More Internet Terms & Definitions

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MODEM: MOdulator/DEModulator. The card that allows your computer to connect to the phone line and communicate with other computers.

Mosaic: The first major browser, now losing popularity to Netscape Navigator.

Netscape: Makers of Navigator, the most popular and most flexible browser. Highly recommended.

Newbie: Someone who is new to the Internet.

PPP: Point To Point Protocol. Faster than SLIP, this method of communications sends TCP/IP information across a line attached directly to the Internet.

Protocol: A method or language of communication.
Search Database: An "address book" for the World Wide Web. In general, you type in the topic you're interested in, and the database will provide a list of all of the locations it has that meet your requirements. The most well-known search database is Yahoo.

Server: The computer hardware that stores your home page, and sends and receives information through the World Wide Web. This hardware is maintained by the Webmaster at your Internet Service Provider.

Shockwave: A helper co-developed by Netscape and Macromedia, which allows animations and interactive programs to be embedded into HTML pages. Requires Netscape Navigator browser for viewing "Shocked" documents, and Macromedia Director, a high-end multimedia development program, for developing "Shocked" documents.

Sig: Your signature at the end of an email or Usenet posting. Sigs commonly consist of up to four to six lines, and can contain whatever you'd like, usually your email and/or other contact information, very brief information about your business, even just a witty or humorous phrase.

SLIP: Serial Line Internet Protocol. Communications method that allows a computer to use TCP/IP over a telephone line.

SPAM: Unwanted, unrequested mass "junk" email.

TCP/IP: Transmission Control Protocol and Internet Protocol. Software that allows your computer to communicate on the Internet.

Telnet: A method of remotely "logging on" to a computer system across the Internet, as if your computer and the other were directly connected.

Upload: Transferring a file from your computer to another computer.

URL: Uniform Resource Locator. Simply put, this is the address of a site on the World Wide Web. Here's an example URL: http://www.schma.com/home/index.htm
The "http" stands for "hypertext transfer protocol"; "://" signals the beginning of the address; "www.schma.com" is the domain name, similar to a street address on the Internet; the "/home" tells the computer to look in the directory called "home"; and "index.htm" is the name of the HTML document to access.

Usenet: A section of the Internet divided up into "newsgroups," or individual special interest bulletin boards. You can post a question, an answer, information, whatever, to a newsgroup, and anyone else can read it. Likewise, you can read anyone else's postings. This is a heavily used area for information sharing.

VRML: Virtual Reality Markup Language. A still experimental website language developed as a replacement for HTML. At a VRML website, one can explore environments in three dimensions, and can interact with other people who are visiting the same site. VRML requires a special browser.

Webmaster: The person at your Internet Service Provider who is responsible for maintaining the server. This is the person who can answer your service-related questions, such as what CGI scripts are supported.

Website: A collection of HTML pages.

Wide Area Network (WAN): Large computers linked together over a long distance via phone or wireless communication.
World Wide Web (WWW, or Web): A section of the Internet containing "pages" of information, including text, photos, graphics, audio, and video. You can search for documents by using one of the many search databases. To access the web, you must use a browser.

Yahoo: The most famous and, arguably, the most comprehensive of all search databases on the World Wide Web. Yahoo's URL is http://www.yahoo.com.