Glossary

Authentication
In web terms: the method used to verify the identity of a user, program, or computer on the web.

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

Broadband
A general term for different types of high-speed, high-bandwidth connections to the Internet, including DSL and cable.

Browser
A type of software that allows you to navigate information databases; examples are Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer.

Click
In web terms: A mouse click on a hyperlink element (such as text or picture) on a web page, which creates an event such as taking a visitor to another web page or another part of the same page.

Click-through Rate
The number of times visitors click on a hyperlink (or advertisement) on a page, as a percentage of the number of times the page has been displayed.

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.

Cookie
Information from a web server, stored on your computer by your web browser. The purpose of a cookie is to provide information about your visit to the website for use by the server during a later visit.

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.

DNS (Domain Name Service)
A computer program running on a web server, translating domain names into IP addresses.

DNS Server
A web server running DNS.

DomainKeys
DomainKeys is an e-mail authentication system designed to verify the DNS domain of an e-mail sender and the message integrity. The DomainKeys specification has adopted aspects of Identified Internet Mail to create an enhanced protocol called DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM).

Domain Name
The name that identifies a web site (such as JoesGarage.com).

E-mail (Electronic Mail)
Messages sent from one person to another via the Internet.

E-mail Address
The address used for sending e-mails to a person or an organization. Typical format is username@hostname.

E-mail Server
A web server dedicated to the task of serving e-mail.

Graphics
In web terms: graphics describe pictures (as opposed to text).

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.

Internet Engineering Task Force
The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) develops and promotes Internet standards, in particular those of the TCP/IP protocol suite. It is an open, all-volunteer standards organization, with no formal membership or membership requirements.

IP (Internet Protocol)
IP refers to the set of communication standards that control communications activity on the Internet. An IP address is the number assigned to any Internet-connected computer.

ISP (Internet Service Provider)
Someone that provides access to the Internet and web hosting.

Links
These are the hypertext connections between Web pages. This is a synonym for hotlinks or hyperlinks.

Pharming
Pharming is the exploitation of a vulnerability in Domain Name Service (DNS) server software that allows a hacker to redirect that website's traffic to another website.

Phishing
Phishing is the act of sending e-mails falsely claiming to be a legitimate enterprise in an attempt to scam the recipient into surrendering private information that will be used for identity theft.

Sender ID
The Sender ID Framework is an e-mail authentication technology protocol that helps address the problems of spoofing and phishing by verifying the domain name from which e-mail is sent. Sender ID validates the origin of e-mail by verifying the IP address of the sender against the purported owner of the sending domain.

Sender Policy Framework
SPF fights return-path address forgery and makes it easier to identify spoofs. Domain owners identify sending mail servers in DNS. SMTP receivers verify the envelope sender address against this information, and can distinguish authentic messages from forgeries before any message data is transmitted.

SPAM
In web terms: The action of sending multiple unwelcome messages to a newsgroup or mailing list.

Spoofing
Addressing a web page or an e-mail with a false referrer. Like sending an e-mail from a false address.

Spyware
Computer software hidden in a computer with the purpose of collecting information about the use of the computer.

Unsubscribe
To cancel a subscription to an online publication or e-mail list.

URL (Uniform Resource Locator)
The addressing system used in the World Wide Web and other Internet resources. The URL contains information about the method of access, the server to be accessed, and the path of any file to be accessed.

Web Page
An HTML document that is accessible on the web.

Worm
A computer virus that can make copies of itself and spread to other computers over the Internet.