Quick Glossary
URL Statistics Subdomains SHTML SMTP server POP Account POP mail server PHP
MySQL JavaScript LINUX Mail Client Mail
Relay HTML HTTPS DNS Domain Parking Domain Pointing Domain Registration E-commerce E-mail autoresponder E-mail Forward E-mail Server Error
404 Applet Browser Bulletin Board SSI SSL CGI Cgi-bin Counter FTP HTML Host Server Bandwidth FrontPage98 Extensions POP3
Email
URL
Abbreviation of Uniform Resource Locator, the global address
of documents and other resources on the World Wide Web. The
first part of the address indicates what protocol to use,
and the second part specifies the IP address or the domain
name where the resource is located.
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Statistics
A program that tracks information either by input of a form
(like a guestbook) or by monitoring information about the
users that visit (ie: name, location, age, IP address, etc…).
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Subdomains
A method of putting multiple domains under one “Parent” domain
by separating them with a period (IE: www.teamhosts.com is
the parent domain, and support.teamhosts.com is the subdomain).
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SHTML
(Server-parsed HTML) A file extension used to identify HTML
pages that contain server-side includes. Server-parsed means
that the server scans the page for commands that require additional
insertion before the page is sent to the user.
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SMTP server
Short for Simple Mail Transfer Protocol, a protocol for sending
e-mail messages between servers. Most e-mail systems that
send mail over the Internet use SMTP to send messages from
one server to another; the messages can then be retrieved
with an e-mail client using either POP or IMAP.
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POP Account
Short for Post Office Protocol, a protocol used to retrieve
e-mail from a mail server. Most e-mail applications (sometimes
called an e-mail client) use the POP protocol, although some
can use the newer IMAP (Internt Message Access Protocol).
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POP mail server
Post Office Protocol 3 A standard mail server commonly used
on the Internet. It provides a message store that holds incoming
e-mail until users log on and download it. POP3 is a simple
system with little selectivity. All pending messages and attachments
are downloaded at the same time. POP3 uses the SMTP messaging
protocol.
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PHP
Personal Home Page is a server-side, HTML embedded scripting
language used to create dynamic Web pages.
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MySQL
(Structured Query Language) Pronounced "SQL" or "see qwill,"
a language used to interrogate and process data in a relational
database. Originally developed by IBM for its mainframes,
all database systems designed for client/sever environments
support SQL. SQL commands can be used to interactively work
with a database or can be embedded within a programming language
to interface to a database. Programming extensions to SQL
have turned it into a full-blown database programming language.
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JavaScript
JavaScript is a programming language that is mostly used in
web pages, usually to add features that make the web page
more interactive. When JavaScript is included in an HTML it
relies upon the browser to interpret the JavaScript. When
JavaScript is combined with Cascading Style Sheets (CSS),
and later versions of HTML (4.0 and later) the result is often
called DHTML.
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LINUX
Pronounced lee-nucks, a freely-distributable implementation
of UNIX that runs on a number of hardware platforms, including
Intel and Motorola microprocessors. It was developed mainly
by Linus Torvalds. Because it's free, and because it runs
on many platforms, including PC's, Macintoshes and Amigas,
Linux has become extremely popular over the last couple years.
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Mail Client
An application that runs on a personal computer or workstation
and enables you to send, receive and organize e-mail. It's
called a client because e-mail systems are based on a client-server
architecture. Mail is sent from many clients to a central
server, which re-routes the mail to its intended destination.
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Mail Relay
The act of pointing one Domain’s MX Record to another IP address,
thereby relaying it to another domain.
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HTML
Short for HyperText Markup Language, the authoring language
used to create documents on the World Wide Web.
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HTTPS
(1) (HyperText Transport Protocol Secure) The protocol for
accessing a secure Web server. Using HTTPS in the URL instead
of HTTP directs the message to a secure port number rather
than the default Web port number of 80. The session is then
managed by a security protocol. See security protocol.
(2) (HyperText Transport Protocol Server) A Web server that
runs under Windows NT, developed by the European Microsoft
Windows Academic Centre.
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DNS
Short for Domain Name System (or Service), an Internet service
that translates domain names into IP addresses. Because domain
names are alphabetic, they're easier to remember. The Internet
however, is really based on IP Addresses. Every time you use
a domain name, therefore, a DNS service must translate the
name into the corresponding IP address. For example, the domain
name www.teamhosts.com might translate to 232.425.523.6.
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Domain Parking
The act of registering a Domain, then placing it on a server
for future reservation or usage purposes. Commonly used tactic
for reserving name similar or relevant to the original (ie:
reserving the .com, .net and .org of a given domain name).
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Domain Pointing
The referring of one IP to another IP. A common example is
when you type in one Internet Address, and another Address
almost immediately appears.
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Domain Registration
The act of registering an Internet Domain Name is with interNIC,
the governing body of domain names. An Internet domain name
is an organization's unique name combined with a top level
domain name (TLD). For example, arishost.com is the domain
name of this registrar. Following are the top level domains.
The .edu, .mil and .gov domains are traditionally U.S. domains.
At the end of 1999, more than six million domain names were
registered. Needless to say, many more are expected.
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E-commerce
Conducting business on-line. This includes, for example, buying
and selling products with digital cash and via Electronic
Data Interchange.
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E-mail autoresponder
A mail utility that automatically sends a reply to an e-mail
message. Autoresponders are used to send back boilerplate
information on a topic without having the requester do anything
more than e-mail a particular address. They are also used
to send a confirmation that the message has been received.
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E-mail Forward
Sending e-mail to its correct destination. There are Web sites
that provide a name service either for a fee or at no cost
because they are advertiser supported. These sites let you
choose a permanent e-mail address, and all mail sent to that
address is forwarded to your currently-active e-mail provider.
If you ever change providers, you only have to update your
forwarding information at these "name-only" sites.
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E-mail Server
A computer in a network that provides "post office" facilities.
It stores incoming mail for distribution to users and forwards
outgoing mail through the appropriate channel. The term may
refer to just the software that performs this service, which
can reside on a machine with other services.
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Error 404 - not found
The error message that is commonly displayed when a Web browser
cannot locate a Web page or CGI script. The link to a Web
page (URL) is static like a telephone number in a telephone
book. A Web site can use software to search each link that
it references for validity, but there is no program that can
automatically find the new address for the missing link. The
Webmaster can also replace the 404 message with something
more understandable.
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Applet
A small Java program that can be embedded in an HTML page.
Applets differ from full-fledged Java applications in that
they are not allowed to access certain resources on the local
computer, such as files and serial devices (modems, printers,
etc.), and are prohibited from communicating with most other
computers across a network.
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Browser
Short for Web browser, a software application used to locate
and display Web pages. The two most popular browsers are Netscape
Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer. Both of these are
graphical browsers, which means that they can display graphics
as well as text. In addition, most modern browsers can resent
multimedia information, including sound and video, though
they require plug-ins for some formats.
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Bulletin Board / Forum
A computer system used as an information source and forum
for a particular interest group. They were widely used in
the U.S. to distribute shareware and drivers and had their
heyday before the World Wide Web took off. A BBS functions
somewhat like a stand-alone Web site, but without graphics.
However, unlike Web sites, each BBS has its own telephone
number to dial into.
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SSI
Server Side Includes (SSI) are directions you may put
in an HTML document to execute other programs or output data
such as statistics or variables to the User.
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SSL
Secure Socket Layer (SSL) is a method of sending information
in a secure manner from the client system to the hosting system.
Security methods include a software's ability to encrypt messages
over the internet where they are decrypted once they reach
the host server machine. Secure
Socket Layer is the standard means of sending sensitive information
such as credit card numbers "securely" over the internet.
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CGI
Common Gateway Interface is a tool used in creating or
managing websites. CGI is part of the host web server that
can communicate with other programs found on the server and
execute them. Data entered from the browser can execute a
server's CGI script of commands, which then can pass information
back to the browser. CGI scripts are thus very useful and
create a myriad of applications such as hit counters, search
programs, guestbooks, and even games.
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Cgi-bin
The most common name of a directory on a web server in which
CGI Programs are stored. The “bin” part of “cgi-bin” is a
short-hand version of “binary”, because once upon a time,
most programs were refered to as “binaries”. In real life,
most programs found in cgi-bin directories are text files
– scripts that are executed by binaries located elsewhere
on the same machine.
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Counter
A program or Plug–In that monitors the number of times a given
page or file has been accessed. Commonly, it can be gauged
at regular increments and then reset, or kept running. Much
like a vehicles odometer versus the trip meter.
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FTP
File Transfer Protocol (FTP) allows transferring of files
between the user and the web host. Uploading allows you to
send files such as HTML web page documents and CGI scripts
to your directory. Downloading lets you retrieve them and
save them on your computer.
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HTML
HyperText Markup Language (HTML) is the computer language
used to create World Wide Web documents. It tells the browser
how to display text, art and graphics, and other media. Additionally
it allows your web document to become interactive by adding
clickable "links" which can transport the user to various
locations on the web or another location within their own
document.
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Host
A computer which stores your website and makes it accessible
to be viewed on the Internet.
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Server
A program which runs on the Host computer storingand organizing
your website data and directory. Servers have an IP numberical
address which identifies where your website is located on
the Net.
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Bandwidth
When a website is accessed there is a flow of data information
from the Host to the web user accessing the website. The average
website is only a few megabytes in total data. For example
if a website is 2MB in size, then the entire website can be
accessed 500 times before an extra fee per MB of data transfer
fee is imposed. Teamhosts plans designate the flow of traffic
per website on a monthly allowance basis depending on the
plan.
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FrontPage extensions
These are extensions which sit on our server and support
the use of Microsoft FrontPage software so that FrontPage
can be used in conjunction with our web server for creating,
FTP'ing and maintaining your website. At Teamhosts we support
Microsoft FrontPage but recommend
using a more sophisticated editor such as Macromedia Dreamweaver.
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POP3 E-Mail
E-mail accounts which are stored on a mail server and
are accessible by third party programs such as Netscape Navigator®
and Claris E-mailer. POP3 e-mails get stored on your (client-side)
hard disk as opposed to SMTP email which remains only on the
server (server-side).
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