A B C D E F G H

A

Anchor
Synonymous with hyperlinks, anchor refers to non-linear links among documents. Or more simply put, it is the word or phrase that can be selected to connect to another page or resource.

Anchor colour
You guessed it the color on screen represents the anchors. The reason so many are blue is that blue is often the default color. This color can be changed to any combination of red, green and blue.

Agent
Agents are search tools that automatically seek out relevant online information based on your specifications. Agents are also called intelligent agents, personal agents, knowbots or droids.

Annotations
Personal notes you can attach to the documents you have saved in your Web browser. The notes are available to you whenever the document is viewed.

Archie
Derived from the word archive, Archie is a Net-based service that allows you to locate files that can be downloaded via FTP.

ASCII
(pronounced "Ask-ee") An acronym for American Standard Code for Information Exchange, ASCII is an international standard in which numbers, letters, punctuation marks, symbols and control codes are assigned numbers from 0 to 127. Easily transferred over networks, ASCII is a plain, unadorned text without style or font specifications.

Asynchronous connection
The type of connection a modem makes over a phone line, this connection is not synchronized by a mutual timing signal or clock.

AU Sounds
This is an audio format developed for Sun workstations and often used to distribute sound clips via the Web.

Authoring software
This term refers to software that enables the creation of multimedia or hypertext documents and presentations.

Avatar
This term refers to an interactive representation of a human in a virtual reality environment; term was popularized by Neal Stephenson's novel 'Snow Crash'.

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B

Bandwidth
The range of transmission frequencies a network can use. The greater the bandwidth, the more information can be transferred over that network at one time. The term bandwidth also broadly includes throughput, meaning the amount of data sent.

Baseband
A transmission method in which a network uses its entire transmission range to send a single signal.

Baud
A unit of speed in data transmission, or the maximum speed at which data can be sent down a channel. Baud is often equivalent to bits per second. Named after J. M. E. Baudot (died 1903).

BBS
This is an acronym for Bulletin Board System, a computer equipped with software and telecommunications links that allow it to act as an information host for remote computer systems.

BinHex
A file conversion format that converts binary files to ASCII text files.

Bit
A contraction of binary digit, a bit is the smallest unit of information that a computer can hold. Eight bits is equivalent to a byte. The speed at which bits are transmitted or bit rate is usually expressed as bits per second or bps.

Broadband
A transmission method in which the networks range of transmission frequencies is divided into separate channels and each channel is used to send a different signal. Broadband is often used to send different types of signals simultaneously.

Browser
A type of software that allows you to navigate information databases; examples are Netscape Navigator and NCSA Mosaic.

Byte
The number of bits used to represent a character.

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C

CD-ROM
Compact Disk-Read Only Memory; an optical disk from which information may be read but not written.

CD-R of Compact Disk-Recordable
Refers to computer peripheral disk drives that allow the user to record content on to a blank compact disk.

Client
A computer that has access to services over a computer network. The computer providing the services is a server. Note: in an X-11 environment, the meanings of client and server are reversed.

Client-Server Architectuur
An information-passing scheme that works as follows: a client program, such as Mosaic, sends a request to a server. The server takes the request, disconnects from the client and processes the request. When the request is processed, the server reconnects to the client program and the information is transferred to the client. This architecture differs from traditional Internet databases where the client connects to the server and runs the program from the remote site. Note: in an X-11 environment, the meanings of client and server are reversed.

Configuration
This is a general-purpose computer term that can refer to the way you have your computer set up. It is also used to describe the total combination of hardware components that make up a computer system and the software settings that allow various hardware components of a computer system to communicate with one another.

Configure
The act of changing software or hardware actions by changing the settings.

CyberMall
A term commonly used to describe an electronic site shared by a number of commercial interests.

Cyberspace
A term coined by William Gibson in his novel 'Neuromancer' to refer to a near-future computer network where users mentally travel through matrices of data. The term is now used to describe the Internet and the other computer networks.

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D

Dial-up Connection
The most popular form of Net connection for the home user, this is a connection from your computer to a host computer over standard telephone lines.

Direct Connection
A permanent connection between your computer system and the Internet. This is sometimes referred to as a leased-line connection because the line is leased from the telephone company.

DNS
An acronym for Domain Name Server, DNS refers to a database of Internet names and addresses which translates the names to the official Internet Protocol numbers and vice versa.

Document
When used in reference to the World Wide Web, a document is any file containing text, media or hyperlinks that can be transferred from an HTTP server to a client program.

Document window
This is the Web browser's scrollable window in which HTML documents can be viewed.

Download
To transfer to your computer a copy of a file that resides on another computer.

DSU
The abbreviation for Digital Services Unit, DSU replaces the modem's asynchronous connections to the Internet.

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E

EDI
The abbreviation for Electronic Data Interchange, EDI system allows linked computers to conduct business transactions such as ordering and invoicing over telecommunications networks.

External viewer
A program used for presenting graphics, audio and video files. Programs that allow the viewing of GIF and JPEG files and the hearing of AU files fall into this category.

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F

FAQ
This is the acronym for Frequently Asked Questions. A common feature on the Internet, FAQs are files of answers to commonly asked questions. Read FAQs before wasting electrons asking obvious questions. Saves you from receiving flames.

Firewall
This term refers to security measures designed to protect a networked system from unauthorized or unwelcome access.

FTP
File Transfer Protocol is a protocol that allows the transfer of files from one computer to another. FTP is also the verb used to describe the act of transferring files from one computer to another.

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G

GIF
This acronym stands for Graphic Interchange Format, a commonly used file compression format developed by CompuServe for transferring graphics files to and from online services.

Gopher
A menu-oriented tool used to locate online resources developed at the University of Minnesota.

Gopherspace
A term used to describe the entire gopher network.

Groupware
This term refers to software applications that facilitate shared work on documents and information.

GUI
An acronym for Graphical User Interface, this term refers to a software front-end meant to provide an attractive and easy to use interface between a computer user and application. The Macintosh operating system has a GUI, DOS does not.

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H

Homepage
The document displayed when you first open your Web browser. Homepage can also refer to the first document you come to at a Web site.

Hotlists
Lists of frequently used Web locations and URLs (Uniform Resource Locators).

Host
A computer acting as an information or communications server.

HTML
An acronym for HyperText Markup Language, HTML is the language used to tag various parts of a Web document so browsing software will know how to display that document's links, text, graphics and attached media.

HTML Document
A document written in HyperText Markup Language.

HTTP
The abbreviation for Hypertext Transfer Protocol, HTTP is used to link and transfer hypertext documents.

Hypermedia
The hypertext concept extended to include linked multiple media.

Hypertext
This term describes the system that allows documents to be cross-linked in such a way that the reader can explore related documents by clicking on a highlighted word or symbol.

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