| Browser | A program used to load, view, and interact with Web documents. The most famous examples of browsers are NCSA Mosaic and Netscape.
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| GIF file | A graphic file of a specific format: the Graphic Interchange Format. This format was developed by Compuserve and has become an Internet standard for exchanging files across multiple platforms. All graphical Web browsers will load and place valid GIF files.
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| Hyperlink | A link from one document to another, or to any resource, or within a document. The hyperlinked text is highlighted in some fashion. The default is usually blue, underlined text, but your display may vary.
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| HTML | Hyper Text Markup Language - the basis of the World Wide Web, and what the tutorial is intended to teach. HTML is a Document Type Definition (DTD), or subset, of the
Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML).
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| URL | The Uniform Resource Locator is a "standard" way of easily expressing the location and data type of a resource. The general form of a URL is "protocol://address" (for example, "gopher://gopher.cwru.edu/").
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| Zip | Computer files that have been reduced in size by a compression program like Pkzip.
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| Unzip | To convert a compressed, unreadable data into uncompressed, readable data using a program like Pkunzip.
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| Java | A programming language similar to another language called "C". It is used to create programs that can be downloaded and run on demand by your browser. Java extends the web to handle the distribution of interactive content such as video, audio and other multimedia events. Java programs are called "Applets".
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| CGI | Common Gateway Interface- is an actual program (or batch file) that can be activated by the user with a click on the URL. One of the principal uses of a CGI is to analyze, parse and store information received from a form. Its more general use is to interact with the server, sending and receiving data. Specifically, a CGI script is used to activate programs on the server to get information and then to report that information to the user.
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| ISP | A company that provides or sells you an internet connection.
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| Search Engine | A program that allows you to search the web using keywords and phrases. AltaVista, InfoSeek, Yahoo!, WebCrawler, Lycos and Excite are well known engines.
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| Upload | The process of transferring documents or programs from your computer to another computer or to another server (the opposite of download). This can be accomplished directly or indirectly by using communication software and a modem.
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| Download | The process of transferring documents or programs to your computer from another computer. This can be accomplished directly or indirectly by using communication software and a modem.
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| FTP | File Transfer Protocol -a n internet function that enables you to connect to a remote computer and issue a command to that computer to send files to your computer or to receive files from your computer.
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| Bookmark | A web page saved by your browser that you can access again whenever you want.
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| Form | Any number of user-interactive features in a web page, including text entry boxes, radio buttons, check boxes and text area boxes.
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| Frame | A subwindow within a browser window.
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| Spam | Unwanted advertising over the internet.
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| TCP/IP | Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol - the protocol or common "language" of the internet that allows different computers and computer systems to communicate with each other. TCP/IP is thus a method of connecting to the internet. |
| Flame | A rude message sent over the internet.
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| Bandwidth | An indication of how much information flows through a computer network. Bandwidth is measured in thousands of bits per second or millions of bits per second.
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| Baud Rate | How the speed of data transmission over a computer network is measured. Baud rate is measured in bits per second. A 56.6 modem can transfer data at 56 600 Baud or at 56 600 bits per second.
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| HTTP | HyperText Transfer Protocol - a program that enables your browser to communicate with a web server, get a response from the server and transfer the requested data back to your computer. HTTP is basically the method used to transfer web pages over the internet. You often see the first part of a URL written
with this protocol as in http://www...
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| Image Map | Graphics in HTML documents which have hypertext/media links imbedded in them. By clicking on a spot in an image map, you select a link. The browser then makes the connection for you and displays the information you requested. Thus an image map links the areas of an image with a series of URLs.
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| JPEG | Joint Photographic Experts Group - A graphics file format and compression technique developed by the committee for which it is named. JPEG reduces the size of a graphics file by as much as 96% and is a popular format for storing pictures. JPEG files can be identified by the .jpeg or .jpg file extensions.
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| Bitmap | A picture made up entirely of dots.
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