Web Glossary

A:

B:

Blog

Blog is an abbreviated term for a "web log" – an online diary. Whilst blogs can be used as a company news system or for any kind of informative updates, they are traditionally a way of airing personal opinion and can be quite informal. Literally your journal online.

Broadband

Browser

Your browser is the piece of software on your computer/phone/Internet enabled device that lets you view web pages. It's the window you open when you want to go on the Internet and view a web page. Popular mainstream browsers include Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari and Chrome.

C:

Cookie

CMS

CMS stands for Content Management System. It helps manage and moniter the content of the given website.

CSS

CSS is code that tells a web browser how to display the aesthetics of web pages. It works with HTML to dictate layout, colours, sizes etc.

D:

Domain Name

Your domain name is your website address which ends with .co.uk, or .com, or .org.uk etc. depending on your type of organisation. Many domain names means something/were created for a specific use – such as .org.uk domains were traditionally for UK based organisations and charities.

Download

E:

Email

Email is a way of communicating electronically by sending messages to one or more recipients.

F:

Firewall

G:

GIF

Google

H:

Hosting

I usually describe hosting as hiring the space your website takes up on the Internet. The files that make up your website are stored on a computer called a server which Internet Browsers connect to in order for people to see your website online. If you are a big company with an important website you may have your own servers, otherwise you'll generally pay a company an annual or monthly fee to borrow some space on their server.

HTML

HTML stands for HyperText Markup Language and is what browsers use (along with the newer version, XHTML) to know how to display web pages. It means pages can have structure – with layouts, or tables of information, with different code for headings and paragraphs.

HTTP

I:

Internet

IP Address

J:

JavaScript

JS is typically a "client-side" technology which means it's on a web browser rather than on a server – so if your browser on your computer doesn't support it, you can't use it. JavaScript is a programming language that allows for lots of slick features on websites – such as games, populating forms whilst you look at them, sliding menus, fades etc etc.

JPEG/JPG

P:

PHP

PHP is an open source programming language for making dynamic websites. It stands for PHP Hypertext Preprocessor (yes, the first P in PHP stands for PHP! It's what's called a recursive acronym).

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R:

RSS

S:

Search Engine

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)

Search Engine Optimisation is the act of getting your website to do better in search engine results. This includes making sure your site is optimised and that other websites know about it across the web.

Social Media

Social Media is the trend for sharing information online via the web. The World Wide Web has always been about sharing information and Social Media – and Web 2.0 – is just about making that easier and more widespread.

T:

U:

Upload

URL

V:

W:

Website

Windows

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Y:

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