glossary

We're not trying to blind you with science, so we've put together this handy glossary to help you on your way to the world wide web...

AJAX
Ajax , shorthand for Asynchronous JavaScript and XML, is a web development technique for creating interactive web applications. The intent is to make web pages feel more responsive by exchanging small amounts of data with the server behind the scenes, so that the entire web page does not have to be reloaded each time the user makes a change, increasing interactivity, speed, and usability. It encompasses, XHTML, CSS, DOM, XML and Javascript amongst others.

Applet
A software component that can be downloaded over the web and run on the user's computer within another program such as the web browser. These are often written in Java but other examples include Flash movies or videoclips that launch an external media player program.

ASP (Active Server Pages)
A Microsoft technology allowing the insertion of server executable scripts in web pages. This is often used in conjunction with Microsoft Access to create database-driven websites.

Bandwidth
A measure for the speed (amount of data) you can send through an Internet connection. The more bandwidth, the faster the connection.

Blog
A blog (short for "web log") is essentially an online journal or diary where one can post messages, photos, music and video on their own mini website. They have become very popular in recent years and are excellent for personal and up-to-date opinion and information.

Cache
A web browser or web server feature which stores copies of web pages on a computer's hard disk. This can be setup to store files every time you visit a website, occasionally or never. The term 'empty cache' or 'clear cache' is used when these stored files need to be deleted if they are preventing the most up to date version of a website to be seen.

Clickthrough Rate
The number of times visitors click on a hyperlink (or advertisement) on a page, as a percentage of the number of times the page has been displayed.

Content Management System / CMS
A CMS is used to edit your website by giving the user an interface where they can log in and make text, graphic or structural amends to then publish the new pages on the live website. The complexity and depth of a CMS is dependant on what is required by that particular website and can be written as a bespoke solution or bought off-the-shelf.

Contribute
A piece of software created by Macromedia that allows editing of html-based websites to be carried out by users with very little web experience. It is a WYISWYG editor and can be extremely effective when maintaining smaller sites.

Cookie
Information from a web server, stored on your computer by your web browser. The purpose of a cookie is to provide information about your visit to the website for use by the server during a later visit.

Copywriting
Writing appropriate text for websites is an extremely important and overlooked skill. To be truly successful it must not only engage the browser but also be compatible with search engines.

CSS (Cascading Style Sheets)
A W3C recommended language for defining style (such as font, size, color, spacing, etc.) for web documents. It is a powerful tool that allows the appearance of a page to be tightly controlled across an entire site without the need for repeat code on each individual page.

Database
Data stored in a computer in such a way that a computer program can easily retrieve and manipulate the data. Popular databases are MySQL, SQL, PostgreSQL and Microsoft Access.

DHTML (Dynamic HTML)
A term commonly used to describe HTML content that can change dynamically. This enables the content of a webpage to adapt to what the browser is looking for and allows it to respond to their actions.

DNS (Domain Name Service)
A computer program running on a web server, translating domain names into IP addresses. For example, all our websites are hosted on a single server with a single IP address. The Domain Name Service interprets the request for each domain name and forwards the browser to the individual website on that server.

Domain Name
The name that identifies a web site, eg www.absolute-digital.co.uk. Each domain name needs to be renewed annually and is often supplied by the same company that provides hosting, although this is not essential. Domain names can be suffixed with .co.uk, .com, .net, .org and many others depending on the location and nature of the business.

DVD-ROM
Physically the same size as a CD-ROM, a DVD has much more capacity for information. A standard DVD-ROM can carry 4.7GB of data which is over 6 times as much as a CD-ROM. DVDs can be authored so that they are compatible with home DVD players, as well as for PCs, Macs and laptops etc.

eCommerce
This is the buying and selling of products over the internet. This can range from small scale selling using PayPal through to a fully functioning online shop making use of credit card authentication and security through either bespoke or off-the-shelf solutions.

Email marketing
In a similar way to traditional direct mail, email can be used to send messages, promotions and information to members of a mailing list. In comparison to direct mail, it is far cheaper and it is possible to monitor exactly who has received the email, who has opened it and who has gone on to visit your website as a result.

Firewall
Software that acts as a security filter and can restrict types of network communication. Most often used between an individual computer or a LAN (Local Area Network) and the Internet.

Flash
A vector-based multimedia format developed by Macromedia for use on the web. It is most commonly used to add animation and/or video to websites and can in fact be used to create entire websites.

Forum
A forum is an online message board where information can be shared and discussions can be carried out and read. Designed to be open to all, they are an excellent way to build an online community and by introducing membership levels and moderators, they can be monitored and controlled to a degree.

FTP (File Transfer Protocol)
One of the most common methods for sending files between two computers. This is a very popular method of publishing files to a website.

Hosting
Each website needs to have physical space where the files will be held. Generally this is done by purchasing space on a large web server which will host many different sites. Each site has its own area on the server which is typically accessed remotely using FTP. This web server can also act as an email server to facilitate the sending and receiving of emails but this can also be hosted on a completely different server, with no ill affects.

HTML (Hypertext Markup Language)
HTML is the language of the web. HTML is a set of tags that are used to define the content, layout and the formatting of the web document. Web browsers use HTML tags to define how text is displayed.

Hyperlink
A pointer to another document, most often another web page. Links internally within a site and between different websites are very important when optimising a website for search engines.

Intranet
A private (closed) Internet, running inside a LAN (Local Area Network). It is often created using the same technologies as a standard website but may be hosted on a local machine rather than a web server.

IP Address (Internet Protocol Address)
A unique number identifying every computer on the Internet. These appear as per the following example - 212.78.72.28.

ISP (Internet Service Provider)
Someone that provides access to the Internet and web hosting. Popular ISPs in the UK include Wanadoo, BT and AOL.

Keyword / Keyphrase
Keywords and keyphrases are used by search engines to identify the content of a page and its relevance to a search request. They can also be used to identify individual pages within larger websites. It should be noted that these are not the only criteria that a search engine uses when assessing a site.

LAMP
A collection of web technologies that can be used to create content-rich, database-driven sites. It comprises: Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP.

Linux
An open source computer operating system based on Unix. Mostly used on servers and web servers. As it is open source, it can be developed and adapted by anyone, meaning upgrades and new developments can be implemented quickly, easily and ultimately without paying for the privelege. This means that it quickly responds to new requirements and technical developments.

Meta Tags
Tags inserted into documents to describe the document. These are used to identify the pages by both browsers and search engines. Their importance has been significantly reduced as search engines have become more sophisticated.

MySQL
Free open source database software often used on the web. Often used with PHP and ASP to create database-driven sites.

Pay-Per-Click / Search Engine Marketing
This is paid advertising within search engine results through Google, MSN, Yahoo and other search engines. When a search query brings up a list of results, it is possible to have an ad appear alongside the organic results to promote a product, business or service. Balancing Search Engine Marketing with Search Engine Optimisation is widely seen as the most effective way to promote a commercial website.

PHP
A technology allowing the insertion of server executable scripts in web pages. It is often used in conjunction with MySQL or SQL to create database-driven websites. For example, we use PHP in conjunction with MySQL and Apache running on our Linux server to produce our database driven and content managed websites.

Plug-In
A program built in (or added) to a web browser to handle a special type of data, for instance e-mail, sound, or movie files. A good example of this is the plug-in required to view Flash movies and content.

Podcast
This a name that has been popularised by the use of iPods and is essentially a multimedia broadcast hosted on a website. It can be audio or video based and is delivered in a format which is portable with all computers and some mobile devices. Its nature allows it to be regularly updated and automatically downloaded through software such as iTunes.

RSS
RSS, or Really Simple Syndication, is a method of sharing and broadcasting content such as news from a website. Using XML, items such as news articles can be automatically downloaded into a News Reader or published onto another website. There are two ways of using RSS; to share your news with others or to harvest others' news for your site.

Search Engine
Computer program used to search and catalog (index) the millions of pages of available information on the web. Common search engines are Google and AltaVista.

Search Engine Optimisation
This is the process by which a website is prepared and altered to make it as compatible as possible with search engines such as Google and in particular, focussing the content to the keywords and keyphrases desired. This is preferably undertaken as a website is constructed but can also be added at a later date, after the site has been published.

Smart Shots
This is the Absolute Digital system for sending and monitoring email marketing.

SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol)
A standard communication procedure for sending e-mail messages between computers.

Spider
A computer program that searches the Internet for web pages. Common web spiders are the ones used by search engines like Google and AltaVista to index the web. Web spiders are also called web robots or wanderers.

SQL (Structured Query Language)
An ANSI (American National Standards Institute) standard computer language for accessing and manipulating databases. The database management system that we use mostly at Absolute is MySQL.

Streaming
A method of sending audio and video files over the Internet in such a way that the user can view the file while it is being transferred.

Unix
Computer operating system, developed by Bell Laboratories. Mostly used for servers and web servers.

Upload
To transfer a file from a local computer to a remote computer. In web terms: to transfer a file from a web client to a web server.

URL (Uniform Resource Locator)
This is another name for a web address, such as www.absolute-digital.co.uk

W3C (World Wide Web Consortium)
The organisation responsible for managing standards for the world wide web.

Web 2.0
This is the name which has been given as an umbrella term to what is considered to be the next phase of the evolution of the internet, encompassing technologies such as blogs, wikis and other forms of interaction, development and innovation above and beyond the web technologies which have been around since it's inception.

Web Server
A server that delivers web content to web browsers. Essentially a large computer, it can be Windows, Unix, Linux based and can hold many websites together which it shares with browsers via the internet infrastructure.

Wiki
A wiki is a type of website that allows users to easily add, remove, or otherwise edit and change some available content, sometimes without the need for registration. This ease of interaction and operation makes a wiki an effective tool for collaborative authoring. It has been popularised by the encyclopedia-style site www.wikipedia.org .

WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get)
To display a web page being edited exactly the same way it will be displayed on the web. Macromedia Contribute is said to be a WYSIWYG editor as you edit the site as it is seen in the browser.