Animation: An image that changes over time creating the effect of movement.
Bandwidth: The maximum amount of data that can travel a communications path in a given time, usually measured in seconds. If you think of the communications path as a pipe, then bandwidth represents the width of the pipe that determines how much data can flow through it all at once.
Banner: Also referred to as a banner ad, it is typically a rectangular advertisement placed on a web page that links to the advertiser’s own Website.
Blog: A frequent, chronological publication of personal thoughts or newsworthy information. Blogs can be one-way, and involve a daily-diary type of communication, or they can be two-way and allow users to take part in the conversation.
Browser: Software application used to locate and display web pages. The two most popular browsers are Microsoft Internet Explorer and FireFox (Mozilla). There are many other browsers like Netscape Navigator, Opera, AOL Browser, Safari and more. Note: Firefox is currently the most compliant browser available.
CMS: Content Management System is a software solution used to create, maintain and control a website. Using a CMS can make daily updates easy, and better allow for future expansion.
CSS: Cascading Style Sheets. Code used to control the visuals of a site, from layout and graphics to font styles.
Database: Contains computer data within a table structure to enable storing and organizing information for later retrieval. Can be used in many ways including managing accounts, compiling mailing lists, or serving up information on-the-fly from a well-maintained database to a web page in order to show the most updated information.
Discussion Group: Functionality within a website that supports interactive discussions by users. Users submit text content using a form that is saved on the server and made available to other visitors.
DNS: The Domain Name System which identifies each computer as a network point on the Internet using an internet protocol address system to translate from domain name to IP and reverse.
Domain Name: A unique name that identifies one or more IP addresses. For example, the domain name ideabankmarketing.com represents our IP address. Domain names are used in URLs to identify particular Web pages.
Domain Name Extension: The part after the dot is the extension. In the ideabankmarketing.com domain, .com is the extension. Other extensions available for domain names include .net, .org, .edu, .biz and more.
Downloading: The method by which users access and save files to their own computers from a remote computer, usually via the Internet.
E-Commerce: Ability to conduct business (buy and sell) via the Internet. Requires programming within the website along with payment processing abilities.
Encryption: A way of coding data in a file or e-mail message so if intercepted as it travels over a network, it cannot be read. Only the persons sending and receiving have the key to un-encrypt the data.
Flash: The most widely supported technology used for animating sections of a website, viewing fast-loading video clips, or for the creation of an entire interactive site with smooth segues and crisp type.
FTP: File Transfer Protocol is a method of transferring files over the Internet.
GIF: Graphics Interchange Format is a bit-mapped graphics file format that supports color at various resolutions. It is limited to 256 colors so is best used on flat-color graphics such as logos, as opposed to gradual tone color such as photos.
Home Page: It is usually the first page (index page) of a website but can be preceded by a “splash page” consisting of an animation or other form of introduction to the website.
Hosting: A service provided by a company with computers available on the Internet. The website is stored on these computers (or servers) and made available to the World Wide Web.
HTML: HyperText Markup Language is the authoring and editing language used to create web pages on the World Wide Web.
Interactivity: Ways for users to participate in, give or get feedback on a website. Studies indicate that interactivity positively influenced learning outcomes and website satisfaction.
Internet: The largest global network connecting millions of computers/servers strictly based on TCP/IP protocol for communication between host and server.
Intranet: A private network belonging to an organization that is accessible only by the organization’s members, employees, or others with authorization.
IP Address: Internet Protocol Address is a unique identifier for a point or host connection on an IP network. An IP address is a 32 bit binary number usually represented as 4 decimal values, each representing 8 bits, in the range 0 to 255 (known as octets) separated by decimal points. It is just a number like 66.46.105.9
Java applet: A short program written in Java (not JavaScript) that is attached to a web page and executed by the browser machine. Often used for complicated web applications.
JavaScript: A client-side scripting language that allows dynamic behavior to be specified within HTML documents.
JPEG (JPG): Joint Photographic Experts Group. Uses compression technique for color images where some details are lost in the compression yet relatively good quality is still achieved.
Keywords: Carefully chosen terms or phrases used within your site to describe your organization and help with SEO.
Link: Sometimes called hyperlink, a link is an area on the web page that when clicked on, leads a user to another page or document. Different types of links are: text links, graphic links, java links, form links.
Meta Data: Information describing the data in the web page or document. Meta data helps indexing and searching processes and information management.
MP3: The file extension for MPEG audio layer 3. MP3 files are relatively small compared to other audio files and therefore are quite suitable for transferring over the Internet and embedding into web pages to provide music while visitors browse.
PHP: A server-side, HTML embedded scripting language used to create dynamic Web pages.
Podcast: Subscription based programs (audio or video) that are released on a regular basis through the internet.
Postini: Email virus and spam protection.
RSS Feed: Rich Site Summary or Really Simple Syndication is a method of pulling news from online publishers and posting it on your site, providing fresh content to your users. RSS Feeds are available in a wide range of categories and can be chosen to address the needs of any industry.
Search Engine: A program that travels the world wide web to explore the contents of websites in order to build a list of relevant sites for those who are searching to find certain information. The most popular search engines today are Google, Yahoo, MSN, AllTheWeb, Excite, Lycos, AOL, HotBot, Altavista.
SEO: Search Engine Optimization. The act of adjusting a website so that it ranks well in the organic, crawler-based listings of search engines.
Spam: Oddly enough, the name was taken from a Monty Python script and refers to the practice of blindly sending commercial messages or advertisements to email users or posting to newsgroups. “I don’t like spam.”
Splash Page: An initial web page used to capture the user’s attention as a promotion or lead-in to the sites “home” page.
Streaming Video: High resolution or long video segments require the use of a streaming video hosting service coupled with placement on your web page. The streaming provider can then send a constant "stream" of information to the end user without bogging down your bandwidth..
Submission Forms: Forms on web pages, which contain “fields” for a user to fill in with information. They are an excellent way of collecting and processing data and allowing users to interact with websites. The information collected from a submission form can be sent as e-mail, stored in a database, printed, and/or returned to the user as an HTML page.
Thumbnail: A small version of a bigger image usually containing a hyperlink to a full-size version of the image.
URL: Uniform Resource Locator, which is a string that supplies the Internet address of a resource on the World Wide Web, along with the protocol by which the resource is accessed. The most common URL type is “http,” which gives the Internet address of a website. Other URL types are gopher and ftp.
Video Clip: A short video sequence that can be embedded into a web page and allow for faster playback after the initial download is complete. If you're looking to add video to your site, this is your answer in most cases, as opposed to streaming video or podcasts.
Web Application: Web programs or real programs designed to be used within a browser. Example would include: e-commerce website, web banking, stock exchange on the web, web games and more. Web applications are becoming very popular due to wide availability of the Internet access.
Web Based E-mail: A web application on a POP3 server that allows you to access, send and receive email on your account through a browser.
Web Page: One of the pages within a website such as a home page.
Website: A site presence on the World Wide Web. Each website contains an index page (opening page), which is the first document users see when they enter the site.
World Wide Web: A system of Internet servers that support HTML formatted documents that contain text, graphics, audio, video clips and/or links to other documents. Not all Internet servers are part of the World Wide Web.
XHTML: Extensible HyperText Markup Language used to control site content. XHTML is the next generation of HTML and is a hybrid between HTML and XML.
XML: Programming language designed to describe data.