Web Terms Explained

ADO, Active Data Objects are used within ASP pages to connect to databases.

ASP, Active Server Pages are dynamic web page whose content is partly or wholly dependent upon the result of programming. These programs or scripts are run on the web server when the page is requested.

A typical Active Server Page will connect to a database on the server, extract some required data using a query, and then format each returned record to produce a HTML table which is returned to the browser to display.

Active server page scripts, have an .asp extension, usually run on a Windows Web Server. Windows 2000/XP professional clients also has support for ASP.

ASPX - The latest version of ASP for the Dot Net framework.

Browser is the program used to view web, Internet Explorer is the most popular browser for Windows. Other popular browsers include Firefox, Opera and Netscape.

CSS - Cascading Style Sheet defines the appearance of HTML pages. A style includes position, margin, font family, background and foreground colour, and size.

DotNet is Microsoft's development environment for creating web applications. The DotNet framework supports both VB and C# languages.

Flash movies are embedded in HTML pages and can combine video, text, audio, and graphics and animation. To view Flash requires the free Flash player to be installed, current version is 8. Flash is developed by Macromedia.

To create flash you need Macromedia Flash authoring package. Flash fla files, describe the objects such as text and graphics and a timeline of transitions. The swf file is generated from the fla file and embedded into the html page.

FTP - File Transfer Protocol - Used to upload websites files to the web server.

GIF - Graphic format used for typically for logos and simple elements on a website. Limited to 256 colour so unsatisfactory for pictures.

HTTP - Hypertext Transfer Protocol - the means the browser and the web server use to communicate, in order to display web pages and return information entered on forms.

HTTPS - The secure version of HTTP - used to protect sensitive information such as online banking and credit card purchases. All data is encrypted.

HTML is the basic format used to create all web pages. Typically an editor such as FrontPage or DreamWeaver is used to edit html pages. HTML pages are static - their appearance and content is fixed just like a word document.

IIS - Internet Information Server. The program on a window server that processes web requests.

JavaScript programming language, typically used within HTML pages to perform form validation, change button appearance on a "mouse-over" or to create "drop down" menu systems. JavaScript code can also run on the server.

JPEG - Graphic format used for most pictures on a website. Files have a JPG extension. JPEGs are saved with a compression factor; 100 gives maximum quality at the cost of a large file size and increased download times; towards 0 decreases images quality but reduces the file size; 80 is usually a good compromise setting.

Page Rank - The Google PageRank is an indicator of an individual page's value based on the number and quality of the pages that link to it. Links from pages that are themselves "important" weigh more heavily and help to make other pages rank higher.

Search Engine Optimisation aims to improve the position of a particular page for a particular search in the Search Engine ranking.

PHP a server based programming language used on most Unix/Linux web severs.

Website - a set of linked HTML pages and files hosted on a computer running a web server.

Web Server is software that delivers web pages in response to requests from web browsers.

XML, eXtensible Markup Language, is a method of defining, storing and transferring structured data. XML is very flexible and can be used for a variety of purposes:

storing or retrieving data from a database

updating latest stock price a company web page

sent to a hand-held computer, or mobile phone

exchanging order information between companies

XHTML, Extensible Hypertext Markup Language is a redefinition of HTML as an XML application. It’s almost identical to HTML, but more precise as to what is allowed.

Web Applications
Uses
Advantages

Examples
Employee Wellbeing
VDU Risk Assesment
Press Office
Bespoke Estimating Software
Warehouse Despatch

Websites
Website Production
Website Examples
A-Z of Web Terms
Contribute