Alt Tags
The text you see before an image is loaded on a web page; the text that appears when you put your mouse on top of an image. A web site author can code an alt tag when building a web page to say anything that he/she wants. Usually it is  description of the picture/image or verbage such as "Visit Our Sponsor".  The html syntax or code looks like this: img src="logo.gif" alt="Visit Shareone's Site"
Example: (Put your mouse on top of "Banner")  

Anchor
The location of a hypertext link in a document. An anchor can be either the start of a hypertext link or the destination of a hypertext link. It allows you to go to a direct point on a web page.
Example:  Click on the "Forms" link, you will automatically be taken to the appropriate term.  Forms

Animated GIF's
An image that is saved as a GIF file that consists of rotating screens (which can be images or text).
Example:  

Archive file
A single file that contains a collection of different files and/or directories. Archive files are often used to transport collections of files across the Internet, since you can transport a large collection in a single archive file.

Attachment
A file which is attached to, and then sent along with an email message.

Attribute
A quantity that defines a special property of an HTML element. Attributes are specified within an element start tag. For example, <IMG SRC="image.gif"> means that the element IMG has an attribute SRC, which is assigned the indicated value.

  Back to TOP

Banner
An advertisement on a Web page that links to an advertiser. s site or site. Ad banners are the most common unit of advertising on the Web and cost anywhere from free to upwards of $15,000 per month depending on the amount of page requests the Web site receives. The standard size for an ad banner set by the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) is 468 pixels wide by 60 pixels high.  
Example:

Beta
In the preliminary or testing stage, as in, they're still in the beta mode with that software. Software developers encourage users to report bugs while beta testing their program. The beta phase comes after the alpha version.

Browser
A Client program or software that is used to look at the Web. Netscape and Internet Explorer are examples of a browser.

  Back to TOP

Cache
Temporary storage space. Web pages you access are stored in your browser's cache directory (on your hard drive), so that when you return to a Web site you've recently accessed, your browser calls it up from the cache rather than the original server This saves you time, and it saves the server from being unnecessarily overloaded.

Compressed
Many files on the Internet are compressed--this reduces the space taken up by a file and makes transmission over the Internet faster. The client must then have software able to decompress the file.

Cookie
A small quantity of data exchanged between (and then stored on) a client and a server, and usually hidden from the user.

  Back to TOP

Dial-up connection
The action of using a telephone and modem to connect to a remote computer. Dial-up connections are slow compared with direct connections, or ISDN.

Domain Name
This is the unique name that identifies an Internet site. Domain names always have two or more parts, separated by dots. The part on the left side is specific and the one the right is more general. For instance, Share One's domain name is  www.shareone.com.

Download
Transfer of a file from a remote computer to a local computer.

  Back to TOP

Element (HTML)
The basic unit of an HTML document. HTML documents use start and stop tags to define structural elements in the document. These elements are arranged hierarchically, to define the overall document structure. The name of the element is given by the tag, and indicates the meaning associated with the block. Some elements are empty, since they don't affect a block of text. Elements that have content are also often called containers.

Encryption
In secure communications, a means of scrambling data to prevent the data from being read by anyone other than the intended recipient. The sender uses a key to encrypt the message; the recipient uses the decryption key.

End tag
A markup tag that denotes the end of an element.
Example: The start tag for a web page begins with <html>, the end tag is </html>.

  Back to TOP

Firewall
A firewall is used to separate a local network from the outside world. In general a local network is connected to the outside world by a "gateway" computer. This gateway machine can be converted into a firewall by installing special software that does not let unauthorized TCP/IP packets pass from inside to outside and vice versa. You can give users on the local network, and "inside" the firewall, access to the outside world using the SOCKS package or by installing the a proxy server on the firewall machine.

Flash
The newest idea in multimedia technology that allows long-form animations.

Forms
"Forms" represent a group of interactive objects which you can place on your web page. This set of items includes such things as input boxes, text areas, radio buttons, push buttons, check boxes and drop-down menus. The user may interact with these objects by filling in information. Once the information is supplied, the user typically then submits the information to the server, where a supporting CGI program receives the data and processes it in some way.
Examples:

 
Frames
Frames allow the HTML designer to break up the browser's viewing area into two or more discrete panes, each of which can have its own scrollable content. Additionally, you can make links target a particular frame in the browser, so a list of links in its own frame could be made to display their content in a different "display" frame.
Example: www.jhfcu.org

FTP
FTP, short for "File Transfer Protocol" is a protocol well suited for transferring large quantities of data from one site to another. It is primarily used to download files from remote servers. Most web browsers can transfer files via FTP.

  Back to TOP

GIF
Graphics Interchange Format, a format for storing image files. It is the most common format for inline images in HTML documents. To save your graphics in this format save as (example), "image.gif".  The other common format is JPEG.

Hits
In database searches, the number of documents that resulted from the search; for servers, the number of document requests received by a server.

Home Page
A home page is an entry point to a site's set of World Wide Web pages. It can be thought of as a well-designed table of contents, entry sign, or directions. Web browsers allow users to select a home page to display when the browser begins.

Hyperlinks
Also referred to as links, hyperlinks are specially highlighted text or images that points and delivers the user to home pages or sites that have been selected by the creator of the page being viewed. Links can connect you different parts of the same document (page) as well as link you to other independent sites.
Example:  http://www.shareone.com/prodserv.htm

HTML (HyperText Markup Language)
HTML, or "HyperText Markup Language," is the language which World Wide Web documents are written in. A typical HTML documents consists of the basic textual content with additional "tags" surrounding particular words or forming individual objects. These tags are what allow web documents to be more than just flat text - they are interpreted by the browser as commands which modify the appearance or behavior of the text they surround.

HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol)  
Short for "HyperText Transfer Protocol", HTTP is the method by which information travels from the host server to an individual client's browser. The protocol is simply a set of instructions which specify how the browser requests a particular document and how the server should format its reply.

  Back to TOP

Images
Images are the graphical content of your page. This not only includes pictures and logos, but also more functional items such as graphical buttons and backgrounds.

Imagemaps
An image being used as an imagemap allows you to make certain regions within the image act as links. For instance, you could have an imagemapped picture of the United States, where clicking on a state would take you to a page related to that state. To accomplish this, the browser sends the server information about where the cursor was when the user clicked on the image. The server then takes this information (a set of coordinates) and compares it to a data file which describes where those special regions are within the image. Once it determines which region the user clicked on, it can tell the browser what web page that region is associated with. Some imagemaps can also work by having the client perform similar calculations.

Internet
This is the collection of interconnected networks that use the TCP/IP protocols that evolved from the ARPANET of the late 60's and early 70's. In 1994, it was estimated that there were 20 million Internet users worldwide. It is estimated that there will be over 100 million users by 1999.

Internet Explorer  
Microsoft's browser software that allows you to navigate through information on the Web.

Intranet
Intranets today are common development environments where applications are written, made available and re-used among different departments, business units and locations within an organization. Intranets provide a valuable new channel for getting the information into the hands of those who need it. Intranet uses the same technology internally as Internet.

IP Address
In more familiar terms, your computer's IP address is analogous to the street address of your house. It is used both to uniquely identify your computer among the millions of other available hosts, as well as to route any information directed to you along the correct path through the network. You will typically see IP addresses referred to by their "named" equivalent, like www.shareone.com for our web server. This "name" though, is really just a more human-readable alias for the computer's "true" address, which is typically shown in dotted-four notation, such as 204.71.21.20. This mapping between the dotted-four and named alias notation is handled by a collection of servers which make up the Domain Name System (DNS).

  Back to TOP

Javascript
A scripting language developed by Netscape Inc. Javascript program listings can be included within an HTML document, and are then executed by the Web browser when the document is loaded. A similar scripting language, known as VBScript, has been developed by Microsoft.

JPEG
Joint Photographic Experts Group, an image format. In general JPEG allows for higher quality images than GIF. Browsers cannot display JPEG images inline, and instead must display them using helper programs. (Saved as "image.jpg")

Links
Links are really what makes the Web a web. Essentially, a link points to another document on the web by associating that document's address with a piece of text or an image. When you click on that text or image, the browser looks at that URL, fetches the document and displays it for you. Links can also point to specific places within a particular document (these are called named links). You can distinguish links from regular text by the fact that they are underlined and usually blue in color.

Megabyte (MB)
A measure of computer memory or hard disk storage; a little more than a million bytes (actually 1,048,576 bytes).

Mouseovers
A javascript function that allows an image to change colors, shapes, etc. once the mouse cursor is put over the image.
Example:

Multimedia
A mixture of media--text, audio, and video, under the control of a computer. The World Wide Web is a form of multimedia.

  Back to TOP

Netscape Navigator
Netscape's browser software that allows you to navigate through information on the Web.

Operating System
The program that manages all the other programs-called applications-in a computer. Several well-known operating systems are Windows 95, Macintosh, OS/2 and Windows NT.

Proxy server
A server that acts as an intermediary between a user's computer and the computer they want to access. If a user makes a request for a resource from computer "A," this request is directed to the proxy server, which makes the request, gets the response from computer "A," and then forwards the response to the client. Proxy servers are useful for accessing World Wide Web resources from inside a firewall.

Site
A particular "place" on the Internet. A Web page is often called a Web site. Also used to refer to a server connected to the Internet.

Tag
A tag is used to describe a type of command or instruction usually in regards to HTML or Web page code. HTML tags look like this: <br> , <font size=1>, <body> or <html>, always with a pair of brackets (<>) surrounding the specific instruction.

URL (Uniform Resource Locator)
The standardized way in which any resource is identified within a Web document or to a Web browser. It serves as a combination address and phone number of the Web you wish to access. Most URL. s consist of the service, host name, and directory path. An example of a URL is: http://www.shareone.com/index.htmll

Web Page
A document on the Web that can be displayed by your Web browser.

Web Site
A particular place or set of pages on the web.

WWW (World Wide Web)
This is the most recognizable part of the Internet. The World Wide Web employs the use of hypertext protocol which allows text, graphics, sound files to be mixed and connected.

  Back to TOP