The Fonzies Internet Jargon Glossary.

ASCII: (American Standard Code for Information Interchange)

Archie: An Internet Service which assists in locating files available from public FTP
sites, providing you know the name of the file.

Bandwidth: The capacity of a communications channel to transmit information.
Modem connections to the Internet via a telephone line are low bandwidth relative
to a SuperJANET connection, for example. Bandwidth is said to be congested when
many users are sharing the same communications channel, using up the available
bandwidth. Bandwidth is usually expressed in term of frequency, ie khz or Mhz.

Baud: A unit which to measure the speed of modems run roughly equivalent to
1 bit per second.

BBS: (bulletin-board service)

BinHex: A standard method on the Macintosh of converting binary files into text files by
ASCII encoding. This allows software etc. to be transferred on the Internet by e-mail.
BinHexed files have the file extension .hqx.

Bitmap: A bitmaped or raster image breaks an picture nto a grid of equally-sized
pieces, called pixels, and records color information for each pixel. The number of
colors that the file can contain is determined by the bits-per-pixel: the more
information that is recorded for each pixel, the more shades and hues that
the file can contain. See vector file and metafile

Bits: The lowest common denominator in all PC's - which recognize only two states.
ON or (1) and OFF or (0). Everything else is built from this starting point. Modem
data rates are specified in bits per second (ie 56Kbps), but connection
rates are in bytes per second (ie 4KBps).

Browsers: Browsers are software programs that enable you to view WWW
documents. They "translate" HTML-encoded files into the text, images, sounds,
and other features you see. Netscape, Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mosaic,
Macweb, and Netcruiser are examples of browsers that enable you to view text
and images and many other WWW features. They are software that must be
installed on your computer. For more information about browsers, consult the
introductory pages of the Teaching Library tutorial. See also LYNX, a browser
often used from slow modems because it does not disply images, colors, or sound,
but lets you perform most basic WWW functions and see the content.

Browser Cache: Part of your hard disc dedicated to holding the contents of
visited web pages. When re-visiting a web page your computer will retrieve it
from cache if it is there, and if your browser settingsinstruct it to do so. This
is considerably faster than downloading a page each time you wish to view it.
This could be during a single session, a day later or even a few weeks later.
You can also view these saved pages "off-line" by using your browser's history
button - giving a dramatic savings in "on-line" telephone charges.

Bytes: 8 bits. Historically - the length of one computer word or memory location.
Used, amongst other things, to encode characters. e.g. character "F" is 01000110."

CD-ROM: (Compact disc read-only memory)

Client Side: An effect or routine that is run on your computer. That is to say a
routine is downloaded together with the other contents of a web page then
operates locally. Mouseover effects fall into this category. Disadvantage is that
the webpage takes longer to download because of the extra code. Advantage is
that once the code is downloaded there is no further delays - the code is
awaiting whenever it is required.

Firewall: A secure gateway protecting an internal network from unauthorised
access. Firewalls can be crossed by way of an ultra-secure proxy server.

Flame: A harmful or derogatory, sometimes deserved and sometimes uncalled-for,
response to an e-mail message or Usenet news item that the flamer considers
offensive. A flame war is the on-line equivalent of a heated argument.

FTP: (File Transfer Protocol) File Transfer Protocol is the language used by the
Internet allow you to examine and manipulate a remote computer's folder structure
and to transfer files between your computer and the remote site. This is the method
used to upload websites from a users to a host (isp) computer.

GIF: (graphics information file) Files with the .gif extension are pictures. graphical user
interface (GUI) A computer user interface where programs and datafiles are represented
by little pictures or icons, and programs are launched by clicking or double-clicking icons.
Used extensively by Macintosh, and Microsoft Windows. See also command line and DOS.

Host: In the Internet context, is a computer where websites are stored and made available
24 hours per day seven days a week. To ensure constant availability NOMINET requires
that all domains (websites) are stored on two computers so that failure of one is not visible
(i.e. the site is still available).

HTML: (HyperText Markup Language) Software used to describe the contents, layout and
syntax of www pages (i.e. what text you want and where, which parts in bold or italics,
which words coloured, what colours, which pictures you want displayed and where, etc. etc.).
Often, pages also contain hyperlinks. The suffix for HTML files is .htm or .html.

HTTP: (hypertext transfer protocol) Agreed upon routines for transferring Web-formatted
data. HTTP:// is included in the URL of a Web page to indicate that the page is an HTTP
document. Example: http://uta.marymt.edu/~psychol/dlearn/jargon.html

Hypertext: A document containing links to other documents. The reader is not forced
to read a hypertext document from beginning to end, but can freely follow any one of
several marked links to linked documents, which could physically reside almost
anywhere on the planet. Hypermedia, a superset of hypertext, implies other media
such as graphics, sounds, and animations can be played by clicking on a link.
The WWW uses the metaphor of a hypertext page.

ISDN: (Integrated Services Digital Network) A high-speed digital telephone line that achieves
data transmission rates over 64000 bits per second by sending the data as a stream of data
packets, rather than converting it to sound for transmission like a modem does.

ISP: (Internet service provider) an organization whose computers provide access to the
Internet together with other services associated with the Internet (i.e. chat forums,
news services, e-mail services etc.). There are both free and commercial isp’s. If you
register your own domain name then you must use a commercial isp.

IP: (Internet Protocol) addresses) A unique identifying number assigned to every computer
directly connected to the Internet. Comprised of a group of four numbers separated by full
stops, it corresponds to an easier-to-remember domain name.

JANET: (Joint Academic Network)

JPG, JPEG: (joint photographic experts' group) Files with .jpg or .jpeg extensions
are usually photographs.

Kermit: A file-transfer protocol that incorporates error checking, now little used by
most platforms support it. Can transfer binary files over 7-bit communication links.

LAN: (Local Area Network) A network of computers physically located on the
same premises, or within a relatively small geographic area.

Listserv: A mail server used on BITNET to manage discussion groups, the
equivalent of mailing lists on the Internet.

MIME: (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extension) A method of encoding non text files
(pictures, drawings, sound, video etc.) for transmission on the Internet - developed
primarily for e-mail, but it now finds much greater use.

Modem: (modulate-demodulate) A modem is a device which converts digital
information from a computer to an analogue form suitable for transmission over
standard telephone wires, and vice versa.

NNTP: (Network News Transfer Protocol) The protocol used on the
Internet to handle Usenet news.

Nominet: The organization, in the UK, where all British domain names are registered
and their details stored. You can visit their website to find out who owns sites
and to check if a specific name is available.

PCMCIA: (Personal Computer Memory Card International Association) The size
of a credit card, pcmcia devices can be inserted into many notebook and laptop
computers to provide extra storage space, networking, or telecommunications capabilities.

POP: (Post Office Protocol) A protocol used on the Internet for storing and retrieving e-mail.

Quicktime: Movie and JPEG viewing system originally written for Apple Macintosh
and now available for PC.

Server: A computer which provides a service on the Internet. This is normally automatic
and available 24 hours per day. e.g. Internet access is via an isp’s server/s, e-mail is
handled by an isp’s mail server, Web Sites are stored on host servers etc.

Server Side: An effect or routine that is run on the web's host server (the isp's computer).
Most common example is forms and hit counters. Disadvantages 1) when invoked a round
trip to the website host computer and back is necessary before anything results. 2)
Many host's provide access to only very limited libraries of routines.

SLIP: (Serial Line Internet Protocol) A network interface that allows dial-up users to
temporarily connect their computer to the Internet and use TCP/IP-based
clients. It is an older standard than the alternative, PPP.

SMTP: (Simple Mail Transport Protocol) The main protocol used on the Internet
for sending and receiving e-mail.

TCP/IP: (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) The protocols (languages)
used by the Internet to organize, direct, control and ensure the accuracy of the
transmission of data over the Internet.

Telnet: The name of a protocol forming part of the TCP/IP protocol suite used on the
Internet. Also an Internet Service, where a Telnet client emulates a 'virtual Internet terminal'
allowing users remote access to a host computer.

Terminal emulation: The imitation (emulation) of a physical terminal by communications
software. A terminal emulator can be used over a telecommunications link to interact with
a host that might be thousands of miles away. Popular terminal types to emulate include,
TTY ANSI, VT100, and RIP.

UNIX: A robust operating system designed to support multiple simultaneous users.
Versions exist for virtually all computing hardware platforms. The majority of Internet
hosts run UNIX. UNIX shells providing a graphical user interface are sometimes
employed to isolate users from a command-line interface - similar to the way some versions
of Microsoft Windows acts as a front-end to DOS.

URL: (Uniform Resource Locator) The complete address of a Web document or resource.
Example: http://uta.marymt.edu/~psychol/dlearn/jargon.html

UseNet: A global conferencing system where messages relating to particular topics are
distributed in the form of newsgroups over the Internet and many other networks. Because
it doesn't rely on TCP/IP-based networks to work, UseNet is not strictly an Internet Service -
although it is most often counted as one.

Website: A set of one or more web pages available for viewing on the www.The layout and
syntax of these pages is described in html and they normally contain hyperlinks to enable
you to navigate (i.e. move around) the site. (A website can be compared to
a printed brochure, but the page turning is carried out by "hyperlinks")

WWW: (World-Wide Web) An Internet Service which uses the metaphor of interconnected
pages, each associated via hypertext links with other pages widely distributed over the
Internet. You need a web browser such as Netscape Navigator or Microsoft Internet
Explorer to navigate this web of links.

WYSYWIG: (what you see is what you get) Refers to word processors in which the
appearance of the document on the screen is the same as the appearance
of the published or printed document. This can be an approximation.