Two Hoots Software Web Jargon

If you are confused by the nature of an URL or baffled by all the terms being used on the web then look no further than our list of web jargon below.

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A program used to access web sites on the World Wide Web. The two main browsers at present are Microsoft's Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator. You're using one now !

Stands for electronic mail, which allows you to send messages across the internet. Most companies now have email systems which allow employees to communicate with each other across the world.

Also referred to as the Net. The Net allows millions of computers across the world to talk to each other.

Also known as an ISP. This is a company who provides access to the Net. Both Companies and individuals use an Internet Service Provider to connect to the Net.

World Wide discussion groups that allow people connected to the Net to read messages posted by other group members and add their own messages. There are literally thousands of such groups covering every topic imaginable.

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Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line. Latest technology allowing high speed transfer of data over existing phone lines.

A small application written in Java designed to run on a web page. Java is a programming language that can be used to write utilities that can be incorporated within a web site and downloaded by your browser.

Active Server Pages. HTML files with an .asp suffix allowing pages to be built accessing data from a database.

Basically how much data you can send down a given connection over a specified period of time.

A program that searches the net for information, used by a number of search engines to search the web for information to add to their databases.

A hypertext link which points to an invalid web site, page or another file. In Netscape Navigator this appears as a broken icon and as a box with a red cross on Internet Explorer.

A file on your hard disc used by Web sites you have visited to store information such as when you last visited and which pages you viewed. Some store information that you typed on the site, such as your name to personalise future visits.

A Web site that provides a directory of other sites. Unlike search engines these directories are maintained by humans. One of the most popular examples is yahoo.com.

A method of scrambling data so that only the intended recipient can read it with the appropriate software.

A protocol that allows files to be transferred between computers on the internet.

Software used to protect a pc network or machine from external attacks from hackers.

The front page of a web site. This is usually the page that the site URL points to.

Hyper Text Markup Language. This language is used to make all web sites. The browser reads this HTML and presents the page onto your screen.

A powerful programming language that works alongside HTML providing advanced features for dynamic web sites.

An additional web programming language that is easily learnt, used to add dynamic effects to web sites.

A Web site that allows you to search for web sites by entering keywords. Search Engines databases are built by sending out 'spiders' to hunt all web pages. A popular Search Engine is google.com.

Uniform Resource Locator is the address of a website, its location on the World Wide Web.

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Email Address store used by the majority of email programs such as Outlook Express.

Separate file that is sent with email messages such as an image or word document.

Address an email to a recipient where the main recipient can't see who it's being sent to.

This generally happens when an email is sent to an invalid email address and is bounced back to the sender as undelivered.

Send a copy of an email to an addressee as well as the main recipient.

These are rules which automatically handle incoming e-mail, for example to delete where from a specified address, or to move specific e-mails to designated folders.

Process of passing a message to another internet email address.

The location at your ISP where your email messages are stored until you download them.