Glossary of Terms
Don't know the difference between HTTP and TCP/IP? Have no fear - our handy glossary of terms is here to shed light on even the most obscure of Web-related acronyms.
If there's something you'd like explained that you can't find in here then please let us know about it. The glossary is expanding all the time so we welcome suggestions.
S
- Screen Reader
-
A piece of software that attempts to interpret what is being displayed on a computer screen. This is then presented to a blind or visually impaired user as speech.
- Search Engine
-
A Search Engine is a program designed to help find information stored on a computer system, such as the World Wide Web.
Search criteria are entered in the form of Keywords. The Search Engine will then return a list of references matching the search criteria.
Major Search Engines include Google, MSN Search and Yahoo Search.
- Search Engine Marketing
-
Search Engine Marketing is a set of marketing methods intended to increase Web site visibility in Search Engine listings.
The three main methods of Search Engine Marketing are Search Engine Optimisation, Pay Per Click advertising and Paid Inclusion.
See also: Search Engine Optimisation.
- Search Engine Optimisation
-
This is the process of achieving top ranking in the search engines for a website's most relevant search terms. The most relevant search terms are the phrases that people are most likely to type into a search engine when looking for what the website has to offer.
These techniques include adhering to Web Standards, the appropriate use of Keywords and improving the quality of content on a Web site.
There are also more unscrupulous methods of Search Engine Optimisation, most of which are now ineffective, that will result in the offending Web site being removed from Search Engine listings if caught.
These methods include Cloaking, Doorway Pages and Hidden Text among others.
See also: Search Engine Marketing.
- Search path analysis
-
Tracking how a user searched for a given word and the route taken to reach their final destination
- Second Life
-
Second Life is a 3-D virtual world entirely built and owned by its residents. Second Life has its own internal economy which can be exchanged for real world currency.
- SEM (Search Engine Marketing)
- SEO (Search Engine Optimisation)
- SERPs
-
The page on which search results are displayed in response to a query submitted by the user.
- Server
-
A Server is a computer system that provides services to other computing systems across a network.
See also: Web Server.
- Server-Side
-
Server-Side refers to operations that are performed by the Server rather than a Client in a Client-Server relationship.
PHP is a language that is run Server-Side.
See also: Client-Side
- SMTP (Simple Mail Transport Protocol)
-
SMTP is the defacto standard for transmitting Email across the Internet.
-
User generated networks that involve online collaboration. The classic examples are MySpace, Facebook and YouTube.
-
A way of optimising websites so they would be more easily connected with online communities and community websites. It can be thought of as a cross between SEO and Social Networking
-
In the online sense, this refers to a type of website model where individual members become part of a broader virtual community. Users provide personal information about themselves in a profile and reveal themselves through participation in the online community.
- Spam
-
Spam is unsolicited, bulk messages sent across an electronic communication system, usually Email.
Spam is usually used to send advertising messages.
- Spambot
-
A software program designed to harvest Email addresses from Web sites in order to build a mailing list to send Spam Emails to.
- Spamming
-
The act of sending Spam.
- Spider
-
See Robot.
- Splash Page
-
A Splash Page, or Splash Screen, is an entry page to a Web site that normally consists of a link instructing users to click it to enter the Web site, or a Flash animation that takes the user through to the Web site once complete.
Splash Pages are widely considered bad-practice since they act as a barrier between a user and the content they are trying to reach.
- Splash Screen
-
See Splash Page
- Sponsored Search
-
See Pay Per Click.
- Spot Colour
-
A Spot Colour is an ink generated by mixing other colours. This ink can then be used in the printing process. This differs from Process Colour where CMYK inks are mixed during the printing process in order to reproduce other colours.
See also: Process Colour, Pantone Colour, CMYK, RGB.
- Spyware
-
Spyware is a computer program that monitors and records what users do with their computers without their consent. It then sends this information to a designated recipient over the Internet.
Spyware is usually used to monitor user trends, for example which Web sites are visited, in order to send this information to an advertising company. But some Spyware can be more malicious and attempt to record passwords as they are entered on a keyboard.
See also: Adware.
- SSH (Secure Shell)
-
SSH is a set of standards that allows the establishing of a secure connection between a local and a remote computer.
- SSL (Secure Sockets Layer)
-
SSL is an encryption protocol that provides secure commincation over the Internet. Commonly used where data privacy is paramount, for example when submitting credit card details through a Web site during a transaction.
- Statistics
-
See Web Stats.
- Stemming
-
The ability of a search to include the 'stem' of words.
- Streaming
-
Streaming or Streaming Media is media that can be viewed, read or heard while it is still being delivered.
Typically, streaming refers to the act of video media being delivered over the Internet, or other network, the beginning of which can be viewed before the media has been delivered in its entirety.
- Streaming Media
-
See Streaming.
- SWF
-
SWF, abbreviated from Small Web Format, is a Vector Graphics file format. Flash content is published in SWF format.
-
The process of making Feeds avaliable from a Web site in order to provide others with an updated list of content from that Web site. Regularly Syndicated items include Blog posts and news articles.
T
- Title tag
-
Meta information tag inserted at the top of a web page, and displayed in the browser bar.
- TCP/IP (Transmisison Control Protocol/Internet Protocol)
-
TCP/IP is the set of communication protocols on which the Internet and most commercial networks run.
- Trojan Horse
-
A Trojan Horse is a computer program that pretends to be one thing, for example an image, but instead does damage when opened - usually by deleting data.
A Trojan Horse cannot self-replicate and as such is not a Virus.
U
- Unique Visit
-
A single, unique user who has visited a Web site within a specified time period. Unique Visits are recorded by Web Stats as a measure of how many individual users are visiting a Web site. The number of unique visitors provides you some very valuable information regarding site traffic.
See also: Page Views, Hit.
- URL (Uniform Resource Locator)
-
Simply, this is a website's address e.g.
http://www.eazytiger.netA URL is an address that refers to the location of a file on the Internet.
Web pages are accessed using an HTTP URL which is displayed in a Browser's address bar in the format
http://www.eazytiger.net/index.htm. All resources delivered on the Internet, including Web pages, images and documents have a URL.
Our Services
- eCommerce
- Web Site Design
- Bespoke Web Applications
- Flash Applications
- Online Marketing
- Digital Communication
- Online PR
- Web Hosting
- Branding and Identity
