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A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

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Article

A message sent to a newsgroup so others who read that group will see it.

Bookmark

A "placeholder" created by a browser program which enables the viewer to return to a specific document on the World Wide Web.

Browser

A software program which enables the viewer to see documents on the World Wide Web. Also known as "client". Some browsers also incorporate email and newreader programs in their interface.

Bulletin board

An electronic area for posting articles pertaining to a particular topic or interest.

Clickable map

A graphic which has been constucted to incorporate many different links within the same graphic. Also known as "image map".

Cyberspace

A term commonly used to describe the "virtual" (existing only through a computer network) real estate of the Internet.

Domain Name

Location of a server on the World Wide Web. Domain names often contain a company name or acronym, such as "www.toyota.com" (Toyota Corporation) or "www.gorp.com (Great Outdoor Recreation Pages).

Email

"Electronic mail", written messages sent over telephone lines through an online access service.

Emoticon

Any of a number of different "emotions" displayed using ASCII characters to express humor (or other emotions) in electronic telecommunications. The most widely used and well known is the "smiley face", when viewed sideways, looks like this :-)

Flame

To scold someone via email or through newsgroup posts for breaking the common rules of netiquette.

FTP

File Transfer Protocol - A common means of transferring files to and from computers on the Internet.

Gopher

A program which performs many Internet functions by transforming urls into menu options.

Home Page

Typically, the main page, or "front door" of a site on the WWW. The home page will usually include an index to the rest of the site.

HTML

HyperText Markup Language--a distinct set of formatting codes which define how the components of a World Wide Web document will be displayed.

Http

HyperText Transfer Protocol - Describes the way documents are requested, sent and received over the Internet. There are four stages to HTTP: Connection, request, response, and close.

Hypertext

Text which includes links (hotlinks) to other documents, images, or text.

Image Map

See "Clickable Map".

Internet Explorer

A popular Web browser made by Microsoft Corporation.

Internet

The "network of computer networks" across the globe.

IRC

Internet Relay Chat - The part of the Internet which allows you to talk (type) to other people in real time.

Java

A programming language which enables developers to build special interactive applications into Web pages.

Keyword

A descriptive word which denotes key points or characteristics of a document. Also, a word used to form a query in a search engine.

Link (Hotlink)

An image or text which indicates to the viewer that additional infomation is available when the viewer clicks on that item. The link automatically transfers the linked item to your computer so you can view it.

Multimedia

A combination of text, images, animation, video clips, and/or sound into a complete package to provide a unique and powerful impact to the viewer.

Netiquette

Commonly observed rules of conduct, especially in the Usenet community.

Netscape

A popular World Wide Web browser which incorporates the latest design innovations for HTML documents.

Newbie

A newcomer to the world of the Internet, most commonly used for newsgroup novices.

Newsgroup

An electronic posting area which centers around a specified topic of discussion. Also known simply as "group".

Newsreader

A client which provides an interface to publicly distributed discussion groups over the Internet.

Post

A message sent to a newsgroup.

Query

A word or phrase consisting of keywords which is used to elicit a response from a search engine.

Real Time

Used to refer to events which happen as they take place, rather than after the fact, such as real time chat or audio/video conferencing.

Search

A query entered into a search engine in an effort to find documents of a specific nature or topic on the WWW.

Search Engine

An electronic directory to documents on the World Wide Web, the "telephone books" of the Internet.

Search Results

The documents found and returned to the viewer as a result of a search. These results are generally linked titles or urls which connect the viewer to the requested information.

Server

Special software on a computer which responds to requests for information from Internet users. Also, this term is commonly used to describe the computer on which the server software resides.

Shouting

Typing in capital letters, considered rude, and also difficult to read.

Smiley Face

See "Emoticon" :-)

Spam

1) Commonly refers to unwanted email, or bulk email. 2) A term used to describe the unwanted duplicate copies of a newsgroup posting which appears in multiple newsgroups. 3) "Spamming" or "Spamdexing" is the construction of Web pages using techniques which attempt to deceive the Search Engines into placing those pages higher in search results than would normally by warranted (a form of misrepresentation in advertising).

TCP/IP

Internet networking protocol software.

Unix

The standard computer operating system of the WWW.

URL

Uniform Resource Locator - The unique address for every page on the World Wide Web.

Usenet

The system of bulletin board forums on the global Internet which are formed to discuss topics of every conceivable nature.

Web page

A document constructed with text and /or graphical elements which may be viewed with a web browser on the Internet.

World Wide Web

A graphics-based system on the Internet which incorporates logos, photographic images and sounds in an easy to use interactive format.

X-files

Cool TV show, also a cool web site. And I can't think of anything else that starts with "X" :-)

Yahoo!

A popular Internet Search Engine, which lists documents in categories. Yahoo stands for "Yet Another Hierarchical Organizational Oracle".

.zip

One of many file suffixes which denotes a compressed file. Other such suffixes include .hqx, .sit, .sea, .gzip, .tar, .z, .gz, and .tgz.