Web Glossary

We know how confusing some of the terminology used in the web business can be to those who don't work in the field. With that in mind, we've put together a basic glossary to help you understand what these words and phrases mean. If there's some web-related word or phrase you don't understand and don't see it here, drop us a line and we'll help clear it up for you.

Bandwidth: The amount of computer resources used by a website.

Browser: The software program you use to surf the Web. The two most common browsers in use are Microsoft Internet Explorer® and Netscape Navigator®. Some Internet services provide their own in-house browsers, too.

CGI (Common Gateway Interface): CGI scripts can be written in any language, and are used by a website to accomplish actions that otherwise would be difficult or impossible with just HTML.

Disk Space: The amount of space your website is using on the hosting company's computer.

Domain: Also referred to as web address or URL (Uniform Resource Locator), this is your website's location on the Internet.

DS3: This abbreviation stands for Digital Signal level 3, an Internet transmission method capable of speeds of 44.736Mbps.

Electronic Commerce: Also called ecommerce, this refers to the buying or selling of products electronically.

FAQs: This popular term stands for Frequently Asked Questions. Many companies include an FAQ page on their website.

Gigabit Ethernet: A network transmission method capable of speeds of 1,000Mbps.

Hosting: This is the process of holding the files needed for a website on a server computer connected to the Internet. In essence, you rent space on the hosting company's server and pay them on either a monthly, quarterly, or yearly basis.

HTML: Usually pronounced hitmul, this abbreviation stands for HyperText Markup Language. This is the computer "language" used to create websites.

Internet: A huge conglomeration of computers connected by an electronic superhighway for the purpose of exchanging data worldwide.

ISP (Internet Service Provider): A company that provides consumers and businesses with Internet access and/or web hosting.

Mbps: This abbreviation stands for Megabits per second. A bit is a single binary digit (1 or 0) which is the native language of computers. A megabit is approximately a million bits of information. Mbps is a measure of digital transmission speed.

Meta Tags: Part of the HTML used to build a website. They're sets of words describing key features and characteristics of your website. Many search engines rely on your meta tags so it's important your web designer knows how to use them effectively.

MySQL: A client-server SQL database and language popular for use on the World Wide Web.

OC3: This is the abbreviation for Optical Carrier level 3, an Internet transmission method capable of speeds of 155.52Mbps.

Open Source: Software which includes its source code along with the program itself.

PHP: This abbreviation stands for PHP Hypertext Processor, an open source general purpose scripting language specially suited for web development. It can be embedded in HTML.

Search Engines: Programs/websites that enable you to search for information on the Internet. Each engine has its own method for indexing websites so various engines may produce different results from the same search. Popular search engines include sites such as Google and DogPile. Different from search engines are directory-based websites like Yahoo!. These are more like the Yellow Pages and most require payment to be listed, or payment for priority placement. Yahoo!, specifically, requires a payment just to be considered for listing. Thankfully, more and more search engines use the same master database so, getting your site there, gets you listed with numerous search engines.

Security Certificate: An electronic "certificate" designed to authenticate a web server. Such authentication is meant to prove to your web browser the server is what/who it says it is. Security certificates are generally used to initiate encrypted sessions with web servers. Once the server has "proved" its identity with a certificate, further electronic traffic with that server is encrypted. This allows you to do things like enter a credit card number on a website without hackers being able to intercept the number when you transmit it.

Server: A fast, high-powered computer designed to serve up data to a network of computers. Your website sits on one of your hosting company's Internet servers. At Quill & Mouse Studios, our servers use the Linux operating systemthe most secure and safe servers available.

Shopping Cart: A program providing ecommerce websites with a virtual shopping cart, allowing customers to view, add, and delete items before making their electronic purchase.

Source Code: The English-like text that programmers type in to create programs. Once they've entered in the source code, programs are usually "compiled," which converts the source code into binary language a computer can understand.

SQL: This abbreviation stands for Structured Query Language, a standardized language primarily used for querying databases of all types.

SSI: This abbreviation stands for Server Side Includes. These are commands generally embedded in HTML which direct a web server to do certain actions. By contrast, although languages like PHP can also be embedded in HTML, they're aimed at influencing browser behavior, rather than the behavior of the web server.

SSL: This abbreviation stands for Secure Socket Layer. This is the technology that handles authentication and data encryption between a Web browser and a Web server. If you're going to accept personal information like credit cards, you should provide your website users with this security. This also requires obtaining a Security Certificate.

Web Designer/Developer: This is the person or company that designs and creates your website. This is also usually the person or company who maintains your website, making any needed changes or updates.

Web Page: There is no hard and fast definition of a web page. Some people call the portion of a website that fits on a screen a "web page," but this is more accurately called a screen page. Others refer to each HTML file as a "web page" but since files can be varying sizes, this, too, isn't the best definition. We use this definition, but with a limitation of up to 200 words per page so it can be more equitable. HTML files going over that limit will count as two (or more) pages.