Glossary of Common Web Terms

Address (URL)
Unique identifier of a web page. URL (Uniformed Resource Locator) is more frequently used for this purpose.

Browser
Computer program that allows to search the World Wide Web and displays the content of the webpages. Examples are Mosaic, Netscape, Mozilla, Opera and Internet Explorer.

Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)
A style-sheet determines how the HTML document is displayed by the browser. The current version of CSS is version 2 (CSS2).

Database
Data in a structured format stored on a web server. Most popular type is a relational database. The most common query (information retrieval) language for relational databases is SQL. Linux-based hosts most commonly include MySQL database and Windows NT-based hosts usually include Access or MS SQL databases.

Domain Name
Domain name is an easy-to-remember address that can be translated by DNS into server's IP address. Domain names are hierarchical. Domain's suffix indicates which TLD (top level domain) it belongs to, for example .com, .gov, .org, .net, or .jp. Recently ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) added several new TLDs, like .biz, .pro., and .museum.

FTP
File Transfer Protocol. The Internet protocol defining how to download and upload files between a client and an FTP server. Popular client FTP programs are CuteFTP and WS_FTP. Major browser also have FTP capability.

Hyperlink
A part of the web page that links to another web page. By clicking on a hyperlink user redirects the browser to another page. The word hyperlink is sometimes shortened to just "link".

PHP
PHP is an free, open-source server-side scripting language. PHP code can be embedded in HTML. PHP files usually have extensions like .php or .php3. PHP language style is similar to C and Java. Here is the PHP group web site. Other popular server-side scripting languages are ASP, Perl, ColdFusion, TCL, Python, and JSP.

Server
A networked computer that handles client requests for Web pages.

SMTP
Simple Mail Transfer Protocol. Very popular protocol used to transfer email messages across the Internet mail servers.

Blog

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February 12th, 2010

Building a fan base for your business on social media outlets such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube can get you higher visibility, increased website traffic, and more business. Using social media as a marketing platform goes hand in hand with SEO as far as driving more traffic to your site.

5 Ways to Communicate Effectively With Your Audience

January 22nd, 2010

What IS your website? You know you need an effective Web presence, but have you stopped to think about your site’s true purpose? You might say “to get exposure,” “to sell my product,” or “to promote my services.” These might all be true, but above all your website needs to communicate. Like any method of communication, your site needs to be clear, easy to understand, and good at getting to the heart of your message in order to work. The most well-designed site on the Web reaches no one if people click once, then leave. Read more…