Webit Direct

Glossary of Terms

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ADN: (Advanced Digital Network) -- Usually refers to a 56Kbps leased-line.
ADSL: See: DSL
Analogue

One of the two types of signals which telephones receive and understand. The other signal is digital.

See Also: Digital
Anonymous FTP: See: FTP
Applet: 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 ~ Active Server Page A scripting solution that enables the designer to include programming within the web page. Visual Basic Scripting (VBScript) is used within the asp webpage to do tasks such as Database Integration, Hit Counters, Mail Forms etc… ASP ~ Applications Service Provider A company that hosts software applications on the internet for subscribers to use, removing the need for the subscriber to purchase and maintain multiple copies of expensive software. Attachment Text or picture files and web pages can be sent with (attached to) an e-mail and viewed by the recipient by clicking on an icon. See Also: E-mail Autoresponder A program that can send an automatic response to an action. Most commonly used in association with a mailform, an autoresponder can be used to send a simple thank you to the person that filled out the form. It can also re-direct the user to a thank you page that both confirms that the mailform worked, and offers further navigation of the site following form submittal. See Also: Mailform
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: Bps , Bit , T-1
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
Browser: A Client program (software) that is used to look at various kinds of Internet resources.
See Also: Client , URL , WWW , Home Page (or Homepage)
BTW: (By The Way) -- A shorthand appended to a comment written in an online forum.
See Also: IMHO
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
Cache (pronounced cash)

Browsers use a cache to store web sites that have already been visited. The pages are then presented more quickly when visited again because they do not have to be downloaded from the Internet after the initial visit.

See Also: Download
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 refered 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
Chat Room

An online forum that enables Internet users to communicate with one another as a group. Chat rooms allow live messages or conversations to be exchanged immediately after they are typed and several conversations can take place simultaneously. This allows for no delays between the sender and recipient.

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
co-location: Most often used to refer to having a server that belongs to one person or group physically located on an Internet-connected network that belongs to another person or group. Usually this is done because the server owner wants their machine to be on a high-speed Internet connection and/or they do not want the security risks of having the server on thier own network.
See Also: Internet , Server , Network
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
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.
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.
DSL: (Digital Subscriber Line) -- A method for moving data 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. A DSL circuit must be configured to connect two specific locations, similar to a leased line.

A commonly discussed configuration of DSL allows downloads at speeds of up to 1.544 megabits (not megabytes) per second, and uploads at speeds of 128 kilobits per second. This arrangement is called ADSL: “Asymmetric” Digital Subscriber Line.

Another common configuration is symmetrical: 384 Kilobits per second in both directions.

In theory ADSL allows download speeds of up to 9 megabits per second and upload speeds of up to 640 kilobits per second.

DSL is now a popular alternative to Leased Lines and ISDN, being faster than ISDN and less costly than traditional Leased Lines.
See Also: bit , bps , ISDN , Leased Line
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:

webitdirect.com
mail.webitdirect.com
www.webitdirect.com

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 (webitdirect.com 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
Download

The process of copying data such as; pictures, sound files, and text documents from the Internet onto your computer.; e-business

Using the Internet and e-mail to complement your business without necessarily selling products or a service.

e-commerce

Completing business transactions online such as by selling a product or service from your web site. It is a term usually associated with the use of SSL secure servers during the on-line transaction process.

See Also: Encryption , SSL
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
Encryption

A method of allowing data to remain unreadable to everyone except the receiver by encoding the information so that it can not be intercepted by others. This is an increasingly common way of sending credit card numbers over the Internet while conducting commercial transactions because of the added security it provides.

See Also: SSL, e-commerce
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
Extranet

This term refers to a company-owned, private portion of the global Internet that is only visible to a select group of external parties.

See Also: Internet, Intranet

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 that acts as a security system to protect one of the parts of the network by monitoring traffic between both sides. Commonly used to separate corporate LAN's from the Global Internet.; 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 debators, rather than discussion of their positions. A heated exchange.
See Also: Flame

Front Page Extensions

Front Page Extensions are a component installed on the web-server. They enable people that own Microsoft’s Front Page web editor to add active content such as hit counters and forms to their sites. The most important feature is the way in which the front page extensions enable simple one click publishing of the site from the customers pc to a web server.

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.
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: (Graphic Interchange Format) -- 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.
See Also: JPEG
Gigabyte: 1000 or 1024 Megabytes, depending on who is measuring.
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
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: Any computer on a network that is a repository for services available to other computers on the network. It is quite common to have one host machine provide several services, such as WWW and USENET.
See Also: Node , Network
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 Internet Explorer or Netscape.
See Also: Client , Server , WWW
HTTP: (HyperText Transfer 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
Hyperlink

Text on a web page which, when clicked on, immediately transfers you to another area of the same web site or to a related site.
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.
Icon

A symbol that replaces the need for written instructions and launches an application, program, or performs a hyperlink when clicked.
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: BTW
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

Internet Explorer

WWW Browser, published by Microsoft Corporation. Internet explorer has introduced many new features and speed increases to web browsers.

See Also: Browser , Internet Explorer, Mosaic , Server , WWW

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.

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.

Note that an Intranet may not actually be an internet -- it may simply be a network.

Keyword

A word or group of words that describe what you are looking for on the Internet. Keyword searches look for web sites where these words are used.

Kilobyte

A thousand bytes. Actually, usually 1024 (2^10) bytes.

Mail bomb

The influx of a large amount of mail sent to a particular person or system causing the server to potentially break down due to the overload of information.

Mailform

A form on a web page that will be emailed to somebody upon clicking of a submit button.

See Also: Autoresponder

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.

Megabyte

A million bytes. Actually, technically, 1024 kilobytes.

Net

Abbreviation of Internet.

See Also: Internet

Netiquette

Unofficial rules and conventions of e-mail and chat room etiquette. For example, capital letters are not used as they indicate SHOUTING.

ODBC

Open Database Connectivity. ODBC is a server component that provides the link between the web-server and a database. In an active server page reference is made to a database by its ODBC connection name. The ODBC connection is identified by name, and is setup on the server to provide the actual connection (direction sign) to the database. ODBC can be used to connect to many different types of database, Access, FoxPro, SQL Server, Oracle etc….

See Also: SQL, SQL Server

On-line

Refers to the period of time when you are connected to the Internet through your telephone line.

Open Systems

A design style where the underlying technology is available to anybody, as opposed to proprietary or closed systems where the owning company is rightfully protective of its product. Open Systems are usually developed by a community of hobbyist style programmers.

Packet Switching

The method used to move data around on the Internet. In packet switching, all the data coming out of a machine is broken up into chunks, each chunk has the address of where it came from and where it is going. This enables chunks of data from many different sources to co-mingle on the same lines, and be sorted and directed to different routes by special machines along the way. This way many people can use the same lines at the same time.

Password

A code used to gain access to a locked system. Good passwords contain letters and non-letters and are not simple combinations such as virtue7. A good password might be:

Hot$1-6

Search engine

An online database of Internet resources which enables you to find the web site you are looking for without knowing the exact address of the web site or company.

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 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.

SQL Server

Microsoft’s industrial class database. SQL Server can handle large databases with ease, giving a large performance increase over Access or FoxPro.

SSL

Secure Sockets Layer is the encryption technology used on secured web pages. The browser switches the padlock or key icon on when it detects an SSL secured page. It encrypts all communications between the server and browser, making it virtually impossible for anybody to read the communications over the Internet. Not to be confused with a password secured area or page.

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.

See Also: Browser , Server , Security Certificate , URL

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.

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.

See Also: Bandwidth , Bit , Byte , Ethernet , T-3

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: 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.

User name

This is the name that you choose as a way for the computer system to identify you. Also known as a user-id.

UUENCODE

(Unix to Unix Encoding) -- A method for converting files from Binary to ASCII (text) so that they can be sent across the Internet via e-mail.

WAP

Wireless Application Protocol - technology enabling mobile phone users to look at specially converted web pages, order goods from the Internet and use e-mail from their phone screens.

Web

See: WWW

Web cast

A method for businesses and organisations to use the Internet to broadcast information.

Web page

A single page of information within a web site. These are the basic building blocks of web sites, like pages in a book.

Web site

A collection of related web pages found at a single address.

Webmaster

The person who is responsible for up-dating a web site and managing the content, amongst other things.

Windows 2000

Otherwise known as Nt 5, Windows 2000 is the latest operating system from Microsoft, available in several versions including desktop and server variants

Windows NT Server

Microsoft’s server operating system. Designed to compete in the small server and enterprise server markets, Nt provides a robust solution to many hosting problems.

Windows NT Workstation

The desktop version of Windows Nt.

WWW

(World Wide Web) -- Frequently used (incorrectly) when referring to "The Internet", WWW has two major meanings - First, loosely used: the whole constellation of resources that can be accessed using Gopher, FTP, HTTP, telnet, USENET, WAIS and some other tools. Second, the universe of hypertext servers (HTTP servers) which are the servers that allow text, graphics, sound files, etc. to be mixed together.

See Also: Browser , FTP , Gopher , HTTP , Internet , Telnet , URL , WAIS


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Glossary of Terms

Analogue

ASP ~ Active Server Page

ASP ~ Applications Service Provider

Attachment

Autoresponder

Cache (pronounced cash)

Chat Room

Download

e-business

e-commerce

Encryption

Extranet