Glossary

Accessibility

The characteristic of a web pages that defines how easily any visitor with a physical or mental disability can use the web page. Accessibility encompasses a number of factors such as how easily the page can be interpreted by a machine (such as a screen reader), how easily the visitor can change the presentation of the page to suit their needs and weather or not textual version of content are available anywhere an image, video or audio file has been used.

Anchor

Typically the term anchor refers to a hidden anchor point on a web page that can be linked to directly with a hyper link. For example, with a very long web page it may be useful to provide a links that will scroll the browser window down to each section of the page.

Apache

Apache is a large non-profit organisation responsible for developing a very large number of high quality open source applications. These applications generally the best in their field and are used by large enterprise businesses, governments and academic institutions. Often when people mention Apache, they are referring to the Apache Web Server (Apache HTTPD).

Authentication (AuthN)

The means of proving some one or somethings identity. Typically this is a user name and password, if you know these details then you must be who you claim to be. Other types of Authentication include using Security Certificates.

Authorisation (AuthZ)

The means of checking whether or not a user is allowed to do something. For example, checking that a user is allowed to view certain pages with in a web site. Typically Authorisation happens after a user has Authenticated.

Berkeley Standard Distribution (BSD)

A variant of the Unix operating system developed by Berkeley University in North America. The operating system was distributed with an open source software license. Many developers of open source software apply the same license to their own software when they distribute it.

Cross Platform

Computer Systems can be made up from many different sorts of hardware and software. Often different computer systems are not compatible with each other and create difficulties when user want to share data, applications or services between different systems. Cross Platform refers to any data, application or protocol which aims to work with as many different types of computer systems as possible. Often cross platform compatibility is achieved using industry standards when choosing the technology to be used in creating a system

Database (DB)

A database is piece of software which holds data in a structured way and provides a means to examine and query the data in such a way as to make it useful. Typically databases are also expected offer a central place to store data that can easily be accessed by multiple applications using common methods such as ODBC and SQL. Additionally, a database is intended to help shield the storage of your data from any changes in your computer environment such as changes to disks, file systems or operating systems.

Database Management System (DBMS)

A Database Management System is a piece of software that deals with databases. A DBMS can be contain many databases, each of which can be used for different purposes. The DBMS makes sure that only authorised people can access the databases; that the data doesn't get corrupted; and many more things.

Domain Name System (DNS)

One of the key technologies of the Internet, DNS is responsible to converting the names of computer in to their network names. Computers identify themselves with numbers (know as IP Addresses) and use these numbers when communicating. People like to use more meaningful and memorable ways to address computers, such as www.example.com. DNS is a global database that translates between computer names and numbers (and vice versa). Control of the database is distributed using delegation, so that if you own the name example.com you can create additional names such as www.example.com and mail.example.com and then assign the appropriate IP Addresses for the servers you wish to use those names.

Extensible Hyper Text Markup Language (XHTML)

XHTML is used to create web pages. It holds the content of the web page and sets out how that content is structured. XHTML is a modern form of HTML that has stricter rules on how content can be structures. This makes it easier for software such as Web Browsers, Search Engines and Screen Readers to interpret the web page.

Extensible Markup Language (XML)

The Extensible Markup Language is a means of describing and structuring data in text. Any type of data for any purpose can be defined by in XML by creating an XML Schema, which is defines the types of data, the types of attribute an item of data has and the way items of data are related to each other; and an XML file, which contains the data itself and defines the structure of the data. XML is the basis for XHTML.

Form

In web sites, a form is an area of a web page used to collect data from a visitor. For example a form might be used to collect a person's home address when they have ordered some products from an online shop. A form is created using XHTML and has a number of components such as buttons, text boxes and tick boxes.

GIF

See Graphics Interchange Format

Graphics Interchange Format (GIF)

A widely supported file type used to store images and graphics. GIF files are widely used with in web pages as they tend to be small and so download quickly. GIF files also support transparency. GIF files don't offer very high quality representation of photos and are usually only used for graphics.

Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP)

The computer communication protocol used to read, write and search email messages. IMAP is typically used by an email client (such as Outlook or Thunderbird) to access email messages stored on an email server. IMAP supports advanced features for authentication, searching and organising messages.

Joint Motion-Picture Expert Group (JPEG/JPG)

JPEG are a very common file format used to store photographic images. JPEGs are able to compressed the photographic data in a way that seems have offer very good quality. Although it does lose information and lowers the quality of the image, this isn't usually noticeable. JPEG files are very widely supported.

JPEG

See Joint Motion-Picture Experts Group

Keywords

In web sites, keywords are a special type of hidden information used in SEO to improve the page's appearance in search engine results. They keywords are contained with a web page but are not shown by a web browser. Search Engines on the other hand can see this information and use it to assist with indexing the web page. You should use keywords in your web pages to indicate the most important words or phrases in the content of your page, which you expect to be used as search terms by people using search engines.

Linux

An open source operating system that is widely used in server applications for business, government and academic purposes. Linux is also used in mobile devices such as phones and laptops, as well as on desktop computers. Although Linux is commonly thought of as an operating system, it is only the core part of and operating system, known as the kernel. Any system running Linux is combined with applications, utilities and services to provide a complete operating system. These additional items of software are mostly provided by a group of open source developers called GNU

Markup

A term that originate from the print industry, markup is the means of adding information to text. For example to define a piece of text as a heading or a paragraph. When we are talking about the internet, Markup usually refers to defining data using XML. More specifically when we a talking about web sites, it usually refers to describing content with XHTML.

Multimedia

In computer terms, when we say 'Medium' we mean the basic type of technology being used to convey or interact with information. Medium could be text, HTML, Flash, Video, Audio. So, multimedia means to use technology that encompasses more than one medium at a time.

MySQL

MySQL is a Relational Database Management System (RDBMS) developed by MySQL AG, who were recently acquired by Sun Microsystems. MySQL is distributed with either an open source of commercial license, although typically people use the open license when developing web applications. MySQL is very popular for it's ease of use, fast performance a reliability. A number of very useful features are available compared to other DBMS, whoever some people prefer to use MySQL in a more standard way in order that their data can more easily be transferred to another DBMS should the need arise

Operating System (OS)

An Operating System is the main piece of software installed on any computer. Operating Systems are complex and made up from many components. They are responsible for controlling all of the hardware on a computer such as the screen, keyboard, speakers and hard disks. Operating Systems provide the foundation needed for other applications and services to run, such as a Desk Top or Networking and Communication systems.

Portable Network Graphics (PNG)

A relatively new file format, PNGs are only just becoming widely supported. Internet Explorer 6 cannot always work correctly with this file type, although later versions do offer full support to display these files. PNG files have advanced features that allow them to store vector as well as raster data for an image. Vector PNGs are scalable, allowing them to be resized with out any effect on quality. PNGs also offer alpha channel transparency, meaning that they can blend semi-transparent colour regions of the image with background colours, to create a more seamless effect.

Post Office Protocol (POP)

A computer communication protocol used to transfer email messages from an email server to another computer. POP is typically used by a desktop email program (such as Outlook or Thunderbird) to copy email messages off of a persons email server and on to their desktop computer.

Relational Database Management System (RDBMS)

See Database Management System

Search Engine

A system which is used to find content containing the snippets of information provided by the user. Search Engines can be small, local systems that only search for content in one web site (or even just one section of a web site) or large systems such as Google, which aim to let their user search all of the web sites on the internet. Search engines typically work by allowing users to search text content for keywords, however specialist search engines for finding video, images and other types of content are becoming popular.

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)

The tools and techniques used to alter web sites and web pages in order to improve their appearance in search engine results. Typically SEO will focus on improving results for specific search terms that people type in to search engines. SEO also encompasses findability, which is means altering the structure and technology used in a web site (with out altering content) in order that search engines can better understand the content with in a web site.

Server

A server is a computer system or service that is carries out tasks on behalf or a user or client. A sever could be a web server, which will access web pages and send them to a web browser for example. Another example of a servers is an Email servers, which will take care of sending and receiving email messages for you.

Server Side

Any action or operation that is carried out on a server. For example when a visitor to a web site orders some products, the processing of that order is carried out 'server side' and not on the visitors computer. Web site visitors are usually unaware that server side actions take place, they simply click a link or a button and then see a web page load.

Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP)

The computer communication protocol used to send email messages between email servers. These types of servers are known as Mail Transfer Agents (MTAs) and they are concerned with moving messages to their final destination as directly and efficiently as possible.

Usability

The measure of how simple and straight forward it is to use something, such as a web site. For example, making sure that filling in a form only needs to be done in a simple and obvious manner so that the user doesn't have to stop and think, let alone puzzle over how to use the web site.

Web Server

A system whose primary purpose is to store and provide access to web pages. The term Web Site can refer to the entire computer (including the Hardware, Operating System, Applications and Services) or may be used to refer to a specific piece of Software responsible for providing access to web pages (such as Apache HTTP or Microsoft IIS).

What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG)

Typically used to describe an editing program that focusses on the visual presentation of content and that aims to create a finish item that appears just the same as it looked while you were creating it. For example Microsoft Word offers WYSIWYG so that when you print a document, it appears just the same as it did on screen while you were typing it.

World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)

The W3C are an International consortium who develop technological standards for the internet and World Wide Web. They are responsible for developing standards such as CSS and XHTML, which are used to write web pages.