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Glossary
We have provided this glossary of relevant terms for your information. Just click on the first letter of the term you're looking for to find a definition. If you're interested in a term we haven't listed or if you'd like more information, please contact us.
A
Acrobat
Acrobat is part of a set of applications developed by Adobe to create and view PDF files. Acrobat is used to create the PDF files, and the freeware Acrobat Reader is used to read the PDF files.
Aliasing
In graphic design, aliasing occurs when a computer monitor, printer, or graphics file does not have a high enough resolution to represent a graphic image or text.
Alternate Text
Text which is displayed when moving a mouse to hover over an image. Alternate text is also displayed in place of an image if the visitor has image viewing turned off in their browser. Alternate text can also help with SEO.
(Email) Aliases
Hosting Companies provide you with a way to receive email @yourbusiness.com. Depending on the company, you can often specify several email aliases such as:
info@yourbusiness.com, or employee's name@yourbusiness.com.
Usually this email is then forwarded or redirected to an existing email address or addresses, such as the one provided by your ISP. Email aliases not only separate your business email address from your personal one, but they look professional and can be easily redirected in the event of a change to an ISP email address, without having to making changes to your web site.
Auto Response or Auto Responders
A pre-written message you have automatically sent to a visitor's email address when they send you an email or place an order online. Most hosting companies include this feature with your hosting account for no charge.
B
Bandwidth
Bandwidth is the amount of information your connection to the Internet can carry. On average, typical telephone lines can carry 1K of information per second.
Banner
A banner is a graphic image (static, animated, or rich media) that is placed on web sites as an advertisement. Banners are commonly used for brand awareness and generating sales.
Bitmap graphic
A graphic imange which is composed of a pattern of dots. The individual dots are stored as data on a computer. An example of an animation that is a bitmap graphic is a GIF animation.
Bitmap Image (bmp)
A graphic image stored as a specific arrangement of screen dots, or pixels. Web graphics are bitmap images. Common types of bitmap graphics are GIF, JPEG, Photoshop, PCX, TIFF, Macintosh Paint, Microsoft Paint, PNG, FAX formats, and TGA.
Bookmark
Just as a paper bookmark is used as a reminder of the page you are on in a book, electronic bookmarks are used to bring you back to a web site or web page you may want to return to. Your browser lets you bookmark any site and save the bookmarks in a file you can recall at any time. Microsoft Internet Explorer uses the term "favorite" instead of bookmark for the same concept.
Broadband
A transmission medium capable of supporting a wide range of frequencies enabling the fast transmission large amounts of data. Broadband Internet access, often shortened to "broadband Internet" or just "broadband" is a high data-transmission rate internet connection. DSL and cable modem, both popular consumer broadband technologies, are typically capable of transmitting 512 kilobits per second (kbit/s) or more, approximately nine times the speed of a modem using a standard digital telephone line.
Browser
The software used to view, manage, and access web pages by interpreting hypertext and hyperlinks. The two most common browsers are Netscape and Microsoft Internet Explorer. Web pages can appear differently depending on the brand and version of the browser intended to view them in.
C
Check Box
In an online form, check boxes are the equivalent of ticking a box in a paper form. If you click your mouse on the boxes, you will be able to select multiple items. A check box is different from a radio button, which can only accept one checked item at a time.
Compression
A method of packing data in order to save disk storage space or download time. JPEGs are generally compressed graphics files. Compression is a technique to make a file or a data stream smaller for faster transmission or to take up less storage space.
Cookie
A cookie is a message given to a web browser by a web server. The purpose of cookies is to identify web site users/visitors and possibly prepare customized web pages for them.
CSS
Abbreviation for Cascading Style Sheet, a feature of HTML developed by the W3C. With Cascading Style sheets, both web designers and end users can create style templates that specify how different text elements (paragraphs, headings, hyperlinks, etc.) appear on a web page.
D
Dedicated Line
A dedicated line is a permanent connection to the Internet using an individual, separate phone line.
DHTML
Stands for Dynamic Hypertext Mark-up Language. DHTML is an HTML extension that allows web pages to react to the end users' input, such as displaying a web page based on the type of browser or computer end users are viewing a page with.
Directory
Compiled lists of web sites, usually categorized and organized by topic. Directory listing usually contains short, descriptive information about the site. Unlike search engines (like Google), directories (such as Yahoo) do not make use of a spider or robot, instead they are compiled by human editors who review each web site before listing them in the directory.
Domain
A domain name is a unique address on the Internet (such as startupinternet.com). There are many different types of domain extensions such as .com, .net, .co.uk. A domain name is unique, hence it can only be assigned once. Once a domain name has been registered, no one else can use it.
DNS
The Domain Name System (DNS) translates your domain name into the numerical IP (Internet Protocol) addresses used by the Internet (e.g. 200.115.12.4).
Doorway Page
Web pages created specifically for search engine positions. Also known as a gateway page or a bridge page.
Drop-Down Menu
In an online form, a drop-down menu (also known as a pull-down menu) allows you to select from a given list of items. Drop-down menus are commonly used for web site navigation.
E
Error 404
This error message means Page Not Found (on a server).
Export
To save a file in a different format (that of another program). For example, many Adobe Photoshop files are exported to become GIF or JPEG files.
F
Flash
Vector graphic animation software from Macromedia that allows Flash graphics to look the same across all browsers, as long as the plug-in is installed. One of the advantages of Flash animations is their relatively fast download time.
Font
A font is a complete set of characters in a particular size and style of type. This includes the letter set, the number set, and all of the special character and diacritical marks you get by pressing the shift, option, or command/control keys. For example, Times NewRoman Bold Italic is one font, and Times NewRoman Bold is another font. Times NewRoman is a single typeface.
Forms
HTML tags that define and label text-entry boxes, check boxes, radio buttons, and/or drop-down menus to create simple on-screen forms for collecting information from the viewer.
Frames
In HTML, frames provide the ability to break a web page into multiple, separately scrollable areas.
Freeware
Software distributed for free on the web.
FTP
Stands for File Transfer Protocol. FTP allows you to copy or send files (HTML-documents, graphic images, spreadsheets) from one computer to another via the Internet.
G
GIF
Stands for Graphics Interchange Format. GIF images are the most widely used graphic format on the web. GIF images display up to 256 colors.
Gradient
A gradient is a gradual transition of colors. Many metallic images are gradients. Web images that use gradient fills as a special effect should be saved in a JPEG rather than a GIF format.
H
Hexadecimal
A numbering system which uses a base of 16. The first ten digits are 0-9 and the next six are A-F. Hexadecimal numbers are used to color web pages. For example, the hexadecimal equivalent for the color white is #FFFFFF.
Home Page
The main or entry page of most web sites.
Hosting Company, Host, Hosting Provider, Web Host
A company that uses a web server to provide storage space for many web sites. A good hosting company allows you unlimited access to your web site files and has their server online (up and running) 99% of the time.
HTML
Abbreviation for Hypertext Markup Language; a cross-platform text-formatting system for creating web pages, including copy, images, sounds, frames, animation and more.
Hyperlink
A hyperlink, more commonly called a link, is an electronic connection between one web page to other web pages. More specifically, a hyperlink is a connection between one page of a hypertext document to another.
Hypertext
Hypertext is any text that can be chosen by a reader and which causes another document to be retrieved and displayed.
I
Image Map
An image map is a single graphic image containing multiple, clickable hyperlinks.
Information Page
A static web page that is designed, coded, and written primarily for a target audience but formatted for optimal search engine and directory positioning.
Internet Service Provider (ISP)
A company which provides access to the internet through a regular or high speed dial-up (phone line) connection, broadband (ADSL) or via satellite. An ISP can be a small local provider or a large national provider such as AOL.
Interstitial
An interstitial is a web advertisement that appears in a separate browser window, other than the target web page.
J
Java
Java is a programming language, created by Sun Microsystems, which allows small applications to be downloaded into your computer for playback. Java can be used for simple applications such as animation to more complex applications such as a calculator.
JavaScript
JavaScript is a scripting language developed by Netscape. JavaScript can make web pages more animated and dynamic in terms of graphics and navigation. One of the most common graphic JavaScript effects is called a mouseover, and Javascript navigation is commonly created using drop-down menus.
JPEG
Abbreviation for Joint Photographic Experts Group. File format for full-color and black-and-white graphic images. JPEG images allow for more colors than GIF images and are usually smaller in size.
K
Kilobyte (K)
A kilobyte is a storage unit capable of storing 1,024 bytes of information.
L
Leading
The vertical spacing between lines of text.
Link
See hyperlink
List
Text that is categorized, be it bulleted, numbered, or unnumbered. The default list bullets and numbers are black with no special effects. To make a bulleted list using graphic images as bullets, web graphic designers use a table format or CSS.
LPI
Abbreviation for Lines Per Inch.
M
Masthead
A masthead is a graphic image placed on top of a web page that tells end users what page they are on. Masthead images can contain photos, text, shapes, and/or image maps.
Meta-tag
Meta-tags are HTML tags that can be used to identify the creator of a web page, what HTML specifications a web page follows, the keywords and description of the page, etc. The most common use of a meta-tag in online marketing is the keyword and description tags, which tell the search engines that index meta-tags what description to use in their search query results.
Modem
A modem (modulator/demodulator) is the hardware required to connect telephone lines and is essential for dial-up connections to the Internet.
Mouseover
A popular special effect for web graphics, generally programmed in JavaScript, that changes color or switches a graphic image when you place your cursor over it. Mouseovers can also be used to trigger navigation changes and pop-up windows.
Multimedia
A form of communication combining text with graphics, page layout, video, audio, animation, etc.
N
Netiquette
Accepted, proper behavior on the Internet. The term especially applies to forums, and email and newsgroup posts.
O
Online
If you are connected to the Internet, you are online. Online advertising is done exclusively on the web or through e-mail.
P
Stands for Portable Document Format. Created by Adobe Systems in its software program Adobe Acrobat as a universal browser. Files can be downloaded via the web and viewed page by page, provided the user's computer has installed the necessary plug-in which can be downloaded from Adobe's own web site.
Pixels
Individual tiny dots of light which display colors, images and text on a screen. Most images and font sizes used in websites are measured in pixels.
Plug-In
A software extension that provides added capabilities to the browser, for purposes such as viewing, hearing, or saving specially formatted files. Most plug-ins are available via the creator's web page for downloading.
PPI
Stands for pixels per inch. PPI specifies the resolution of an input device, such as a scanner, digital camera, or monitor. Web page resolution ranges from 72-96 pixels per inch.
Post
A post is a single message sent to a newsgroup or message board.
Q
Query
A search request submitted to a database (such as the search engine and directory databases) to find a particular piece of information or all records that meet the search criteria.
Quick Time Video
Quick Time Video is the Apple technology that allows video, digitized sound and music, 3D, and virtual reality to be viewed on your web site.
R
RGB
Stands for the colors Red-Green-Blue. In web design and design for computer monitors, colors are defined in terms of a combination of these three colors.
Rich Media
Typically, a web site or banner advertisement that uses technology more advanced than standard GIF animation. Rich media banners include: Flash, Shockwave, streaming video, Real Audio/Video, pull-down menus, search boxes, applets that allow for interactivity, and other types of special effects.
Rules
Rules, or horizontal rules, are HTML tags that enable you to insert horizontal lines as separators or dividers. Web graphic designers will vary the length and color of horizontal rules to add emphasis and flair.
S
Screen Font
A part of the font suitcase (of Adobe Type 1 fonts), describes the shape of each character to the operating system so that the font can be seen on a computer screen.
Search Engine
A search engine is a program that searches documents (i.e. web pages, which are HTML-documents) for specified keywords and returns a list of documents containing that keyword. A search engine has two parts, a spider and an indexer. The spider is the program that fetches the documents, and the indexer reads the documents and creates an index based on the words or ideas contained in each document.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
The process of making a web site able to be indexed by a search engine spider and receive high placement in the index for specific key words or search terms because of relativity. The higher a site ranks in the index, the better the chance is of someone finding the site when using the targeted keywords or search terms. SEO should start at the beginning of a site's conception and ideally, a site should be built around the target keywords.
Server or Web Server
A computer or network of computers and specialized software which is needed to store web sites and make them available. In order to have a web site it must be stored and served by a web server. The most popular way to gain access to a server is to use a hosting company which will provide you with a certain amount of storage area for your web site.
Spider/Robot
A software program that search engines use which visits every site on the web, follows all of the links, and catalogs all of the text of every web page that (a) contains text, and (b) it is able to visit or crawl.
T
Text-Entry Box
In an online form, text-entry boxes are areas on the form where, if you place your cursor inside the box, you will be able to type information into the online form.
Thumbnail
A small version of a graphic image.
Typeface
A typeface contains a series of fonts. For example, the typeface Arial contains the fonts Arial, Arial Bold, Arial Italic and Arial Bold Italic.
U
URL
URL is the abbreviation for Uniform Resource Locator and is an address referring to a document on the Internet. In other words, it is the address of an individual web page element or web document on the Internet. For example, the URL for a home page is commonly written as: http://www.companyname.com/index.html. The syntax of a URL consists of three elements: the protocol, or the communication language, that the URL uses (http://); the domain name, or the exclusive name that identifies a web site (www.companyname.com); and the path name of the file to be retrieved, usually an HTML document (index.html). Every web document and web graphic image on a web site has a URL.
V
Video
A series of framed images put together, one after another, to simulate motion and interactivity. A video can be transmitted by number of frames per second and/or the amount of time between switching frames. The difference between video and animation is that video is broken down into individual frames.
W
Web Site
A web site is a collection of electronic pages generally formatted in HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) that can contain text, graphic images, and multimedia effects such as sound files, video and/or animation files, and other programming elements such as Java and JavaScript.
WYSIWYG
Abbreviation for What You See Is What You Get.
X
XHTML
Abbreviation for Extensible Hypertext Mark-up Language and is a hybrid of XML and HTML. Web pages designed in XHTML should look the same across all platforms.
XML
Abbreviation for Extensible Mark-up Language.
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