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A glossary of common terms and acronyms that webmasters will encounter
When you are just starting out making a website it's easy to get confused. You run across all these weird terms and obscure acronyms & phrases... MySQL? Domain? FTP? SMTP? Java? VOIP? Perl? Cold Fusion? HUH? WHAT? The following list defines many of the terms and acronyms that you will encounter sooner or later in your webmaster adventure. This page is a work-in-progress, so if you need a definition that isn't here, try the forums or send me an email.
Need Help? Find a mistake? Email the webmaster.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
A
Absolute Link - Absolute links (http://blt-web.com/images/graphic.gif) contain all the domain and path information for a web page link. See also 'Relative Link'.
Access - A scripting language used on the Windows NT Server.
ActiveX - A program / interface that allows web browsers to automatically download and execute Windows programs. ActiveX has been the target of numerous hacker / virus attacks due to it's inherent vulnerabilities. See also Plug-In.
ActiveX Data Object (ADO) - A technology from Microsoft that provides data access to many kinds of data storage.
Affiliate / Affiliation - An affiliate is someone who has agreed to advertise for a company as an independent associate. He or she is not employed by that company, they are more like a mercenary sales rep, working for commission only.
Affiliate Program - The company wants to sell more products, you want to make a profit by 'selling' ad space on your website. The affiliate program is the agreement between you two.
Anchor - It's the "</a>" and the "<a href"part of hyper-link codes.
ASCII Codes - The HTML codes that will tell a browser what character to display. Here is a printable ASCII Special Characters code chart with the HTML codes for £ , Ø , Þ and all the rest.
ASCII text - Stands for "American Standard Code for Information Interchange" -- This is the world-wide standard for the code numbers used by computers to represent all the upper and lower-case Latin letters, numbers, punctuation, etc. There are 128 standard ASCII codes identified by a 7 digit number.
ASP - A scripting and programming language used on the Windows NT Server.
Autoresponder - A service or software application that allows a webmaster to automatically reply to an email, instantly and often. Autoresponders are often used to send a series of emails, like a 5 or 10-day "e-course", or a once-a-week reminder to buy something.
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B
Bandwidth - This is the amount of data that can be transferred to and from your website during the measurement period. (usually a month) Bandwidth usage is measured in MB and GB, like disk space.
Banner / Banner Ad - Common sizes include 468x60 pixels, 120x600 pixels, and just about everything in between. Many merchants have different sizes to choose from. Small (88x32) banners are often called 'buttons'.
Blog - Short for "Web Log". A popular service that allows just about anyone to put their thoughts and ideas online. Most blogs can be easily syndicated (for viewing on other websites) and are becoming very popular with the web marketing crowd.
Browser - The "user interface" between you and the code language a website is written in. The browser (Firefox, MSInternetExplorer, Opera, etc.) reads the code and decides how to display the website on your monitor.
Browser-Safe Colors - A decade ago, PC monitors could only reproduce a limited number of colors. The "Browser-Safe Color Palette" (216 colors) was devised to help webmasters design a website that looked (more or less) the same on different systems. With the average monitor able to display millions of colors, this is no longer a big issue.
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C
C+ and C++ - Complex programming languages that I don't even begin to understand.
CGI - CGI Scripts perform special functions on the server and allow a webmaster to add interactively (forms,
shopping carts, etc.) to a website.
CGI-bin - That's the file on your server where your CGI scripts live.
Click Thru Rate (CTR) - A common statistic detailing how many clicks an ad receives. Usually, a merchant will show 'total' and 'unique' click thru amounts.
Client-Side Includes (CSI) - A browser-based method of dynamically integrating another file within a webpage. See also: Server-Side Includes (SSI).
Cold Fusion - A scripting language commonly used on a Windows NT server.
Content - In this usage: everything on a website, but not including the graphics, layout coding or other design elements.
Conversion Rate - In marketer-speak, this is the percentage of your visitors that your website 'converts' into customers.
Cookie - A small snip of code that is most often used to keep track of a surfer's movement through a website or to keep track of the contents of a shopping cart.
Cookie Duration - In affiliate sales, a merchant website will place a cookie on a surfer's machine... if that surfer returns after several days, the cookie tells the merchant what affiliate referred the customer. How long the cookie lasts is the 'cookie duration'.
Counters / Site Counter - A service that, with the addition of some code to your pages, will keep track of your website statistics.
CPA - Stands for "Cost Per Action". Sometimes called Pay-Per-Action (PPA). It's just jargon for the amount that a company has agreed to pay for a sale or a lead. Commonly used in affiliate programs to show the pay rate for something.
CPC - Stands for "Cost Per Click". Sometimes called Pay-Per-Click (PPC). Less common than the CPM method of advertising compensation.
CPI - Stands for "Cost Per Impression". Often referred to as Pay-Per_Impression (PPI). It's just a type of affiliate program that pays on a per impression basis.
CPL - Stands for "Cost Per Lead". Sometimes called Pay-Per-Lead (PPL). It's how much an advertiser pays per a lead. This is a very common method of determining advertising compensation.
CPM - Stands for "Cost Per Thousand Impressions". It's how much an advertiser will pay for 1,000 ad banner impressions.
CPS - Stands for "Cost Per Sale". Sometimes called Pay-Per-Sale (PPS). It is the cost an advertiser will pay an affiliate for a sale. This is a very common method of advertising compensation.
Creative - A common marketing term used to identify the items used to generate leads and sell advertising. Including banner ads, text links, interstitials (pop-ups), e-mail ads, etc.
Cron Job - Cron is a unix/linux function that allows you to automatically run a command at a specific time. In practice, it is similar to a task scheduler, like the one built into Windows.
CSS - Stands for "Cascading Style Sheets". They provide a way to control and adjust layout and font options for an entire site with a single document. This allows web designers to separate content from layout and presentation, which makes the development of a web site more efficient and flexible.
CTR - Stands for "Click Thru Rate" Your CTR is the ratio (by percentage) of click thrus to impressions. To determine CTR you divide your click thrus by the number of impressions. It's a good way to judge the effectiveness of an ad campaign because it shows what percentage of people who see your ads that actually click on them.
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D
Disk Space - The same as the space on your PC's hard drive. Web Hosts will rent you a certain amount of space for your website. It's measured in Megabytes (MB) or gigabytes (GB). Obviously, the more they allocate, the larger your website can be.
Domain Name - This is your website identifier. A domain name like google.com is much easier for people to remember than 216.239.37.104 - but they're the same place.
Double-Opt-In List - Refers to a mailing list that requires the subscriber to deliberately sign up for and reply to a confirmation email to verify that the subscription is legitimate.
DTDs - See Valid DTDs
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E
E-Book - "Electronic Book". There are e-novels, e-books, e-booklets (and e-crap) available all over the internet.
EPC - Stands for "Earnings Per Click". It's another way to judge how effective an ad campaign is. It helps to show what percentage of clicks are actually converting into sales or leads. NOTE: Some networks define EPC as "Earnings per 100 clicks" (Where the "C" stands for the Roman "100")
EPM - Stands for "Earnings Per Thousand Impression". Another good statistic to determine how effective an ad campaign is. It is calculated by dividing the total number of impressions by 1,000 and then taking your total earnings for that ad campaign and dividing it by the result.
E-Zine - Just another word for 'Newsletter" as in "Electronic Magazine".
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F
Favicon - Favicon (pronounced fav-eye-con) is short for 'Favorites Icon'.... it's the 16 x 16 icon that allows the webmaster to create a more customized appearance within the visitors favorites folder or the address window. Different browsers handle favicons differently, but it's a simple way to help a webmaster 'brand' a website.
Forum - An internet 'gathering place' where people can talk, argue, ask for help or offer opinions. Forums are sometimes called message boards or bulletin boards. But a "Forum" is typically more fluid and interactive, where a bulletin board is less interactive..
Frames - Frames were developed as a method for website layout control. They create bookmarking and printing problems, as well as SEO difficulties, so many designers avoid them.
Freeware - A software program of some sort that is free to use forever.
Frontpage - Microsoft Frontpage (FP), a popular web authoring program.
FTP - This stands for "File Transfer Protocol". You'll probably use an FTP program to send files from your home PC to your webhost server.
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G
GIF - A file type for images. Commonly used for clipart and other images that do not require the clarity of a photograph. Also, I believe that it's the only file type that supports a 'transparent' color. (?)
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H
Hexadecimal Color Value - "Hex Code" for short. It's the six-digit code that tells a browser what color to display in a background, table cell, etc. For example: #FF0000 is red, #800080 is purple and #D8FFD2 is the green border on this page.
HTML - This stands for "Hyper Text Markup Language". This is (usually) what you'll be using to make your website. It is very easy to learn, and even if you use a WYSIWYG editor, it writes the code in HTML.
HTTP - This stands for "Hyper Text Transfer Protocol". In a nutshell, it's how the Internet works. It's the protocol computers use during the transfer of web pages from servers to PCs.
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I
iFrame - HTML tag: <iframe> The iframe element creates an inline frame that contains another document.
IMPS - Short for "Impressions". Often called 'unique impressions' or 'hits'... This is the actual number of times an ad has been viewed.
Interstitial Ads - More commonly known as pop-ups. Annoying, but still in wide use because they are very effective.
ISP - Short for "internet Service Provider". Your doorway to the internet. For example: AOL, PeoplePC, MSN, etc.
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J
Java - Not to be confused with JavaScript - there is no similarity 'under the hood'. Java is a complex programming language similar to C+ and C++.
Java Applet - A self-contained program that performs some sort of animation, audio effect or some sort of processing. Often these effects can be duplicated with other, faster-loading scripts or files.
JavaScript - A common scripting language, used to add interactive elements to a website.
JPEG / JPG - A file type for images. Preferred for photos and other images where good color depth is required.
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K
Keywords - These are the words that have a direct correlation to the content of a webpage. It's important to use keywords effectively for the best SEO.
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L
Lead - Anything from an e-mail address to a completed survey. The requirements for a legitimate lead can vary a lot from one program to another.
Link - You're kidding, right? Oh, alright. "Link" is short for "HyperLink" and simply refers to a text or image that has been coded to act as a clickable 'bridge' between webpages or parts of a webpage. Just click, and the 'bridge' takes you to the link destination.
Link Popularity - Simply a measurement that the search engines use to determine the quantity and quality of links that a website has coming into it.
Liquid Design "Liquid Design" is a phrase commonly used to mean that the page will automatically expand or contract to fit the browser screen (like this website), as opposed to a "fixed design" that stays the same width in any browser or window size.
Load Time - The time it takes a webpage to 'load' into a surfer's browser window. As a rule, the less loading time the better.
Log Files - Most webhosts will keep track of all kinds of different visitor statistics in a 'log file'. With patience, or a program made to read a log file, you can get very valuable statistics from your log files.
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M
META Tags - Special HTML coding near the beginning of an HTML document that search engines use to gather information about that wepage. Still necessary, but not as important now as five years ago.
Monetizing - A common term meaning "To make money off everything". Many web marketers seem to over-use and over-emphasize the entire concept.
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N
Navigation - In this usage, it means the method that a website visitor will use to move around a website. Good navigation makes things easy, poor navigation makes for frustration and lost customers.
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O
Opt-In List - Refers to a mailing list that requires the subscriber to deliberately sign up for. See also Double Opt-In.
OS - Short for "Operating System" and refers to the program on your PC that governs the overall performance and system resource allocations. Examples include Windows-all versions, Linux, Lindows, etc.
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P
Page Rank - Primarily a Google reference, it's a measurement of a web page 'rank' as compared to other web pages of similar content.
Pay For Performance - The phrase that many affiliate networks use for classification. It basically means that they offer CPL and CPS programs.
PPL - Pay Per Lead. See CPL
PPS - Pay Per Sale. See CPS
PPC - Pay Per Click. See CPC
PPI - Pay Per Impression. See CPI
Perl - Another programming language for advanced applications.
PHP - A scripting language for things like contact forms, simple polls, etc.
Pop Up - Just about everyone knows this one. But there's also pop-unders, pop-after-delay, exit-pops, slide-pops, sneak-pops, drive-by pops, and probably others too. If used properly they can help you get more newsletter subscribers, but that's just about the only legitimate use for them.
POP3 - This is a common e-mail 'post box' system. It's used to store emails until you retrieve them with Eudora or Outlook Express or whatever.
Post - In this usage, adding your comments to any publicly-viewable forum, message or bulletin board. You are "Posting" to the board.
PPC - Stands for "Pay-Per-Click" and most often refers to PPC Search Engine advertising. Sometimes called Cost-Per-Click (CPC).
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Q
Query String - Query strings are generated by form submission, or by a user typing a query into the address bar of the browser.... so, in your server log files, the Query String will show what a surfer was searching for when they found your website.
In a form, it is specified by the values following the question mark (?), like this: <a href="test.asp?txt=this is a query string">Link with a query string</a> That generates a variable named txt with the value "this is a query string".
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R
Ranking Algorithms - Top secret stuff the search engines use to decide the relevance of a website as compared to the search terms a surfer entered on the search page.
Reciprocal Linking - An agreement between two webmasters where they each agree to place a link on their website that goes to the other website.
Relative Links - A relative link (images/graphic.gif) is just a link that does not include the domain information. It is easier to create and move than an absolute link, but moving a page with relative links to a different folder will 'break' all the links. See also Absolute Link.
RGB / RGB Callouts - "Red-Green-Blue" These colors, when combined, can re-create virtually any desired color. The "RGB Callout" is the code that tells a browser how to re-create the web designers desired color.
Robot - Nope, not R2-D2, in this usage 'robot' refers to a program that performs a particular, limited function without supervision. Examples include the search engine 'spyders' that read and index websites as well as programs that automatically fill in the blanks on a webpage form.
Robot.txt - A text file that will instruct search engine 'robots' on what pages to index or ignore.
ROI - Stands for "Return on Investment". If your advertising cost is $100 and your sales from it are $200, then your ROI is 100%.
Royalty / Royalty-free - Almost all images and written content on the internet is owned by whoever created or wrote it. This gives them the right to decide if they want to charge a 'Royalty" to let someone else use it. Be Careful! People have lost their A##es from innocently using a copyrighted something that they should have paid a royalty on.
RSS - Stands for "Really Simple Syndication" or "Rich Site Summary". What it is is the next generation of syndicating the content of a website, often used to announce amendments and upgrades.
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S
Scripting Language - A programmers language (PHP, Perl, etc.) used to write 'Scripts' that perform assorted functions like guestboooks, contact forms, etc. Think of it as an advanced HTML.
Search Engine - Any program or group of programs whose primary function is to automatically 'read' the billions of webpages and build an index from the contents of those pages. When a user searches for something, that index is used to find the item(s) that the user wants.
Secured Server - A server with the proper programs, allowing secure transactions. (Payments, personal data, etc.)
SEO - Stands for "Search Engine Optimization". Many companies will try to sell you on their SEO expertise so you will buy their SEO services.
SERP - Stands for "Search Engine Result Pages". Used by web marketers and SEO companies who focus on the search engine rankings as a primary metric of measuring success.
Server - The hardware that web hosting companies use to provide web space for your website.
Server-Side Includes (SSI) - A method of dynamically adding data to a webpage at the time a browser calls the page. The task is done at the server, as opposed to making the browser integrate the data file(s) within a webpage. (See also Client-side Includes)
Shopping Cart - The software that tracks purchases and payment transactions securely.
Site Feed - Common term for the practice of adding syndicated content to a website using Javascript or XML feeds.
Sig File - Short for "Signature File". It's the short lines of text at the end of an email. Most email programs will allow users to have an assortment of sig files to append to their email.
SMTP - This stands for "Simple Mail Transfer Protocol". It's likely to be the protocol used when you send e-mail through your domain.
Spyder / Spider - Commonly refers to the 'robot' programs that search engines use to index websites for their listings.
SQL (MySQL, SQL Server etc.) - This stands for "Structured Query Language". It's the language used to interact with databases. Some of the largest websites are extensively database managed.
Stats / Statistics - Something you should be paying very close attention to. How many visitors? What pages are they entering on? Exiting from? What country are they in? What kind of system are they using? A good hosting service will allow you to access the log files that can give you all this info and more.
Sticky - The common term for anything on a website that would serve to make a visitor "stick around" or return at a later date. Examples include syndicated content like a daily quote or news headlines, games, trivia, contests, etc.
Syndication / Syndicated Content - Using Javascript and/or XML / RSS "feeds", a webmaster can add good content to his website with little effort. The benefits include making your site more useful, thus more 'sticky', by having information updated regularly by an off-site service.
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T
Telnet Access - A method of accessing servers from home or office. Very useful for troubleshooting CGI scripts and changing server configurations. Some hosting services do not allow Telnet access.
Templates - Site Templates or Page Templates. Basically, a ready-to-use website without all the text that a webmaster would add. There are many reasons to use a template, but mainly you can spend your time and energy on the content of the site and let a professional web designer wrap it in an attractive package.
Traffic - No, not the rush hour kind. In this usage, 'Traffic' is the amount of and the demographics of the visitors to your website.
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U
UNIX - A popular web hosting 'platform'. It's easy to configure and most of the free scripts available are written to run on a Unix platform.
Upload - The act of transferring files from your working computer to the webhosting server.
URL - Stands for "Universal Resource Locator". In common terms it's the web address (domain) of a website.
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V
Valid DTDs - "Document Type Definition" or sometimes "Document Type Declaration". Used predominately in XML and XHTML documents. A DTD allows a browser to validate your webpage. When validating, the parser checks for misspelled tags or attributes, for errors in types of attribute values and in elements' content models, and so on. For HTML, similar validation services exist that will check your file against one of the existing HTML DTDs.
A correct doctype will switch a browser's behaviour from quirks to standards-compliant mode. For Opera and MSIE it can mean a huge improvement, but in FireFox there isn't much difference. Here is a list of Valid DTDs.
VOIP - Stands for "Voice Over Internet Protocol". It's been around a while, but recently it's gaining popularity with the spread of broadband connections and better software.
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W
Web Host - The company that 'rents' you the space on their equipment (server) where your website is 'hosted'.
WYSIWYG Editor - Stands for "What You See Is What You Get" Editor. The good part about a WYSIWYG Editor is that it can allow someone with no HTML knowledge to create a website. The bad part about a WYSIWYG Editor is that it can allow someone with no HTML knowledge to create a website.
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X
XHTML - Stands for "eXtensable HyperText Markup Language". It is a cross between HTML4.0 and XML. The idea is to create a stricter standard for making web pages, reducing incompatibilities between browsers.
XML - A web authoring language commonly used to create RSS feeds. XML cannot be interpreted by average browsers, it requires an 'RSS Feed Reader' of some sort.
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Y
YETI - Large furry manlike creature rumored to reside in the Himalayas.
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Z
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