Web Weavers c.c.
3 Rutherford Place
Eshowe 3815
South Africa
Telephone/Fax:
Int +27 35 474-1660
SA (035) 474-1660
Mobile/Cell:
Int +27 72 591-3238
SA 072 591-3238
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THE CHANCES ARE good that you're not a seasoned Internet user. We'd like to think you've browsed as far as you have through our website because you're interested in having one of your own. You may be a big boss or official whose underlings use the Internet at your behest. But you're not supposed to be the computer expert yourself.
All of which means you're probably not highly familiar with the jargon of the Internet. What's an applet? Is a frame the same as a window? Do you care? If you do, the following short glossary of Internet terminology may help you to make sense of the geekspeak.
We've left out some of the more arcane terms. Let your I.T. manager (or your 11-year-old child) play with them.
A small application written in the Java language and included in the HTML code of a web page. Used to generate fancy text and image effects. An animated image of a small apple might be an applet.
A computer program. Programmers show good application when the I.T. manager is preparing the annual merit ratings.
Abbreviation of American Standard Code for Information Interchange. The global standard for the code used by computers to display letters of the alphabet, numbers and punctuation marks.
ASCII text, also referred to as "plain text", can be read by almost any program on any computer because it is stripped of accented and other special characters and contains no word-processing or spreadsheet codes. The safest format for transporting text if you don't know what programs the other user has on his computer. Don't you hate it when you open someones else's files on your computer and all you see is #@$%^^**?
In Internet terminology, a high-speed line or series of connections forming a major pathway within a network. Your service provider, like your employees, should have a good, strong backbone.
The transmitting capacity of an Internet or other network connection, measured in Bps (bits per second). Newer modems can theoretically transmit up to 56,000 bits per second, even if certain South African telephone lines can't.
If you're late submitting your monthly sales report by modem, you can always blame "low bandwidth". It's not a good idea to blame the six tequilas you had last night.
Another measure of a modem's transmission speed. Superceded recently by Bps (bits per second). If your expense claim is over the limit this month, you can always blame the "high board rate".
Abbreviation of Bulletin Board System, an older part of the Internet that enables groups of people to use a digital notice-board system in much the same way that you would pin a notice on the board at your local shopping centre: "Lost - one cat that widdles on the curtains. Reward if you'll keep it and try to house-train it."
A function of Netscape Navigator that lets you save the Internet address, or URL, of a website so that you can go back to it without having to remember and type in the address.
In Internet Explorer, Bookmarks are called Favorites.
Abbreviation of Bits-Per-Second, used to measure the speed at which a modem or a telecom line transmits or receives data. There are 8 bits in a byte (which defines one character on your keyboard), 1 024 bytes in a kilobyte, 1 024 kilobytes in a megabyte and several megabytes in a very, very, very, very long memo to the chief accountant.
A program such as Netscape Navigator or Internet Explorer used to look up pages and websites on the Internet. Commonly used at lunchtime when the staff have time to relax. Also commonly used at other times when the boss isn't looking. Inspiration for the commonly used excuse: "Not tonight, dear, I have a modem."
Abbreviation of Common Gateway Interface, the procedure which allows a web server to communicate with itself and other computers for, among other things, the interpreting and mailing back to you of a form filled in by a visitor to your website or to tell you how many visitors your site has had over a certain period. The latter is a useful way for the service provider to justify their high bill for "volume served".
Silly name, unfortunately in general use, for any program that transmits or receives data between remote computers. Your browser and your email software are both "clients".
If someone asks, "Which email client do you use?" then a typically correct Internet answer might be "Netscape," not "Butch's Debt Collection and Kneecap Displacement."
The primary lubricant of computer operations. The preferred brand is "Midnight Oil".
Misunderstood and sometimes maligned, cookies are small exchanges of information between your computer and the web server computer that delivers up its web pages for your viewing.
Cookies don't tell the other computer, "My owner banks at Joe's savings and he goes out on Tuesday nights, so if you get here at 10 o'clock you can take his hi-fi."
They usually tell the server smething like, "My owner's computer uses Windows 98 and Internet Explorer."
The unique name of a website on the Internet, usually but not always preceded by www. The most common types of domains include Commercial (.com internationally, .co.za in South Africa, .co.uk in the United Kingdom, and so on), Academic (.ac), Not-For-Gain (.org) and Government (.gov). Many new types of domain will soon be available: .info, .tv, .shop, .name and others.
(E)lectronic mail sent from one computer to another. It mostly consists of text but can include images, spreadsheets and so on as attachments. Very long email messages may contain all of the Bill Clinton jokes.
Americans tend to use the term without the hyphen: email.
Frequently Asked Questions are a popular feature of many informative websites. They take the form of a text listing of answers to questions which are asked over and over again.
FAQ lists are also used in a non-computing sense by parents on long trips. The Frequently Asked Questions: "Are we there yet?"; "When can we eat?"; and "Why is Bobby on my side of the seat?" may elicit the Frequently Prompted Answers, respectively, of: "No"; "Soon"; "Because Great-Uncle Arthur needs to stretch out on Bobby's side and take a nap."
A function of Internet Explorer that lets you save the Internet address, or URL, of a website so that you can go back to it without having to remember and type in the address.
In Netscape Navigator or Communicator, Favorites are called Bookmarks.
A computer and/or programs that stop unwelcome guests sneaking into your internal computer network. No matter how hard we try, we can't get past any of the banks' firewalls.
Nasty, often crudely expressed replies to people who post inane or offensive email messages, usually to news groups.
If you would like to send an offensive message to Web Weavers, we will "flame" you on request.
HTML code used to divide the browser window or screen into two or more panels, each containing separate information. One frame may scroll independently of the others. A frame structure may look something like this:
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The top frame may contain a logo.
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The side frame may show the links.
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The main frame may contain the information which scrolls independently.
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Very old browsers can't display information in frames.
Some users don't like frames for various reasons. One is that it can be difficult to bookmark a frame on a web page - but we know the way around that problem.
An abbreviation for File Transfer Protocol, the widely used method of transferring files from one computer to another over the Internet.
You typically have to enter a password to transfer files from, say, your computer to your website.
Sites which permit you to download software through anonymous FTP usually accept your email address as your "anonymous" password. The remote computer determines your email address by sending your computer a cookie. A similar technique, using thumbscrews instead of cookies, has been used in the past to extract information from people.
Strictly speaking, a gateway is the hardware or software installed to translate - for example - your company's in-house email system into a format suitable for the Internet.
More loosely speaking, a gateway may be a link, such as a service provider, that makes possible your access to the rest of the Internet.
Most loosely speaking, a gateway is the side entrance we use to get into the Web Weavers offices when the dozen office cats are blocking the driveway.
Disparaging and grossly unfair slang description of the fine, noble types who spend all their lives in front of computers and can't open screw-top bottles which have already been opened by small girls.
Acronym for Graphic Interchange Format, pronounced "giff" with a hard "g" (and not "gif" with a gutteral, Afrikaans "g", although some GIFs look poisonous). GIF is one of the two common formats for pictures used on the Internet. It allows for very high compression of images, which makes them load more quickly, but results in loss of colour and other information. GIFs are great for logos on websites but not for the cover of Vogue.
An animated GIF is a set of images which load in a repeating sequence to generate simple animations. Here's an example, made up of four separate images:
A loose measure of the number of visits to your website. Every item which the web server transfers from your site is a "hit". If you have three pictures and a text file on your home page, that's a total of four "hits" every time someone lets your home page load completely on their computer.
Counters on websites are equally misleading. If someone visits your site, looks at various pages and returns to your home page 20 times, the counter will probably show that he/she visited your site 20 times.
If your site is interactive - if people have to send you a form or a response - that will provide a better measure of how well your site is doing.
The "front" page, or entry page, of a website. It's the one you'd normally want people to see first. You won't always start at the home page when you visit a site. If, for example, you follow any of the links from our page of excellent software downloads, you'll arrive at the software supplier's download page, not at its home page.
If life was like the Internet, you'd be able to rush to the bathroom after a long journey without going through any of the doors or windows of your home.
The web server operated by the service provider who hosts your website.
Be a good guest - don't visit the service provider and pour coffee on the keyboard of the host computer just because your website isn't recording any hits.
Abbreviation for HyperText Markup Language, the code used to write hypertext documents for use on the Internet. HTML is not a programming language, although it can sometimes look just as complicated.
If you want to see what the HTML code for this page looks like, click on View, then Page Source in Netscape Navigator or View, then Source in Internet Explorer.
If you want to watch paint dry, you may find the experience more entertaining unless you have geek tendencies.
Abbreviation for HyperText Transport Protocol, which is used to transmit hypertext files across the Internet.
Internet addresses begin with http:// and this tells computers how to handle the files loaded from those websites.
A document containing more than just text. It may incorporate sounds, images, animations and links to other documents (or to websites).
The technology is not to blame for the fact that hypertext may also include an inordinate amount of garbage.
The global interconnection of millions of computers and tens of thousands of networks. Properly, it is spelt with a capital "I". Users share information from websites through the World Wide Web, electronic mail through email, opinions and pictures through news groups and computer files through FTP. This has made the Internet extremely unpopular with those who advocate censorship, and moderately profitable for those against whom the moral censorship lobbyists vent their spleen.
A computer network operated by an organisation for the use of its members using Internet technology and programs. An intranet is not necessarily connected to the Internet. If it is, your supervisor becomes annoyed when you look at "Clinton Jokes On-Line" instead of doing the invoices for last week.
Abbreviation for Internet Protocol Number, a unique set of four numbers which identify a computer to the rest of the Internet. An IP number could look something like "165.113.245.2".
If your computer doesn't have an IP number, you're not on the Net. So you might as well start reading books again. Unless you have some good computer games...
Abbreviation for Internet Relay Chat, the means whereby any number of people may engage in live "chat" on the Internet and exchange more banalities than even the average sports commentator could dream of.
Abbreviation for Internet Service Provider, the company or organisation that provides access to the Internet. The selection of services may include dial-up access to the World Wide Web, an email account and the hosting and design of websites. Good service providers are generally considered better than bad ones.
A programming language developed by Sun Microsystems, Inc, for writing stand-alone programs that run on all types of computers and mini-programs that run on web pages. Small Java programs known as applets don't run as stand-alone programs but add enhancements such as animations to web pages. A popular course called "Teach Yourself Java In 21 Days" can be mastered in less than three years.
Not be confused with Java, Javascript was developed by Netscape to add features such as pop-up windows, menu systems and other enhancements to the normal displays on web pages.
Pronounced "jay-peg", an acronym for the Joint Photographic Experts Group compressed format for images. The compression results in some loss of colour and resolution, but seldom so much that you'd notice on a grotty little computer screen that you haven't cleaned since 1993. JPEG is the preferred format for photographs and other more subtly coloured images on the Internet.
Two meanings - the highlighted text or image that you click in a hypertext document to go to a different document (or a different part of the same document); or the place that you go to when you've clicked. The words on this page that change colour and turn the mouse pointer into a little hand are links. If one of them takes you to a new page, that new page is also a link.
What good is jargon without a little ambiguity?
Acronym for Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions, the standard applied in attaching pictures and other bits and pieces to text files in email messages. If your email arrives with an unreadable or unopenable attachment, the sender quite likely sent the message and attachments to your IBM-compatible PC from an Apple or Unix computer using a prehistoric email program.
We include this more obscure item in this glossary because so many email or download error messages say something about MIME problems.
A second (or third, or umpteenth) server computer employed by a service provider or similar organisation to spread the load when there's a big demand for certain Internet material. The mirror server contains exact duplicates of what you might find on the main web server.
Acronym for MOdulator, DEModulator, the box outside or the card inside your computer that connects it to a telephone line. Modems are robust devices and fail only when you desperately need them.
The etiquette of the Internet and email. It is considered impolite, for example, to "shout" by typing all your email messages in capital letters. WHAT DO I DO NOW, MY KEYBOARD'S JAMMED. OH DEAR.
Also used as one word, "newsgroup". A digitally assembled group of like-minded individuals who share common interests by sending messages and pictures to the group.
There is a news group for virtually any subject you'd care to mention, and for some subjects you might not want to discuss in mixed company.
A program you install on your computer to boost the power of your other programs. Plug-ins for browsers include utilities for playing audio or video files.
As yet there is no plug-in to automatically cut short the audio or video files that your computer thinks you won't enjoy.
Abbreviation for Point Of Presence and also for Post Office Protocol.
The former is the location of a dial-up point. Make sure your service provider has a Point Of Presence near you so that you don't spend a fortune on phone bills.
The latter is the protocol which your email program uses to obtain information from the web server.
The action of sending a file to a remote computer. You post messages to a news group. If you're friendly and polite they won't flame you.
A junction device dedicated to controlling the connection between two or more networks. Most I.T. managers like expensive ones.
Abbreviation for Simple Mail Transport Protocol,
the most common protocol used for sending email.
Electronic junk mail. It's about as well-read as conventional junk mail but causes less environmental pollution.
Cruising the Internet, often randomly and aimlessly, in search of something captivating. Look cleverly enough and you'll find it.
One of the most effective ways of setting out a web page in HTML. Purists insist that tables should be used only to tabulate data, not for layout, but tables are widely used to group text, images and other content in an orderly fashion. Tables are often "invisible" but show up clearly if they have borders, like this example:
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Info in a Table |
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The lights are on. Someone must be home. |
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To us it's an abbreviation, pronounced "you are ell". To Americans it's an acronym, pronounced "earl". A Uniform Resource Locator is a unique address on the World Wide Web.
The address http://www.webweavers.co.za is an example. It is unique to Web Weavers. If you type this address and get the Outer Mongolian Used Washing Machine Wholesalers, you must have made a typing mistake.
Unix to Unix Encoding converts email files to ASCII, or plain, text.
The server computer used by your service provider to extract web pages from other servers on the Internet and relay them to your computer. Also the server where your website lives.
A page or set of pages on the World Wide Web accessed by entering the correct Internet address. A website is the electronic equivalent of a print publication. When you open your morning newspaper, aren't you glad it doesn't play home-composed Midi music?
The World Wide Web, which is the part of the Internet you use to look at websites. Most websites contain the identifier "www" in their address - for example, "http://www.webweavers.co.za".
Copyright Web Weavers © 1998, 2001
URL: http://www.webweavers.co.za
Email: sales@webweavers.co.za
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