Internet Jargon
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Address
See also URL. An Internet address is the name of a site you want to connect to, such as www.xtra.co.nz. Also, an Internet address can be the address of someone you want to send email to, such as name@company.co.uk. A typical address starts with a protocol (need an entry for protocol) name (such as ftp:// or http://) followed by the organisation that maintains the site; the suffix identifies the kind of organisation. For example, commercial site addresses often end with .co.uk or .com.
Bandwidth
The maximum amount of information passed over a connection in one second. It is measured either in Kbps (kilobits per second) or Mbps (megabits per second).
Browser
A programme which communicates with Web Servers used for retrieving and displaying information on the WWW, including graphical, audio, video etc. Some well-known Browsers are Microsoft Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Safari, Netscape Navigator, Mosaic and Lynx.
Digital Certificate
A common security standard for online transactions (e-commerce) such as Secure Electronic Transactions (SET), a Digital Certificate is issued by banks (e.g.: a MasterCard or Visa issuer) to each patron and each merchant to identify them as a valid transactor. More widely, Digital Certificates are issued by Certification Authorities such as VeriSign (USA) and Inter Clear (UK) to authenticate the public keys of persons who wish to conduct secure transactions (including encrypted email) over the Internet.
DNS
(Domain Name System) server - A computer
maintained by your Internet service provider that matches IP addresses to host names. Some providers will send you a specific DNS address. This address typically contains four sets of numbers separated by periods and is different from your IP address (e.g.: 194.164.40.31). See also IP address.
Domain
A domain is part of the naming hierarchy of the Internet. A domain name precisely locates an organisation or other entity on the Internet, e.g. www.my-company.co.uk or www.my-company.com. An address of the form "www.my-isp.net/my-company/ " is a sub-domain.
Encryption/Decryption
The practice of digitally "scrambling" a message using algorithms which are secret to the sending and receiving parties. Symmetric encryption/decryption requires the same algorithm to be utilised by both the sending and receiving parties. With current technology, a 90 bit key length is required. The alternative public key - private key system (for example the popular PGP program) is asymmetric encryption/decryption and requires a significantly lower order of key (20-30 bits). In this method each participant has a private and a public key. Each party in a transaction holds the public key for the other participants through use of digital signatures (among other processes). Thus, a message from one party to another is encrypted by the sending party by using the intended recipient's public key, meaning that the only person able to decrypt the message is the holder of the private key (the intended recipient).
FTP
(File Transfer Protocol) - A means of transferring files from one computer to another across the Internet. Also see Schemes.
GIF
(Graphics Interchange Format) - An image file format common on CompuServe and for small images on the Internet. It's limited to 256 colours but produces compact files. GIF's, in common with some other Internet 'friendly' graphic formats, can be interleaved (allowing downloads in steps which provide increasing resolution with each step) and given a property known as 'transparency', which allows any background of the web page to be seen through the graphic, if required.
HTML
Hypertext Markup Language. The language used to create and design Web pages. HTML is a series of "tags" that create the page layout, format text, insert graphics and multimedia, and more.
HTTP
Hypertext Transfer Protocol. A protocol that makes hypertext information such as Web pages available over the Internet, when you use a computer that is connected to a server.
Hyperlink
Link - Anything on a Web page that you can click to go to another page. A text or graphical link could go to another page at the same website or to page on a different part of the Web.
Hypertext
A method of presenting information that allows the user to jump between places in the document, typically by clicking on a highlighted word or an icon, rather than being forced to navigate it in a linear fashion. Both Help files and Web pages make extensive use of this technique. Adobe Acrobat is a good example of the genre, which is portable across different computer platforms.
IP Address
The IP address is the numeric address of a computer. Some Internet service providers will send you the IP address of their server. If you're not sure whether you need to enter an IP address, contact your provider. See also DNS.
ISP
Internet service provider. An Internet service provider maintains a server that is directly connected to the Internet. You must connect through a service provider unless you are directly connected to the Internet. Connecting to a service provider entails calling the provider and setting up an account.
Javascript
A scripting language, loosely based on Java, which allows Web programmers to create dynamic content, such as interactive games, or search engines on their websites.
JPEG
(Joint Photographic Experts Group) - The term usually refers to a graphic image format defined by this group that has become an alternative to GIF for small, compact images. All JPEG images (identified by the suffix jpg) can use 16.7 million colours at a much higher compression rate than GIF.
PGP
(Pretty Good Privacy) - A technique for encrypting messages. PGP is one of the most common ways to protect messages on the Internet because it is effective, easy to use and free. PGP is based on the public key method, which uses two keys. To encrypt a message using PGP, you need the PGP encryption package, which is available free. Some levels of encryption available through PGP are illegal in the US and the use of PGP and other high order encryption algorithms is being resisted by many governments.
Server
A central computer in a network which contains most of the software and files required by the Clients. The server is usually secured by a series of administration privileges and, due to its key role in the network, would be backed-up very frequently and be projected by a UPS (uninterruptible power supply). The Server is frequently not equipped to be used as a Client/workstation, but in a small company network a single computer could function as a Server and a Client, albeit with possible reduction in performance dependent upon the overhead inflicted by other users (clients) on the network.
POP
(Post Office Protocol) - E-mail system with faster delivery than SMTP. Current implementation is POP3.
SMTP
(Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) - SMTP is used to transfer e-mail between computers, as part of the TCP/IP protocol family.
SSL
(Secure Socket Layer) - SSL is an encryption system developed by Netscape to secure communications between Web Browsers and Servers. Version 3 of the SSL protocol is now the defacto standard. SSL uses 'certificates' of identity to authenticate Web users. These certificates are 'digitally signed' and issued by a trusted third party such as VeriSign. SSL provides three of the four basic assurances required for e-commerce (confidentiality, integrity and authentication). Also see SET
URL
Uniform Resource Locator. The address of a Web page. Web URLs start with http://. The URL of the page you are on appears in the Address box of Internet Explorer. See also Address.
Web Browser
A Web Browser is a program used to view websites on the Internet. You can browse Internet websites in much the same way you would browse through a library of books. Instead of using your feet to go from bookshelf to bookshelf, browsing the Internet is done using a Web Browser such as Internet Explorer to go from Web page to Web page. Browsing is also called surfing.
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