Access provider - an organisation that provides individuals and companies with a connection to the internet. Also referred to as an ISP (Internet Service Provider) or, sometimes, an IAP (Internet Access Provider).

ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) - a new service for the UK that can provide permanent internet connection for a fixed monthly cost at high bandwidth rates. ADSL is delivered over normal copper telephone lines and offers both voice and data traffic.

Application - Sometimes known as a client or an “app” it’s a program that performs a specific function. FTP, Mail, Gopher, Mosaic, and Telnet clients are the most common examples of Internet applications.

ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) - a set of 128 alphanumeric and special control characters. ASCII files are also known as plain text files.

ASP (Application Service Provider) - is an organisation who, for a fee, will provide an internet user with access to and use of a software application. It’s basically like renting the use of software rather than buying it. Using an ASP to supply your applications (such as Word, Excel, Quark Express, MacroMedia DreamWeaver, etc) means that you will always have access to the latest version of any application. However, fast internet connections are likely to be a must for this type of service.

Bandwidth - This refers to the difference ( in Hz), between the highest and lowest frequencies of a transmission. Most people loosely refer to bandwidth as the amount of data that can be transferred over a network connection.

Banners - have become ubiquitous as a form of advertising on the Web. These are usually narrow graphics, sometimes logos, sometimes signboards, about 3cm high and 10cm long. They are designed to fit on even a small laptop screen, and are often used to mark a place where the reader can click to get more information. It is also possible to create animated banners which behave much like a short cartoon.

Bookmark - It’s just an address book entry for a Web Address. Most browsers contain a simple “address book” where the reader can store the addresses of their favourite places. “BookMarking” a site just means adding it to your address book.

Browser - Browsers are the essential tool of the Web. The browser is the software program that runs on your computer and lets you see Web pages. There are graphical browsers and nongraphical browsers. The difference is simple: graphical browsers can show pictures. Nongraphical browsers show only text. The most popular Graphical browsers are Microsoft Internet Explorer (MSIE), Netscape Navigator (abbreviated NN or NS), Mosaic, and America Online’s custom browser. They’re all a little different but they’re all about the same.

CGI (Common Gateway Interface) - the specification for how an HTTP server should communicate with server gateway applications.

CHAP (Challenge-Handshake Authentication Protocol) - An authentication method that can be used when connecting to an Internet Service Provider. CHAP allows you to login to your provider automatically, without the need for a terminal screen. It is more secure than the Password Authentication Protocol (another widely used authentication method) since it does not send passwords in text format.

CIX - An acronym meaning Commercial Internet Exchange

Client - A program (like a Web browser) that connects to and requests information from a server.

Cookie - A cookie is a small piece of information that a web server (such as one that holds a web shopping mall) sends to your browser to hold onto until it is time for the server to read it. Cookies do not get data from your computer other than what is in the cookie file, and they don’t get your email address or any information that you didn’t give the requesting page in the first place. So when you next visit a site that says welcome back you know that it placed a cookie on your machine last time you visited.

Dedicated Line - A communications line that is used solely for computer connections. If you buy an additional phone line for your modem, that’s a dedicated line.

DHTML (Dynamic HyperText Markup Language) - A language format based on HTML but allowing animated and intercative web pages to be created.

Dialup- A widely-used method of accessing the Internet. A dialup connection uses regular phone lines to connect one computer to another via modem as and when required.

DNS (Domain Name Service) - The DNS is a name translation service used with TCP/IP, and is housed on a number of servers on the Internet. Basically, it maintains a database for translating text host addresses (such as jmcpaper.co.uk) into the numerical IP addresses of hosting servers on the Internet. The advantage of DNS is that you don’t have to remember numerical IP addresses for all the Internet sites you want to access.

Domain - Just as a PC’s file extension such as .doc (for MS Word files) give some indication of what kind of file it is, the last part of an Internet site’s domain name indicates what kind of site it is. There are currently three generally used Top Level Domains .com, .net and .org with a fourth, .info, likely to be added later this year. Individual countries carry their own descriptions and their own sub-domains such as .co.uk (commercial enterprises) and .ac.uk (academic institutions) in the UK.

Download - You’ve probably put software on your computer by putting disks or CD-ROMs into a drive. Online, you can get software by downloading it. The software sits on a server computer and you use your browser or an FTP (file-transfer protocol) program to find and retrieve the software to your computer.

EDI (Electronic Data Interchange)  - one element of e-commerce. The conversion of a trading document into a format that is understandable by a receiving computer. EDI requires that the computer system itself can easily generate and process messages.

Email (Electronic Mail) - A method by which computer users can exchange messages with each other over a network. Email is the most widely-used communications tool on the Internet.

Email Address - Your Email address is made up of several parts. By convention, addresses use lowercase letters with no spaces. The first part of the address, the username, identifies a unique user on a server. The @ (pronounced at) separates the username from the host name. The host name uniquely identifies the server computer and is the last part of the Internet email address (for example, jsmith@anyplace.com). Email addresses may use separators such as a fullstop (.), a hyphen (-) or an underscore (_) to split up the username.

Encryption - The basis of network security. Encryption encodes network packets to prevent anyone except the intended recipient from accessing the data.

Ethernet  - A standard and probably the most popular connection type for Local Area Networks (LANs). In an Ethernet configuration, computers are connected by coaxial or twisted-pair cabling and can transfer information at up to 100 megabits-per-second.

FTP (File Transfer Protocol) - The most widely-used way of downloading and uploading (getting and putting) files across an Internet connection. There is a set of commands in FTP for making and changing directories, transferring, copying, moving, and deleting files.

Firewall  - A Firewall is a security barrier - either software or hardware based - set up between a company’s internal systems and any outside systems. Firewalls can be designed to keep hostile visitors out and they can be designed to keep company employees in, usually as a means of discouraging people from playing games or visiting recreational sites on company time.

Flash - A popular web technology standard for presentations and animated content. A Flash Player plug-in is required to view sites with such content.

Gateway - A kind of “go-between” device or program that passes information between networks that normally couldn’t communicate. Many networks use a router as a gateway to external network connections such as the internet or a WAN (Wide Area Network).

GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) - Many of the graphics you run across on the Web will be in the GIF format (called “GIFs” for short), a file-type that is readable by most graphics programs. A .gif file is usually of low quality and small size.

Hit - A Hit on a Website is one ‘visit’ from a reader. Different statistical packages count hits in varying ways, which is why defining a hit is a bit “hit-and-miss”. For example, suppose you have a page that has some text and 5 graphic images. The reader’s system will ask your site for 6 items (the text and 5 images). Some packages will count his as one hit others, as six hits. If the page is refreshed some packages will count no more hits whilst others will count the same number again. If you want to carefully qualify the activity on a site be sure that you know exactly how its hits are counted.

Host - A computer that is attached to a network or the Internet. Individual users communicate with hosts by using client application programs such as MS Intermet Explorer or Netscape Navigator.

Host Address - The address of a host computer on the Internet.

Hostname - The name given a host computer connected to the Internet.

HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) - The standard way that text documents published on the World Wide Web are created. The HTML coding defines how webpages are displayed by using tags which are not usually seen by the reader. These tags define such things as font, headings, paragraphs, lists and illustrations.

Hypermedia - The combination of hypertext and multimedia in an online document.

Hypertext - A type of text that allows embedded links to other documents. Most World Wide Web documents contain hypertext.

ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) - A digital telephone line which combines voice and data services in a single medium. A standard data transfer rate of 64 Kbps is offered which can be boosted to 128 Kbps by combining two channels.

Internet  - A large, uncontrolled, unadministered, anarchic cyber-state that will soon take over the world! Basically, it’s just everyone’s computers hooked together. It’s not a corporation, organization, or entity in itself.

IP (Internet Protocol) - An industry standard packet switching protocol used as the network layer in the TCP/IP Protocol Suite.

IP Address (Internet Protocol Address) - The 32-bit address defined by the Internet Protocol. Every resource on the Internet has a unique numerical IP address, represented in dotted decimal notation. IP addresses are the closest thing the Internet has to phone numbers.

ISP (Internet Service Provider) - An ISP is a company that maintains a network that is linked to the Internet via a dedicated high-speed communication line. An ISP offers use of its dedicated communication lines to companies or individuals who can’t afford a direct connection of their own. Using a modem, you can dial up to a service provider whose computers will connect you to the Internet.

InterNIC (Internet information Center) - for the providers of registration, information, and database services to the Internet. InterNIC is the body that officially register a domain name on the Internet.

Intranet - when a company uses Internet technology (such as browsers) to deliver information to a closed group of its own users. Many Intranets run exclusively on a company’s Local Area Network.

Java - Java is computer language that lets programmers make applications that works on any kind of computer. If you use Netscape or Internet Explorer, your browser can automatically run programs written in Java. Java Applets are small programs, as opposed to a big application such as a word processor or a spreadsheet.

JPEG (Joint Photographic Export Group)  - Many of the images on the Web are now in JPEG format. The advantage of JPEG is that it uses compression to make graphics files smaller (which means you spend less time waiting for them to load) but there is some image quality lost to the compression. If you see a file something like “filename.jpg”, this is a JPEG.

Keywords - site descriptions built into a website that tell Search Engines how to catalogue that particular site.

LAN (Local Area Network) - A network of wires (or possibly wireless) connecting computers together in a building. LANs allow users to send email and share resources such as files, printers, modems, etc.

Leased Line - A dedicated, full-time connection used to link a user or network to an Internet Service Provider or another network.

Internet Explorer (MSIE) - Microsoft’s Web browser. Also available for the Mac.

MIME Encoding (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions Encoding) - MIME is a standardised method for organising various file formats. When email software retrieves a file from a server, the server provides the MIME type of the file, and the file is decoded correctly when transferred to your machine.

Mirror Sites - Alternative duplicates of a computer hosted on a different machine. They are areas on a computer that “mirror” or contain an exact replica of the directory structure of another computer.

Modem - A modem is a piece of computer equipment, sometimes a small box with flashing lights, sometimes a card sitting inside your computer, that connects to your phone line. The modem also negotiates connections to other computers.

Mosaic - A graphical browser for the World Wide Web that supports hypermedia.

Netiquette - The combination of the words Network and etiquette, this refers to the proper behaviour on a network, and more generally the Internet.

Netscape Navigator (NS) - A graphical browser for the World Wide Web. Netscape Navigator, along with Microsoft Internet Explorer dominate the Web Browser market.

Network - a network is any connection of two or more computers made for the purpose of sharing resources - information, software, or equipment. Networks may be LANs, WANs, intranets and internets.

Packet - The common term for the standard unit of data sent across a network.

PDF (Portable Document Format) - An abbreviation for portable document format, a file format developed by Adobe Systems. PDF captures files from many desktop publishing applications, such as Word and Excel, making it possible to view them as created. To view a file in PDF format, you need the free Adobe Acrobat Reader.

PING (Packet Internet Gopher) - The simplest way to test or time the response of an Internet connection. A PING sends a request to an Internet host and waits for a reply called (you guessed it), a PONG. When you PING an address, you get a response telling you the number of seconds it took to make the connection.

PAP (Password Authentication Protocol) - One of the many authentication methods that can be used when connecting to an ISP. PAP allows you to login automatically, without having to use a terminal window to type in your username and password.

Plug-in - you can expand the capability of your browser by “plugging in” various tools to let you see (and hear!) certain things, such as audio or video files. When a Website uses a plug-in you don’t have, your browser will tell you it’s encountered an “unknown file type”. If the web page designer is kind, they’ll tell you which plug-in you need and where to get it. Currently, some of the most popular plug-ins are Shockwave (for audio and video) and RealAudio (audio that broadcasts to your computer like a radio station).

PoP (Point Of Presence) - The (local) number you usually dial to make a connection to your ISP. In reality ii is an installation of telecommunications equipment, usually digital leased lines and multi-protocol routers.

POP (Post Office Protocol) - A protocol designed to allow single users to read mail from a server. Once you are authenticated, the POP is used to transmit the stored mail from the server to your local mailbox on your client machine.

PPP (Point-to-Point Protocol) - A protocol that provides a method for transmitting packets from one point to another. PPP is one of the most popular methods for dialup connections to the Internet. It can also be used for LAN connections.

Protocol - an agreed set of standards for the transfer of data between different devices. Theses rules govern the content, transmission speed, format of data, error control and the signals required to synchronise the transfer.

Router - A device that forwards traffic between networks.

SLIP (Serial Line lnternet Protocol) - Similar to PPP, SLIP is another standard protocol used to run TCP/IP over serial lines, such as telephone circuits. Unlike PPP, however, SLIP does not work on a LAN connections.

Server - Simply, a computer that provides resources, such as files or other information.

Service Provider - See ISP.

SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) - A protocol used to transfer email. SMTP transfers mail from server to server, and the end user must use POP (see also Post Office Protocol) to transfer the messages to their machine.

Shopping Cart - a program or a series of programs that let visitors to a site make selections from more than one page before sending in an order.

TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) - TCP/IP is the basic language which all Internet computers use to talk to each other and send the tiny chunks of information that make up a web page or anything else online.

Telnet - The Internet standard protocol to connect to remote terminals.

Usenet  - Usenet groups are more commonly known as newsgroups. There are thousands of groups hosted on hundreds of servers around the world, dealing with various topics.

URL (Universal Resource Locator) -the URL refers to the entire address that is recognized “universally” as the address for an Internet resource. Each resource on the Internet has a unique URL. URLs begin with letters that identify the resource type, such as http, ftp, gopher, etc. These resource types are followed by a colon and two slashes after which the computer’s name is listed, followed by the directory and filename of the remote resource

WAN - Wide Area Network - a system of connected computers spanning a large geographical area.

Website - is a collection of one or more Webpages

Webpage - A Webpage is a single file that can be displayed on the Web. Some Webpages are just a few lines of text. Some have as much text as several book pages.

WHOIS - An Internet program that lets you enter an Internet entity (such as domains, networks, and hosts) and display information such as a person’s company name, address, phone number and email address.

WAIS (Wide Area Information Service) - A distributed information service and search engine that allows natural language input and indexed searching. Many Web search utilities use a WAIS engine.

WWW (World Wide Web, the Web or W3) - The Web is a collection of online documents housed on Internet servers around the world that are designed to be read with Web Browsers.

XML (Extensible Markup Language) - a new subset of the overall SGML (Standard Generalised Markup Language) designed to make it easy to define any document type - particularly the retrieval and presentation of variable data - and to write programs to handle these pages. Unlike HTML which is a fixed format subset of the overall SGML, XML offers the flexibility to define your own formats and markup.