Glossary of Common Terms

If you are new to web design you may find some of the definitions below useful. I have included only those I most commonly use in my projects - all of these terms have been used in conversation at some point!

Absolute Link
A link that includes the target page's full website address. Used to reference a page or file on a different website. See also 'Relative Link'.
Active Server Pages (ASP)
A server-based software technology that can collect and display information between a browser and a database, or act as an application to process information.
AIFF
A Mac format sound file - can be edited and played on Microsoft systems.
Alpha Channel
A layer in an image that can be set to be transparent. Often used to blend images into backgrounds.
Anchor
An anchor is a named position in a document that other documents can form a link to, or a link on the same page can jump to.
Animated Gif
Animated Graphics Interchange Format, an early internet standard animation format using a maximum of 256 colours. Suitable for simple graphics, but not photographs. One it's most useful attributes is the ability to set one or more of the colours as transparent, thus blending an image into a background page.
ASCII
American Standard Code for Information Interchange, the mapping of ordinary letters and numbers to standard numerical representations. In HTML certain characters are represented by special code, for example the Sterling currency sign (£) is '£'
Attribute
A setting for an HTML tag, that controls the way the tag is displayed.
AVI
Audio Video Interleave, an early Microsoft Windows based video file format. File sizes are large and not generally suitable for internet distribution.
Back End
The programs and databases that process information on a web server.
Bandwidth
The measurement of the speed of data transfer between 2 points. Dial up 56Kb modems transfer approximately 5Kb per second. 1Mb broadband connections are around 130Kb per second. Internal office networks are 100 times faster than 1Mb broadband connections.
BMP
Bitmap, an early Microsoft Windows format for image files. File sizes are large and not generally suitable for internet distribution.
Broadband
A high speed, permanently active, internet connection that works via a standard telephone line. Typical download speeds range from 512Kbits per second (64Kbytes) to 4Mbits (500Kbytes) per second. This is rapidly becoming the preferred model for internet delivery.
Browser
A program used to access and display web pages. Graphical browsers (the most common) can display images; non-graphical browsers cannot.
Cache
In browsers, "cache" is used to store the files downloaded when viewing a website. When GO, BACK, or other means is used to revisit a document, the browser first checks to see if it is in cache and will retrieve it from there because it is much faster than retrieving it from the server.
Cached Link
This is a link created and displayed in the results of some search engines. It is the result of a 'spider' that has visited a site and created a version of the site in the search engine's database. This is done about once a month and so often is out of date.
Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)
There is a movement toward separating content from style within web pages. CSS is about style. A single document (a .css file) defines how typefaces, tables, backgrounds and many other attributes look. One simple change in the CSS file can instantly change the look of the entire site.
CGI
Common Gateway Interface, back-end code that facilitates any number of dynamic actions on a web page, for example processing of information from a form or enabling password controls. Works in conjunction with Pearl applications.
Client Side
Refers to any process or action that happens in the visitor's browser. If it refers to a script or code to be executed then the visitor's computer will need to be able to do this, as opposed to the server where the website is hosted.
Dial Up
A low-speed internet connection that works via a telephone line. Maximum speeds reach around 47Kbits (5.8Kbytes) per second. Most sites are still designed to meet the specifications of this delivery method.
Domain, Top Level Domain (TLD)
Hierarchical scheme for indicating logical and sometimes geographical location of a website. They have now been extended to indicate types of site, eg .biz for businesses & .tv for entertainment sites. Common domains include; .edu (education), .gov (government agency), .net (network related), .com (commercial), .org (nonprofit organizations). Country - specific Domains include; uk (United Kingdom), au (Australia), jp (Japan), nz (New Zealand), etc.
Domain Name, Domain Name Server (DNS) Entry
A unique alpha-numeric name that directs the visitor to the account where the related website is hosted.
A domain name is translated by Domain Name Servers into the unique I.P Address of the location of the website.
FLA
The source file format for Macromedia Flash. This is the file that is required to edit a Flash movie.
Flash
A vector based authoring software that produces static or animated website content, or even entire websites.
Font
A font, is a set of characters that all belong to the same size and style of a typeface. For example, Verdana is a typeface, and 10 point italic Verdana is a font; 11 point bold Verdana is a different font. HTML browsers display a limited number of type faces - Arial, Verdana, Times New Roman, Georgia and Helvetica. If a special font is specified in the HTML page, the visitor's computer must have the font installed on their machine to see the page as intended. HTML fonts are specified in groups of 3 - if the first is not available the second is displayed. If the second is also unavailable then the default user's sans-serif font is displayed.
Forms
A method of sending visitor submitted information from a web page to a database or email address. These are especially useful compared to a simple email link because some users do not have a default email program (i.e. those in an internet cafe, or educational institute).
Frames
A system for dividing a website into multiple pages. Usually, selecting from a menu in one frame shows the contents of the selection in another frame. The system was developed to keep certain sections a site permanently visible and reduce the amount of time required to download new pages. The speed of modern internet connections and the negative problems with identifying frame-based sites in search engines has rendered the use of frames as virtually obsolete.
FTP
File Transfer Protocol, a standard for the transfer of data from one computer to another. Faster than email and suited to very large file sizes.
GIF
Graphics Interchange Format, an early internet standard animation format using a maximum of 256 colours. Suitable for simple graphics, but not photographs. One it's most useful attributes is the ability to set one or more of the colours as transparent, thus blending an image into a background page.
Hexadecimal
The base 16 number system used to describe the Red Green Blue colour levels in web images or design graphics. The number order is 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,A,B,C,D,E,F. Three pairs of numbers are used to set colour levels. For example FF FF FF would be pure white (all colours on full). FF 00 00 would produce pure red, and 00 00 00 would produce black. The colour of this text is 66 66 66.
Host
The computer that holds a copy of a website and enables it to be viewed through the internet.
Hot Key
A key assigned to navigate to a specific web page on a site using the keyboard (not the mouse).
HTML
HyperText Markup Language, the language in which web pages are written.
HTTP
HyperText Transfer Protocol, the protocols used by web browsers and servers to make requests for web pages.
Image Map
An image split into any number of hidden sections each with different links associated with it. For example, an image of the world could be divided into continents so that a different link could be assigned to each region.
Indexers
Programs that automatically read pages throughout the internet and add a description of their contents to a database that can be searched by users looking for specific information.
Javascript
A programming language developed by Netscape, but used by most browsers, to enable greater interactivity in websites. It is not to be confused with JAVA. It interacts with HTML and can perform many tasks such as opening controlled windows and validating forms to check they have been correctly filled in before submission.
JPEG
Joint Photographic Experts Group, a well-known cross-platform format for lossy compressed image files. Keyword(s)
A word searched for in a search engine. Web pages also have keywords specified, which in theory are the words that match those entered into a search engine.
Meta Tags
Special code at the top of an HTML page that defines many attributes of the document. The most important are Title, Keywords and Description. Keywords are described above. The Description is the information that appears in the results of a search engine.
MIDI
Musical Instrument Digital Interface, a popular cross-platform format for sound files. These files are small - they do not contain audio, instead they contain instructions to tell the user's computer's synthesiser what to play. The quality of sound depends entirely on the quality of the synthesiser.
MPEG
Moving Pictures Expert Group. A type of destructive compression applied to video for internet download and streaming. Files sizes are typically reduced by 10 times with negligible quality loss.
Multimedia
The combination of several different communications techniques: for example sound, written text, still pictures, and moving pictures.
PDF or .pdf or pdf file
Portable Document Format, a file format developed by Adobe Systems, that is used to capture almost any kind of document with the formatting in the original. Viewing a PDF file requires Acrobat Reader, which is built into most browsers and can be downloaded free from Adobe.
Pixel
The smallest area that can be displayed on a given screen. Each pixel can be a different colour.
Player
An application used to display an sound, video or unique file format. When built into a browser, a Player is a Plug-In. For example, Quicktime, Real Audio and Adobe Acrobat. When run as an application outside of a browser the software is usually called a Player.
Plug-In
An application built into a browser or added to a browser via downloading to enable it to interact with a special file type, for example Flash or Shockwave. Most browser Plug-Ins are free.
PNG
Portable Network Graphic. Not all web browsers can view PNG graphics. A PNG can support up to 32-bit colour, can contain transparency or an alpha channel, and can be progressive. PNG is the native file format for Macromedia Fireworks.
Point
A unit of font size. The size of this text is 11 points.
Pop-Up Window
A window that pops up over the one being displayed via javascript. Can be disabled in most browsers, or blocked by internet security software. Note: a pop-up window is not the same as opening an ordinary new full browser window.
PSD
Native 32bit image format used by Adobe Photoshop. Not supported by internet browsers.
Relative Link
A link that does not include the full internet address or path. Used to reference a page or file on the same website. See also 'Absolute Link'.
Screen Resolution
Screen resolutions are expressed in pixels, for example 800 pixels (width) by 600 pixels (height). 800 x 600 is the smallest size websites are designed for. Previously it was 600 x 480 and in the near future it will increase to 1024 x 768. This is due to the increase in the number of users with more affordable higher resolution monitors. The higher the resolution the more information that can be displayed on the screen.
Search Engine
A program (with a website front-end) that searches the internet for sites that match either submitted keywords or a phrase.
Server
A computer dedicated to publishing web pages and applications to the internet.
Server- Side
Refers to any process or action that happens on the server hosting the website.
Spiders
Computer programs, also called 'robots' or 'crawlers', that are used by search engines to catalogue the World Wide Web into huge databases. They obtain new pages, update known pages, and delete obsolete ones. Due to the size of the internet and the time taken to 'sweep' it results are often out of date.
Tea
A much abused drink in the JeliNet office that is known to be good for neural stimulus.
Template
An HTML file (in Dreamweaver) from which all other pages in a website are derived. Areas of the Template are locked and can only be edited in the Template. Changes made in the Template are automatically updated in all other pages, thus saving a great deal of time.
TIFF
Tagged Image File Format, a Mac format for image files.
UNIX Server
A server publishing websites to the internet using the Unix platform.
URL
Uniform Resource Locator, a description of the location of a link or image file.
Viewer
An application used to display an image format not supported by a particular browser.
W3C
The consortium that is focusing development of standards for the World Wide Web.
WAV
A popular Windows format for sound files. Wav files are not highly compressed like MP3 files, though the sound quality is much higher. 16 bit, 44.1Khz stereo wav files are the format used to create CDs. Much higher specification wav files are recorded and mixed in the audio and film industry. Due to their size, Wav files are not suited for internet delivery.
Windows Server
A server publishing websites to the internet using Windows software. More commonly associated with ASP and .Net technologies. For static sites there are few differences between Windows servers and Unix servers and none that would be noticeable to the visitor. From a cost perspective, Unix servers are sometimes less expensive to host simple sites on.
WYSIWYG
What You See Is What You Get. Whilst HTML can be hand written in simple text editors, most sites are designed and assembled in WYSIWYG programs such as Dreamweaver. These editors create the complex code used to make the web page, however they also allow essential editing by hand of the code 'behind the scenes'.
ZIP
The most common type of file compression format on the internet. Zip compression is lossless, that is what is extracted is identical to the original files that are compressed. It is therefore a non-destructive process. Many files can be compressed up to 10% of their original size, plus multiple files can be organised into a single zip file. This makes this popular format ideal for internet delivery. Macintosh computers prefer the .sit file format created by a program called 'Stuffit' which performs the same task.