Web Dictionary
Below is a comprehensive list of need-to-know web terms. Having a basic understanding of standard web terms can ease the confusion later when trying to locate services and fix problems. Please refer back to this page frequently , as new terms will be added and updated often.
A
Above the Fold
What you see on your browser screen without scrolling. Typically, this is a space 600 pixels wide by 480 pixels tall. The height dimension comprises the online version of what is known in the newspaper world as above the fold. When users link to your Web site, they see this area first. So, this is where the most important information about your site should appear.
Affiliate Programs
In 1997, Amazon.com launched the first associate program. Amazon initially started by selling books online. Amazon figured, “Why not convert millions, soon to be squillions, of Web sites into specialized, niche bookshops for us? We’ll pay a commission when a site refers a customer who buys a book.” And thus, the first associate program (affiliate or referrer program) was born. Affiliate programs increase exponentially the exposure of a merchant’s product or service.
Alt tag
The alternative text that the browser displays when the surfer does not want to or cannot see the pictures present in a Web page. Using alt tags containing keywords can improve the search engine ranking of the page for those keywords.
Autoresponder
When a customer sends an e-mail to a certain address manned by an autoresponder, this powerful mailbot automatically fires back an e-mail response, usually an informative sales letter. And it does it immediately and for a fairly low additional monthly fee (some hosts offer autoresponders for free). Autoresponders are the e-mail equivalent of a fax-back service. They can save you hundreds of dollars when used for basic tech support, product inquiries for more details, sales-oriented letters to all kinds of questions etc.
B
Back/Forward
Buttons in most browsers’ Tool Button Bar, upper left. BACK returns you to the webpage previously viewed. FORWARD goes to the next webpage, after you go BACK.
If it seems like the BACK button does not work, check whether you are in a new browser window; some links are programmed to open a new window. Each window has its own short-term search HISTORY. If this does not work, right click on the BACK button to select the page you want.
Bandwidth
The rate at which information travels through a network connection, usually measured in bits per second, kilobits (thousand bits) per second, or megabits (million bits) per second.
Banner Ads
Those graphic advertisements that you see at the top of so many Web pages.
Blog, Blogger, Blogging
A blog (short for “web log”) is a type of web page that offers a series of posted items (short articles, photos, diary entries, etc.). Blogs usually include a searchable archive of old postings. Blogs have become a common medium for communication in professional, political, news, trendy, and other specialized web communities. Many blogs provide RSS feeds, to which one can subscribe and receive alerts to new postings in selected blogs. Blogs are a form of website.
Commonly used blogging software: WordPress, MoveableType, and Blogger
Body
The BODY of a web page contains the document’s content. The content may be presented by a browser in a variety of ways. You can think of the BODY as a canvas where the content appears: text, images, colors, graphics, etc.
Bookmarks/Favorites
All major web browsers include a way to store links to sites you wish to return to. Netscape, Mozilla, and Firefox use the term Bookmarks. The equivalent in Internet Explorer (IE) is called a “Favorite.”
To create a bookmark, click on BOOKMARKS or FAVORITES, then ADD. Or left-click on and drag the little bookmark icon to the place you want a new bookmark filed. To visit a bookmarked site, click on BOOKMARKS and select the site from the list. Most browsers also include commands to Import and Export lists of bookmarks.
An alternative method is to store your bookmarks on a website, such as delicious or digg, that lets you access them from any computer on the Internet and see what others have bookmarked.
Browse
To browse through a page, exploring what’s there and seeing where the links take you, is a bit like window shopping. When you browse, you have to guess which words and links on the page pertain to your interests. The opposite of browsing is searching.
Browser
Software programs that enable you to view web pages and other documents on the Internet. They “translate” HTML-encoded files into the text, images, sounds, and other features you see. The most commonly used browsers are Microsoft Internet Explorer (often called IE), Firefox, Mozilla, Safari, Opera, and Chrome.
Bulletin Board or Forum
A bulletin board is a location on a Web site where people come to share information. Typically, you see a list of postings for a certain topic. You can read each posting, choose to respond to one or more of them, and then enter and post your response. Or you can start your own thread, a continuing sub-topic within the topic under discussion. If this type of concept fits with your product and target market, it can be a great way for visitors to trade information.
C
Cache
In browsers, “cache” is used to identify a space where web pages you have visited are stored in your computer. A copy of documents you retrieve is stored in cache. When you use GO, BACK, or any other means 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
In search results from Google, Yahoo! Search, and some other search engines, there is usually a Cached link which allows you to view the version of a page that the search engine has stored in its database. The live page on the web might differ from this cached copy, because the cached copy dates from whenever the search engine’s spider last visited the page and detected modified content. Use the cached link to see when a page was last crawled and, in Google, where your terms are and why you got a page when all of your search terms are not in it.
Catch-All Email Account
If you have your own domain “domain.com” and catch-all e-mail account, no matter what word you put in front of “@domain.com,” you’ll get it. So “jack@domain.com” comes to you. So does “jill@domain.com.” Yes, even “anything@domain.com” will reach you!
Case Sensitive
Capital letters (upper case) retrieve only upper case. Most search tools are not case sensitive or only respond to initial capitals, as in proper names. It is always safe to key all lower case (no capitals), because lower case will always retrieve upper case.
CGI
“Common Gateway Interface,” the most common way Web programs interact dynamically with users. Many search boxes and other applications that result in a page with content tailored to the user’s search terms rely on CGI to process the data once it’s submitted, to pass it to a background program in JAVA, JAVASCRIPT, or another programming language, and then to integrate the response into a display using HTML.
Chat
A popular form of interactive, online communication that allows Internet users to have real-time conversations with others via computer. When participating in a chat discussion, Internet users enter virtual chat areas, usually organized by topic of interest, where they can exchange instant communications with like-minded individuals.
Cookie
A message from a WEB SERVER computer, sent to and stored by your browser on your computer. When your computer consults the originating server computer, the cookie is sent back to the server, allowing it to respond to you according to the cookie’s contents. The main use for cookies is to provide customized Web pages according to a profile of your interests. When you log onto a “customize” type of invitation on a Web page and fill in your name and other information, this may result in a cookie on your computer which that Web page will access to appear to “know” you and provide what you want. If you fill out these forms, you may also receive e-mail and other solicitation independent of cookies.
Client
A remote computer connected to a host or server computer that represents the customer side of a client/server relationship. Client can refer to you, to your computer, or to the software running on your computer.
Client-Side
Client-side pertains to programming that is done on YOUR desktop computer.
Cloaking
The process by which your Web site can display different pages under different circumstances. Primarily used to show optimized page to the search engines and a different page to humans. Most search engines will penalize a site if they discover that it is using cloaking.
Content
All of the viewable information on a given web page. Includes all text, files and graphics in a given page.
Content Management System or CMS
CMS stands for Content Management System. A CMS is a software application designed to store, manage, and format web information. Common CMS applications include blog software like WordPress, forum software like PhpBB, or site management tools like Drupal.
Cookie
A cookie is a small file that gets written onto your hard disk, either by javascript or by a CGI script from the Web site you are visiting. It is only a file that serves as an ID tag. It is not an application. So there is zero danger to the integrity of your hard disk. The cookie can only be accessed by the Web site that wrote the cookie to your disk. And the only thing that they really know is that the person with this ID tag is back. But if you provide personal information like full name, address, credit card info, this can be tied to the cookie. Then the site, but that site only, will be able to know that it is you personally returning to the site.
Copy
The actual text of a specific web page and all written information.
Craler/Webcrawler
Same as Spider.
Credit Card Processor
An Internet service that verifies that a customer has sufficient funds for a purchase and then releases funds from the customer’s credit card account. Your bank chooses the credit card processor.
Custome Search Engine
A Google service in which individuals can create a Google account (free) and create a search engine directed to search within up to 5,000 URLs or websites they select. More information at CSEs: Make Your Own Search Engine and Finding CSEs.
D
Directory
A Web site containing links to other sites which are organized into various categories. Examples of directories are Yahoo!, Open Directory, LookSmart, etc. The most well-known directory is Yahoo!. Many people feel that Yahoo! is more important to traffic-building than any single engine. The advantage of the directories is that the Web sites listed are usually of a higher, more uniform quality. They are selected by humans, so it’s not as easy to get in as it is for Search Engines.
Domain, Top Level Domain (TLD)
Hierarchical scheme for indicating logical and sometimes geographical venue of a web-page from the network. In the US, common domains are .edu (education), .gov (government agency), .net (network related), .com (commercial), .org (nonprofit and research organizations). Outside the US, domains indicate country: ca (Canada), uk (United Kingdom), au (Australia), jp (Japan), fr (France), etc. Neither of these lists is exhaustive. See also DNS entry.
Domain, Domain Nameserver (DNS) Entry
On the Internet, a domain is a network address. This is similar to your home’s address used by the postal system. The mailman can deliver our mail because we have a unique address such as 2275 Beverly Lane – Clearwater FL 33764. On the Web, each site has its own unique address also, so that Web servers can find it. These domains are also referred to as “Dot.Coms”. Our domain here is www.brandbuildsell.com. A Web site address, including a suffix such as .com, .biz, .org, .gov, or .edu. The suffix indicates what type of organization is hosting the site.
- com – Originally stood for “commercial,” to indicate a site that could be used for private, commercial purposes, but now the best well known top level domain, and used for a wide variety of sites
- biz – Alternative commercial domain when the com suffix is unavailable.
- net - Originally intended for site related to the Internet itself, but now used for a wide variety of sites
- edu - Use for educational institutions like universities
- org – Originally intended for non-commercial “organizations,” but organizations now used for a wide variety of sites
- gov – Used for US Government sites
- mil - Used for US Military sites
- us - used to indicate a business or organization within the United States
Download
To transfer (copy) files from one computer to another. “Download” can also mean viewing a Web site, or material on a Web server, with a Web browser.
DSL
A means of accessing the Internet at very high speed using standard phone lines.
Dynamic Content
Information in Web pages which changes automatically, based on database or user information. Search engines will index dynamic content in the same way as static content unless the URL includes a ? mark.
E
eCommerce
Electronic commerce (also known as ebusiness.). Buying and selling products and services via the Internet.
Messages sent through an electronic (computer) network to specific groups or individuals. Though e-mail is generally text, users can attach files that include graphics, sound, and video. E-mailing requires a modem to connect the telephone line to the computer, and an e-mail address.
E-mail Publications
There are several kinds of publications that are e-mailed to customers:
- e-zines – the equivalent of an electronic magazine. Collection of articles of varying originality are e-mailed on a regular basis to subscribers.
- newsletters – same as e-zines.
- moderated mailing lists – joining one of these enables you to post to the list. If the moderator accepts the posting as relevant and valuable to the readership, it gets mailed to everyone in the next issue, either in digest format (all the postings in a single e-mailing, the best way to receive it), or one by one as they are accepted (too bothersome).
Encryption
Transforming data so that it is unreadable to everyone except the intended recipient. The recipient of the encrypted data must have the proper decryption key to decipher the message.
Extension and File Extension
In Windows, DOS and some other operating systems, one or several letters at the end of a filename. Filename extensions usually follow a period (dot) and indicate the type of file. For example, this.txt denotes a plain text file, that.htm or that.html denotes an HTML file. Some common image extensions are picture.jpg or picture.jpeg or picture.bmp or picture.gif
F
FAQ (Frquently Asked Questions)
Pages which list and answer the questions most often asked about a Web site, newsgroup, etc. The FAQ page often provides useful information for a new user of a Web site, mailing list, discussion group, or product.
Favorites
In the Internet Explorer browser, a means to get back to a URL you like, similar to Bookmarks.
Feed Reader
A software package that enables you to easily read the XML code in which RSS feeds are written. Bloglines is currently the most popular feed reader but there are many competitors.
Field Search
Ability to limit a search by requiring word or phrase to appear in a specific field of documents (e.g., title, url, link). See LIMITING TO FIELD.
Find
Tool in most browsers to search for word(s) keyed in document in screen only. Useful to locate a term in a long document. Can be invoked by the keyboard command, CTRL-F (CMD-F on a Macintosh).
Flash
A Web-based animation application that transforms Web pages into a swirl of action, colors, and excitement. Without broadband access, this involves a long loading time (and the potential loss of visitors who are unwilling to wait). As well, a Flash application means no content for Search Engines spiders to crawl and rank (which means that you can’t take advantage of free Search Engine traffic).
Font
The style and size of text. Example fonts are Arial, Verdana and Times.
Freshness
How up-to-date a search engine database is, based primarily on how often its spiders recirculate around the Web and update their copies of the web pages they hold, and discover new ones. Also determined by how quickly they integrate new sites that web authors send to them. Two weeks is about as good as most search engines do, but some update certain selected web sites more frequently, even daily.
Forum
A forum is a “meeting place” on a Web site where you go to ask and answer questions and to share information. Moderated or not, they function very much like newsgroups. Moderated ones work best, since spam and flames get weeded out.
Frames
In a Web site, frames are the multiple, independently controllable sections on a Web presentation. This effect is achieved by building each part as a separate HTML file and having one “master” HTML file identify all of the parts. Surveys of users indicate that many people do not like sites using frames.
FTP
File Transfer Protocol. Ability to transfer rapidly entire files from one computer to another, intact for viewing or other purposes.
G
GIF (Graphics Interchange Format)
One of the two most common file formats for graphic images on the World Wide Web. The other is the JPEG. On the Internet, the GIF has become the standard format for images.
Graphic
(or image) In computers, and on the Internet, a picture is generally referred to as a “graphic” or an “image”
Groups
Discussion forums one can participate in, share ideas with, and form community. Most are free and some are open to new members. Yahoo Groups and Google Groups are both popular. Google Groups includes the former Usenet Newsgroups. Blogs are replacing some of the need for this type of community sharing and information exchange.
H
Head, Header or Heading (of HTML document)
The top portion of the HTML source code behind Web pages, beginning with <HEAD> and ending with </HEAD>. It contains the Title, Description, Keywords fields and others that web page authors may use to describe the page. The title appears in the title bar of most browsers, but the other fields cannot be seen as part of the body of the page. To view the <HEAD> portion of web pages in your browser, click VIEW, Page Source. In Internet Explorer, click VIEW, Source. Some search engines will retrieve based on text in these fields.
In all web pages, the “heading” is at the top of the page and contains basic instructions needed by browsers to decode the page and present it to the user’s computer. The most important of these instructions is a tag identifying this as a web page: <html>
Hidden Text
Text that is visible to the search engines but is invisible to humans. Mainly accomplished by using text in the same color as the background color of the page. Primarily used for the purpose of including extra keywords in the page without distorting the aesthetics of the page. Most search engines penalize Web sites which use such hidden text.
History or Search History
Available by using the combined keystrokes CTRL + H. You can set how many days your browser retains history in Edit | Preferences, or in Tools | Options.
Hits/Visits/Stats
When someone comes to your Web site, that’s a visitor. No matter how long he stays on your site, he’s still the same visitor. And that visit counts as one visit. If he goes away and comes back tomorrow, that’s a new visit. But it does not count as a new visitor – he would best be counted as a repeat visitor. During one of his visits he starts at your home page, then goes to another. That’s two page views (i.e., he has seen 2 different HTML documents). And that’s not the same as hits. Each page view might trigger many hits – if that HTML page has 5 graphics on it, then the HTML document itself and each graphic are registered as a line in the log file. Each line in a log file counts as a hit. So that’s a total of six hits.
So a visitor can account for many visits. A visit can have several page views. And each page view triggers several hits (unless it’s only an HTML document and words, in which case a page view would create only one hit).
Homepage
The first page on a Web site, which introduces the site and provides the means of navigation.
Host
Computer that provides web-documents to clients or users. See also server.
Hosting Serive Provider
A company that sells space for files and web pages on their servers for direct access to the Internet. Hosting (also known as Web site hosting, Web hosting, and Webhosting) is the business of housing, providing a server, and maintaining files for one or more Web sites.
HTML
The coded format language used for creating hypertext documents on the World Wide Web and controlling how Web pages appear.
Hypertext
On the World Wide Web, the feature, built into HTML, that allows a text area, image, or other object to become a “link” (as if in a chain) that retrieves another computer file (another Web page, image, sound file, or other document) on the Internet. The range of possibilities is limited by the ability of the computer retrieving the outside file to view, play, or otherwise open the incoming file. It needs to have software that can interact with the imported file. Many software capabilities of this type are built into browsers or can be added as “plug-ins.”
HTTP
The standard language that computers connected to the World Wide Web use to communicate with each other.
Hyperlink
An image or portion of text on a Web page that is linked to another Web page, either on the same site or in another Web site. Clicking on the link will take the user to another Web page, or to another place on the same page. Words or phrases which serve as links are underlined, or appear in a different color, or both. Images that serve as links have a border around them, or they change the cursor to a little hand as it passes over them.
I
Image Map
An image containing one or more invisible regions which are linked to other pages. If the image map is defined as a separate file, the search engines may not be able to index the pages to which that image map links. The way out is to have text hyperlinks to those pages in addition to the links from the image map. However, image maps defined within the same Web page will generally not prevent search engines from indexing the other pages.
Internet
A global connection of computer networks, also referred to as the “Net,” which share a common addressing scheme.
Intranet
A private network inside a company or organization, which uses software like that used on the Internet, but is for internal use only, and is not accessible to the public. Companies use Intranets to manage projects, provide employee information, distribute data and information, etc.
IP Address or IP Number
(Internet Protocol number or address). A unique number consisting of 4 parts separated by dots, e.g. 165.113.245.2
Every machine that is on the Internet has a unique IP address. 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.
Images
For our purposes – photographs, logos, and similar graphic files that will be manipulated to be web ready for display on a web page.
ISP or Internet Service Provider
A company that sells Internet connections via modem (examples: aol, Mindspring – thousands of ISPs to choose from; not easy to evaluate). Faster, more expensive Internet connectivity is available via cable or DSL.
J
Java
A computer programming language invented by Sun Microsystems. Using Java, Web developers create small programs called “applets” and “scripts” that allow Web pages to include animations, calculators, scrolling text, sound effects and games.
Javascript
A simple programming language developed by Netscape to enable greater interactivity in Web pages. It shares some characteristics with JAVA but is independent. It interacts with HTML, enabling dynamic content and motion.
JPEG
(pronounced JAY-peg) A graphic image format. When you create a JPEG, you are asked to specify the quality of image you want. Since the highest quality results in the largest file, you can make a trade-off between image quality and file size.
Together with the Graphic Interchange Format (GIF) , the JPEG is one of the image file formats commonly used on the World Wide Web, usually with the file suffix of “.jpg”
K
Keywords
A word that is entered into the search form or search “window” of an Internet search engine to search the Web for pages or sites about or including the keyword and information related to it.
1) A word (or more commonly, a phrase) that is used to search the Internet, via a search engine, when seeking a particular type of information.
2) A word or phrase used in search engine optimization of a web page, soas to make the page easy to find in search engines.
Keyword Frequency
Denotes how often a keyword appears in a Web page or in an area of a page. In general, higher the number of times a keyword appears in a page, higher its search engine ranking. However, repeating a keyword too often in a page can lead to that page being penalized for spamming.
Keyword Prominence
Denotes how close to the start of an area of a Web page that a keyword appears. In general, having the keyword closer to the start of an area will lead to an improvement in the search engine ranking of a page. However, in some cases, having the keyword in the middle or the end of an area may lead to an improvement in the search engine ranking of the page.
Keyword Weight
Denotes the number of times a keyword appears in a Web page as a percentage of all the other words in the page. In general, higher the weight of a particular keyword in a page, higher will be the search engine ranking of the page for that keyword. However, repeating a keyword too often in order to increase its weight can cause the page to be penalized by the search engines.
L
Link
The URL imbedded in another document, so that if you click on the highlighted text or button referring to the link, you retrieve the outside URL. If you search the field “link:”, you retrieve on text in these imbedded URLs which you do not see in the documents.
Link Exchange
Find Web sites with similar interests to yours. Look for sites with similar customer demographics that do not compete directly with you. Offer them to put a link on your Web site in exchange for a link on their Web site. If they agree, that’s a link exchange.
Listserves
A discussion group mechanism that permits you to subscribe and receive and participate in discussions via e-mail. Blogs and RSS feeds provide some of the communication functionality of listservers.
Link Popularity
The number of Web sites which link to a particular site. Most search engines use link popularity as a factor in determining the search engine ranking of a Web site.
Linux
Intel-processor-based operating system developed as an alternative to Unix. It is currently used by hundreds of thousands of people worldwide.
M
Mail to: Link
This is an HTML link that automatically opens an e-mail software, with the address already entered. All the sender has to do is enter the body text and the subject.
Mailing List
A mailing list is much like a newsgroup, except that it is e-mailed to everyone in the group. First, you subscribe to the mailing list (usually via e-mail, or by filling in a form). You will receive e-mail from the mailing list, either one by one as they are sent by others in the group, or all at once as a single digest e-mail at the end of the day (or week). A mailing list can be either moderated or unmoderated. A moderator will generally keep the group spam-free and on a higher plane. When you see a topic of interest, reply by composing and sending an e-mail. It will be sent to everyone in the group.
Merchant
A business entity that sells goods and/or services and determines the methods of payment they will accept (e.g., cash, check, credit card, debit card).
Meta-Search Engine
Search engines that automatically submit your keyword search to several other search tools, and retrieve results from all their databases. Convenient time-savers for relatively simple keyword searches (one or two keywords or phrases in ” “). See Meta-Search Engines page for complete descriptions and examples.
Meta Keywords Tag
The tag present in the header of a Web page which is used to provide alternative words for the words used in the body of the page. The Meta Keywords tag is becoming less and less important in influencing the search engine ranking of a page.
Meta Refresh Tag
The tag present in the header of a Web page which is used to display a different page after a few seconds. If a page displays another page too soon, most search engines will either ignore the current page and index the second page or penalize the current page for spamming.
Metatags
Words and code embedded in the HTML code of a webpage, provide useful information that are not defined by other HTML elements. Their function is to provide information about a document and about a document’s content. Search engines use this information to categorize, prioritize and rank websites.
MP3
Mpeg Layer 3 is an amazing standard for audio compression. It is capable of 10:1 compression with no noticeable loss in quality. It’s the latest rage on the Internet. A heated controversy is currently raging over whether it’s legal.
N
Navigation
A system of hyperlink paths set up on a Web page to enable visitors to find their way around the website.
Nesting
A term used in Boolean searching to indicate the sequence in which operations are to be performed. Enclosing words in parentheses identifies a group or “nest.” Groups can be within other groups. The operations will be performed from the innermost nest to the outmost, and then from left to right.
Newsgroup
A discussion group operated through the Internet. Not to be confused with LISTSERVERS which operate through e-mail.
Newsgroups
Newsgroups use a different communication means called “Usenet.” Technically speaking, Usenet is neither the Web nor e-mail, so you use a different piece of software to access newsgroups (built into Explorer and Navigator).
When you find a group that fits your needs, read all the posts. If you find a topic of interest, simply reply and your post will be almost immediately visible in the groups list of postings. Available for others to reply to.
As for mailing lists and forums, newsgroups can be moderated or unmoderated — most are not moderated.
O
Opt-in Email Marketing
Many Web marketers create a newsletter that offers content of value to the reader. The Web site asks visitors to subscribe to this newsletter. When they fill in and submit their e-mail address, they are said to be opting-in. The process of sending an e-zine or newsletter to people who have specifically requested to receive it is called opt-in e-mail marketing. It’s a powerful, long-term relationship.
OS – operating system
The low-level software that schedules tasks, allocates storage, handles the interface to peripheral hardware and presents a default interface to the user when no application program is running.
P
PageRank by Google
Google defines PageRank as follows;
PageRank relies on the uniquely democratic nature of the web by using its vast link structure as an indicator of an individual page’s value. In essence, Google interprets a link from page A to page B as a vote, by page A, for page B. But, Google looks at considerably more than the sheer volume of votes, or links a page receives; for example, it also analyzes the page that casts the vote. Votes cast by pages that are themselves “important” weigh more heavily and help to make other pages “important.” Using these and other factors, Google provides its views on pages’ relative importance.
Pay-Per-Click Search Engine
A search engine in which the ranking of your Web site is determined by the amount you are paying for each click from that search engine to your site. Think of Pay-Per-Click search engines as a low-cost advertising method.
Personal Webpage
A web page created by an individual (as opposed to someone creating a page for an institution, business, organization, or other entity). Often personal pages contain valid and useful opinions, links to important resources, and significant facts. One of the greatest benefits of the Web is the freedom it as given almost anyone to put his or her ideas “out there.” But frequently personal pages offer highly biased personal perspectives or ironical/satirical spoofs, which must be evaluated carefully. The presence in the page’s URL of a personal name (such as “jbarker”) and a ~ or % or the word “users” or “people” or “members” very frequently indicate a site offering personal pages.
Pdf file or .pdf
Abbreviation for 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.
Phrase
More than one KEYWORD, searched exactly as typed in (all words required, in the order specified). Enclosing keywords in “double quotation marks” forms a phrase in most search engines. Sometimes a phrase is called a “character string.”
Plugin
An application built into a browser or added to a browser to enable it to interact with a special file type (such as a movie, sound file, Word document, etc.)
Populairty Ranking of Search Results
Some search engines rank the order in which search results appear primarily by how many other sites link to each page (a kind of popularity vote based on the assumption that other pages would create a link to the “best” pages). Google is the best example of this. See also Subject-Based Ranking.
Pop-ups
Term for unsolicited advertising that appears as its own browser window.
Publishing
Once all the web pages for a web site are completed they need to be published (uploaded and/or delivered) to a server to be viewed at your domain name.
R
RealAudio/Video
Progressive Networks’ RealAudio client-server software system enables Internet users equipped with conventional multimedia personal computers and voice-grade telephone lines to browse, select, and play audio/video or audio/video-based multimedia content on demand, in real time. This is a big improvement in download times.
Real-Time Authorization
A credit card purchase is authorized in real time, as the customer completes the checkout process online. If the authorization is positive, the order will proceed. Otherwise, the customer will receive an error message, and the order will be discontinued.
Redirect
A redirect occurs whenever the surfer gets sent to an address different than the one actually requested. It is often intentionally programmed, through rather simple code, either a META tag or a CGI script, that sends your visitor to a different Web page.
Residual Income
Income that occurs for a prolonged period of time, after the original sale has been made. When applied to affiliate programs, once you succeed in referring a customer who buys, you should earn an ongoing (reduced) commission for every future purchase that customer makes.
RSS or RSS Feeds
Short for “Really Simple Syndication” (a.k.a. Rich Site Summary or RDF Site Summary), refers ti a group of XML based web-content distribution and republication (Web syndication) formats primarily used by news sites and weblogs (blogs). Any website can issue an RSS feed. By subscribing to an RSS feed, you are alerted to new additions to the feed since you last read it. In order to read RSS feeds, you must use a “feed reader,” which formats the XML code into an easily readable format (feed readers are to XML and RSS feeds as web browsers are to HTML and web pages.
S
Script
A script is a type of programming language that can be used to fetch and display Web pages. There are many kinds and uses of scripts on the Web. They can be used to create all or part of a page, and communicate with searchable databases. Forms (boxes) and many interactive links, which respond differently depending on what you enter, all require some kind of script language. When you find a question mark (?) in the URL of a page, some kind of script command was used in generating and/or delivering that page. Most search engine spiders are instructed not to crawl pages from scripts, although it is usually technically possible for them to do so (see Invisible Web for more information).
Search
You can search any individual web page using the CTRL-F command (CMD-F on a Macintosh). Many websites also offer search boxes that let you search all the pages in the site, or records in its database. Searching is usually the most efficient way to find information, but sometimes you can find things by browsing that you might miss otherwise because you might not think of the “right” term to search by.
Search Engines
Search Engines are basically huge databases containing website info. If you want someone to find your website by searching, then you need to market/promote your website to them. They are a tool that enables users to locate information on the World Wide Web. Search engines use keywords and metatags configured and entered by web developers to find Web sites which contain relevance to the information sought.
Secure Server
A Web server that uses special software, called security protocols, to protect against third-party tampering. Making purchases from a secure server ensures that a user’s payment or personal information is translated into a code so that it cannot be stolen.
Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)
A transaction security standard developed by Netscape Communications to enable commercial transactions to take place over the notoriously non-secure Internet. SSL delivers server authentication, data encryption, and message integrity. With SSL implemented on both the client and server, your Internet communications are transmitted in encrypted form. The information you send can then be trusted to arrive privately and unaltered to the server you specify.
SEO – Search Engine Optimization
means ensuring that your web pages are accessible to search engines and focused in ways that help improve the chances they will be found. Search engines are one of the primary ways that Internet users find web sites. That’s why a web site with a good search engine listing may see a dramatic increase in traffic. Everyone wants that good listing. Unfortunately, many web sites appear poorly in search engine rankings, or may not be listed at all, because they fail to consider how search engines work. Knowledge of “search engine optimization” can help many of these sites.
SEM (Search Engine Marketing/Promotion)
Once all the web pages of a web site are published they should be promoted (marketed). Submitting the website to search engines is one example of promoting (or marketing) your web site.
SERP
The SERP is otherwise known as the Search Engine Results Page. This is the page that users see after typing their search query into a search engine. Since conversion starts at the SERP, it is important to have relevant metadata leading to well designed pages with relevant and customer focused copy.
Server, Web Server
A special computer connected to a network that provides (serves up) data. A Web server transmits Web pages over the Internet when it receives a Web browser’s request for a page. A server can also be called a host or node.
Server-Side
Something that operates on the “server” computer (providing the Web page), as opposed to the “client” computer (which is you or someone else viewing the Web page). Usually it is a program or command or procedure or other application causes dynamic pages or animation or other interaction.
Shopping Cart
A section of an online store where a customer can order products and provide credit card information.
Shtml, Usually Seen as .shtml
An file name extension that identifies web pages containing SSI commands.
Site or Website
This term is often used to mean “web page,” but there is supposed to be a difference. A web page is a single entity, one URL, one file that you might find on the Web. A “site,” properly speaking, is an location or gathering or center for a bunch of related pages linked to from that site. For example, the site for the present tutorial is the top-level page “Internet Resources.” All of the pages associated with it branch out from there — the web searching tutorial and all its pages, and more. Together they make up a “site.” When we estimate there are 5 billion web pages on the Web, we do not mean “sites.” There would be far fewer sites.
Spam
Unsolicited “junk” e-mail sent to large numbers of people to promote products or services. Also refers to inappropriate promotions to search engines.
Spiders
A software program that “crawls” the Web, searching and indexing Web pages to create a database that can be easily searched by a search engine.
Most large search engines operate several robots all the time. Even so, the Web is so enormous that it can take six months for spiders to cover it, resulting in a certain degree of “out-of-datedness” (link rot) in all the search engines.
Splash Page
Splash pages consist of a large graphics or a Flash animations for your home page—after that, you get to enter the site. Personally, I feel splash pages are a waste of your visitor’s time. When someone finds your site, they’re looking for information – not full feature films that slow them down.
Sponsor (of a webpage or website)
Many Web pages have organizations, businesses, institutions like universities or nonprofit foundations, or other interests which “sponsor” the page. Frequently you can find a link titled “Sponsors” or an “About us” link explaining who or what (if anyone) is sponsoring the page. Sometimes the advertisers on the page (banner ads, links, buttons to sites that sell or promote something) are “sponsors.” WHY is this important? Sponsors and the funding they provide may, or may not, influence what can be said on the page or site — can bias what you find, by excluding some opposing viewpoint or causing some other imbalanced information. The site is not bad because of sponsors, but you they should alert you to the need to evaluate a page or site very carefully.
Streaming
On the Web, usually you wait for a file to download before you can see it. Same goes for music – you wait for a midi file to download, then you can listen to it. But streaming plug-ins, like RealAudio, play the music as it downloads!
T
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. See also IP Address.
Telnet
Internet service allowing one computer to log onto another, connecting as if not remote.
Title (of a document or webpage)
The official title of a document from the “meta” field called title. The text of this meta title field may or may not also occur in the visible body of the document. It is what appears in the top bar of the window when you display the document and it is the title that appears in search engine results. The “meta” field called title is not mandatory in HTML coding. Sometimes you retrieve a document with “No Title” as its supposed title; this is caused when the meta-title field is left blank.
In Alta Vista and some other search tools, title: search also matches on the “meta” field, which contains document descriptors not displayed on the Web.
Truncation
In a search, the ability to enter the first part of a keyword, insert a symbol (usually *), and accept any variant spellings or word endings, from the occurrence of the symbol forward. (E.g., femini* retrieves feminine, feminism, feminism, etc.) Which search engines have this?
U
Upload
Copying or sending files or data from one computer to another. A Web developer, for example, could upload a document to a Web server,
URL
The World Wide Web address of a site on the Internet. The URL for this website/blog http:/www.brandbuildsell.com
Usability Testing or Website Usability
“Website Usability” is the term used to refer to how effective your website is for your visitors. This is an additional service offered by David Williams – testing the ease with which users can use and navigate a web site.
V
View Source
Both Firefox and Explorer allow you to see the HTML coding behind the actual Web page that you see with your Web browser software. The command is under the View menu. It’s a terrific way to quickly learn how Web sites accomplish neat effects, what kind of keywords are used by your competition, etc., etc.
W
Web Designer
Not to be confused with a web developer – One who designs web sites. Web designers like graphic designers are primarily concerned with the layout, schemes and aesthetic values of a web site. *Note – David Williams is both a web designer and a web developer.
Web Developer
Not to be confused with a web designer* – One who specializes in the development of Web sites. Web developers handle all programming aspects of creating a Web site including HTML programming, creating and/or manipulating graphics, MetaTag development, copy writing, creating the navigational structure and related links, and everything else that goes into building a Web site. *Note – David Williams is both a web designer and a web developer.
Webmaster
A Webmaster is a person who either:
a) Creates and manages the information content and organization of a Web site;
b) Manages the computer server and technical programming aspects of a Web site
c) Or does both.
Companies vary in their use of the term. In a smaller company, a Webmaster typically “does it all.” In a larger company, a Webmaster tends to be someone with either a writing and/or graphics design background who has acquired Web site creation skills (mainly knowledge and experience with HTML) or a more technical person with some programming skills.
Webpage
On the World Wide Web, a page is a single file written with the Hypertext Markup Language (HTML). Usually, it contains text and specifications about where images or other files are to be placed when the page is displayed by a browser. A webpage (also spelled – Web page) is part of a Web site.
You can think of a Web site like a book that arrives a page at a time as you request each one. Each page of this book is an individual HTML file with its own Web address.
The first page you usually request at a site is known as the home page. (Most home pages have a default name like “index.html” that doesn’t have to be specified; you only need to enter the domain name for the site itself.)
With frames, multiple pages (HTML files) can be downloaded to a browser and presented on designated sections of the display screen at the same time.
Website
A collection of “pages” or files linked together and available on the World Wide Web. Web sites are provided by companies, organizations and individuals.
White Paper
On the internet, a white paper is often a paper (article) written by a lead designer to explain the philosophy and operation of a product or service in a marketplace or technology context. Many Web Site designers and developers include a white paper or a frequently-asked questions (frequently-asked questions) page for more detailed explanations of products, services and/or articles written to disseminate information in their area of expertise.
Wiki
A term meaning “quick” in Hawaiian, that is used for technology that gathers in one place a number of web pages focused on a theme, project, or collaboration. Wikis are generally used when users or group members are invited to develop, contribute, and update the content of the wiki. Wikis can be passworded in various ways to control or allow contributions. The most famous wiki is the Wikipedia.
WWW
The World Wide Web.
X
Xhtml
A variant of HTML. Stands for Extensible Hypertext Markup Language is a hybrid between HTML and XML that is more universally acceptable in Web pages and search engines than XML.
XML
Extensible Markup Language, a dilution for Web page use of SGML (Standard General Markup Language), which is not readily viewable in ordinary browsers and is difficult to apply to Web pages. XML is very useful (among other things) for pages emerging from databases and other applications where parts of the page are standardized and must reappear many times. See XHTML.
Z
Zip
A Windows-based compressed file commonly referred to as a “ZIP file.” ZIP files can hold one or many files as well as a directory structure. On the Web, large graphics and programs are usually compressed into ZIP files and then made available for download. After you download the file, you need to use a decompression software program to “UNZIP” it.
