Glossary
accessibility
Content developed for the online environment needs to be accessible to all Web users. Any user
of any ability should be able to find useful and understandable content through the system. Almost
everyone who has anything to do with the Web can make it more accessible, especially to those
who have disabilities. They often depend on the Web, but get alienated by the very technology
that can help them most. Often, this is also true for people from different cultural and linguistic
backgrounds, those with different computer operating systems and platforms, and those who live
in rural and remote areas.
asynchronous
Not in real time (right here, right now) — can be undertaken at different times. Discussion boards
are generally asynchronous.
bandwidth
Bandwidth relates to how much information can be carried across cables and wires, which connect
computers over the Internet.
CD-ROM
Compact disc, read only memory, holding data for display on computer screen.
connections
When you hear the strange ‘tchtchctchtch’ noises, this is a reassuring sound because it means that
data is being transferred. The average domestic modem speed these days is 56 KBPS, which
means 56,000 bps or bits per second. Each bit is a tiny package of data. The faster your modem,
the more quickly you can transfer and receive data. There are ads all the time for ADSL and cable
modems because of their speed and convenience. Basically, you have to make the decision which,
more often than not, relates to what you can afford, how much you intend to use the Internet, and
what you intend to use it for.
cookies
A cookie is a unique identifier that a Web server places on your computer: a serial number for you
that can be used to retrieve your records. It can be done without your knowledge. It's usually a
string of random-looking letters long enough to be unique. They are kept in a file called cookies or
cookies.txt or MagicCookie in your browser directory/folder. They are also known as “persistent
cookies” because they may last for years, even if you change ISP or upgrade your browser.
The Web pages you visit and browse through tell marketers what junk to push on to you! Your
mouse and browser are giving them that power: they are getting the exact URLs of the Web pages
you look at.
What your browser tells them
Your browser can reveal more than you might want—what software and hardware you are using,
details of the link you clicked on, and possibly even your e-mail address.
How they can find out who you are
All they may need is your e-mail address because various databases like Peoplefind let them
look up your name and address. People often type their e-mail or postal address into forms,
when registering at a site or requesting information. This is another way to get your details into
a marketer’s database.
Cookies tell them it's you, every time you click
Many companies use “cookies” to track every move you make on their site. If you look at your
cookies file, you may see the names of Web sites that you have never heard of! They were
probably put there by companies that resell advertising space from a large number of popular
sites. Those ad placement companies keep huge databases recording details of who looks at
which pages. The larger ones have cookies on millions of peoples' browsers. If you use one of
the popular search engines, the queries you type are probably being logged and examined too.
Cookies can easily be misused. It’s a good idea to stop cookies except for sites where you really
need them.
How to disable cookies
A cookie management package
is the best first line of defense.
You can also tell your browser
that you don't want cookies, or
to alert you when someone
tries to place a cookie on your
machine. (Or if you use your
cookie management software
to accept cookies selectively.)
In the latest browsers, you can
protect yourself by going to
Internet Options. Select
Privacy and then you can elect
the level of privacy which will
block any third party cookies
coming to you.
Glossary
page 2
DNS
URLs are translated into numbers which reflect numeric addresses using the Domain Name System
(DNS). This is a worldwide system of servers that stores location pointers to Web sites. The numeric
address, called the IP (Internet Protocol) address, is actually the “real” URL. Since numeric strings are
difficult for humans to use, alpha-numeric addresses are employed by end users. Hence, the domain
name (www.ibm.com). Once the translation is made by the DNS, the browser can contact the Web
server and ask for a specific file located on its site.
download
To download a file means to save it locally on your computer’s hard drive or on a floppy disk. It
means that you have taken the file (whether it’s an image or word document, or whatever) and can use
it at any time without being connected to the Web.
emoticons (smiley)
A sequence of ordinary characters you can find on your computer keyboard. Emoticons are used in
e-mail, chat, SMS and other forms of communication using computers. The most popular emoticons are
the smiling faces (smileys or smilies) that people use to say “don't take what I just wrote too seriously”.
e-mail
Simple Mail Transport Protocol (SMTP) distributes electronic messages and files to one or more
electronic mailboxes.
flaming
On the Internet ’flaming’ is giving someone a verbal lashing in public through an e-mail or on a
Web-based discussion board. It is considered poor netiquette to flame someone.
freeware / shareware
There are many sites on the Internet which offer free or shareware for you to download and use.
Of course, you can’t alter, re-label or resell this software…but it makes for a real community for
sharing ideas and access. Shareware usually allows you 30 days to test, use and evaluate software
for a limited time. After that, you’ll need to register and pay a fee.
ftp
File Transfer Protocol. This transfers text or binary files between an FTP server and client (allowing
you to upload new content to your Web site at any time).
Glossary
page 3
html
This refers to hyper-text markup language—the code language for basic Web pages.
html view
Choosing this option allows you to see how your document will look as a Web page.
http
HyperText Transfer Protocol. This transmits hypertext over networks. This is the protocol of the
WWW.
hyperlink
A link within a document or to an external Web site. This is usually shown by text that is underlined:
http://www.ibm.com. The cursor also turns into a pointing hand when you move it over a hyperlink.
icons
A pictorial symbol or button that represents an action or a feature in a Web site, such as an editing
tool or a link to another page.
ISP
Internet Service Provider (ISP)
modem
A modem is a piece of hardware that sends the digital signals from your computer into signals that
travel along a telephone line.
netiqette
Etiquette on the Internet
offline
This is when you work on your computer without a ‘live’ Web or network.
online
This is when you work with a ‘live’ Web connection, perhaps through either cable or modem.
Glossary
page 4
search engines
www.google.com
Google is just about the biggest, deepest, fastest search engine for most
of the searches you will undertake. Its index includes more than 2 billion
HTML pages and PDF files. These are refreshed almost every three
weeks. It returns good search results and is also the only major search
engine that indexes the content of PDF files, MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint
and RTF formats.
www.vivisimo.com
It is its clustering technology that makes Vivisimo useful. For example, if
you type a phrase, not only will Vivisimo find you all mentions of the
words, but will group the search results into categories that make it easier to find what you are really looking for; eg. food (8), recipes (10),
books (11), gardens (9).
www.altavista.com
Alta Vista has been around for some time and is considered an old
search engine with a relatively outdated index. It is quite slow to refresh.
However, it still has some excellent searching capabilities such as the
wildcard (using *). For example, when you search for small*, you will get
small, smaller, smallest, and any other words in the index that begin with
'small.'
www.alltheWeb.com
AllTheWeb.com is also known as FAST Search. It has one of the largest
indexes of the Web. Launched in May 1999, it announced in August
2001 that it would be refreshing its database every 9 to 12 days. It has
the third largest index after Google and WiseNut.
www.teoma.com
Established June 2001, this search engine promised it would rival
Google. In September 2001, Ask Jeeves purchased the company and
will use Teoma to help make its own searching more relevant.
Glossary
page 5
www.ask.com
Ask Jeeves is a human-powered search service that aims to direct you to
the exact page that answers your question. Jeeves tries to reflect human
speech and word order, coping well with full questions such as "Where
can I find info on German History?" Capital letters are not necessary.
www.ajkids.com
Ask Jeeves for Kids allows you to ask a question in plain English and
interacts with you to confirm the question. It takes you to one and only
one Web site that answers your question and uses sophisticated natural
language processing to understand and match users' questions to its
extensive knowledge base, which consists of thousands of question
templates and millions of researched answer links to Web sites.
Examples of question templates are "Why is the grass green?" and
"Where can I find a map of [Name of Country]?" In the first example,
there is only one answer link matched to the question, in the second
example, there are more than one. The Ask Jeeves for Kids research
staff select questions and then searches the Internet for the best sites
that answer these questions.
www.yahoo.com
Yahoo logo above is for Australia and New Zealand needs to be replaced
by general Yahoo logo. A good starting point for quality Web sites and
information. Yahoo is the Web's most popular search service and has an
excellent reputation for helping people find information easily.
Searchenginewatch.com says about Yahoo: “The secret to Yahoo's
success is human beings. It is the largest human-compiled guide to
the Web, employing about 150 editors in an effort to categorize the
Web. Yahoo has well over 1 million sites listed. Yahoo also supplements
its results with those from Google. If a search fails to find a match within
Yahoo's own listings, then matches fromGoogle are displayed. Google
matches also appear after all Yahoo matches have first been shown.
Yahoo is the oldest major Web site directory, having launched in late
1994.”
Glossary
page 6
www.yahooligans.com
Yahoo for kids targets ages 7 to 12. Like Ask Jeeves for Kids, sites
are hand-picked by humans to be appropriate for children. It is the old­
est major directory for children (launched in March 1996).
www.hotbot.com
Hotbot describes itself as a “popularity engine.” It is therefore most
useful if you want to find the most popular sites that answer your
query. Generally, HotBot's first page of results comes from the Direct
Hit service and then secondary results come from the Inktomi search
engine. Sites that get clicked on more than others rise higher in Direct
Hit's rankings.
www.britannica.com
You can search Encyclopedia Britannica Online and their well-selected
(human-reviewed) educational Web sites.
www.dogpile.com
Fast and quite comprehensive, Dogpile is a Meta Search Tool, compil­
ing results from other smaller Search Engines. It has a good format,
although your search results are not likely to be as up-to-date nor as
relevant as using Google.
www.searchenginewatch.com
A great resource to find out all you ever wanted to know about Search
Engines, to find MORE Search Engines and to understand how to use
them well.
www.wisenut.com
Established in September 2001, WiseNut competes with Google. It is
fast, smart and comprehensive. A good option in Wisenut is the ability
to group all the pages from a single site together. It is growing rapidly
and has the second largest index of the Web after Google.
Glossary
page 7
Microsoft Internet Explorer Search
When you click on the search icon in your Internet Explorer browser, a left-hand column appears:
This is a quick way of finding the Web page you are looking for. The MSN search uses LookSmart: a commercial search database for which companies pay to be included.
spiders
Search engine databases are selected and built by computer robot
programs called spiders. They collect links and content from Web
sites on the Internet.
synchronous
When something occurs in real time. Live chat, live streamed video, teleconferences are all syn­
chronous.
TCP/IP
Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and Internet Protocol (IP).
upload
This is when you send your offline content to an online system. It is then stored in the system’s
repository.
URL
Stands for the Web address or ‘Uniform Resource Locator’.
All of the documents that you will find on the Internet are differentiated by a unique address which is
referred to as a URL. That stands for Uniform Resource Locator. Think of it as a networked exten­
sion of the standard filename concept. Not only can you point to a file in a directory, but that file and
that directory can exist on any machine on the network, and can be served via a several different
methods. They can look complicated but are easier to understand when you divide it into its compo­
nent parts. Understanding how URLs are composed will enable you to locate and remember docu­
ment locations with greater ease. A URL is always a single unbroken line with no spaces.
For example:
http://www.pcwebopedia.com/index.html
Glossary
page 8
The first part http:// indicates that you wish to retrieve a document via the World Wide Web and
stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol. Most resources that you will access are located on World
Wide Web servers and are thus named www at the beginning of the address.
Each World Wide Web server will have a domain name. This is the domain name for
Webopedia, an online encyclopedia of computer technology terms: webopedia.com
Web pages can be sorted into directories. This Web page sits in a directory called Internet.
Lastly each Web page has its own file name—this document is called index.htm.
Most Web pages end in .htm or html because they are documents prepared for viewing on the
Web through a Web browser.
To access a URL you only need to click on the Open Location button on your browser and type in
the URL and press enter. All URLs or Web pages that you visit can be saved into your browser
bookmarks so that you don't have to remember them all. Sometimes you may come across a
URL that starts with ftp:// instead of http:// this means that the file is located on an FTP server
instead of a WWW server. FTP servers are sometimes used for downloading files as they are a
lot quicker than the standard WWW server
Anatomy of an URL:
A great deal of information about the content of the file is present in this well-constructed URL.
The format includes: protocol://host/path/filename
• protocol: http
• host computer name: www
• second-level domain name: ibm
• top-level domain name: com
• directory name: education
• file name: index.htm
usenet
Network News Transfer Protocol or NNTP. Distributes Usenet news articles derived from topical
discussions on newsgroups.
Web browser
Software installed on your computer, which allows you to access the www (e.g., Netscape, Internet
Explorer, Mosaic) and browse Web sites. To browse means to take a virtual walk by clicking on
hyperlinks) through it.
Glossary
page 9