Bandwidth
The range of transmission frequencies a network can use. The greater the bandwidth the more information that can be transferred over that network at one time. The term bandwidth also broadly includes throughput, meaning the amount of data sent.

Blog
A blog is basically a journal that is available on the web. The activity of updating a blog is "blogging" and someone who keeps a blog is a "blogger." Blogs are typically updated daily using software that allows people with little or no technical background to update and maintain the blog. Postings on a blog are almost always arranged in cronological order with the most recent additions featured most prominantly.

Broadband
A general term for different types of high-speed, high-bandwidth connections to the Internet, including DSL and cable.

Browser
A type of software that allows you to navigate information databases; examples are Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer.

CyberMall
A term commonly used to describe an electronic site shared by a number of commercial interests.

Cyberspace
A term coined by William Gibson in his novel "Neuromancer" to refer to a near-future computer network where users mentally travel through matrices of data. The term is now used to describe the Internet and the other computer networks.

Dial-up Connection
The most popular form of Net connection for the home user, this is a connection from your computer to a host computer over standard telephone lines.

Direct Connection
A permanent connection between your computer system and the Internet. This is sometimes referred to as a leased-line connection because the line is leased from the telephone company.

DNS
An acronym for Domain Name Server, DNS refers to a database of Internet names and addresses which translates the names to the official Internet Protocol numbers and vice versa.

FAQ
This is the acronym for Frequently Asked Questions. A common feature on the Internet, FAQs are files of answers to commonly asked questions. Read FAQs before wasting electrons asking obvious questions. Saves you from receiving flames.

Firewall
This term refers to security measures designed to protect a networked system from unauthorized or unwelcome access.

FTP
File Transfer Protocol is a protocol that allows the transfer of files from one computer to another. FTP is also the verb used to describe the act of transferring files from one computer to another.

GIF
This acronym stands for Graphic Interchange Format, a commonly used file compression format developed by CompuServe for transferring graphics files to and from online services.

GUI
An acronym for Graphical User Interface, this term refers to a software front-end meant to provide an attractive and easy to use interface between a computer user and application. The Macintosh operating system has a GUI, DOS does not.

Home Page
The document displayed when you first open your Web browser. Home Page can also refer to the first document you come to at a Web site.

Host
A computer acting as an information or communications server.

HTML
An acronym for HyperText Markup Language, HTML is the language used to tag various parts of a Web document so browsing software will know how to display that document's links, text, graphics and attached media.

HTML Document
A document written in HyperText Markup Language.

HTTP
The abbreviation for Hypertext Transfer Protocol, HTTP is used to link and transfer hypertext documents.

Hypertext
This term describes the system that allows documents to be cross- linked in such a way that the reader can explore related documents by clicking on a highlighted word or symbol.

JPEG
The acronym for Joint Photographic Experts Group, JPEG is an image compression format used to transfer color photographs and images over computer networks. Along with GIF, it's one of the most common ways photos are moved over the Web.

Links
These are the hypertext connections between Web pages. This is a synonym for hotlinks or hyperlinks.

Live
When used in reference to a World Wide Web file, this term designates an object linked to another layer of information.

POP
An acronym for Point of Presence, POP is a service provider's location for connecting to users. Generally, POPs refer to the location where people can dial into the provider's host computer. Most providers have several POPs to allow low-cost access via telephone lines.

Protocol
A set of standards that define how traffic and communications are handled by a computer or network routers.

QuickTime
This is a digital video standard developed for Apple Macintosh computers. Special viewing applications are needed to run QuickTime movies.

Router
A communications device designed to transmit signals via the most efficient route possible.

Search Engine
This term refers to a program that helps users find information in text-oriented databases.

Server
A computer system that manages and delivers information for client computers. Note: in an X-11 environment, the meanings of client and server are reversed.

Static IP
An IP address which is the same every time you log on to the Internet.

TIFF
This is the acronym for Tagged Image File Format, a graphic file format developed by Aldus and Microsoft. Mosaic supports the viewing of TIFF images.

URL
This is the abbreviation for Uniform Resource Locator, the addressing system used in the World Wide Web and other Internet resources. The URL contains information about the method of access, the server to be accessed and the path of any file to be accessed.

Web Browser
This is the software that allows a user to access and view HTML documents. Examples of Web browsers include Netscape, Mosaic, Cello and Lynx.

Web Document
An HTML document that is browsable on the Web.

Web Log
See blog

Webmaster
This term refers to the person in charge of administrating a World Wide Web site.

Web Node
This term is synonymous with Web site or Web server.

Web Page
An HTML document that is accessible on the Web.

Webspace
This term refers to the space created by the World Wide Web.

World Wide Web
Also known as WWW or W3, the World Wide Web is a hypertext-based Internet service used for browsing Internet resources.

XML
eXtensible Mark-up Language, a specification developed by the W3C. XML is a pared-down version of Standard Generalised Mark-Up Language, designed especially for Web documents. It allows designers to create their own customised tags, enabling the definition, transmission, validation, and interpretation of data between applications and between organizations.

Courtesy of Tabor Griffin Communications