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What is a web browser?
What is a web server?
What is a home page?
What are web pages?
What is a URL?
What is a domain name?
What is a hyperlink?
What is hypertext?
What does WWW stand for?
What is the World Wide Web?
What is the Internet?
What is an Intranet?
What are FTP and SFTP?
What is HTTPS?
What is SSL?
What is HTTP?
What is a firewall?
What are browser plug-ins?
What are spyware and adware?
What is ActiveX?
What is an IP address?
What is Flash?
What is JavaScript?
What is Java?
What is a secure site?
What is "caching?"
What is a search engine?
What is World Wide Web accessibility?
What is a blog?
What is XML?
What is RSS?
What is phishing?
What does .com, .edu, .org, .mil, .gov stand for?
What is a protocol?
What is a web browser? top
When you sit down and look at web pages, you are using a web browser. This is the piece of software that communicates with web servers for you via the HTTP protocol, translates HTML pages and image data into a nicely formatted on-screen display, and presents this information to your eyeballs -- or to your other senses, in the case of browsers for the vision-impaired and other alternative interface technologies. Web browsers also appear in simpler devices such as Internet-connected cell phones, like many Nokia models, and PDAs such as the Palm Pilot.
The most common web browser, by a large margin, is Microsoft Internet Explorer, followed by the open-source Mozilla browser and its derivatives, including Netscape 6.0 and later. Apple's new Safari browser is gaining popularity on Macintoshes running MacOS X, and the Opera shareware browser has a loyal following among those who are willing to pay for the fastest browser possible, especially on older computers. The Lynx browser is the most frequently used text-only browser and has been adapted to serve the needs of the vision-impaired.
What is a web server? top
Web servers are the computers that actually run web sites. The term "web server" also refers to the piece of software that runs on those computers, accepting HTTP connections from web browsers and delivering web pages and other files to them, as well as processing form submissions. The most common web server software is Apache, followed by Microsoft Internet Information server; many, many other web server programs also exist.
What is a home page? top
The "home page" of a web site is the page that is displayed if you simply type in the domain name of the site in the address bar of your browser and press enter. For instance, when you type in www.cnn.com and press enter in the address bar, you go to CNN's home page. "Home page" can also refer to a page that serves as the table of contents and logical starting point for any collection of web pages, such as the personal web pages of an individual, even if it is not actually the top-level home page for the domain name. Also sometimes referred to as a "homepage."
What are web pages? top
Every web site is made up of one or more web pages -- like the one you are looking at right now! This text is part of a web page, and is written in the HyperText Markup Language (HTML). In addition to text with hyperlinks, tables, and other formatting, web pages can also contain images. Less commonly, web pages may contain Flash animations, Java applets, or MPEG video files. For more information and an example, see the HTML entry.
What is a URL? top
Look up at the top of this web page. Above the page you will see the "location bar" of your web browser, which should contain something like this:
http://www.14east.com/faqs
This is the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) of the web page you are looking at right now. A URL can be thought of as the "address" of a web page and is sometimes referred to informally as a "web address."
What is a domain name? top
The term "domain name" usually refers to a particular organization's registered name on the Internet, such as example.com, 14east.com
What is a hyperlink? top
Every time you click on a link on a web page, such as the link you may have clicked on to reach this page, you are following a hyperlink.
A hyperlink is a link you can click on or activate with the keyboard or other device in order to go somewhere else. A hyperlink is defined by its function, not by its appearance. What it looks or sounds or smells like is completely irrelevant except as a way of recognizing it. Visually impaired people follow hyperlinks with speech-based browsers and never see text at all. A hyperlink without a blue underline is still a hyperlink if your browser allows you to click on it or otherwise activate it to go somewhere else on the World Wide Web, or in another hypertext system.
What is hypertext? top
Hypertext is text that contains hyperlinks. The HTML and XHTML documents we see on the World Wide Web are the best-known example of a hypertext system, but it is not the only one.
What does WWW stand for? top
WWW is an acronym which stands for World Wide Web. See World Wide Web for more information.
What is the World Wide Web? top
The term "World Wide Web" refers to all of the publicly accessible web sites in the world, in addition to other information sources that web browsers can access. These other sources include FTP sites, USENET newsgroups, and a few surviving Gopher sites.
What is the Internet? top
"The Internet" refers to the worldwide network of interconnected computers, all of which use a common protocol known as TCP/IP to communicate with each other. Every publicly accessible web site is hosted by a web server computer, which is a part of the Internet. Every personal computer, cell phone or other device that people use to look at web sites is also a part of the Internet. The Internet also makes possible email, games and other applications unrelated to the World Wide Web.
What is an Intranet? top
Any network of interconnected computers belonging to one organization, similar to but separate from or insulated from the Internet. Intranets use the same protocols and software that are used on the Internet. For instance, many organizations have special intranet web sites that can only be viewed from a desktop in their offices, or when connected to their Virtual Private Network (VPN).
What are FTP and SFTP? top
FTP (File Transfer Protocol) is an older protocol for moving files back and forth over the Internet and other networks. All modern web browsers still speak FTP, which was sometimes used as a substitute for HTTP in the early days of the web. FTP is still used often as a means of downloading large files.
Many web hosts still offer FTP as the preferred way of uploading new web pages to a web site. However, because there is no encryption of your password, FTP is not the best choice for this purpose. And since there is no encryption of the files being moved, FTP is a poor choice indeed for more sensitive information.
SFTP (Secure FTP) is a popular replacement. Built on SSL, SFTP is just as secure as HTTPS. And most modern FTP clients, such as the free, high-quality FileZilla program for Windows, support both FTP and SFTP. SFTP offers a set of features quite similar to FTP and will be immediately familiar to FTP users, although it works quite differently "under the hood."
Every Windows, MacOS X and Linux system comes standard with a simple command line FTP client program. And MacOS X and Linux also have command line SFTP clients as standard equipment. In addition, MacOS X supports connections to FTP servers in a user-friendly way, right out of the box (you can find a great tutorial on creativemac.com).
What is HTTPS? top
HTTP, the HyperText Transfer Protocol, is the language or "protocol" that all web browsers speak when talking to web servers. And SSL, which stands for Secure Sockets Layer, is a protocol that provides secure communication. When two programs talk to each other using HTTP, but do it using SSL's secure communications instead of talking "in the clear," they are speaking HTTPS.
When two programs communicate via HTTPS, they need a way to verify each other's identity and agree on a method of encryption. They do this via SSL certificates.
What is SSL? top
(Secure Sockets Layer), also known as TLS (Transport Layer Security), is a protocol that allows two programs to communicate with each other in a secure way. Like TCP/IP, SSL allows programs to create "sockets," endpoints for communication, and make connections between those sockets. But SSL, which is built on top of TCP, adds the additional capability of encryption. The HTTPS protocol spoken by web browsers when communicating with secure sites is simply the usual World Wide Web HTTP protocol, "spoken" over SSL instead of directly over TCP.
What is http? top
In order to fetch a web page for you, your web browser must "talk" to a web server somewhere else. When web browsers talk to web servers, they speak a language known as HTTP, which stands for HyperText Transfer Protocol. This language is actually very simple and understandable and is not difficult for the human eye to follow.
What is a Firewall? top
A firewall sits between your computer and the rest of the Internet, filtering out unwanted traffic and foiling attempts to interfere with or take over your computer. Firewalls can be separate devices, which is very common today, or simply pieces of software for your own computer, which is also fairly common. Separate firewall devices are often preferable because their very simplicity makes them less likely to have unknown security problems; however, it is still important to keep up with "firmware updates" released by the manufacturer, otherwise your firewall may be vulnerable to attack. "Cable/DSL routers" and similar devices sold by companies like Linksys provide simple firewall capabilities which are adequate for most home users.
What are browser plug-ins? top
Web browser plug-ins (sometimes just spelled plugins) are additional pieces of software that add extra capabilities to your web browser, such as the ability to view movies, run Java applets, or see Flash animations. Unfortunately, since plug-ins run with all the privileges of real applications, they can do absolutely anything to your computer. That means you should never, ever agree to install a plug-in unless you have very good reason to trust the source. Keep in mind that the Flash plug-in comes with your computer, and most systems also come with a Java plug-in.
What are spyware and adware? top
Programs that cause your computer to display ads even when you are not using the program in question for its intended purpose, as well as those that report information about your web browsing activities to an advertising firm, are commonly known as "spyware." Typical examples are programs like "WeatherBug" and "MemoryMeter." These claim to serve a useful purpose and, in some cases, actually provide some service, but their main goal is to present annoying and unwanted advertising throughout your web browsing experience. They are very difficult to remove manually. Fortunately, there are excellent free tools available to do the job correctly.
What is ActiveX? top
ActiveX is Microsoft's technology for signing plug-ins that add additional software to your computer when a web page is accessed. If all goes well, you will be asked whether you want to trust a plug-in from that particular company and you will have the option of saying no. In principle, this is a useful way to allow the installation of worthwhile add-ons, such as Adobe Acrobat Reader, Macromedia Flash Player and RealPlayer. However, if you do not run Windows Update regularly, all will not go well -- there have been security flaws in Internet Explorer in the past that have resulted in software being able to install itself without permission.
If you do not have a specific, clear reason to want and trust the software you are being asked to install -- that is, if it is not the Macromedia Flash Player or the Adobe Acrobat PDF Reader or something similarly crucial that you really need -- SAY NO! Many nasty pieces of awful spyware are properly signed and will ask permission to install, knowing that some people will naively give it. You do NOT, for instance, want to say yes to installing things like "WeatherBug" or "MemoryMeter," among many others.
What is an IP address? top
An IP address (Internet Protocol address) is a unique identifier that distinguishes one device from any other on a TCP/IP-based computer network, such as the Internet. The IP address provides enough information to route data to that specific computer from any other computer on the network. In the case of the Internet, this enables you to communicate with web servers, instant messaging servers and other computers all over the world.
What is Flash? top
Similar to Java, Macromedia Flash is another technology that allows animations, interactive forms, games and other jazzed-up features to be embedded in web pages. Macromedia Flash Player is a well-known and trustworthy plug-in that users should feel comfortable installing. In fact, Flash is the most commonly installed plug-in on the web, more common than QuickTime, RealPlayer or Java. The Flash plug-in can be found on Macromedia's web site.
What is JavaScript? top
JavaScript is a simple programming language used to make web pages more interactive. Once known as LiveScript, JavaScript's name was changed as part of a marketing deal between Netscape and Sun. People talk about Java and JavaScript as if they were interchangeable, but they are completely different things. You do not need a Java runtime environment in order to use a JavaScript-enabled web page.
What is Java? top
Java is a technology that allows software designed for an idealized "virtual machine" to run on a variety of real computers, including Windows PCs, Macintoshes, and Unix computers. On the web, Java is quite popular on web servers, used "under the hood" by many of the largest interactive web sites. Here it serves the same role that PHP, ASP or Perl might, although traditionally Java has been used for larger-scale projects.
Java can also be used to create small programs, known as "applets," to be embedded in web pages. For instance, a web page using Java could contain an interactive weather map, a live display of subway trains, or a video game, without the need for the web server to do all of the work.
What is a secure site? top
A site that uses the HTTPS protocol to ensure that your information cannot be stolen by a third party between the sender and the receiver.
What is "caching?" top
Caching refers to the strategy of keeping a copy of a page or image you have already seen; web browsers typically cache files that they display for you, and simply ask the server if the page has actually changed rather than always downloading the entire thing. This speeds up your next visit to the page.
Since caching everything forever would take up too much space, web browsers typically delete the least recently used file in the cache when a certain total cache size is reached.
Caching also occurs in other places. You may be using a proxy server, in which case the proxy server is probably caching pages on behalf of you and other users to save trips to the real Internet.
Users typically become aware of caching when things don't work as expected. For instance, you might make a change to your own web page, open up your web page in your web browser, and not see the change until you click the "reload" button, telling your browser to discard the cached copy of that page.
What is a search engine? top
Since no one is in charge of the Web as a whole, there is a business opportunity for anyone to create an index of its contents and an interface for searching that index. Such interfaces are known as search engines. Typically the user will type in a few words that relate to what he or she is looking for and click a search button, at which point the search engine will present a links to web pages which are, hopefully, relevant to that search.
What is World Wide Web accessibility? top
A site that is easily used by individuals with disabilities, especially blindness and vision impairment, is known as an "accessible" site. There are at least three good reasons to design your pages to accommodate such users:
- Because it's the right thing to do.
- Because you will reach more customers.
- Because search engines experience the web much as blind users do: through text. If it's not there in easily accessible text, it's not helping anyone search for your site.
- Because users of new web browsing devices, such as wireless handhelds and cell phones, experience the web the way blind users do.
What is a blog? top
A web page that presents short journal entries in chronological order, newest first, is typically referred to as a "blog" or "weblog." Most blogs emphasize links to other pages and sites, and most entries are short commentaries or even simple one-sentence links to an interesting page somewhere else. Many blogs are concerned with current news events and often provide unabashedly partisan commentary. "Blogging," of course, is the act of writing a blog; those who write blogs are sometimes referred to as "bloggers."
What is XML? top
XML, the Extensible Markup Language, is a general-purpose markup language for all applications that manipulate text. XML is derived from an older standard known as SGML. XHTML (which supersedes HTML) is one example of a specific markup language which is complies with the rules of XML. RSS is another such example. While XHTML is the best-known example, XML can be used to represent almost any kind of information. The existence of a standard markup language makes it possible for anyone to write software that can successfully extract specific information from any valid XML document. See the W3C Consortium web site for further information and the complete XML specification.
What is RSS? top
RSS (Rich Site Summary) is a format for delivering regularly changing web content. Many news-related sites, weblogs and other online publishers syndicate their content as an RSS Feed to whoever wants it.
What is phishing? top
"phishing" is the act of sending out email messages that are more or less exact copies of legitimate HTML emails that well-known companies such as Amazon send out. Exactly the same in every way... except that the actual site to be reached by clicking on the link in the email is the site of the criminals doing the "phishing." That site then makes every effort to look an awful lot like Amazon, and the uninformed fish will bite, typing in their Amazon username and password, credit card number or other requested information when asked to do so.
The best way to avoid phishing: don't click on links in email messages! Go to the site in question yourself, by using one of your favorites or bookmarks or by typing in the site name in the location bar at the top of your browser window. Also be sure to heed any warnings about specific phishing scams in progress that may be mentioned on the home pages of your bank, Amazon, eBay, and other frequent phishing targets.
What does .com, .edu, .org, .mil, .gov stand for? top - .com stands for COMmercial. Domains in .com are typically registered by for-profit companies, but anyone may register a domain in .com.
- .edu stands for EDUcational. Domains in .edu may only be registered by accredited educational institutions.
- .org stands for ORGanization. Domains in .org have traditionally been registered by not-for-profit organizations like charities and industry groups. However, anyone may register a .org domain for any purpose.
- net. stands for NETwork. Domains in .net have traditionally been registered by Internet service providers -- the companies we buy our Internet service from at home. They are also frequently used by web hosting companies. However, anyone may register a .net domain for any purpose.
- .mil stands for MILitary. Domains in .mil are available only to the United States military and affiliated organizations.
- .gov stands for GOVernment. Domains in .gov are available only to governmental organizations in the United States, including both the federal government and state and local governments, as well as tribal governments in US territory.
What is protocol? top
On the Internet, the word "protocol" refers to a set of rules for communicating. Two programs or computers that follow the same rules are able to exchange information, even if they don't run the same operating system and are not made by the same company.
Sometimes protocols are "layered" on top of other protocols, taking advantage of what's already there and adding additional capabilities.
