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Gateway:

A computer that serves as an entrance to another network, and vice-versa. The meaning of this term has altered subtly in recent years, however.

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GIF  (Graphic Interchange Format):

A common format for image files that was introduced by CompuServe in 1987 and has since come into widespread usage on the World Wide Web due to its wide support and portability.

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Gigabyte:

1000 or 1024 Megabytes, depending on what is being measured. When referring to RAM sizes and file sizes, it traditionally has a binary definition, of 1024³ bytes. For every other use, it means exactly 1000³ bytes.

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Hit(s):

As used in reference to the World Wide Web, hit means a single request from a web browser for a single item from a web server; thus in order for a web browser to display a page that contains 3 graphics, 4 hits would occur at the server: 1 for the HTML page, and one for each of the 3 graphics.

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Home Page (or Homepage):

Several meanings. The most common meaning refers to the main web page for a business, organization, person or simply the main page out of a collection of web pages.

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Host:

Any computer on a network that is a repository for services or data available to other computers on the network. On the internet, a "host" is a web server that stores a website. When a visitor comes to the website his browser "requests" the page it wants to view and the host "serves" the page to the visitor's browser for viewing.

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HTML  (HyperText Markup Language):

The coding language used to create Hypertext documents for use on the World Wide Web. The "hyper" in Hypertext comes from the fact that in HTML you can specify that a block of text, or an image, is linked to another file on the Internet. HTML files are meant to be viewed using a "Web Browser". HTML is loosely based on a more comprehensive system for markup called SGML, and is expected to eventually be replaced by XML-based XHTML standards.

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HTTP  (HyperText Transfer Protocol):

The protocol for moving hypertext files across the Internet. Requires a HTTP client program on one end, and an HTTP server program (such as Apache) on the other end. HTTP is the most important protocol used in the World Wide Web (WWW).

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Hypertext:

Generally, any text that contains links to other documents - words or phrases in the document that can be chosen by a reader and which cause another document to be retrieved and displayed.

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IMAP  (Internet Message Access Protocol):

IMAP is gradually replacing POP as the main protocol used by email clients in communicating with email servers.

Using IMAP an email client program can not only retrieve email but can also manipulate message stored on the server, without having to actually retrieve the messages. So messages can be deleted, have their status changed, multiple mail boxes can be managed, etc.

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Internet:

Any time you connect 2 or more networks together, you have an internet - as in inter-national or inter-state. The vast collection of inter-connected networks that are connected using the TCP/IP protocols and that evolved from the ARPANET of the late 60's and early 70's. The Internet connects tens of thousands of independent networks into a vast global internet.

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IP Number  (Internet Protocol Number):

A unique number consisting of 4 parts separated by dots, e.g.

123.456.789.123

Every machine that is on the Internet has a unique IP number. Many machines (especially servers) also have one or more Domain Names that are easier for people to remember.

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Java:

Java is a network-friendly programming language invented by Sun Microsystems.

Using small Java programs (called "Applets"), Web pages can include functions such as animations, calculators, and other interesting items.

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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 file 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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JPEG  (Joint Photographic Experts Group):

JPEG is most commonly mentioned as a format for image files. JPEG format is preferred to the GIF format for photographic images as opposed to line art or simple logo art.

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Kilobyte:

1000 or 1024 bytes, depending on what is being measured. When referring to RAM sizes and file sizes, it traditionally has a binary definition, of 1024 bytes. For every other use, it means exactly 1000 bytes.

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Linux:

A widely used Open Source Unix-like operating system. Linux was first released by its inventor Linus Torvalds in 1991. There are versions of Linux for almost every available type of computer hardware from desktop machines to mainframes.

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Login:

(Noun) The account name or "username" used to identify oneself and gain access to a computer system.

(Verb) The act of identifying oneself to a computer system by giving your credentials (usually your "username" and "password") and thereby gaining access to it.

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Mail list (or Mailing List):

A (usually automated) system that allows people to send e-mail to one address, whereupon their message is copied and sent to all of the other subscribers to the maillist.

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Megabyte:

1000 or 1024 kilobytes, depending on what is being measured. When referring to RAM sizes and file sizes, it traditionally has a binary definition, of 1024² bytes. For every other use, it means exactly 1000² bytes.

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Meta Tag:

A specific kind of HTML tag that contains information not normally displayed to the user. Meta tags contain information about the page itself, hence the name ("meta" means "beyond" in this case) .

Typical uses of Meta tags are to include information for search engines to help them better categorize a page.

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mod_perl:

An add-on for the Apache web server software, mod_perl makes it possible to use the Perl language to add new features for the Apache server, and to increase the speed of Perl applications by as much as 30 times.

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