Internet Glossary- helpful terms and meanings

I found this on my computer. I do not remember where I got it from, but I have added to it. I will add to it more... I hope it is usefull.... enjoy

Backgrounds
Images which sit in the background of a web page. All other information (text, pictures, etc) sits on top.

Bandwidth
The amount of information that can flow through a given point at a given time. This is usually measured in bits per second (bps).

BETA
The stage a software program goes through before a final version is released.

Bomb
A bomb is when someone sends you a virus via email, or a rude hateful email. Often folks say will say, "Don't send SPAM or you'll get "bombed".

Bookmarks
Pointers that take users directly to web pages that they visit frequently. Sometimes referred to as favorites.

Bounce
The term used to describe e-mail that fails to arrive for any reason at its intended destination. Generally, you will receive an error message that indicates that the message was undeliverable.

Browse / browser
A software application that allows you to view web pages. (ex: Netscape or Internet Explorer). To 'browse' is to search the WWW for information.

Bulletin board System (BBS)
A system that provides its users files for downloading and areas for electronic discussions.

Chatting
Talking in to other network users in real time.

CGI Script
A CGI script (Common Gateway Interface) is a program that runs on a web server, usually triggered by input from a browser. These scripts are commonly used to process form information.

Click Through
The number or percentage of visitors that click on a banner or link. This is important information to determine the effectiveness of any particular link.

Cookies
A mechanism for server-side connections to store and retrieve information on the client side. Often affiliate programs will use cookies to track affiliate sales.

Download
To retrieve a file from another machine, usually a host machine, to your machine.

Copy
Any content or writings you use in your ads or on your site is often referred to as 'copy'. For example: I have some ad copy to write today. OR I saw some really great ad copy today!

DNS
The Domain Name System. A system for translating computer names into numeric Internet addresses.

Domain name
The unique name that identifies an Internet site. (ex: www.affiliatemastery.com)

DSL
Digital Subscriber Line. A form of high speed Internet that utilizes telephone system infrastructure. Depending on the service, speeds up to 30 times that of a standard modem can be achieved.

E-mail (Electronic Mail)
Messages that travel through the electronic networks rather than being committed to paper.

Export
This simply means to move a file from one place to another. For example, if you have a database of customers and you move them to another database...you could "export" them.

Ezine
An ezine is short for electronic magazine. They are simply newsletters sent via email.

FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions
Contains questions and answers that are frequently asked.

Flame
A flame is when someone sends you a rude, hateful email. Often this is in response to SPAM.

Forms
A web page that is requesting input. This information can then be processed with a cgi script or sent to a file or a specified mail box, usually the manager of the web site.

F.T.P.
File Transfer Protocol. A method of transferring one or more files from one computer to another over a network or phone line.

Finger
A program that displays information about someone on the net. On most UNIX systems, this command tells you who is logged on right now. On most Internet hosts, it tells you the name, possibly some other information based on the person's Internet address, and the last time they logged on.

Firewall
A filter for Internet activities. A system that has a firewall lets only certain data pass through. If an organization wants to exchange mail with the Internet, but does not want other Internet members "Telnetting in" and reading those files, its connection to the Internet can be protected by using a firewall.

Flame
A strong opinion or criticism of something, usually as a frank inflammatory statement in an email.

Freeware
Software made available free for public use by the author.

Gateway
A computer that connects one network with another when the two networks use different protocols.

GIF
Graphics Interchange Format. A platform-independent file format developed by CompuServe, the GIF format is commonly used to distribute graphics on the Internet.

Graphical User Interface (GUI)
GUI, pronounced "gooey," is a graphics based interface that lets you access programs by pointing and clicking rather than typing a string of commands at a command prompt.

Hits
This refers to the number of people who have visited a given Web Site or page.

Home Page or Homepage
the top-level hypertext document in a collection of linked HTML documents.

Host
A computer on the Internet you may be able to log on to. You can use FTP to get files from a host computer, and use other programs (such as Telnet) to make use of the host computer.

HTTP
Hypertext Transfer Protocol. The method by which World Wide Web pages are transferred over the network.

HTML
Hypertext Markup Language. A system used for writing pages for the World Wide Web. HTML allows text to include codes that define fonts, layout, embedded graphics, and hypertext links.

Hyperlink
A feature of HTML that enables one location or document to be linked to related locations or documents with a click of a mouse.

Import
To import means you are "bringing in" something, such as a file. A sentence example could be "You will "import" the names onto your system".

Impressions
The number of people who have seen a specific Web page or advertisement. Many companies sell advertising based on the number of impressions. (ex: 1000 banner impressions)

Internet Service Provider (ISP)
A service provider is a company who supplies Internet services to personal users or business.

IP
Internet Protocol. The transport layer protocol used as a basis of the Internet. IP enables information to be routed from one network to another in packets and then reassembled when they reach their destination.

IP Number
A four-part number separated by periods (for example, 201.113.155.252) that uniquely identifies a machine on the Internet.

ISDN
Integrated Services Digital Network. A way to move more data over existing regular phone lines. ISDN is only slowly becoming available in the USA. ISDN can provide speeds of 64,000 bits per second over a regular phone line at almost the same cost as a normal phone call.

ISP
see service provider

Java
This programming code works in conjunction with HTML to allow dynamic programs to run and interact with your computer, where straight HTML is primarily linear information downloaded to your computer for static display.

JPEG
Joint Photographic Experts Group. A group that has defined a compression scheme that reduces the size of image files by up to 20 times at the cost of slightly reduced image quality.

Knowledge Base
A database of knowledge about a particular subject. Contains facts, data, beliefs, assumptions, and procedures needed for problem solution.

List Server
A list server is a server that is designated to send large email files (or lists). These are recommended for folks who have more than 2000 email addresses in their list.

Local Area Network (LAN)
A group of connected computers, usually located in close proximity so data can be passed among them.

links
By inserting hypertextual links into web documents it is possible to connect two documents together.

LOL
Abbreviation for Laughing Out Loud, LOL is used in various online communications such as e-mail messages or postings to newsgroups or BBSs.

Lurker
Slang term for someone who regularly reads newsgroup, BBS, or mailing list discussions, but rarely participates in them.

Mailing Lists
An electronic group discussion specific to a topic or an interest carried out with email messages.

Meta Tags
The HTML codes that contain information about the content of a Web page and Website. Meta Tags are generally used to enhance the display and effectiveness of search engine listings.

Moderator
A person, or small group of people who manage some subset of mailing lists and Usenet newsgroups. Moderators are responsible for determining which email submissions are passed onto a list.

Net
Net is an abbreviation for the term Internet with stands for Interconnected networks.

Netiquette
The informal rules of conduct for Internet users. Breaching these rules can result in highly disruptive aggressive behavior or nasty messages (flames) being sent to your organization and through the Internet.

Newbie
Slang term for a user who is new to the Internet. This is not an insult, just a descriptor.

Newsgroup
A distributed bulletin board system about a particular topic. Usenet News (also know as Netnews) is a system that distributes thousands of newsgroups to all parts of the Internet.

Node
A computer on the Internet, also called a host. Computers that provide a service, such as FTP sites or places that run Gopher, are also called servers.

Off Line
This is working on a computer that is currently not connected to the Internet.

On Line
This is working on a computer that is currently connected to the Internet.

Opt-in
To "opt-in" means someone chose to sign up or join. An opt-in mailing list is a list of folks who all chose to join the mailing list.

Packet
A chunk of information sent over a network. Each packet contains the destination address, the sender's address, error-control information, and data.

Page
A document on the World Wide Web. To make information available over the WWW, it is organized into pages. A page may contain text, graphics, video, and/or sound files.

PERL (Practical Extraction and Reporting Language)
A robust programming language frequently used for creating CGI programs on web servers because it is faster than UNIX shell script programs, it can read and write binary files, and it can process very large files.

Ping
A network management tool that checks to see whether you can communicate with another computer on the Internet. It sends a short message to which the other computer automatically responds. If the other computer does not respond to the ping, you usually cannot establish communications.

Plug-Ins
Software program additions that allow you to take advantage of new technologies and capabilities from your browser.

POP
Post Office Protocol. A system by which a mail server on the Internet lets you grab your mail and download it to your PC or Macintosh.

PopUp
A popup is simply a web browser or HTML window that a webmaster programs to "popup" in front of their vistor.

Protocol
A standard for the exchange of information. Different computers and operating systems and software are able to communicate with each other on the Internet because of the adoption of protocols.

Network
Any time you connect two or more computers together so they can share resources, you have a computer network.

Search Engine
A software application found on-line which allows you to search for information, by key words, available on the Internet (e.g. web sites, newsgroups)

SEO Search Engine Optimization
Optimizing your webpage to be search engine friendly, compliant, and with in regulations. When your webpage is optimized your page has a better chane of ranking well in search engines.

Secured Server
A server using software that protects the privacy of electronic transactions conducted on the internet.
Server (web server)
A server is a computer that "serves" webpages when they are requested.

Signature
The three or four line message you can automatically append to the bottom of an email message or Usenet news article that identifies the sender. Large signature files (over five lines) are considered poor "netiquette". When used correctly, signatures can be a very effective marketing tool.

SMTP
Simple Mail Transfer Protocol A protocol used to transfer e-mail between computers.

Snail Mail
Regular postal mail, as opposed to e-mail. The term is usually implying postal mail's slowness relative to email.

SPAM
To send a message (usually an advertisement) to discussion groups (bulletin boards, mailing lists or email, and/or newsgroups), without regard for its topical relevance. It's basically unsolicated advertising and it can get you in serious trouble.

Surfing
Informal term for exploring the Internet, as in "surfing the net". Most often used in reference to accessing sites on the World Wide Web.

TCP/IP
Simple Mail Transfer Protocol A protocol used to transfer e-mail between Transfer Control Protocol/Internet Protocol. The system that networks use to communicate with each other on the Internet.

Telnet
An application program that allows users to interactively logon to menued services provided at TCP/IP internet sites.

Traffic
This term is used to describe how many people visit your Web page. It can be measured in many different ways, such as hits and impressions, by many different software packages.

UNIX
A computer operating system. UNIX is designed to be used by many people at the same time (it is "multiuser") and has TCP/IP built in. It is the most common operating system for servers on the Internet.

Upload
The process of transferring information from your computer to another computer through the Internet. Every time you send e-mail to someone, you are uploading it.

URL
Uniform Resource Locator. The standard way to give the address of any resource on the Internet that is part of the World Wide Web (WWW). A URL looks like this: http://www.affiliatemastery.com.

WAN
Wide Area Network. Any internet or network that covers an area larger than a single building or campus.

Web
An abbreviated term for the World Wide Web.

Web Document
Is a collection of information stored on the World Wide Web (WWW) which has the benefit of using hypertext links to link to other documents on the (WWW).

Web Site
A collection of html files, graphic files and any other file types that are supported by the World Wide Web that can be viewed by using a World Wide Web browser.

Zip
A method of file compression. Zip files contain vast amounts of information that has undergone compression to reduce the amount of space that the data take up.