Glossary
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 Address - The full address of a file or resource containing the full path to the file.
Auditory Icon - A sound used on a web page to convey some sort of information about the contents of the page, for example the sound heard when emptying the recycle bin.
ASP - Active Server Pages, a scripting language.
B
bmp - short for bitmap a type of image file exlained
C
Client - The computer or device used to view the web pages.
Client-side - Activity such as scripts or processing which takes place on the client computer.
CFML - ColdFusion Markup Language is a server-side scripting language which can be included within XHTML pages in order to allow dynamic changes to web pages in response to a user input or other user action.
D
Database - The computer equivalent of a filing cabinet, a programming construct used for storing possibly huge amounts of data/information which can then be manipulated or accessed using various tools.
Deprecated - HTML4 elements which have been replaced, usually by presentational CSS, and which will not be included in future versions of the language. A full list of these elements is detailed on the HTML4 deprecated elements page.
DNS - Domain Name Service (or System or Server) - the system which can convert an alphanumeric address such as www.htmlandcsswebdesign into an IP number address.
Dynamic pages - pages which contain content which enables some sort of interaction with either the user or the user's browser or operating system. As a response to this interaction the page display is different across different browsers or according to the data that has been input by the user. The opposite of static pages.
E
Empty elements - Elements are defined as 'empty' in HTML4 when they contain no content or text of their own for immediate display on the page. For a more detailed discussion and list of empty elements in the HTML 4 specification please have a look at the empty elements page.
F
Focus - When an element has 'focus' this means that the cursor is located within the element. As an example when you input data into a form field that element has 'focus' or when you click on a link the anchor element has 'focus'.
FTP - File Transfer Protocol - protocol or set of rules which defines the transfer of files over the Internet.
G
gif - An image file type - abbreviation of Graphics Interchange Format.
GUI - Graphical User Interface - the term used to describe devices which allow interaction with a user by employing icons and graphics on the screen as opposed to the use of text links or by inputting text commands.
H
HTTP - HyperText Transfer Protocol which is the protocol (set of rules) relating to how files are transferred on the Worldwide Web.
HTTPS - HTTPS stands for HyperText Transfer Protocol over SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) and is used to send encrypted files over the Internet which are only visible to the intended recipient.
I
IP - Internet Protocol - the protocol (set of rules) defining the sending of data over the Internet, IP gives the address that the data needs to be sent to - usually coupled with TCP.
IP address, IP number - A 32 bit number made up of four separate numbers between 0 and 255 which is given to every computer which accesses the Internet and which is unique.
ISO - International Organization for Standardization - an international group of national standards setting bodies from many countries which define global standards in several fields. Many computer standards are defined by the ISO such as ISO 639-1 which contains the two letter language codes which are used in Web design.
J
Java - Java is a programming language developed by Sun Microsystems which is now used extensively on the Internet.
jpeg, jpg - An image file format which is used extensively in Web design.
JSP - JavaServer Pages is a server-side scripting technology/language developed by Sun.
K
L
LAN - Local Area Network - a network of connected computers which are local to each other - usually in the same building.
Linux - Open source computer operating system, rarely installed on home computers but used extensively on servers and by big business.
M
Media Feature - A property of a media type (output device) such as 'resolution', 'width', 'height' etc. For a full list of media features and explanation of how they fit in to web design please have a look at CSS3 Media Queries.
Media Query - An expression which examines the condition of media features for one or more media types (output devices) and takes action - usually by supplying distinct styles or stylesheets depending on the answer to the media query. For a full explanation and discussion please see CSS3 Media Queries.
Media Type - The type of output device on which the web page or document will be rendered such as 'screen' and 'print'. For a full list of media types defined in HTML and CSS please have a look at our page on the media attribute and @media rule.
MySQL - Open source software which is used to access and manipulate information in a database.
N
Netscape - A company and browser of the same name made by that company - was the most popular browser back in the very early days of the Internet.
O
Open Source - A term used to define computer software for which the source code is freely available to be viewed, worked upon and altered. Open source software is usually cost free to download and use but sometimes a licence may be required.
P
PDF - Portable Document Format is a file system developed by Adobe Systems in 1993 which allows you to save documents in a way which makes them totally independent of the software, hardware or operating system of the device used to view them. All the information needed to display the document such as text, fonts, formatting and images is contained within the .pdf file.
PHP - PHP which stands for "PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor" is a server-side scripting language.
pseudo-class - Pseudo-classes allow you to access elements from stylesheets, using CSS selectors, by using information other than their name, attributes or content. For more information please see the pseudo-classes page.
pseudo-element - Pseudo-elements were introduced to allow designers to access and apply styles to locations in the document which cannot be selected using normal CSS selectors. Unlike other elements, pseudo-elements don't appear in the source code of a document or the document tree for a page. For more information please see the pseudo-elements page.
Q
R
Raster - A type of graphics format based on a pixel by pixel representation of an image which contains pixel specific information about colour and sometimes transparency. Please see using images on the Web for more information.
S
Server-side - Activity such as scripts or processing which takes place on the host computer or server.
Static pages - Static pages have fixed content, are stored on the web server in their finished form and when displayed on a client computer their content is identical across all browsers and cannot be changed through any user interaction. The converse of dynamic pages.
SVG - Scalable Vector Graphics - two dimensional vector graphics that can be used on the Web.
T
TCP - Transmission Control Protocol - set of rules which allow two computers to make a link and exchange messages relating to sending data one way or both ways between each other.
U
URI - Universal Resource Identifier - in simple terms a web address that provides a way of locating a unique resource on the Internet.
V
Void elements - Void is the terminology used in HTML5 to refer to elements which only have an opening tag and are not allowed by the specification to have a closing tag. In HTML4 they were known as empty elements.
W
X
XHTML - Extensible Hypertext Markup Language, it is HTML reworked to be compliant with the XML specification.
XML - XML stands for Extensible Markup Language and it is a set of rules which apply to the encoding of documents in order that they can be understood by machines (computers). XML is the basis for many other computer languages the main one of interest to Web designers being XHTML.
XAMPP - XAMPP is a downloadable software package which enables web developers to turn their local machine into a server without having to connect to a remote computer. The software included in a XAMPP installation is usually the Apache web server, MySql, PHP and Perl and there are different versions available for Windows, Linux, Max OSx and Solaris.
XAMPP is developed by Apache friends and can be downloaded from their website apache friends, it is completely free to download, install and use as it is open source software and full installation instructions can be found on the website.