ISP or Internet Service Provider:   A company which provides access to the internet through a regular or high speed Dial-up (phone line) Connection or via Satellite. An ISP can be a small local provider or a large national provider such as MSN, Earth Link and AOL. Often times they also provide you with an email address as well.

 

Browser:   The software program installed on your computer which makes viewing pages on the internet possible. The most common Browsers are Microsoft’s Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator. These browsers and different versions of each one may display web pages differently. Web sites should be built so that they will be compatible with the most popular versions.

 

Server or Web Server:   A Computer or network of computers and specialized software which is needed to store web sites and or make them available. In order to have a web site it must be stored and served by a web server. The most popular way to gain access to a server is to use a hosting company which will provide you with a certain amount of storage area for your web site.

Hosting Company, Host, Hosting Provider, Web Host:   A company that uses a web server to provide storage space for many web sites. A good hosting company allows you unlimited access to your web site files and has their server online (up and running) 99% of the time.

 

Domain Name:   The name of a web site. It follows the “www.” part of a web site address
(e.g.. www.yourbusiness.com) and the “@” in an email address (e.g.. info@yourbusiness.com).
A domain name should be easy to remember and have some meaning relating to a site.

 

URL or Universal Resource Locator:   The exact address for each resource on the internet. All web pages, files and images on the internet are all resources, and have their own unique URL's.

 

Hyperlink:   Also called a link, a hyperlink is an electronic connection between a web page and another web page on the same site, or another web page on an entirely different site. Hyperlinks can be text, image or graphic links (such as buttons) and are activated by clicking on them with a mouse.

Static Text Link:   A Hyperlink (see above) which is normal text or html, that a Search Engine Bot can find and follow. In Google's Design and Content Guidelines they recommend that "Every page should be reachable from at least one static text link."

 

HTML or HyperText Markup Language:   A formatting system or instruction code used to specify the way a web page will look and function.

 

DHTML or Dynamic HyperText Markup Language:   An extension of HTML which allows web pages to react to a user’s input.

 

XHTML or Extendible Hypertext Markup Language:   A new version of HTML involving the use of style sheets.

XML or Extendible Markup Language:   A specification developed by the W3C. which was designed especially for Web documents. It allows designers to create their own customized tags, enabling the definition, transmission, validation, and interpretation of data between applications and between organizations.

 

CSS or Cascading Style Sheets:   Groups of rules or properties called style sheets, which may be used to define the fonts, colors and layouts of a web site.  This is one way of defining the format of a web site.

 

Site Map:   A hierarchical visual model of the pages of a Web site. Site maps help users navigate through a Web site that has more than one page by showing the user a diagram of the entire site's contents. Similar to a book's table of contents, the site map makes it easier for a user to find information on a site without having to navigate through the site's many pages. Also, in SEO, a site map can make it easier for a search engine spider to find all a site's pages. A relatively new feature of some search engines including Google and Yahoo! is the ability to submit a site map to them with not only a site's linking structure but with other information such as how often they should re-index your site.

 

Java Script:   A type of programming which can add interactivity and function to a web site. Some examples include drop down menus navigation button effects, interactive forms, slide shows, and pop open windows. There are many applications available to enrich a web site.

Java:   Not to be confused with Java Script, Java is a programming language that allows the development of lightweight applications (Applets) that can be embedded in web pages.   Some uses of Java include counters, calendars, scrolling text, slide shows, and simple text and animation effects.  

 

Flash:   Animation software designed by Macromedia Corp. Flash elements can include simple text or button animations, scrolling text, slide show pictures and even flash movies, complete with sound. Flash is not appropriate for all web sites as it can only be viewed in a linear fashion and therefore may restrict a visitor’s interactivity with the web site. Also, many flash elements take time to load and require a special plug in to be installed on a user’s computer before they can be viewed.

 

GIF:   Graphic Interchange Format. An image format which can display 256 colors and is used mostly for images of text, graphic designs, drawings, logos, and transparencies. It however is not a good format for photographs or very large images.

JPEG:   A Common web graphics format which was developed by the Joint Photographic Experts Group. This type of image file is best for Photographs and allows for millions of colors to be displayed. These types of images also have a quicker down load time than GIF's.   Optimizing jpegs for a website allows for optimum loading time and image quality.

 

PDF:   Portable Document Format. A file format developed by Adobe Systems which captures formatting information from a variety of desktop publishing applications, making it possible to send formatted documents and have them appear on the recipient's monitor or printer as they were intended. To view a file in PDF format, you need Adobe Reader, a free application distributed by Adobe Systems. PDF files can be accessed on websites via hyperlinks.

 

Font:   A font is a complete set of characters including letters, numbers and all special symbols in a particular type and style. The type or "typeface" is named according to the design such as Arial, or Times New Roman or Courier. The style can either be plain, italic or bold.

Pixels:   Individual tiny dots of light which display colors, images and text on a screen.  Most images and font sizes used in websites are measured in pixels.

 

Home Page:   The main or entry page of most web sites.

 

Splash Page:   An entry page into a web site usually consisting of special design elements or Flash animation. Splash pages are unpopular with users as they make them wait to enter a site until the Splash page has loaded. Because of this their use is limited.

 

FTP or File Transfer Protocol:   The usual method web site designers use to send web site files including HTML files, graphic files, etc. to a web server. This process of sending these files is sometimes referred to as “publishing a web site”.

SE or Search Engine:   A program used to search for documents on the web relating to keywords or key search terms entered by a user. A search engine is comprised of two parts: a Spider which fetches the documents and an Indexer which reads web documents and creates an index using the words and ideas within each document. Some of the top search engines are Google, Alta Vista and MSN.

 

Directory:   A directory uses people to create an index or directory of web sites rather than using a spider. Some of the most common directories are Yahoo, The Open Directory Project (on AOL), and Overture. Directories are often divided into categories and subcategories.

 

SEO or Search Engine Optimizing:   The process of making a web site able to be indexed by a search engine spider and receive high placement in the index for specific key words or search terms because of relativity. The higher a site ranks in the index, the better the chance is of someone finding the site when using the targeted keywords or search terms. SEO should start at the beginning of a site’s conception and ideally, a site should be built around the target keywords. Good web site developers will optimize a site as they are building it.
Note: Care should be taken when choosing a web site developer or SEO company to insure that they do not use unethical methods which could cause a site to be banned from search engines once they discover them.

Alternate Text:   Text which is displayed when moving a mouse to hover over an image. Alternate text is also displayed in place of an image if the visitor has image viewing turned off in their browser. Alternate text can also help with SEO.

 

Email Aliases:   Hosting Companies provide you with a way to receive email @yourbusiness.com. Depending on the company, you often times can specify several email aliases such as:
                        info@yourbusiness.com, or employee’s name@yourbusiness.com.
Generally this email is then forwarded or redirected to an existing email address or addresses, such as the one provided by your ISP. Email aliases not only separate your business email address from your personal one, but they look professional and can be easily redirected in the event of a change to an ISP email address, without having to making changes to your web site.

 

Auto Response or Auto Responders:   A pre-written message you have automatically sent to a visitor’s email address when they send you an email or place an order online. Most hosting companies include this feature with your hosting account for no charge.