Acrobat
The Adobe Acrobat Reader lets you view and print PDF files on all major computer platforms.
Bookmark
Most web browsers allow you to create bookmarks for interesting Web pages. By choosing the bookmarks from a menu in your browser, you can revisit these pages directly.
Browser
A software program which lets you request and view web sites. Software, such as Netscape Navigator or Microsoft's Internet Explorer, used for locating and viewing pages on the Web. Some browsers also incorporate E-mail and other Internet services. Browsers can interpret web pages differently. Your home page might not look the same on all browsers depending on the version of HTML they support and other considerations. Some browsers (or even certain versions of browsers) do not support graphics, others do not support conventions such as tables or frames.
CGI (Common Gateway Interface)
Activities use scripts that run the page.
Cursor
The blinking box or line on your computer
Directories
Similar to search engines, directories are hierarchical indexes of web pages organised by subject. Google.co.nz is a popular directory.
Domain Name
The name of a particular web site. Activitiesforkids site, for example, has a domain name of activitiesforkids.com. Domain names are used to make it easier for humans to remember the address of a Web site.
Download
To copy data from another computer to your computer.
E-Mail
An Electronic message sent from one person's computer to another person's computer, usually through the Internet. E-Mail can include attached files such as pictures or sounds
E-Mail Address
j.bloggs – user ID, @ – at, xtra – where the user is (Domain Name), .co.nz – users domain
Home Page
A location in the World Wide Web that an organization uses as a virtual reception desk. One usually finds a welcome message and an index or a table of contents that provides links to more information about or gathered by the person or company.
HTML
Hypertext Markup Language is the computer language used to build web pages. This is the language on which the Web is based. It consists of a set of codes that can be added to plain text documents to indicate embedded images, links and more. HTML documents are interpreted by Web browsers and presented to the end user as a multimedia document with hyperlinks. HTML also allows for the creation of forms and other enhancements to the basic document structure.
http: Hypertext Transfer Protocol
A prefix to an Internet address that indicates to your Web browser that an HTML page is located at that address.
Hyperlink or Link
A clickable area on a Web page which takes you to another page, or to a different place on the same page. The Web is based on pages and links.
Hypertext
The documents that the browsers display are hypertext documents. Hypertext is text with pointers to other text. The browsers let you deal with the pointers in a transparent way ‹ select the pointer, and you are presented with the text that it points to. The advantage of hypertext is that in a hypertext document, if you want more information about a particular subject mentioned, you can usually "just click on it" to read further detail. In fact, documents can be and often are linked to other documents by completely different authors ‹ much like footnoting, but you can get the referenced document instantly!
ICON
The small image on the computer screen that represents a link or another screen that you can go to.
Internet
The Internet is a collection of thousands of connected computer networks. It is the end result of millions of computers that all use the same protocol to communicate over both high- and low-speed data lines. You can think of the Internet as the wires that connect everything together. It works much like our freeway system. Perhaps that is why it has earned the name "The Information Superhighway". The data moving over the Internet is thought of as "traffic" and the lines that carry the data are the freeways. Some of the lines, like your modem are slow like an alley or sidewalk. Faster lines are like 50-lane freeways with virtually no speed limit. Three major services of interest to end users reside on the Internet: The World Wide Web, Newsgroups, Electronic Mail.
ISP
A company who provides you a connection to the Internet and its various components such as e-mail, and the WWW. When you sign-up with an ISP, you are given a local phone number which your computer "dials" into. Once your computer is connected to the ISP, the ISP then switches your computer's connection directly out to the Internet network.
Java
Java is a programming language that enables software developers to create programs called applets. When a web browser (such as Netscape or Microsoft Internet Explorer) finds a page that contains an applet, one of two things can happen. If the browser understands Java, it downloads the applet and hands it off to your computer to be run. If the browser doesn't understand Java, it ignores all of the applets and displays the rest of the page as usual.
Java Script
JavaScript allows activities to be interactive. When a browser finds JavaScript in a web page, one of two things can happen. If your browser understands JavaScript, it will download the script to your computer along with the page. If your browser doesn't understand JavaScript, it will ignore it and download the rest of the page.
Modem
A device which connects your computer to a phone line (or a cable TV system) and allows your computer to link up with other computers. A modem can be a box sitting next to your computer, or it may be built in to your computer.
Offline
You are not connected to another computer through a modem. (logged off)
Online
Your computer is connected to another computer, usually through a modem. (logged on).
Also a generic terms referring to the Internet as a whole. e.g. the online world
Password
The secret name that you use with the user name to sign on to a network.
PDF
The Adobe Acrobat Reader lets you view and print PDF files on all major computer platforms.
Plug-ins
Special pieces of software which add new capabilities to a web browser program.
Search Engines
A web search engine is an interactive tool to help people locate information available via the World Wide Web. Web search engines are actually databases that contain references to thousands of resources. Users are able to interact with the database, submitting queries that "ask" the database if it contains resources that match specific criteria. There are many search engines available on the web (i.e., Google, Yahoo).
Server
A computer that is attached to a network.
Shockwave
A browser plug-in that lets you view interactive Web content like games, business presentations, entertainment, and advertisements from your Web browser. Shockwave is free, easy to get, and available to everyone on the Web. Shockwave ships with Windows 95, 98, MacOS, Internet Explorer CD, America Online, and Netscape Navigator. The Shockwave logo specifies that the site was built with Macromedia Shockwave.
URL
Uniform Resource Locator which represents the unique address for a specific web page. www.grownups.co.nz/games/sudoku.php, http – hypertext transport protocol, www – world wide web, grownups – domain name, co.nz – commercial, games – directory, sudoku – web page file name, php – type of file or language
User Domain
The most commonly used User Domains are com, .co.nz etc – commercial, edu – education, gov – government, mil – military, org – other organisations, net – networks
User Name
The name you use to sign on to a network.