Active Channel

Active Channel is frequently updated information residing on a Web server. Active Channel is a website type which was introduced by Internet Explorer 4.0 in 1997.

Users can subscribe to the channel if they have a CDF (Channel Definition Language) capable browser (e.g...

Alias

A name that points to another name. Aliases are sometimes used to make the original name easier to remember or to protect a website's identity.

Applet

An applet is an embedded program on a web site.

It is a software component that runs in the context of another program, for example a web browser. An applet usually performs a very narrow function that has no independent use. Hence, it is an application...

Active Server Pages (ASP)

Active Server Pages allow web developers to make their sites dynamic with database driven content.

It is a Microsoft propriety server-side technology...

Audio Streaming

Streaming media is multimedia that is constantly received by, and normally presented to, an end-user while it is being delivered by a streaming provider (the term "presented" is used in this article in a general sense that includes audio or video playback)...

Availability (Uptime)

Refers to the amount of time within a 24 hour period a system is active or available for servicing requests.

It is a measure of the time a computer system has been "up" and running. It came into use to describe the opposite of downtime, times when a system was not operational...

Backbone

Backbone is a high-speed line or series of connections that forms a major pathway within a network.

The Internet backbone refers to the main "trunk" connections of the Internet...

Back ups

The backing up of data on servers to prevent the loss of data should something happen to the server.

If you think you may need to restore old data in case of a disaster, it may make sense to choose regular backups...

Browser

This is the client software that displays (interprets) the HTML code it receives from a web server.

All browsers work slightly different and interpret the HTML code slightly differently if the code was developed exclusively for a specific browser...

C+/++

C+ and C++ are programming languages.

Some hosting companies provide access to C+ and C++ class libraries if your web site contains these types of program modules. Once your web site has been constructed, you will know whether access to C+ or C++ will be required.

CGI (Common Gateway Interface)

A CGI is a program that translates data from a web server and then displays that data on a web page or in an email.

CGI involves the transfer of data between a server and a CGI program (called a script). This allows HTML pages to interact with other programming applications...

Click through

This term is used to describe the ratio of clicks to impressions on an advertisement, usually a banner ad.

If a banner has been shown 100 times and 3 people click on it, it will have a 3% click through ratio.

Cold Fusion

ColdFusion is an application which simplifies database queries by allowing for a simpler programming language to handle functions between the user's browser, the server, and the database.

After you have developed your web site, you will know whether ColdFusion is a requirement...

Co-Location

Co-location means housing a web server that you own in the facilities of a hosting provider.

Control Panel

An online package of tools permitting easy site management and editing. It is a very important feature to have.

By having your own control panel, you can maintain basic information about your site, mail boxes, etc.

Cookie

A cookie is a message given to a Web browser by a Web server.

The browser stores the message in a text file called cookie.txt. The message is then sent back to the server each time the browser requests a page from the server...

CSS (Cascading Style Sheets)

CSS are used to add more functionality to simple HTML pages.

Internet Explorer 3.0 and up support a good portion of CSS, while Netscape 4.0 and up supports a small amount of CSS - a fully compliant browser does not exist yet.

Database Support

If your web site will leverage a database to store information, database support by the hosting company will be required.

After you have developed your web site, you will know which database will be required. Some commonly used database programs are SQL Server, MySQL, Access, Oracle, and FoxPro.

Data Transfer

The hosting company provides you with an entire hosting setup including your own server hardware that only you can use.

This means a much faster loading time for your site because the entire computer is "dedicated" to running the server software...

Disk Space

This indicates the amount of disk space that will be available to you on the server to hold your web site files.

Normally because HTML files are small, a web site (unless it has extensive graphics or database functionality) will be small, as low as 1 or 2 MB in most cases...

Domain Name

This is the unique name that identifies an Internet site. Domain Names always have 2 or more parts, separated by dots.

Technically, the domain name is a name that identifies an IP address. To most of us, it simply means www.yourname.com...

Domain Name System (DNS)

A model for tracking other machines (that contain web sites) and their numeric IP addresses.

It translates domain names (for example, www.duszahosting.com into a numerical IP address)...

Email POP Account

POP (Post Office Protocol) is an actual e-mail account on your web host's e-mail server.

Think of each POP account as a unique email address. You should know exactly how many email accounts are required to meet your specific needs.

File Transfer Protocol (FTP)

A way of transferring files (uploading and downloading) across the Internet. Most web sites are uploaded to the Internet by means of an FTP program.

This is how the web site you create on your computer at home is transferred (uploaded) to the Internet...

Host (Name Server)

When you hear the term "host" in the Internet world, it is referring to an Internet company that has the required servers and software to connect domain names to (IP) Internet Protocol numbers so that your site can be viewed by the public when they type your domain in their browser window...

Host Platform

This is the platform of the hosting providers' servers. Hosting companies typically have hosting platforms based upon Windows 2000 (Win2K), Windows NT or Linux...

HyperText Markup Language (HTML)

This is the code that web pages are written in and the browser interprets to turn into the web page you view on the screen.
Hypertext Transport Protocol (HTTP)

The protocol for transferring hypertext files across the Internet...

IP Address

A unique number used to specify hosts and networks. Internet Protocol (IP) numbers are used for identifying machines that are connected to the Internet...

Internet Service Provider (ISP)

A company or institution that provides access to the Internet in some form, usually for money.

They will usually allow users to dial up through a modem, DSL, or cable connection to view the information on the Internet Access is via SLIP, PPP, or TCP/IP...

Javascript

A scripting language which enables web designers to add dynamic, interactive elements to a web site.

Java Servlets

A servlet is an application or a script that is written in Java and
executed on a server, as opposed to on a client. It is analogous to
CGI, although servlets are more than simply CGI scripts written in Java.

ODBC Sources

Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) is a generic way for applications to speak to a database.

ODBC acts as an interpreter between an application (say a Cold Fusion or ASP application) and a database (like Microsoft Access)...

Perl (Practical Extraction and Report Language)

Perl is an interpreted language optimised for scanning arbitrary text files, extracting information from those text files, and printing reports based on that information.

It's also a good language for many system management tasks.

PHP

PHP is another scripting language. Like ASP, its commands are embedded within the HTML of a web page.

The commands are executed on the web server, making it browser independent. The web browser only sees the resulting HTML output of the PHP code.

Post Office Protocol (POP)

This is a method of retrieving e-mail from an e-mail server. Most e-mail applications (sometimes called an e-mail client) use the POP protocol, although some can use the newer IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol).

Price

The monthly amount that you will have to pay a hosting company to provide the hosting services requested.

Paying monthly is normally perfectly acceptable, but discounts may be available by paying quarterly or annually.

Root Server

A machine that has the software and data needed to locate name servers that contain authoritative data for the top-level domains.

Set up Fee

A one time setup fee to set up your hosting account.

Server

A computer, or software package, that provides a specific kind of service to client software running on other computers.

The term can refer to a particular piece of software, such as a WWW or HTTP server, or to the machine on which the software is running...

Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP)

The main protocol used to send electronic mail on the Internet. Most Internet email is sent and received using SMTP.

SMTP consists of a set of rules for how a program sending mail and a program receiving mail should interact.

Server Side Includes (SSI)

Commands that can be included in web pages that are processed by the web server when a user requests a file. The command takes the form <!--#include virtual="/path/to/file"-->...

Secure Socket Layer (SSL)

A protocol designed to enable encrypted, authenticated communications across the Internet.

It is used mostly (but not exclusively) in communications between web browsers and web servers. URL's that begin with "https" indicate that an SSL connection will be used...

Statistics

Detailed information regarding your Web site, including the number of hits, the source of those hits, most popular pages and amount of data transferred, as well as other useful information.

Telephone or e-mail technical support provided by the hosting company to their customers...

TCP/IP

This is a set of communications protocols to connect hosts on the Internet.

Unix

A computer operating system designed to be used by many people at the same time (it is multi-user) and has TCP/IP built-in.

It is the most common operating system for servers on the Internet.

Uniform Resource Locator (URL)

The standard way to give the address of any resource on the Internet that is part of the World Wide Web (WWW).

Unique IP Address

Obtaining a unique IP address (see IP Address) provides a one-to-one relationship between your domain name (www.yourname.com) and an IP address.

Video Streaming

The process of providing video data or content via a web page.

Virtual Private Server (VPS)

A virtual private server is a web server which shares its resources with multiple users/accounts. It's another way of saying that multiple web sites share the resources of one server. 

VPS usually split the server resources equally into 6 accounts or users...