Planning Website Deployment

Planning Website Deployment - Glossary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

ASP (Application Service Provider): Company that hosts business applications and makes them available to business customers for a fee. Benefit to business customers is not having to install, maintain or update software applications, convenient for smaller businesses, or businesses with overworked IT departments.
Browser: Software used for retrieving and displaying documents from HTTP servers (Web servers) and other servers.
C: Language widely used for developing Web site applications
CGI (Common Gateway Interface): A specification for writing programs that enables transactions between a Web server and other programs on the server.
Clients: A computer (CPU, hard drive, and monitor) configured to receive data on a network. Clients host the browsers that access and display Web resources.
Composite client: The various client interests (e.g., stakeholders, stockholders, end users, surrogate client) that constitute the 'whole' client
Connectivity: Physical connections among network hardware
CSS (Cascading Style Sheet): A specification that enhances a browser's ability to display complex screen layout (e.g. placement of objects in specific locations)
DBMS: Software that controls the organization, storage, retrieval, security, and integrity of data in a database. DBMSs accept requests from an application and instruct the operation system to transfer the appropriate data.
Dedicated connection: A line dedicated for one computer that is always active. A dedicated connection increases speed of access. These lines can be leased monthly either directly from a telephone company or through a local ISP.
Deliverables: Documents, artwork or other items that one party is expected or required to present to another party.
Dial-up connection: Network access provided through a modem.
Digital Subscriber Line: Digital line that brings very high speed (256Kbps and greater) to the home business market using existing twisted pair cabling.
DNS (Domain Name Services): Software service residing on public servers that translates IP addresses to domain names (and vice versa).
Domain: A name registered by an organization with the InterNIC that is then associated with a specific Internet address so that it can be found. Domain names, when searched for or translated into their corresponding Internet or IP addresses, can then be easily found on the Internet.
domain name: An example of a domain name is "igeneration" in www.igeneration.com. Every domain names corresponds to one specific IP address. When you type in a domain name, Domain Name Servers around the Internet translate that into the IP address and direct your traffic to that site.
E-mail: An Internet service for sending correspondence from one computer to another.
ERP: Enterprise Resource Planning software suites. Allows business management to compile and analyze comprehensive data about the flow of resources affecting business activities.
Extranets: An Intranet that is accessible externally and allows secure access by authenticating select outside users. Physical connections to an Extranet can be direct, through a leased telephone line, or through the Internet.
Firewall: A system that controls access between two or more networks. With a firewall, companies can control employee Internet access and access to company computers from outside the corporation. A firewall is an extra layer of security built into computer systems set up at the Web site or at the ISP's site that can be used to monitor and filter both incoming and outgoing requests.
Frame: An independent pane within a browser window that can be scrolled or navigated independently of the rest of the window.
FTP (File Transfer Protocol): An Internet service for moving files from one system to another.
Glossary: To access all the items in the course glossary, click the Show All Terms button below.
HTML (Hypertext Markup Language): Programming language for writing Web pages, using specific codes, or tags.
HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol): TCP/IP protocol suite that enables the hyperlink mechanism by providing the mechanism for requesting and returning Web resources.
Hubs: A device that has ports or outlets that interconnect the wires in a network. A hub is part of the hardware in a computer network.
Hyperlinks: Clickable reference in one document that points to other locations within the same document as well as the URLs of other documents. A hyperlink can point to other locations within the same document as well as to other documents.
Hypertext (Hyperlinked text display): Hypertext is often distinguished on a Web page by being underlined and using different colors than the regular text.
Icon: Sign or image that resembles the idea it represents (e.g., a garbage can for "trash.")
Information Architecture: The way information is organized on a Web site. Information architecture provides structure and facilitates navigation through the information.
Internet: A global network of computers that can communicate across different computer platforms using a standardized addressing scheme.
Internet backbone: Very-high-bandwidth lines with fast, high-capacity routers, which interconnect major parts of the Internet. These are generally installed by national long distance carriers or by the government. SprintNet and MilNet (the U.S. military network) are two examples.
Internet Service Provider (ISP): An ISP is a company that sells access to the Internet
Intranets: A Web-like computer network internal to an organization. Intranets provide access to information locally, quickly, and often through a friendly user interface.
IP (Internet Protocol): A communications protocol for verifying the accuracy and address of network data.
IP address: The unique address of a node (computer) in a network. IP addresses follow a dotted-quad structure e.g., 207.33.111.34. The segments are also called "octets."
ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network): A communications service used to move data over regular phone lines at higher speeds than a 28.8 or 54.6 modem connection. ISDN lines use special switching techniques to obtain higher bandwidth from telephone liens. ISDN can provide either dedicated or dial-up connections.
Java: Object-oriented language that works well in distributed environments such as the Web.
Javascript: Scripting facility that offers screen-based functions of its host language (Java).
JDBC (Java Database Connectivity): Application that enables database connectivity for applications written in Java.
LAN (Local Area Network): Network usually within one building or office area connecting several computers for the purpose of sharing applications and files.
Maintenance Plan: An evolving document containing data on system resources and required maintenance. This should include information such as items to be maintained, tasks required for maintenance, and a maintenance schedule.
Marketing Plan: An evolving document containing data on an organization's overall marketing plan and how Internet resources, such as a Web site, aid in meeting the organization's goals.
Markup language: Language that uses a set of tags or special characters to denote a function to be implemented for a selection of text.
Metaphor: A comparison between two things that are not inherently the same.
MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extension): A coding scheme that allows binary information to be sent on computer networks such as the Internet, which normally accept only text-based (ASCII) data.
Modem: A device used for dial-up services over analog telephone lines, T1 or fractional lines, or digital lines such as ISDN or ADSL.
NIC (Network Interface Card): An adapter in a computer that provides network connectivity.
ODBC (Open Database Connectivity): Application that enables standardized access to multiple database management systems (DBMSs).
PERL: Scripting language with extended capabilities. PERL has often been used for CGI applications.
Personalization: Strategies for making each person's experience at a Web site customized to their preferences. Database applications store users self-reported preferences and/or tracks their behavior while at the site, building a profile that is called up every time that visitor logs onto the site.
Pipeline: A term used metaphorically for the transmission wires that carry data.
Plug-ins: Helper applications that are separate from the browser, often to provide the browser with extended multimedia functionality.
Protocols: A protocol is a standardized set of rules that define how computers send and receive information, and how applications such as browsers process data
Quality Assurance Plan: An evolving document containing data on resources to be tested, test matrices, and a testing schedule.
Requirements definition: Used to define a company's objectives, strategies and tactics as they relate to a specific project. Other aspects of requirements definition may include an analysis of the particular audiences for the project or the metrics used to determine a project's success.
RFP (request for proposal): A document produced by the client that describes in detail a bid for specific work. An RFP also typically describes the client's business and audiences, as well as Internet, Intranet, and Extranet needs.
Routers: Device that connects two or more IP networks, and routes traffic based on IP addresses.
Scalability: The ability of a computer environment and software to grow in capability and size as the organization's needs grow.
Scripting language: Language based on a host language that uses a simplified command method with reduced functionality to accomplish basic functions like CGI form handling or text handling.
Server: A dedicated computer that stores and retrieves information and processes requests for information.
Sign: Words, images, colors, sounds, or movement on a Web page.
Site maps: A Web page that uses a graphical outline structure to show the relationship among all the major parts of a Web site.
SQL (Structured Query Language): Standardized data maintenance language for relational databases.
Stakeholder: An individual or group with a non-financial stake in a project.
Stakeholders: Individuals or groups with non-financial stakes in a project.
Stockholder: An individual or group with a financial stake in a project.
Stockholders: Individuals or groups with financial stakes in a project.
Surrogate client: The individual or individuals that represent the composite client to a Web site development team.
T1: Bandwidth connection capable of carrying data at 1,544,000 bits per second, which, at maximum theoretical capacity, could move a megabyte in less than ten seconds. T1 lines are fiber-optic lines. T1 connections provide enough bandwidth for most small business applications that require a robust connection to the Internet.
TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol): One of the main protocols used on the Internet for transferring information from computer to computer. TCP/IP is also used on intranets inside many companies.
URL (Universal Resource Locator): Address specifying the location of unique resources on the Internet.
Web metrics: The collection, organization, and assessment of information about site visitors.