Browsing and Searching the WWW

Common abbreviations and terminology

• Bookmark: a shortcut to your favorite web sites you save in your browser.
• Cache: storage area where browser stores frequently or recently accessed webpages
• FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions (also: Frequently Answered Questions)
• FTP: File Transfer Protocol-- communication rules that allow a transfer of files between one site and another
• GIF: Compuserve's Graphics Interchange Format -- a type of graphics format that allows pictures to be displayed and downloaded from a web page (limited to 256 colors, good for line-art, cartoons etc., allows transparency)
• Helper application: files or programs that run outside of the browser, enabling you to view different types of files.
• HTTP: HyperText Transfer Protocol-- communication rules that allow a web document containing hypertext to be transferred
• HTML: HyperText Markup Language-- a language used to format web documents so that they may be read by users regardless of browser
• Internet: the world-wide network of computers used for digital communication.
• JPEG: Joint Photographic Experts Group -- a type of graphics format that allows true-color-pictures to be displayed and downloaded from a web page (achieves good compression while keeping millions of colors, good for photos)
• Link (also hyperlink and hotspot): an instruction which tells your browser to connect to a different place or another document. A link can be an image, part of an image (navigation map), or text.
• MIME: MultIpurpose Mail Extension-- method for encoding file types; instructs browser on what to do with file (also used for email-attachments)
• Plug-in: a file which expands the abilities of your web browser, allowing you to display other types of files within the browser
• PNG: Portable Networks Graphic-- an image format meant to replace GIF; license- and royalty-free and far more useful (allows millions of colors, many degrees of transparency, compresses better), but not yet widespread
• TCP/IP: Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol -- the standard for transferring data from one Internet host to another and the method by which it is transferred
• URL: Uniform Resource Locator-- the "web address"
• USENET: (also called "newsgroups" or "conferences"): asynchronous message boards used to communicate on a specific subject. Ex. uic.general or rec.arts.books
• World Wide Web: a hypermedia-based system for graphically displaying information over the Internet (often dubbed the World Wide Wait due to long download times)