
SEO: Short for Search Engine Optimization. Refers to the means used to increase the number of visitors to a particular website by adding appropriate keywords and phrases, with the goal of obtaining high ranking in the search results. The higher a website ranks in the results of a search, the greater the chance that your site will be found by a search user. For general and competitive websites it takes a lot of professionalism to tweak the website in order to be well optimized and search engine friendly. Properly designing, writing, and coding (in HTML) a website is critical in increasing the chances that the web pages will appear at the top of search engine queries for selected keywords and key phrases.
Server: A machine that makes services available on a network. A file server enables others to access files, while a Web server is the computer system that makes its Web pages available to others on the Internet.
Spam: Refers to the practice of blindly sending commercial messages or advertisements to email users or posting to newsgroups. Also referred to as junk email.
Spiders: Are computer robot programs used by search engines to roam the World Wide Web via the Internet, visit sites and databases, and keep the search engine database of web pages up to date. They obtain new pages, update known pages, and delete obsolete ones. Their findings are then integrated into the "home" database. Most large search engines operate several robots all the time. Even so, the Web is so enormous that it can take six months for spiders to cover it, resulting in a certain degree of "out-of-datedness" in all the search engines.
Thumbnail: This is a small version of a bigger image on a web page. Usually, you can click on it and get a full-size version of the image.
Title Tag: HTML code that creates the text at the top of the browser window (usually the blue bar). For example, look at the top of this browser page. You will see this title tag: "Glossary of Web Terms | Juxtaflo Web Studio."
URL: Short for Uniform Resource Locator. Is a string that supplies the Internet address of a resource on the World Wide Web, along with the protocol by which the resource is accessed. The most common URL type is "http," which gives the Internet address of a World Wide Web page. Some other URL types are gopher and ftp.
W3C: Short for World Wide Web Consortium. Is "a forum for information, commerce, communication, and collective understanding." Their goal is to develop interoperable technologies (specifications, guidelines, software, and tools) to lead the web to its full potential. As the Internet becomes more mature, website design standards are now an essential part of a website. These standards are followed by industry leaders such as Microsoft, Apple, Macromedia, AOL, and others. W3C's mission is to "lead the World Wide Web to its full potential by developing protocols and guidelines that ensure long-term growth for the Web." Want more information on the W3C? Check out their website.
Web 2.0: It's too long to explain here, so check out our full article.
Web standards: Another one where we need to give you a longer explanation. See our article.
Weblog: Used to describe websites that maintain an ongoing chronicle of information. It's a type of web page that serves as a publicly accessible personal journal for an individual. Check out our article on blogs.
Webmaster: Refers to the person in charge of administrating a World Wide Website.
Wiki: A web application that allows users to add content, but also allows anyone to edit the content. Wiki also refers to the collaborative software used to create such a website. Wikipedia is a fine example of a great wiki application.
XML: Short for Extensible Markup Language. XML is very useful (among other things) for pages emerging from databases and other applications where parts of the page are standardized and must reappear many times.