| E-Commerce |
(Electronic Commerce) - refers
to the general exchange of goods and services via the Internet. |
| E-mail |
(Electronic Mail) - Messages
sent from one person to another via a network.
E-mail can also be sent automatically to a large number of addresses
(mailing list). |
| Encrypt |
Processing and
changing data so that only the intended recipient can read it. The
recipient of the encrypted data must have the proper decryption
key and a program to decrypt the data. |
| FAQ |
(Frequently Asked Questions;
pronounced fak) - A file or document that lists commonly asked questions
and their answers. |
| Forwarding (E-mail) |
Having e-mail
automatically sent (forwarded) from one e-mail address, to another
e-mail address. If a web
host has “e-mail forwarding”, then an e-mail of the
form, somebody@mypage.com will be sent to the specified forwarding
address. For example, support@mypage.com, webmaster@mypage.com, and
anythingelse@mypage.com will all be sent to the account specified
(some hosts allow
these to be forwarded to different accounts). |
| Frames |
The use of multiple, independently
controllable sections on a web
page. This effect is achieved by building each section as a separate
HTML file and having
one "master" HTML file identify all of the sections. When
a user requests a web page that uses frames, the address requested
is actually that of the "master" file that defines the frames;
the result of the request is that multiple HTML files are returned,
one for each visual section. Links in one frame can request another
file that will appear in another (or the same) frame. A typical use
of frames is to have a navigation menu displayed in one frame and
the selected (linked to) files in another frame. |
| FrontPage |
Microsoft® FrontPage®
is a proprietary web
site creation and management software tool. FrontPage requires
special server extensions, known as FrontPage extensions, to function
properly. |
| FTP |
(File Transfer Protocol)
- A common method of moving files between two computers (usually a
server and a client).
FTP is also a special way to login to another computer for the purposes
of transferring files. |
| Gigabyte |
(GB) - 1024 Megabytes,
230 bytes |
| Guest book |
A script
on a web page
with a form that allows web
site visitors to sign in and leave comments or questions. |
| GUI |
(Graphical User Interface)
- A graphical (rather than purely textual) user interface to a computer.
The term came into existence because the first interactive user interfaces
to computers were text-and-keyboard oriented and usually consisted
of commands you had to remember and computer responses that were infamously
brief. The command interface of DOS
(which is still available from within the Windows operating
system) is an example of the typical user-computer interface before
GUIs arrived. |
| Hacker |
(1) A term used by some to
mean an individual who tries to break into computer systems or bypass
security arrangements over the Internet.
(2) A term used by some to mean "a clever programmer". |
| Hit |
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 2 graphics, 3 'hits' would occur at the server - 1 for the
HTML page, and one
for each of the 2 graphics. |
| Home
Page |
(1) The first web
page that is displayed after starting a web
browser. (2) The first or main page of a web
site on the Internet. |
| Host |
(1) A computer on a network
that provides disk storage or services to other computers on the network.
(2) Every web site,
e-mail, file, or
online service is stored (called 'hosted') on a computer (called a
server) which is
connected to the Internet. |
| HTML |
(HyperText Markup Language)
- The set of markup symbols or codes inserted in a file intended for
display on a web
page. The markup tells the web
browser how to display a web page's words and images for the user.
Each individual markup code is referred to as an element (also referred
to as a tag). Some elements come in pairs that indicate when a display
effect is to begin and when it is to end. |
| HTTP |
(HyperText Transport Protocol)
- The protocol
for moving hypertext files across the Internet. Requires an HTTP client
program at one end, and an HTTP server
program at the other end. |
| HTTPS |
(Hypertext Transfer Protocol
over Secure Socket Layer, or HTTP
over SSL) is a Web
protocol developed
by Netscape and
built into web
browsers that encrypts and
decrypts both user
page requests and the pages that are returned by the web
server. HTTPS and SSL support the use of digital
certificates from the server so that a user can authenticate the
sender. Newer web browsers can do this automatically and report any
discrepancies between the site and the digital certificate as an error
message. |
| Hypertext |
The organization of information units into connected associations
that a user can choose to make. An instance of such an association
is called a 'link'
or 'hypertext link'. (The underlined word 'link' in the previous
sentence is an example of a hypertext link. When the computer's
mouse pointer is positioned over a link, the cursor or pointer typically
turns into a hand with an extended finger. Clicking the link redirects
the web browser
to the destination specified by the link.)
Hypertext was the main concept that led to the invention of the
World Wide Web,
which is, after all, nothing more (or less) than an enormous amount
of information content connected by an enormous number of hypertext
links.
|
| ICANN |
(Internet Corporation for
Assigned Names and Numbers) - The nonprofit private (non-government)
corporation that has responsibility for IP
address allocation, protocol
parameter assignment, DNS
management, and root
server system management functions. |
| IMAP |
(Internet Message Access
Protocol) - A standard protocol
for accessing e-mail
from a local e-mail server.
IMAP is a client/server
protocol in which e-mail is received and held by an e-mail server.
The e-mail client
can display just the heading and the sender of the letter and you
can then decide whether to download the entire message. You can also
create and manipulate folders or mailboxes on the server, delete messages,
or search for certain parts of a message or an entire message. IMAP
requires continual access to the server during the time that you are
working with your mail. A less sophisticated protocol is POP3.
With POP3, your mail is saved for you in your mailbox on the server.
When you read your mail, all of it is immediately downloaded to your
computer and deleted from the server. POP and IMAP deal with the receiving
of e-mail and are not to be confused with the Simple Mail Transfer
Protocol (SMTP),
a protocol for transferring e-mail across the Internet.
E-mail is sent with SMTP and a mail handler receives it on the recipient's
behalf. Then the mail is read using POP or IMAP. |
| Index |
A database of web
sites. Your listing in an index depends on what you tell them
in your submission, not what is on your page. Yahoo is an example
of an index. (See also Search
Engine.)
|
| Internet |
A worldwide system of computer
networks (a network
of networks) in which users at one computer can (if they have permission)
get information from any other computer. It was conceived by the Advanced
Research Projects Agency (ARPA) of the U.S. Government in 1969 and
was first known as the ARPANet. The original aim was to create a network
that would allow users of a research computer at one university to
be able to "talk" to research computers at other universities.
A side benefit of ARPANet's design was that, because messages could
be routed or rerouted in more than one direction, the network could
continue to function even if parts of it were destroyed in the event
of a military attack or other disaster. Today, the Internet is a public,
cooperative, and self-sustaining facility accessible to hundreds of
millions of people worldwide. Physically, the Internet uses currently
existing public telecommunication networks. Technically, what distinguishes
the Internet is its use of a set of protocols
called TCP/IP. |
| Internet
Explorer |
The web
browser distributed by Microsoft. |
| InterNIC |
(Internet Network Information
Center) - Until 1998, a cooperative activity between the U.S. Government
and Network Solutions, Inc., InterNIC was the organization responsible
for registering and maintaining the .com, .net, and .org top-level
domain names on the World
Wide Web. Network Solutions, Inc. performed the actual registration.
As a result of a new U. S. Government Statement of Policy (known as
"the white paper") in October 1998, competition was introduced
in domain name
registration for these top-level domains and a new, nonprofit global
organization (ICANN),
was designated to conduct the registrar accreditation process. |
| Intranet |
A private network
inside a company or organization that uses the same kinds of software
that are found on the public Internet,
but that is only for internal use. |
| IP
Address |
(Internet Protocol Address) - A unique network
address consisting of 4 numbers (each 0 to 255) separated by periods
(dots). This translates into 4,228,250,625 possible addresses, but
many of these are reserved for special purposes.
An example of an IP Address is 216.134.209.83, which is that of
the server where ShenValleyOnline.net is located. Every computer
that is on the Internet
has a unique (but not necessarily permanent) IP address. Many IP
addresses are assigned dynamically when a domain is accessed rather
than having a permanently assigned IP address. In the USA, IP addresses
are controlled and assigned by ARIN.
|
| IRC |
(Internet Relay Chat) - On
the Internet,
chatting is "talking" to other people who are using the
Internet at the same time you are. Usually, this "talking"
is the exchange of typed messages requiring one site as the repository
for the messages (the "chat site") and a group of users
who take part from anywhere on the Internet. In some cases, a private
chat can be arranged between two parties who meet initially in a group
chat. Chats can be ongoing or scheduled for a particular time and
duration. Most chats are focused on a particular topic of interest
and some involve guest experts or famous people who "talk"
to anyone joining the chat. |
| ISP |
(Internet Service Provider)
- An organization that provides access to the Internet
for its local customers. Each ISP has its own networks
and servers that
perform specific tasks such as e-mail
and Internet requests for its customers. |
