 The language of the web can be impenetrable at times. Here we explain the meanings behind the jargon and the acronyms.
Alt tags
Text included in an HTML <img> tag to be displayed in place of an image when it can’t be displayed, or when the mouse is hovered over it.
Bandwidth
Bandwidth is the amount of data that can be transferred in a specified amount of time. With websites, this tends to refer to the amount of data that can be uploaded and downloaded per month.
Body
Everything within the <body> section of an HTML page is displayed in a web browser.
Blog
Short of web log, a blog is a regularly updated website that usually contains diary entries or news stories.
Broken link
A link on a web page that, when clicked on, leads to an error message because the destination page does not exist.
Browser
An application used to view web pages. The most popular is Microsoft Internet Explorer, but Mozilla Firefox and Apple Safari are significant others.
Compression
Storing data in a format, that uses less disk space and bandwidth. Image files are typically compressed to make them around a tenth of their original size.
CSS
Cascading Style Sheets provide more control over layout than HTML. When you use CSS, you can make a single change that automatically updates every web page on your site.
Directory
See Folder
Domain name
Domain name is a unique address for a website. The domain name includes everything up to the .com or other extension. For example, www.logilabs.com
Download
Transfer of a file from a website to your computer’s hard disk.
Dynamic
Refers to any interactive parts of a website, such as Google Mar or YouTube video, where visitors can control the object’s behavior.
Folder
A named container, on your hard disk, that stores a collection of files.
FTP
File Transfer Protocol. An FTP application allows you to upload your website from your hard disk to your web-hosting provider’s server.
GIF
Graphics interchange format. An image format similar to PNG that is well suited to logos, icons or images with only a small number of colors.
Head
Head is the top section of an HTML page, which gives the web browser information about how the page should be displayed, along with links to related CSS files.
Host
See Web-hosting provider.
HTML
HTML is the language that web browsers use, to interpret how pages should be displayed.
HTTP
Hyper Text Transfer Protocol. A set of rules that ere used to transfer files from web servers to web browsers.
Hyperlink
See Link.
JavaScript
A scripting-or programming-language that provides a way to produce dynamic content on a web pages.
JPG or JPEG
Joint Photographic Experts Group Format, which is the most common image format used on the internet, usually used for photos.
Keywords
Search terms entered into search engine to locate relevant websites. These words should be used as Meta tags on web pages to improve search rankings.
Link
A page element that, when clicked on, takes the visitor to another page in your site or an external website.
Menu
See Navigation bar.
Meta tag
A keyword that describes the content of a web page, stored in the <head> section of each HTML file.
Mate tags can be used by search engines as part of the ranking process, which determines how relevant a website is to a user’s search.
MP3
One of the most common audio formats used on the internet, and compatible with virtually all computers and audio players.
MySQL
My SQL is an open-source database management system. It uses the SQL programming language to add, remove and modify information in the database.
Navigation bar
A set of links that help visitors navigate to the main sections of your website.
Navigation bars are commonly placed across the top of the page, vertically on the left-hand side and across the bottom of the web page.
Open source
Any program from which the source code-the collection of human-readable files that are converted into computer-executable format-is made publicly available for use or modification.
PHP
PHP is recursive acronym that stands for PHP hypertext preprocessor. PHP is a web-scripting language which is typically used to produce HTML web pages, but can also produce images.
PNG
PNG equals to Portable Network Graphic. An image format originally designed as an alternative to GIF, animation is not supported, but like GIF, PNG files don’t lose any data when compressed.
Podcast
Podcast is an audio version of a blog. Podcasts are usually relatively short radio-style clips that contain spoken information or entertainment, which can include music.
Resolution
The resolution of a monitor is measured in pixels. A typical resolution is 1024x768, which refers to the number of horizontal and vertical pixels respectively.
RSS feeds
An RSS feed is a regularly updated information source that tells RSS reader programs about new blog posts, news stories or podcasts that are available on a certain website.
Scripts
Scripts are short pieces of programming code that perform actions on a web page. Scripts can include code written in programming languages including Java, PHP, Perl, CGI, ASP and others.
Search engine optimization
Usually referred to as SEO, this is the technique or techniques used to increase a website’s ranking on a search engine.
Server space
Server space is the storage for websites provided by web-hosting companies.
Site map
An ordered set of text links that lists all the pages on a website in one convenient place.
SSL
Secure sockets layer. An encryption technology used for ensuring the security of data sent across the internet.
Streaming
Steaming is content such as video or audio that is viewed by a user while it is being delivered to them over an internet or network connection.
Subdomain
Some web hosts allow you to create several separate websites using similar domain names to your main website. For example, a subdomain of www.logilabs.com could be www. members. logilabs. com
Thumbnail
Thumbnail is a small image or photograph, which can usually be clicked on to see a larger version.
TLD
TLD is the Top-level domain. This is the final part of website’s URL. Examples include .com, .co.uk, .org, .com.cy, .gov, .net and many others
Traffic
Traffic is the number of visitors to a website.
Upload
Upload is the process of copying your website files from your hard disk to your web host’s servers.
URL
URL is short for Uniform Resource Locator. This is the unique address of every page on the web. For example www.logilabs.com is unique to the Logilabs’ homepage.
Visitor
Visitor is someone arriving at a page on your site either by typing its URL into their web browser or clicking a link from another website or a search engine. Used interchangeably with user or reader.
Web
Web is short for World Wide Web. It is invented in 1990 by Sir Tim Berners-Lee.
Web-hosting provider
A service provider that stores your website on its server to make it constantly available to visitors. Other services, such as email, can also be included.
Web page
An HTML document that forms part of a website.
Web-safe colours
Not all web browsers can display all colours, but most support a standardized selection of 256 colours. Using only web-safe colours ensures your website will be correctly displayed since, if a browser cannot display any of the colours you chose, it will display alternatives.
Website builder
Software or an online program that can be used to create a website.
WYSIWYG
What you see is what you get. A WYSIWYG editor is one that allows you to create web pages in a graphical form, much like desktop publishing software. It converts the pages you create into the required HTML code automatically.
XML
Xtensible Markup Language. Similar to HTML but, instead of describing the content of a web page, XML describes the content in terms of what data is being described.
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