Key Terms

A list of some internet terms with a brief definition.

E-Business - a company existing solely on the internet

Internet - "The Internet" refers to the worldwide network of interconnected computers, all of which use a common protocol known as TCP/IP to communicate with each other. Every publicly accessible web site is hosted by a web server computer, which is a part of the Internet. Every personal computer, cell phone or other device that people use to look at web sites is also a part of the Internet. The Internet also makes possible email, games and other applications unrelated to the World Wide Web.

HTML - HTML, or HyperText Markup Language, is a simple markup language used to make web pages. Although all modern word processors and many specialized tools can be used to make web pages without learning HTML at all, learning HTML itself is a useful way to learn more about the web and provides more control over the results. Luckily, HTML is very simple and quite easy to learn.

Flash - similar to Java, Macromedia Flash is another technology that allows animations, interactive forms, games and other jazzed-up features to be embedded in web pages. Macromedia Flash Player is a well-known and trustworthy plug-in that users should feel comfortable installing. The Flash plug-in can be found on Macromedia's web site.

CSS - cascading style sheets are the recommended method of expressing the precise "look and feel" of a web page. By associating a CSS file with a web page, the exact appearance and behaviour of every HTML element can be specified.

Banner - section of a webpage which features the name of the website, often found along the top.

Meta Tags - special tags which allow a search engine to know about the content of a web page.

Search Engines - since no one is in charge of the Web as a whole, there is a business opportunity for anyone to create an index of its contents and an interface for searching that index. Such interfaces are known as search engines. Typically the user will type in a few words that relate to what he or she is looking for and click a search button, at which point the search engine will present a links to web pages which are, hopefully, relevant to that search.

Directory - a container of many websites, normally arranged in categories, ie Yahoo.

Email - the sending of data over the internet to a mail server.

Hosting - a company that provides hosting allows its customers to upload their web pages to its computers or servers, where other web users can view or download the pages.

Domain Name - The term "domain name" usually refers to a particular organization's registered name on the Internet, such as example.com, boutell.com or udel.edu. There may be many distinct computers within a single domain, or there may be only one. The term "fully qualified domain name" refers to a complete web site or other computer's name on the Internet, such as www.boutell.com or ip2039.cleveland.myisp.com. The holder of a domain name may delegate almost any number of names within that domain, such as www1.example.com, www2.example.com, whimsical.example.com, and so on.

Web Designer - someone who builds webpages, often using software.

Web Developer - someone who can write software in a language like Perl.

HTTP - hypertext transfer protocol, the standard for sending and receiving data across the internet

Page Rank - the higher the page rank, the more important it is judged to be by Google.

Link (hyperlink) - Every time you click on a link on a web page, such as the link you may have clicked on to reach this page, you are following a hyperlink. See also the URL entry.

Content Management System (CMS) - A content management system (CMS) is a term which refers to a piece of software which allows a web user to 'manage' the existing content of a web page. CMS are popular because they allow the owner of the website to keep the content of their website current and up to date without having to ask the web designer to update it themselves.

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) - A web page which has been written to be easily crawled by a bot or spider. A spider is a piece of software, normally created by a search engine, which looks around the internet for web pages.