Term or Concept related
to Web hosting services are not clear for you? This glossary gives
meaning to much of the commonly used vocabulary associated with
Web Hosting and the Internet.
Absolute URL
The Internet address of a page or
other World Wide Web resource that includes the protocol and
complete network location of the page or file. The absolute
URL includes a protocol, such as "http," network location, and
optional path and file name. For example, http://www.acme.com/welcome.html
is an absolute URL.
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Active
hyperlink
A hyperlink
that is currently selected in a Web browser. Some Web browsers
indicate the active hyperlink by changing its color. |
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Active
page
The page currently being edited.
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ActiveX
control
A component that can be inserted in a page to provide functionality
not directly available in HTML, such as animation sequences,
credit-card transactions, or spreadsheet calculations. ActiveX
controls can be implemented in a variety of programming languages
from Microsoft and third parties. |
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Address
A paragraph style usually used to render addresses on a page
or to supply signatures or other indications of authorship.
Address paragraphs are usually displayed in italics and are
sometimes indented. |
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Anonymous
FTP
A file transfer (FTP) service in which any user can copy files
by logging on with the name "anonymous." See also FTP. |
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Applet
See Java applet. |
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ASCII
(American Standard Code for Information Interchange)
The predominant method for encoding 7-bit characters on a personal
computer. HTML tags and URLs must be in ASCII. |
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Authentication
database
A database on a server that matches user names to passwords.
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Background sound
A sound file that you associate with a page. When the page is
displayed in a Web browser, the sound file repeats the number
of times that you specify. |
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Base
URL
An optional URL that you assign to a page to convert relative
URLs on the page into absolute URLs. A base URL should end with
a document name part, such as http://sample/sample.htm, or a
trailing slash, such as http://sample/subdir/. |
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BMP
A resolution-dependent file format for images created by Windows
Paint, PaintBrush, and other applications. |
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Bookmark
A named set of zero or more characters in a paragraph that can
be the target of a hyperlink. In a URL, a bookmark is preceded
by a number sign character. |
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Broken
hyperlink
A hyperlink that does not correctly point to a page or other
Internet file. A broken hyperlink indicates either an incorrect
URL or a missing page or file. |
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Browser
See Web browser. |
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Bulleted
list
A paragraph style that creates a single list element, usually
indicated by a bullet character. Also called an unordered list.
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Bulletin
board
An Internet service that makes multiple discussion groups available.
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CGI
Common Gateway Interface |
Co-Location
A hosting service that simply stores and maintains a customer's
server. |
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Dedicated Hosting
A company that provides all the equipment and assumes all the
responsibility for the technical support and maintenance of
Websites. |
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Default
hyperlink
In an image map, the hyperlink to follow when the user clicks
outside of any hotspots on the image. You set the default hyperlink
by editing the Default Hyperlink field in the Image Properties
dialog box. |
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Definition
The style of the second of a pair of paragraphs composing a
definition list entry. The first paragraph in the pair is the
term. |
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Definition
list
A list of alternating term and definition paragraphs. Definition
lists are often used to implement dictionaries in FrontPage
webs. See also term and definition. |
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Discussion
group
A Website that supports interactive discussions by users. Users
submit topics by entering text in a form, and they can search
the group using a search form or access articles using a table
of contents. |
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Domain
name
See network location. |
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Drop-down
menu field
A form field that presents a list of selections in drop-down
menu style. A drop-down menu form field can be configured to
permit the selection of many fields or a single field. |
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Editor
An interactive program that can create
and modify files of a particular type. |
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E-Mail
(electronic mail)
A service for sending messages electronically, over a computer
network. |
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Emphasis
text
The HTML character style used for mild emphasis. Certain browsers
display emphasized text as italic. |
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EPS
(Encapsulated PostScript)
An extension of the PostScript graphics file format developed
by Adobe Systems. EPS lets PostScript graphics files be incorporated
into other documents. |
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Ethernet
A commonly used local area network (LAN) technology. |
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External
hyperlink
A hyperlink to any file that is outside the current web page. |
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FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)
A common type of document on the Internet that contains a list
of questions and answers on a common theme. On the World Wide
Web, questions are often hyperlinks to the answers. |
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File
A named collection of information that is stored on a computer
disk. Also, an Internet protocol that refers to files on the
local disk. |
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File
server
A program running on a network that stores files and provide
access to them. Also called server. |
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File
type
The format of a file, usually indicated by its filename extension.
Editors usually work on a limited set of file types. |
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Finger
An Internet program that displays information about the users
currently logged on to a computer. |
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Firewall
A method of protecting one network from another network. A firewall
blocks unwanted access to the protected network while giving
the protected network access to networks outside of the firewall.
A company will typically install a firewall to give users access
to the Internet while protecting their internal information.
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Folder
In a URL, a single part of the path to a page. A folder is a
named storage area on the computer containing files and other
folders. In http://my.web.site/sample/test.htm, sample/ is a
folder. |
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Form
A set of data entry fields on a page that are processed on the
server. The data is sent to the server when the user submits
the form by clicking on a button or, in some cases, by clicking
on an image.
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Form field
A data-entry field on a page. A user supplies information in
a field either by typing text or by selecting the field.
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Form handler
A program on a server that executes when a user submits a form.
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Formatted text
A mono-spaced paragraph style in which all white space (such
as tabs and spaces) is displayed by the browser. In other text
styles, the browser may ignore extra white space. |
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Frame
A named element of a frame set. A frame appears in a Web browser
as a scrollable window in which pages can be displayed. You
assign a page to a frame when you create a hyperlink to the
page. |
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Frame set
A page that defines a set of named scrollable windows in which
other pages can be displayed. Use a frame set when you want
the contents of one part of the page to remain unchanged while
the contents of other parts of the page change based on hyperlinks
that the user selects. |
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FTP (File Transfer Protocol)
The Internet service that transfers files from one computer
to another. |
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Gateway script
See CGI |
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Heading
A paragraph type that is displayed
in a large, bold typeface. The size of a heading is related to
its level: Heading 1 is the largest, Heading 2, the next largest,
and so on. Use headings to name pages and parts of pages. |
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Hidden
field
A form field that is invisible to the user but that supplies
data to the form handler. Each hidden field is implemented as
a name-value pair. When the form is submitted by the user, its
hidden fields are passed to the form-handler along with name-value
pairs for each visible form field. |
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Home
page
The starting point on a Web server. It is the page that is retrieved
and displayed by default when a user visits the Web server.
The default home-page name for a server depends on the server's
configuration. On most Web servers, it is index.html or index.htm.
Some servers support multiple home pages. |
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Horizontal
line
A horizontal graphic element on a World Wide Web page often
used to separate sections of the page. |
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Host
See server. |
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Host
name
See network location. |
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Hotspot
A graphically defined area in an image that contains a hyperlink.
An image with hotspots is called an image map. In browsers,
hotspots are invisible. Users can tell that a hotspot is present
by the changing appearance of the pointer. |
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HTIMAGE.EXE
The CERN image map dispatcher. This program handles server-side
image maps when the image map style is "CERN." |
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HTML
(HyperText Markup Language)
The standard language for describing the contents and structure
of pages on the World Wide Web. |
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HTML
attribute
A name-value pair used within an HTML tag to assign additional
properties to the object being defined. |
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HTML
character encoding
A table that associates a numeric index with each character
in a character set. The table is used when you create a Web
page for use in a specific language. |
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HTML
tag
A symbol used in HTML to identify a page element's type, format,
and structure. |
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HTTP
(HyperText Transport Protocol)
The Internet protocol that allows World Wide Web browsers to
retrieve information from servers. |
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Hyperlink
A jump from text or from an image map to a page or other type
of file on the World Wide Web. In World Wide Web pages, hyperlinks
are the primary way to navigate between pages and among Websites. |
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Hypertext
Originally, any textual information on a computer containing
jumps to other information. The hypertext jumps are called hyperlinks.
In World Wide Web pages, hypertext is the primary way to navigate
between pages and among Websites. Hypertext on World Wide Web
pages has been expanded to include hyperlinks from text and
hyperlinks from image maps. |
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IIS (Internet Information Server)
Microsoft's high-performance, secure, and extensible Internet
server based on Windows NT Server. IIS supports the World Wide
Web, FTP, and gopher. |
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Image
A graphic in GIF or JPEG file format that can be inserted in
a World Wide Web page. FrontPage lets you import images in the
following formats and insert them as GIF or JPEG: GIF, JPEG,
BMP (Windows and OS/2), TIFF, TAG, PCD, RAS, EPS, PCX, and WMF. |
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Image
alignment
The specification of how images and text are aligned with each
other on the page. |
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Image
form field
A form field that displays an image in a form. By clicking the
image, the user either submits or clears the form. |
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Image
map
An image containing one or more invisible regions, called hotspots,
which are assigned hyperlinks. Typically, an image map gives
users visual cues about the information made available by clicking
on each part of the image. For example, a geographical map could
be made into an image map by assigning hotspots to each region
of interest on the map. |
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IMAGEMAP.EXE
The NCSA image map dispatcher. This program handles server-side
image maps when the image map style is "NCSA." |
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Inline
image
An image that is embedded in a line of text rather than in its
own window. |
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Interlaced
image
A GIF image that is displayed full-sized at low resolution while
it is being loaded, and at increasingly higher resolutions until
it is fully loaded and has a normal appearance. |
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Internal
hyperlink
A hyperlink to any file that is inside the web page. |
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Internal
web
A World Wide Website created within an organization and accessible
only to members of that organization on an intranet. |
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Internet
The global computer network, composed of thousands of Wide Area
Networks (WANs) and Local Area Networks (LANs), that uses TCPIP
to provide world-wide communications to homes, schools, businesses,
and governments. The World Wide Web runs on the Internet. |
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Internet
address
See network location. |
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Internet
database connector
A Microsoft IIS feature that allows your World Wide Website
to access databases. |
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IP (Internet
Protocol)
Internet software that divides data into packets for transmission
over the Internet. Computers must run IP to communicate across
the Internet. See also TCP. |
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IP address
(Internet Protocol address)
The standard way of identifying a computer that is connected
to the Internet, much the way a Phone identifies
a telephone on a telephone network. The IP address is four numbers
separated by periods, and each number is less than 256, for
example, 192.200.44.69. Your system administrator or Internet
service provider will assign your machine an IP address. |
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IP address
mask (Internet Protocol address mask)
A range of IP addresses defined so that only machines with IP
addresses within the range are allowed access to an Internet
service. To mask a portion of the IP address, replace it with
the asterisk wild card character (*). For example, 192.44.*.*
represents every computer on the Internet with an IP address
beginning with 192.44. |
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ISAPI
(Internet Server Application Programming Interface)
A high-performance Web server application development interface,
developed by Process Software and Microsoft Corporation, which
can be used in place of CGI. |
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Java
A general-purpose programming language created by Sun Microsystems.
Java can be used to create Java applets. A Java program is downloaded
from the Web server and interpreted by a program running on
the machine containing the Web browser. |
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Java
applet
A short program written in Java that is attached to a World
Wide Web page and executed by the browser machine. |
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JavaScript
A cross-platform, World Wide Web scripting language developed
by Netscape Communications. JavaScript code is inserted directly
into the HTML page. |
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JPEG
(Joint Photographic Expert Group)
A color image format with excellent compression for most kinds
of images. JPEG is commonly used on the World Wide Web for 24-bit
color images. |
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LAN (Local Area Network)
A computer network technology that is designed to connect computers
that are separated by a short distance. A LAN can be connected
to the Internet and can also be configured as an intranet. |
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Line
break
A special character that forces a new line on the page without
creating a new paragraph. |
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Link
See hyperlink. |
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List
A group of paragraphs formatted to indicate membership in a
set or in a sequence of steps. |
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Mailto
The Internet protocol that is used to send electronic mail.
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Marquee
A region on a page that displays a horizontally scrolling message.
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Menu
list
A list of short paragraph entries formatted with little white
space between them.
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Meta
tag
An HTML tag that must appear in the portion of the page. Meta
tags supply information about the page but do not affect its
display. A standard meta tag, "generator," is used to supply
the type of editor that created the HTML page.
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MIME
type (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions type)
A method used by Web browsers to associate files of a certain
type with helper applications that display files of that type.
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Multihosting
The ability of a Web server to support more than one Internet
address and more than one home page on a single server. Also
called multihoming.
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Name-value
pair
The name of a form field and the value of the field at the time
the form is submitted. Each field in a form can have one or
more name-value pairs, and the form itself can have one or more
name-value pairs.
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Nested
list
A list that is contained within a member of another list. Nesting
is indicated by indentation in most Web browsers.
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Network
location
In a URL, the unique name that identifies an Internet server.
A network location has two or more parts, separated by periods,
as in my.network.location. Also called host name and Internet
address.
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Numbered
list
The World Wide Web page paragraph style that presents an ordered
list of items.
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OLE (Object Linking and Embedding)
An object system created by Microsoft. OLE lets the author invoke
different editor components to create a compound document.
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One-line
text box
A labeled, single-line form field in which users can type text.
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Page
A single document in a World Wide Website written using the
HTML language.
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Page
title
A text string identifying a page.
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Paragraph
style
Paragraph style specifies the type of font to use in a paragraph,
along with the font's size, and other attributes. Paragraph
style also specifies whether to use bullets and numbering, and
controls indentation and line spacing.
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Password
A text string that allows a user access to an Internet service,
if the service requires it.
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Path
The portion of a URL that identifies the folders containing
a file. For example, in the URL http://my.web.site/hello/world
/greetings.htm, the path is /hello/world/.
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PCT
(Personal Communications Technology)
An enhanced version of Secure Socket Layer. See also SSL.
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PCX
A file format that compresses its image data with RLE-type compression,
used by early versions of Windows PaintBrush.
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Plug-in
One of a set of software modules that integrate into Web browsers
to offer a range of interactive and multimedia capabilities.
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POP3
Post Office Protocol 3
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Port
One of the network input/output channels of a computer running
TCP/IP. In the World Wide Web, port usually refers to the port
number a server is running on. A single computer can have many
Web servers running on it, but only one server can be running
on each port. The default port for World Wide Web servers is
80.
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Properties
The settings and values that characterize an item on the web,
such as the title and URL of a web, the file name and path of
a file, or the name and initial value of a form field.
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Protocol
A method of accessing a document or service over the Internet,
such as File Transfer Protocol (FTP) or HyperText Transfer Protocol
(HTTP). Also called type.
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Proxy
server
An Internet server that acts as a firewall, mediating traffic
between a protected network and the Internet.
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Push
button
A form field that allows the user to submit a form or reset
the form to its initial state.
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Radio
Button
A form field that presents the user with a selection that can
be chosen by clicking on a button. Radio buttons are presented
in a list, one of which is selected by default. Selecting a
new member of the list deselects the currently selected item.
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Registered
User
A user of a Website with a recorded name and password.
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Relative
URL
The Internet address of a page or other World Wide Web resource
with respect to the Internet address of the current page. A
relative URL gives the path from the current location of the
page to the location of the destination page or resource. A
relative URL can optionally include a protocol. For example,
the relative URL doc/sample.htm refers to the page sample.htm
in the directory doc, below the current directory.
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Root
web
To access the root web, you supply the URL of the server without
specifying a page name.
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Row
In a table, a horizontal collection of cells.
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RTF
(Rich Text Format)
A method of encoding text formatting and document structure
using the ASCII character set. By convention, RTF files have
an RTF filename extension.
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SMTP
Simple Mail Transfer Protocol. Defines a way two mail servers
communicate in order to transmit and receive E-Mail messages.
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Script
A type of computer code than can be directly executed by a program
that understands the language in which the script is written.
Scripts do not need to be compiled into object code to be executed.
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Scrolling
text box
A labeled, multiple-line form field in which users can type
one or more lines of text.
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SSL
(Secure Socket Layer)
A low-level protocol that enables secure communications between
a server and a browser.
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Server
A computer that offers services on a network. On the World Wide
Web, the server is the computer that runs the Web server program
that responds to HTTP protocol requests by providing Web pages.
Also called host.
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Server
Name
See network location.
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Server-Side
Image Map
An image map that passes the coordinates of the cursor to a
CGI handler routine on the server. Server-side image maps require
your server to compute the target URL of the hyperlink based
on the cursor coordinates.
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Server-Side
Include
A feature provided by some Web servers that automatically inserts
text onto pages when they are given to the browser.
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SGML
An ISO (International Standards Organization) markup language
for representing documents on computers. HTML is based on SGML
concepts.
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Shared
Hosting
Hosting service that allows you to effectively manage your site
by sharing server space with other clients allowing for a lower
cost of service.
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Size
Handle
The black rectangle displayed on a selected form field or hotspot.
When you select a size handle, the cursor becomes a bi-directional
arrow. Click and drag a size handle to reshape the field or
hotspot.
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Special
Character
A character not in the standard 7-bit ASCII character set, such
as the copyright mark (©).
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Strong
Text
The HTML character style used for strong emphasis. Certain browsers
display this style as bold.
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Table
One or more rows of cells on a page used to organize the layout
of a page or arrange data systematically.
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Tag
See HTML tag.
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Tag
Selection
A method of selecting a group of paragraphs and other objects
on a page. Use tag selection to select the members of a list,
an entire form, or a WebBot component. To tag select a set of
objects, move the cursor to the left of the objects until the
cursor becomes the tag selection cursor (an arrow pointing to
the upper-right), and then double-click.
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TCP (Transmission Control Protocol)
Internet networking software that controls the transmission
of packets of data over the Internet. Among its tasks, TCP checks
for lost packets, puts the data from multiple packets into the
correct order, and requests that missing or damaged packets
be resent. Computers must run TCP to communicate with World
Wide Web servers.
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Template
A set of designed formats for text and images on which web pages
can be based.
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Term
The first of a pair of paragraphs formatted as a definition
list entry. The second paragraph is the definition.
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Thumbnail
A small version of an image on a World Wide Web page, often
containing a hyperlink to a full-size version of the image.
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TIFF
(Tagged Image File Format)
A tag-based image format. TIFF is designed to promote universal
interchanges of digital images.
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Unordered
List
See bulleted list.
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URL
(Uniform Resource Locator)
A string that supplies the Internet address of a resource on
the World Wide Web, along with the protocol by which the resource
is accessed. The most common URL type is "http," which gives
the Internet address of a World Wide Web page. Some other URL
types are "gopher," which gives the Internet address of a Gopher
directory, and "ftp," which gives the address of an FTP resource.
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UNIX
An operating system typically used on proprietary workstations
and computers. Some World Wide Web servers run on UNIX systems.
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VBScript
A subset of the Microsoft Visual Basic programming system. Microsoft
Internet Explorer version 3.0, along with other browsers, can
read VBScript programs embedded in HTML pages. VBScript programs
can be executed on either the browser machine or on the World
Wide Web server.
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Video
Clip
A short video sequence that can be embedded into a World Wide
Web page. Video clips can be inserted into FrontPage using ActiveX
Controls, VBScripts, Java applets, or plug-ins.
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Virtual
Hosting
Hosting service designed to provide you with the tools you need
to effectively manage your presence on the Internet.
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Visited
Hyperlink
A hyperlink on a page that has been activated. Visited hyperlinks
are usually displayed in a unique color by the browser.
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Visual
SourceSafe
A document source-control system developed by Microsoft.
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