Glossary of Internet Terms
Acrobat Reader
Application created by Adobe to display documents
in PDF-format.
Applet
A Java program embedded in a web page.
Backend
The backend of a website is where all the
communications between the customer and your site are processed. It’s
basically where all the work on the site is done whether it involves sending
data from forms to the server, or searching for information on your site or
processing online transactions.
Many larger sites are run off large databases. Databases allow you
to store large amounts of structured data that can be searched and accessed
easily. Databases make it possible to manage large amounts of information. The
content of the website can be held in a database and dynamically generated when
the user requests to see a page. Databases permit developers to build
site-managers which allow for easy updating of the site.
Databases also allow you to keep customer profiles of repeat and
registered customers. Records of orders can be transferred to databases and
accessed by your order and fulfillment operations.
Bandwidth
The amount of data that can be sent down a
telecommunciations line. Think of bandwidth as a data pipeline: the more
bandwidth you have, the more quickly you can transfer your data.
Banner
Advertisement in the form of a graphic image on
the Web. Most banner ads are animated GIFs.
Browser
Programme which allows you to access the World
Wide Web. The best known include Netscape Navigator and Internet Explorer.
Business-to-Business (B2B)
Electronic commerce does not only refer to the
relationship between business and consumer, but also to the economic connection
between business and business.This means that a company that uses the internet
for ordering from its suppliers or making payments already takes advantage of
e-commerce.
Business-to-Consumer (B2C)
Electronic commerce comprises commercial
transactions, involving both organisations and individuals. From the technical
point of view e-commerce is the processing and transmission of digitised data.
E-commerce decreases the distance between producers and consumers. Consumers can
make their purchase without entering a traditional shop.
Cache
A folder on a computer that stores pages already
visited on the Web. Used to reduce download times, especially when clicking the
"back" button on a web browse.
CGI (Common Gateway Interface)
CGI is not a computer language but a set of rules
which specifies how web servers and software should communicate with each other.
CGI scripts are written in any computer language and are most commonly used to
process information in online forms and to generate dynamic content.
Cookies
These are small pieces of information which are
downloaded onto the computer of the user. This information can be accessed by
your WebServer and allow you to create customised pages for your users and track
how they use your site.
Digital Signature
A section of data appended to a message which
authenticates the information. Signatures are encoded by the senders private key
and can then verified by the senders public key. Any unauthorised changes to the
file will be reported by an invalid signature for that file.
Disintermediation
The elimination of the middleman to increase the
direct buyer-seller relationship.
Domain name
A domain name identifies your website on the
Internet. One of the first things that you should do when developing your site
is register your domain name eg www.enterprise-ireland.com. Your domain name is
a very valuable marketing tool and you should choose your domain name with great
care.
Download
When you view a website you actually transfer
files from the website onto your computer. This is known as downloading.
Electronic Signatures
These are codes which are attached to information
sent across the Internet, most commonly emails. They uniquely identify the
author of a message and show if the message has been tampered with while being
transmitted. Electronic signatures are especially important in the development
of eBusiness, paving the way for electronic contracts which will have the same
legal status as paper contracts.
email
Email, or rather electronic mail, is the most
commonly used application on the Internet. Email allows you to send text
messages across a network, either an internal network or an external one like
the Internet.
To send an email you must know the email address of the person you
want to send the mail to eg john@somewhere.com. An email address
is comprised of a user name, in this case john, and the name of the server that
the mail has been sent to, in this case somewhere.com.
Encryption
Encryption is used to protect data your after it
has left your internal system. Encryption renders your data unreadable using
mathematical formulae known as keys. Your data is turned back into readable
form, i.e. deciphered, by applying the correct key.
If the same key is used to encrypt and decipher the data this is known as secret
key encryption because the keys must be kept secret to the two parties involved
to be completely secure. More recently, a system called public key
infrastructure (PKI) has become popular. With PKI there are two keys, a public
and private key. If you want to send an encrypted message you simply look up the
public key of the recipient and send the message which is received and
deciphered using the private key of the recipient. Directories of public keys
are held by trusted third parties called Certificate Authorities (CA). CAs allow
encrypted information to be verified and to determine if information has been
tampered with in transit. PKI lays the foundation for the development of digital
signatures that will have status in law.
ERP
Short for enterprise resource planning, a
business management system that integrates all facets of the business, including
planning, manufacturing, sales, and marketing. As the ERP methodology has become
more popular, software applications have emerged to help business managers
implement ERP.
Extranets
Extranets allow your clients to access parts of
your internal networks, which are normally inacessible to people outside the
company. They are useful for online ordering and payment systems. In addition,
the client can have access to work in progress or training and product
information geared precisely toward them.
FAQ
(Frequently Asked Questions) -- FAQs are
documents that list and answer the most common questions on a particular
subject. There are hundreds of FAQs on subjects as diverse as Pet Grooming and
Cryptography. FAQs are usually written by people who have tired of answering the
same question over and over.
Firewalls
Security tools that analyse the communications
traffic passing between networks. Rules set up within the firewall decide
whether or not to allow specific traffic types to pass between these networks.
forms
Forms allow the user to input data on your
website so it can be transferred to your server/computer. A script behind the
form transfers the data from the user’s computer to your server.
Frontend
The frontend of a website is the part that you
see on the screen: the graphics, the fill-in forms, the overall interface
design. If you want to do more than display graphics and text you will also need
a Backend.
FTP
(File Transfer Protocol) -- A very common method
of moving files between two Internet sites. FTP is a special way to login to
another Internet site for the purposes of retrieving and/or sending files. There
are many Internet sites that have established publicly accessible repositories
of material that can be obtained using FTP, by logging in using the account name
anonymous, thus these sites are called anonymous ftp servers.
Hits
When an item is sent from a web site, regardless
of its media type, it is counted as a hit. This means that a web page containing
10 graphic images has a total hit rate of 11, whereas a page containing just
text has a hit rate of one. For this reason, hit rates are not particularly
useful in measuring the popularity of a web site.
HTML document
A HTML document is basically a document that can
be displayed in a web browser. HTML, or hypertext markup language, allows you to
bring together text, images, audio and video so they can be viewed over the web.
Websites are made of many HTML documents that are linked together.
Hyperlink
A highlighted word (or graphic) within a
hypertext document (Web page). When you click a hyperlink, it will take you to
another place within the same page, or to another page or website.
Intranet
Intranets are websites that can only be accessed
within a company through your internal network or LAN. They are protected from
the outside world by a combination of hardware and software security. Intranets
are a good way of sharing information within the company; enhancing internal
communication and enabling better customer care. Intranets commonly hold
products and service guides, employee handbooks, company wide memos, phone
numbers and email addresses.
IPP
Internet Payment Provider - A company offering
merchant account creation and online transaction services.
ISDN
Integrated Services Digital Network -a
communications service offering speeds of 64Kbs and 128Kbs via the telephone
network.
ISP Internet Service Provider.
A company or organization that offers Internet
access to customers for a fee. Some ISPs offer hosting of Websites and Website
design and promotion services as well.
Java
An object-oriented programming language,
developed by SUN, that has seen widespread adoption for use on the Internet.
Small Java programs can be embedded within a web page, which are referred to as
"applets".
Javascript
An object-oriented programming language that
allows Java objects to be embedded directly in a web page.
Link
A hypertext facility that allows a connection
between two objects on the Internet, whether they be text, video, audio or
graphics.
Meta Tags
The HTML codes that contain information about the
content of a Web page and Website. Meta Tags are frequently used to enhance the
display and effectiveness of search engine listings.
MIME
(Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) -- The
standard for attaching non-text files to standard Internet mail messages.
Non-text files include graphics, spreadsheets, formatted word-processor
documents, sound files, etc. An email program is said to be MIME Compliant if it
can both send and receive files using the MIME standard. When non-text files are
sent using the MIME standard they are converted (encoded) into text - although
the resulting text is not really readable.
Modem
(MOdulator, DEModulator) A device that you
connect to your computer and to a phone line, that allows the computer to talk
to other computers through the phone system. Basically, modems do for computers
what a telephone does for humans.
Online Shopping
An online shop should reproduce the experience of
shopping offline. When you buy over the counter, you go into the shop, you pick
out your purchases, you place them in a shopping basket and then you pay for
them.
This is mimiced on the website by:
1.
Going to the shopping area on the site and browsing or searching through
the web catalogue.
2.
Putting your choices “into the shopping cart”, a piece of software
which keeps a record your purchases.
3.
Paying for your purchases, most commonly by credit card, which will
involve giving your credit card details and personal information online. All
this information has to be protected by encryption
Payment Solutions:Online Transactions
Online transactions allow the customer to buy
directly from you over the web. The most common payment method at the moment is
by credit card. Newer forms of electronic payment like electronic wallets and
electronic checks are currently being developed.
To set up a credit card payment system on your website you need:
Your ISP and your bank will determine which types of software you
will need to carry out secure transactions.
PDF -- Printable Document Format
Platform independent file format created by Adobe
(see Acrobat Reader). Created for offline reading of brochures, reports and
other documents with complex graphic design. When you download a .pdf file, you
get the entire document in a single file.
Permissive marketing
A form of online marketing where you have to give
permission in order to receive company and product information.
Unsolicited email, better known as spam, is one of the most annoying side
affects of being online. If you want to set regular emails to clients make sure
that you get permission before you send out anything.
Portal
A web site that is used to get to another site.
Typically a "Portal site" has a catalogue of web sites, a search
engine, or both. A Portal site may also offer email and other service to entice
people to use that site as their main "point of entry" (hence
"portal") to the Web.
Proxy Server
An intermidiary application that sits between a
client and a server, and which stores and forwards requests and information.
Often used in conjunction with a firewall to monitor Internet traffic and
activity.
Reciprocal Link
When two (or more) web sites exchange URLs by
mentioning each other on their own sites.
Search Engine
These are websites which store information about
webpages and which allow you to search through this information to find the
specific page that you are looking for. Some of the most popular search engines
include ttp://www.yahoo.com">Yahoo and Alta Vista and the recent
newcomer Google.
You can register your website with all the search engines and this is one of the
most important methods of marketing your site online. Hidden words, known as
meta tags, can be inserted into your webpages and the search engines use these
meta tags to identify your site. Search Engine Watch will give you a good
introduction to the mechanics of search engines.
Shopping Cart
A piece of software that keeps a record of the
choices you make during an online buying session.
Spider
Search engine software that automatically
traverse the Internet, collecting information as they go, which is then indexed
and stored on the search engine's query database.
Stickiness
Ability to attract repeat visitors to your web
site by offering compulsive reasons to do so, such as dynamic content, regular
promotions, etc.
TTP
Trusted Third Party - An independent, trustworthy
organisation that verifies individuals, companies and organisations over the
Internet.
URL -- Uniform Resource Locator
Address of any resource on the World Wide Web.
The URL of our home page is: http://www.enterprise-ireland.com/ebusiness
Value Chains
The activities provided by a company to design,
manufacture, develop, fulfil, market and support its products and services.
Viral marketing
Refers to a form of online marketing where the
customer passes on information to other potential customers, instead of you
contacting them directly: think of it as "word of mouth" marketing for
the Internet. Common strategies include encouraging users to send digital
postcards and articles from your website to friends.
Virtual Server
Owning your own server is expensive and difficult
to maintain. Most small websites are hosted on servers maintained by Internet
Service Providers, these are known as virtual servers.
Web Graphics
The two most common web graphics are J-PEGs and
GIFs. GIF stands for Graphic Interchange Format while J-PEGs stands for Joint
Photographic Experts Group. As the names suggest, GIFs are best for graphics and
flat images while J-PEGs are best for photographs.
Web Server
A web server is a computer that is linked to the
Internet 24 hours a day. You have to host or place your site on a web server to
allow people to access your site continuously.
XML eXtensible Markup Language.
A richer and more dynamic successor to HTML.
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