Internet Terms Dictionary

by Michael Kristof

This page was created as a dictionary to help you navigate and understand the large collection of common Internet terms. Listed terms also include their definitions.

Quick Links

A	B	C	D	E	F	G	H	I
J	K	L	M	M	O	P	Q	R
S	T	U	V	W	X	Y	Z

A Internet Terms

A Record: An A record is part of the zone file and is used to point Internet traffic to an IP address. For example, you can use an “A record” to designate abc.yourdomain.com to send traffic to your web site at IP address 209.132.X.XX. You can also designate xyz.yourdomain.com to go to a separate IP address.
ADN: (Advanced Digital Network) — Usually refers to a 56Kbps leased-line.
ADSL: (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) — A method for moving data over regular phone lines. An ADSL 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. An ADSL circuit must be configured to connect two specific locations, similar to a leased line.
Affiliate Marketing: Revenue sharing between two web sites. Affiliate site normally provide free advertising for an ecommerce site and compensation is based on performance i.e. sales, clicks, registrations, or a combination of all.
Affiliate Program: An affiliate program is a type of semi-automated performance marketing program that allows a web site to be promoted by those who think its content fits the demographic of traffic visiting their sites. Affiliate programs are one of the most innovative new marketing techniques available, and can turn an unprofitable website into a profitable one in a matter of weeks or months. For a low entry cost of just a few hundred to a few thousand dollars, affiliate programs are a viable marketing alternative to expensive search-engine promotion. For more information about affiliate programs, just visit our promotion department, where you’ll find a short description of affiliate marketing, some advice on setting up an affiliate program, and links to the affiliate marketing section in our LINKS page.
ALT tag: Alternative text embedded in the HTML code for graphic files. Useful for robot (search engine) indexing, people who surf with graphics turned off and those on slow connections.
Anonymous FTP: A small Java program that can be embedded in an HTML page. Applets differ from full-fledged Java applications in that they are not allowed to access certain resources on the local computer, such as files and serial devices (modems, printers, etc.), and are prohibited from communicating with most other computers across a network. The current rule is that an applet can only make an Internet connection to the computer from which the applet was sent. See Also: HTML, Java.
Archie: A tool (software) for finding files stored on anonymous FTP sites. You need to know the exact file name or a substring of it.
ARPANet (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network): The precursor to the Internet. Developed in the late 60’s and early 70’s by the US Department of Defense as an experiment in wide-area-networking that would survive a nuclear war. See Also: Internet.
ASCII: (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) — This is the de facto world-wide standard for the code numbers used by computers to represent all the upper and lower-case Latin letters, numbers, punctuation, etc. There are 128 standard ASCII codes each of which can be represented by a 7 digit binary number: 0000000 through 1111111
ASP: Microsoft Active Server Page

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B Internet Terms

Backbone: A high-speed line or series of connections that forms a major pathway within a network. The term is relative as a backbone in a small network will likely be much smaller than many non-backbone lines in a large network. See Also: Network
Bandwidth: How much stuff 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 15,000 bits in one second. Full-motion full-screen video would require roughly 10,000,000 bits-per-second, depending on compression. See Also: 56k Line , Bps , Bit , T-1, OC-3.
Baud: In common usage the baud rate of a modem is how many bits it can send or receive per second. Technically, baud is the number of times per second that the carrier signal shifts value – for example a 1200 bit-per-second modem actually runs at 300 baud, but it moves 4 bits per baud (4 x 300 = 1200 bits per second). See Also: Bit , Modem.
BBS (Bulletin Board System): A computerized meeting and announcement system that allows people to carry on discussions, upload and download files, and make announcements without the people being connected to the computer at the same time. There are many thousands (millions?) of BBS’s around the world, most are very small, running on a single IBM clone PC with 1 or 2 phone lines. Some are very large and the line between a BBS and a system like CompuServe gets crossed at some point, but it is not clearly drawn.
Binhex (BINary HEXadecimal): A method for converting non-text files (non-ASCII) into ASCII. This is needed because Internet e-mail can only handle ASCII. See Also: ASCII , MIME , UUENCODE
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. See Also: Bandwidth , Bps , Byte , Kilobyte , Megabyte
BITNET (Because It’s Time NETwork (or Because It’s There NETwork)): A network of educational sites separate from the Internet, but e-mail is freely exchanged between BITNET and the Internet. Listservs, the most popular form of e-mail discussion groups, originated on BITNET. BITNET machines are usually mainframes running the VMS operating system, and the network is probably the only international network that is shrinking.
Bps (Bits-Per-Second): A measurement of how fast data is moved from one place to another. A 28.8 modem can move 28,800 bits per second. See Also: Bandwidth , Bit
Bookmark: A link stored in a Web browser for easy reference.
Browser: A software program used in viewing the internet, such as Microsoft Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator. (sites may appear different in various browsers)
BTW (By The Way): A shorthand appended to a comment written in an online forum. See Also: IMHO , TTFN
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. See Also: Bit

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C Internet Terms

CAT
Certificate Authority: An issuer of Security Certificates used in SSL connections. See Also: Security Certificate , SSL
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 (the ‘CGI program’) 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.; Usually a CGI program is a small program that takes data from a web server and does something with it, like putting the content of a form into an e-mail message, or turning the data into a database query.; You can often see that a CGI program is being used by seeing ‘cgi-bin’ in a URL, but not always. See Also: cgi-bin , Web
cgi-bin: The most common name of a directory on a web server in which CGI programs are stored. The ‘bin’ part of ‘cgi-bin’ is a shorthand version of ‘binary’, because once upon a time, most programs were referred to as ‘binaries’. In real life, most programs found in cgi-bin directories are text files — scripts that are executed by binaries located elsewhere on the same machine. See Also: CGI
Click through: Clicking on a banner ad from one site to the advertiser’s home page is counted as one click-through.
Client: A software program that is used to contact and obtain data from a Server software program on another computer, often across a great distance. Each Client program is designed to work with one or more specific kinds of Server programs, and each Server requires a specific kind of Client. A Web Browser is a specific kind of Client. See Also: Browser , Server
CMS: Content Management System
Co-location: Network operation centers such as Accentric offer the ability for customers to place their machine in an access center which are connected via high speed fiber data lines to the backbone of the Internet. Administration is done remotely so that a customer in Europe can configure and control a dedicated server located in San Diego.
Contact Record: In the case of many registries, contact information for technical, billing and administrative purposes are maintained in their database. It is important to keep your contact records updated to ensure that billing and renewal can proceed without problems.
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, etc.; 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 user’s 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. See Also: Browser, Server
CPM: Online media buy terminology. Refers to cost per thousand impressions.
Cyberpunk: Cyberpunk was originally a cultural sub-genre of science fiction taking place in a not-so-distant, dystopian, over-industrialized society. The term grew out of the work of William Gibson and Bruce Sterling and has evolved into a cultural label encompassing many different kinds of human, machine, and punk attitudes. It includes clothing and lifestyle choices as well. See Also: Cyberspace
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.

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D Internet Terms

Dedicated Server: For those customers that want the advantages of colocation without the hassles of purchasing their own server. See colocation.
Description tag: HTML tag used to by Web page authors to provide a description for search engine listings.
Digerati: The digital version of literati, it is a reference to a vague cloud of people seen to be knowledgeable, hip, or otherwise in-the-know in regards to the digital revolution.
Directory: Organized, categorized listings of Web sites. Directories employ teams of people, who follow strict guidelines, to review a submitted site and determine its inclusion and ranking.
DNS (Domain Naming System): The DNS is a distributed, replicated that allows nameservers to map easily remembered domain names to an IP number.
Domain Name: The unique name that identifies a website, such as logo design. A domain name is needed to host a website, but a domain name can actually be owned without having a site. For example, a company can use the domain name to create email accounts without actually having a website up.
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. For example, the domain names: simplenet.net,mail.simplenet.net,ftp.simplenet.net can all refer to the same machine, but each domain name can refer to no more than one machine.; Usually, all of the machines on a given Network will have the same thing as the right-hand portion of their Domain Names (simplenet.net in the examples above). It is also possible for a Domain Name to exist but not be connected to an actual machine. This is often done so that a group or business can have an Internet e-mail address without having to establish a real Internet site. In these cases, some real Internet machine must handle the mail on behalf of the listed Domain Name. See Also: IP Number.
Doorway pages: A web page designed to rank well in search engines for particular keywords, serving as an entry point through which visitors pass to the home page.

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E Internet Terms

E-Commerce: Electronic Commerce. Refers to the general exchange of goods and services via the Internet.
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). See Also: Listserv , Maillist
EPS: Encapsulated PostScript supported by most graphics programs.
EPS2: Adobe PostScript Level II Encapsulated Postscript.
Ethernet: A very common method of networking computers in a LAN. Ethernet will handle about 10,000,000 bits-per-second and can be used with almost any kind of computer. See Also: Bandwidth , LAN
EXE: DOS based executable file which is also known as a program.

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F Internet Terms

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.
FDDI: (Fiber Distributed Data Interface) — A standard for transmitting data on optical fiber cables at a rate of around 100,000,000 bits-per-second (10 times as fast as Ethernet, about twice as fast as T-3). See Also: Bandwidth , Ethernet , T-1 , T-3
Finger: An Internet software tool for locating people on other Internet sites. Finger is also sometimes used to give access to non-personal information, but the most common use is to see if a person has an account at a particular Internet site. Many sites do not allow incoming Finger requests, but many do.
Fire Wall: A combination of hardware and software that separates a LAN into two or more parts for security purposes. See Also: Network , LAN
Flame: Originally, flame meant to carry forth in a passionate manner in the spirit of honorable debate. Flames most often involved the use of flowery language and flaming well was an art form. More recently flame has come to refer to any kind of derogatory comment no matter how witless or crude. See Also: Flame War; Flame War When an online discussion degenerates into a series of personal attacks against the debaters, rather than discussion of their positions. A heated exchange.
Flash: Typically, Flash is a file type. Like a video, or VRML world file, a Flash file is a file that can be inserted into a web page, or it can be used as the entire web page. Flash websites normally cost thousands of dollars, but there are some new options we offer that allow us to build cool, professional-looking Flash websites with sound and animation for just a few hundred dollars. Flash was developed by Macromedia, and you can easily learn more about Flash files, how to create them, and how they work using the Macromedia Flash plug-in. Just go to http://www.macromedia.com/flash, where you’ll find enough to keep you busy for days.
Frames: Embedded in HTML code of web pages. Frames divide a Web page into parts and allow easier viewing and navigation.
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.

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G Internet Terms

Gateway: The technical meaning is a hardware or software set-up that translates between two dissimilar protocols, for example Prodigy has a gateway that translates between its internal, proprietary e-mail format and Internet e-mail format. Another, sloppier meaning of gateway is to describe any mechanism for providing access to another system, e.g. AOL might be called a gateway to the Internet.
GIF: (pronounced like Gift without the t): An image type that is commonly used. A GIF does not have as much detail as a JPEG (Jay-Peg) file and takes up less file space.
Gigabyte: 1024 Megabytes See Also: Byte , Megabyte
Gopher: A widely successful method of making menus of material available over the Internet. Gopher is a Client and Server style program, which requires that the user have a Gopher Client program. Although Gopher spread rapidly across the globe in only a couple of years, it has been largely supplanted by Hypertext, also known as WWW (World Wide Web). There are still thousands of Gopher Servers on the Internet and we can expect they will remain for a while. See Also: Client , Server , WWW , Hypertext

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H Internet Terms

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.; ‘hits’ are often used as a very rough measure of load on a server, e.g. ‘Our server has been getting 300,000 hits per month.’ Because each ‘hit’ can represent anything from a request for a tiny document (or even a request for a missing document) all the way to a request that requires some significant extra processing (such as a complex search request), the actual load on a machine from 1 hit is almost impossible to define.
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.’; Another sloppier use of the term refers to practically any web page as a ‘homepage,’ e.g. ‘That web site has 65 homepages and none of them are interesting.’ See Also: Browser, Web
Host: A computer on a network that stores the information for a website and displays it on the internet. Different companies offer various features (and prices) when the host a website. The price is usually related to how much information is used on the website.
Hosting: This term can be used to refer to the housing of a web site, email or a domain. See Email hosting and Web Site hosting for more details.
HTM: Hyper Text Markup. This markup language is used for web design.
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. See Also: Client , Server , WWW
HTTP: (HyperText Transport 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). See Also: Client , Server , 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.

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I Internet Terms

IMHO (In My Humble Opinion): A shorthand appended to a comment written in an online forum, IMHO indicates that the writer is aware that they are expressing a debatable view, probably on a subject already under discussion. One of may such shorthands in common use online, especially in discussion forums. See Also: TTFN, BTW
Impression: A single display of an online advertisement.
Inbound link: A link from a site outside of your site.
Interface: The navigation bars/buttons and other links of a website or computer program (or the controls/control panel of any device) – A website actually incorporates many types of interfaces, but what we are normally referring to is the “navigational interface” of a website (the arrangement of buttons, text links, etc. that allow a visitor to “move around” in a website). The keyboard, monitor and mouse you may be using are other types of interfaces.
Internet: (Upper case I) The vast collection of inter-connected networks that all use the TCP/IP protocols and that evolved from the ARPANET of the late 60’s and early 70’s. The Internet now (July 1995) connects roughly 60,000 independent networks into a vast global internet. See Also: internet
internet: (Lower case i) Any time you connect 2 or more networks together, you have an internet – as in inter-national or inter-state. See Also: Internet , Network
InterNIC: InterNIC (now known as Network Solutions) currently holds an exclusive contract with the U.S. government to assign domain names for .COM, .NET and .ORG. The contract is scheduled to expire September 30, 1998. Network Solutions is the company that runs the InterNIC registry.
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.dd; As the Internet has become more popular many of the tools used on the Internet are being used in private networks, for example, many companies have web servers that are available only to employees.dd; Note that an Intranet may not actually be an internet — it may simply be a network. See Also: internet , Internet , Network
IP address: Literally, “Internet Protocol” address. IP addresses are series of numbers uniquely identifiying computers or other devices on a network, and usually attached to the Internet.dd; 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. See Also: Domain Name , Internet , TCP/IP
IRC (Internet Relay Chat): Basically a huge multi-user live chat facility. There are a number of major IRC servers around the world which are linked to each other. Anyone can create a channel and anything that anyone types in a given channel is seen by all others in the channel. Private channels can (and are) created for multi-person conference calls.
ISDN: (Integrated Services Digital Network) — Basically a way to move more data over existing regular phone lines. ISDN is rapidly becoming available to much of the USA and in most markets it is priced very comparably to standard analog phone circuits. It can provide speeds of roughly 128,000 bits-per-second over regular phone lines. In practice, most people will be limited to 56,000 or 64,000 bits-per-second.
ISP (Internet Service Provider): An institution that provides access to the Internet in some form, usually for money. See Also: Internet

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J Internet Terms

Javascript (or Java): A programming language that is widely used in websites to create such things as calculators, animated images, or special effects.
JDK (Java Development Kit): A software development package from Sun Microsystems that implements the basic set of tools needed to write, test and debug Java applications and applets
JPEG: Compression scheme supported by most graphics programs and used predominantly for web use.
JPG: More common extension for JPEG described above.

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K Internet Terms

Keywords: Otherwise known as key terms (this includes both key words and key phrases) – A “keyword” or key term is a word or series of words, making up a key phrase, that are inserted into a website to draw traffic through search engines. Key terms should be specifically related to the content of the site they are part of and must not be repeated too blatantly (otherwise the site runs the risk of being banned from one or more search engines or indexes for spamming(?)).
Keyword Meta Tag: The HTML META tag used to help define the primary keywords of a Web page in order to achieve a ranking on search engines against those keyword queries.
Kilobyte: A thousand bytes. Actually, usually 1024 (210) bytes

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L Internet Terms

LAN (Local Area Network): A computer network limited to the immediate area, usually the same building or floor of a building. See Also: Ethernet
Leased-line: Refers to a phone line that is rented for exclusive 24-hour, 7 -days-a-week use from your location to another location. The highest speed data connections require a leased line. See Also: 56k Line , T-1 , T-3
Link Popularity: A measure of the quantity and quality of sites that link to your site. Aids in search engine positioning and ranking.
Listserv: The most common kind of maillist, Listservs originated on BITNET but they are now common on the Internet. See Also: BITNET , E-mail , Maillist
Local Registry Fees: Most TLDs require initial registration fees as well as annual or bi-annual renewal fees. Prices vary from cost-free to thousands of dollars per domain depending on the TLD chosen. For example, .COM domains cost $70 which covers the first two years. Renewal fees for .COM are $35 annually after the first two years expire.
Login: The account name used to gain access to a system (ex. to check your email, or to make changes to a website)

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M Internet Terms

Maillist (or Mailing List): A (usually automated) system that allows people to send e-mail to one address, whereupon their message is copied and sent to all of the other subscribers to the maillist. In this way, people who have many different kinds of e-mail access can participate in discussions together.
Manual submissions: Submitting a URL (keywords, descriptions etc.) to each search engines by hand.
Megabyte: A million bytes. A thousand kilobytes
Meta Search Engines: A search tool that uses other search engines. Typically, metasearch engines (and we’re using the term search engine loosely here) retreive the top ten results from the search engines they use, compare the results, and present you with only unique results (this means that if the same result is found in more than one search engine, the meta search engine combines those results into one), so if the metasearch engine queries for the top ten results from 8 search engines, the maximum results you could receive would be 80.
Meta Tags: Special “tags” (codes or lines of code) placed in the source code of a Web page. Typically meta tags tell web browsers or search engine robots what the page is about (keywords(?) and description), when it was created, etc. To see the keywords in a Web page, right-click on the page and select “view source” from the pop-up menu.
MIDI: Musical Instrument Digital Interface — A network and accompanying protocol developed in the 1970’s for tranmitting various information between musical and other devices including keyboards, samplers, lights, controllers, etc.
MIME: (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) — The standard for attaching non-text files to standard Internet mail messages. Non-text files include graphics, spreadsheets, formatted word-processor documents, sound files, etc.; An email program is said to be MIME Compliant if it can both send and receive files using the MIME standard.; When non-text files are sent using the MIME standard they are converted (encoded) into text – although the resulting text is not really readable.; Generally speaking the MIME standard is a way of specifying both the type of file being sent (e.g. a QuicktimeÅ video file), and the method that should be used to turn it back into its original form.; Besides email software, the MIME standard is also universally used by Web Servers to identify the files they are sending to Web Clients, in this way new file formats can be accommodated simply by updating the Browsers’ list of pairs of MIME-Types and appropriate software for handling each type.
Mirror: Generally speaking, ‘to mirror’ is to maintain an exact copy of something. Probably the most common use of the term on the Internet refers to ‘mirror sites’ which are web sites, or FTP sites that maintain exact copies of material originated at another location, usually in order to provide more widespread access to the resource.; Another common use of the term ‘mirror’ refers to an arrangement where information is written to more than one hard disk simultaneously, so that if one disk fails, the computer keeps on working without losing anything.
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.
Mosaic: The first WWW browser that was available for the Macintosh, Windows, and UNIX all with the same interface. Mosaic really started the popularity of the Web. The source-code to Mosaic has been licensed by several companies and there are several other pieces of software as good or better than Mosaic, most notably, Netscape.
MOV: Quicktime movie.; MPEG Audio Layer 3.
MPEG: Animation file format.
MX Record: Mail Exchange: Mail Exchange record is part of the zone file and is used to designate which mail server machine should process email for a specific domain.

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N Internet Terms

Name Servers: A computer that performs the mapping of easily remembered domain names to IP addresses. Sometimes referred to as a host server.
Navigation: How someone gets around a website. A navigation system may be a series of buttons (ex. home, about us, contact) or simply words that can be clicked on to access another page on a website. Navigation systems can be advanced, using pictures which change in appearance when a mouse is pointed at them.
Netiquette: The etiquette on the Internet.
Netizen: Derived from the term citizen, referring to a citizen of the Internet, or someone who uses networked resources. The term connotes civic responsibility and participation.
Netscape: A WWW Browser and the name of a company. The Netscape ™ browser was originally based on the Mosaic program developed at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA).; 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.; Netscape provided major improvements in speed and interface over other browsers, and has also engendered debate by creating new elements for the HTML language used by Web pages — but the Netscape extensions to HTML are not universally supported.; The main author of Netscape, Mark Andreessen, was hired away from the NCSA by Jim Clark, and they founded a company called Mosaic Communications and soon changed the name to Netscape Communications Corporation.
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.
Newsgroup: The name for discussion groups on USENET.
NIC (Networked Information Center): Generally, any office that handles information for a network. The most famous of these on the Internet is Network Solutions, which is where new domain names are registered. Another definition: NIC also refers to Network Interface Card which plugs into a computer and adapts the network interface to the appropriate standard. ISA, PCI, and PCMCIA cards are all examples of NICs.
NNTP (Network News Transport Protocol): The protocol used by client and server software to carry USENET postings back and forth over a TCP/IP network. If you are using any of the more common software such as Netscape, Nuntius, Internet Explorer, etc. to participate in newsgroups then you are benefiting from an NNTP connection.
Nod: Any single computer connected to a network.

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O Internet Terms

Outbound link: A link to a site outside of your own.

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P Internet Terms

Page view: A request to load a single HTML page.
Parking (Domain Name): Registries require the use of name servers or hosts for every domain registered. Since most people and organizations don’t have their own name servers, SimpleNIC offers the use of its name servers. In other words, SimpleNIC can “park” or host domains on our nameservers regardless of whether the domain is ready to be used for a web site or email.
Password: A code used to gain access to a locked system, such as an email account.
Pay- per-click: An online advertising payment model in which payment is based solely on click-through.
Pay per click search engine: Search engine where web sites are ranked according to the bid amount, and advertisers are charged when a searcher clicks on the search listing. Go.com is one such engine.
PDF: Portable Document File by Adobe. Viewable in a web browser or with Adobe Acrobat.
PDF: Printer Description File. Provides printer support for certain applications.
Permission marketing: Obtaining customer consent to receive information from the company. Permission marketing in the online world takes the form of email promotions and newsletters.
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.; The idea behind plug-in’s is that a small piece of software is loaded into memory by the larger program, adding a new feature, and that users need only install the few plug-ins that they need, out of a much larger pool of possibilities. Plug-ins are usually developed by a third party.
POP (Point of Presence, also Post Office Protocol): Two commonly used meanings: Point of Presence and Post Office Protocol. A Point of Presence usually means a city or location where a network can be connected to, often with dial up phone lines. So if an Internet company says they will soon have a POP in Belgrade, it means that they will soon have a local phone number in Belgrade and/or a place where leased lines can connect to their network. A second meaning, Post Office Protocol refers to the way e-mail software such as Eudora gets mail from a mail server. When you obtain a SLIP, PPP, or shell account you almost always get a POP account with it, and it is this POP account that you tell your e-mail software to use to get your mail.
Portal: A site that serves as a starting point and gateway to the World Wide Web e.g. AOL.com.
PPP (Point to Point Protocol): Most well known as a protocol that allows a computer to use a regular telephone line and a modem to make TCP/IP connections and thus be really and truly on the Internet.
Propagation: The process whereby the nameservers throughout the world have updated their records for a specific domain. For example, if you move your domain from one host to another, it will take around 24 hours or so for the new address to broadcast everywhere. During that 24 hour period, the traffic is decreasing at the old location and increasing at the new location.

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Q Internet Terms

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R Internet Terms

Reciprocal links: Outbound links exchanged for inbound links.
Register (Domain Name): Since every domain is unique, registries have been set up to assign domains to individuals and organziations. When a domain is registered with the appropriate registry, that domain is assigned and becomes no longer available for anyone else to use. Typically, there are registration and renewal fees (local registry fees) associated with the right to use a domain. However, there are some TLDs that are provided at no charge.
Registrant (Domain Name): The entity, organization or individual that will be using the domain name.
Registrar (Domain Name): Some registries don’t provide the ability for end users to register domains with them directly. They might require end users to purchase the domain through an internet provider that is acting as the registrar.
Registry (Domain Name): An organization responsible for assigning domain names for the TLD that they manage. Furthermore, it is their responsibility to update the global DNS tables that all nameservers use to resolve domain names. For example, InterNIC is the registry for .COM, .NET and .ORG domain names.
Renewal (Domain Name): Most TLDs need to be renewed at some scheduled yearly interval. This is an opportunity for both the registrant and the registry to update their records as well as collect any applicable renewal fees.
Resolution (Domain Name): The conversion of an internet address or domain name into the corresponding physical location.
Resolution: This refers to how a website will appear on your screen. Screen Resolution is represented by a number (ex. 480 by 640) which sets the width, height and image appearance on your screen. Someone with a small monitor will use a low resolution, as someone with a 17 inch monitor can use a higher one (the pages will appear more spread out). Websites appear differently in various resolutions.
RFC (Request For Comments): The name of the result and the process for creating a standard on the Internet. New standards are proposed and published on line, as a Request For Comments. The Internet Engineering Task Force is a consensus-building body that facilitates discussion, and eventually a new standard is established, but the reference number/name for the standard retains the acronym RFC, e.g. the official standard for e-mail is RFC 822.
Router: A special-purpose computer (or software package) that handles the connection between 2 or more networks. Routers spend all their time looking at the destination addresses of the packets passing through them and deciding which route to send them on.

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S Internet Terms

Scan: In order to use pictures on a website, the usually must be scanned first. A hardware device known as a scanner (which in function is similar to a copy machine recording the appearance of a document) is used to record an image, and then software may be used to convert that image into a file on a computer which may be edited. Digital cameras have allowed people to bypass use of a scanner and go directly to editing the pictures on their computer.
Scrolling Problem: A design challenge for software and Web designers involving the need for users to scroll down or across the computer screen. Many designers go to great lengths to make Websites that minimize the need for scrolling. Scrolling is considered taboo in the design community, because too much scrolling is considered “un-user friendly” since it causes users to have to move their mouse often just to see information. The objective is to get information in front of the user as quickly and easily as possible, increasing the velocity of information transfer to the user.
Search Engine: An system which searches for and collections information on the web. Some search engines send “spiders” out which look for key words and then index them. Others allow individuals to submit their information to be indexed on a more exclusive basis. When you type in keywords, the search engine pulls up the address of websites that contain those keywords.
Search Engine Optimization: Also known as “SEO“. The process of updating HTML code and choosing targeted keyword phrases related to a site, and ensuring that the site places well when those keywords are queried on search engines.
Search Engine Spam: Excessive manipulation to influence search engine rankings, often for pages which contain little or no relevant content. Can result in penalization of a web site.
Search Engine Submission: Inserting a URL into a search engine “submit” form in order make the search engine aware of a site or page for indexing and positioning.
Secure Server: A website server that uses a code to make information being transacted online difficult to read. Some browsers display a small lock at the bottom of your screen when you are logging on to check your email or enter credit card information, which means you are on a secure server to prevent others from viewing your information. Companies such as Paypal which handle money transactions online use a secure server to prevent your customer’s credit card information from being seen.
Security Certificate: A chunk of information (often stored as a text file) that is used by the SSL protocol to establish a secure connection.; Security (SSL) Certificates contain information about who it belongs to, who it was issued by, a unique serial number or other unique identification, valid dates, and an encrypted ‘fingerprint’ that can be used to verify the contents of the certificate.; In order for an SSL connection to be created both sides must have a valid Security Certificate.
Server: A computer which provides different services such as website hosting and email use. If a server is temporarily down, the websites or email accounts cannot be accessed during that time.
Shopping Cart: A program that allows a visitor to your site to make several selections of a product they wish to buy before checking out and making a purchase. Although the cart is not visible, a visitor can treat is as a real shopping cart by adding any items they want and putting back the ones that they no longer want.
SLIP (Serial Line Internet Protocol): A standard for using a regular telephone line (a serial line) and a modem to connect a computer as a real Internet site. SLIP is gradually being replaced by PPP.
SMTP (Simple Mail Transport Protocol): The main protocol used to send electronic mail on the Internet.; SMTP consists of a set of rules for how a program sending mail and a program receiving mail should interact.; Almost all Internet email is sent and received by clients and servers using SMTP, thus if one wanted to set up an email server on the Internet one would look for email server software that supports SMTP
Spamming: Dictionary.com defines “spamming” as: Unsolicited e-mail, often of a commercial nature, sent indiscriminately to multiple mailing lists, individuals, or newsgroups; junk e-mail.
Spider: An automated program that searches the web looking for information. Search engines send out spiders which collect information that they use to index websites.
Splash Page: A simple page with little content used to greet visitors to your site. A splash page may contain just an image or logo and a link to your website homepage.
SSL (Secure Sockets Layer): A protocol designed by Netscape Communications to enable encrypted, authenticated communications across the Internet.; SSL used mostly (but not exclusively) in communications between web browsers and web servers. URL’s that begin with ‘https’ indicate that an SSL connection will be used.; SSL provides 3 important things: Privacy, Authentication, and Message Integrity.; In an SSL connection each side of the connection must have a Security Certificate, which each side’s software sends to the other. Each side then encrypts what it sends using information from both its own and the other side’s Certificate, ensuring that only the intended recipient can de-crypt it, and that the other side can be sure the data came from the place it claims to have come from, and that the message has not been tampered with.
Standard Design: When people talk about “standard” there is often a great deal of confusion. (Most of the time people don’t even realize they aren’t on the same wave length either.) When the idea of “standard” is applied to Web design, its meaning varies widely. It can mean the type of HTML code used in the design of Web pages, or the way a page is laid out – graphically with “standard” widths, etc. or using HTML code, the way its done by Action Web Works. The difference between the two is that code can be tweaked to look right on many platforms, while graphic layouts with specific widths and heights associated with practically everything on a page will generally look right at specific resolutions (try resizing your screen when looking at various sites – sometimes they resize well, and sometimes they don’t).; Standard code can also make a web page smaller. This is because some programs litter the code in a page with all kinds of trash. View the source of a few pages, and you’ll see what we mean. Trashy code (like the code created in Microsoft Front Page can bog down a site, making it load slower (graphics are still the main concern though). Some search engines don’t like trashy code either, and of course, neither do we, since we have to edit that code sometimes. (It’s not easy to find what you’re looking for in a pile of trash!)
SQL (Structured Query Language): A specialized programming language for sending queries to databases. Most industrial-strength and many smaller database applications can be addressed using SQL. Each specific application will have its own version of SQL implementing features unique to that application, but all SQL-capable databases support a common subset of SQL.
Sysop (System Operator): Anyone responsible for the physical operations of a computer system or network resource. A System Administrator decides how often backups and maintenance should be performed and the System Operator performs those tasks.

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T Internet Terms

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 is the fastest speed commonly used to connect networks 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. See Also: 56k Line , Bandwidth , Bit , Byte , Ethernet , T-1
TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol): This is the suite of protocols that defines the Internet. Originally designed for the UNIX operating system, TCP/IP software is now available for every major kind of computer operating system. To be truly on the Internet, your computer must have TCP/IP software.
Telnet: The command and program used to login from one Internet site to another. The telnet command/program gets you to the login: prompt of another host.
Template Driven: Template driven Web design can be many things. In the best of cases, our sister site FlashyWebs for example, template-driven Web design systems offer dozens or even hundreds of templates which can be used to quickly build a basic website. Some systems offer the ability to upload pictures, customize fonts, and even insert custom HTML code. A great deal of functionality can be found in some templated systems, making advanced Web designs and functionality easier to attain.
Terabyte: 1024 gigabytes.
Terminal: A device that allows you to send commands to a computer somewhere else. At a minimum, this usually means a keyboard and a display screen and some simple circuitry. Usually you will use terminal software in a personal computer – the software pretends to be (emulates) a physical terminal and allows you to type commands to a computer somewhere else.
Terminal Server: A special purpose computer that has places to plug in many modems on one side, and a connection to a LAN or host machine on the other side. Thus the terminal server does the work of answering the calls and passes the connections on to the appropriate node. Most terminal servers can provide PPP or SLIP services if connected to the Internet.
Title Tag: An HTML tag used to define the text in the top line of a Web browser, also used by many search engines as the title of search listings and for bookmark identification.
Top Level Domain: (TLD): A Top Level Domain (TLD) is the uppermost in the hierarchy of domain names. For example, SimpleNIC.net is our domain name. The “net” is considered the TLD and the “SimpleNIC” is considered the second level domain. Together they form a domain name which is unique. There are two types of TLDs. The most common type is the Generic or Global TLDs which include .COM, .NET, .ORG, .MIL, .INT and .EDU. There is a possibility that new gTLDs will be introduced in the near future. National or ccTLDs are two letter country code domains that are managed by a registry designated and controlled by each specific country. Each registry might have differing prices, residency requirements and structure
Trademark: As it relates to domain names… a word, phrase or slogan used to identify and distinguish the source of the goods or services. Trademark law may be different worldwide. If someone registers a domain name such as microsoft.to then Microsoft would need to go to the courts in Tonga to fight to get the name back. Expensive international litigation is one reason why it is important to protect your trademarks before someone else registers the names.
Transfer (Domain Name): On occasion, domains are sold to another organization or sometimes the name of a company might change. Most registries require a letter of permission from the old owner to hand over control to the new owner. The procedures for Transfer of ownership will depend on the registry.

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U Internet Terms

Unique visits: Individuals who have visited a Web site (or network) at least once in a fixed time frame, typically a 30 day period.
UNIX: A computer operating system (the basic software running on a computer, underneath things like word processors and spreadsheets). UNIX is designed to be used by many people at the same time (it is multi-user) and has TCP/IP built-in. It is the most common operating system for servers 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). A URL looks like this: https://www.kristofcreative.com/services.html or telnet://well.sf.ca.us or news:new.newusers.questions etc.; The most common way to use a URL is to enter into a WWW browser program, such as Netscape, or Lynx.
USENET: A world-wide system of discussion groups, with comments passed among hundreds of thousands of machines. Not all USENET machines are on the Internet, maybe half. USENET is completely decentralized, with over 10,000 discussion areas, called newsgroups. See Also: Newsgroup

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V Internet Terms

Viral Marketing: Encouraging visitors to an online site to pass along a marketing message by providing an incentive for doing so.

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W Internet Terms

WAIS (Wide Area Information Servers): A commercial software package that allows the indexing of huge quantities of information, and then making those indices searchable across networks such as the Internet. A prominent feature of WAIS is that the search results are ranked (scored) according to how relevant the hits are, and that subsequent searches can find more stuff like that last batch and thus refine the search process.
WAN (Wide Area Network): Any internet or network that covers an area larger than a single building or campus.
Website Promotion: As with traditional marketing, there are many ways to promote a website. Website promotion here at Action Web Works is the cyber kind. We handle search-engine, affiliate, opt-in e-mail, link exchange, ring membership. Soneone else takes care of your traditional media advertising, such as print, radio, and TV (we can offer suggestions here). Don’t forget the “free” advertising channels available in the real world, such as announcement boards and listings, press realeases, etc. You may want to hire a publicist.
Web site traffic: The amount of total visitors and unique visits to a Web site.
Wheel Mouse(also SCROLL MOUSE): A mouse with a small wheel integrated in the top or side which is normally used to scroll vertically on Web pages (sometimes called an Internet mouse because of the amount of scrolling people do while viewing information on the Internet). Wheel mice have changed the way some designers look at the scrolling problem(?).
Whois: Most registries maintain a database of domain names and their associated contact information. Users can query these databases through a program called Whois.
World Wide Web: Part of the internet, the Web (as it is known today) is a user-friendly part of the Internet, and has been responsible for much of the Internet’s growth. It was developed by CERN in the early 90’s and was originally composed primarily of text and pictures (well, it’s still primarily text and a few – few million – pictures).

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X Internet Terms

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Y Internet Terms

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Z Internet Terms

ZIP: Compressed Zip archive.

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