BLOG - A blog (short for "web log") is a type of web page that offers a series of posted items (short articles, photos, diary entries, etc.). Blogs usually include a searchable archive of old postings. Blogs have become a common medium for communication in professional, political, news, trendy, and other specialized web communities. Many blogs provide RSS feeds, to which one can subscribe and receive alerts to new postings in selected blogs.

BOOLEAN LOGIC - A system of standardized words ("operators") used to connect search terms. These include AND, OR, NOT and sometimes NEAR. AND requires all terms appear in a record; OR retrieves records with either term. NOT excludes terms. Parentheses may be used to sequence operations and group words. Always enclose terms joined by OR with parentheses.

BOOKMARK
If you visit a site which you like and would like to easily access in the future without having to always type in the address, then you can bookmark it. Bookmarks (or 'favourites') are sites which you save to a list which can be categorised or ordered however you like so that you always have easy access to sites which you like.

BROWSE 
To browse a website is similar as to browsing a shop or a catalogue. If you do not know what specific item on the site you are looking for then you 'browse' the site to find items you find interesting or useful. 

BROWSERS
A browser is a program that is used to translate and display web files. Some of the most common are Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox or Opera, but there are many available. Whenever you view a website, the browser aquires the file from wherever it is being hosted and displays it as the websites we have become familiar with. 

CACHE - In browsers, "cache" is used to identify a space where web pages you have visited are stored in your computer. A copy of documents you retrieve is stored in cache. When you use GO, BACK, or any other means to revisit a document, the browser first checks to see if it is in cache and will retrieve it from there because it is much faster than retrieving it from the server.

CASE SENSITIVE - Capital letters (upper case) retrieve only upper case. Most search tools are not case sensitive or only respond to initial capitals, as in proper names. It is always safe to key all lower case (no capitals), because lower case will always retrieve upper case.

COOKIE - A message from a WEB SERVER computer, sent to and stored by your browser on your computer. When your computer consults the originating server computer, the cookie is sent back to the server, allowing it to respond to you according to the cookie's contents. The main use for cookies is to provide customized Web pages according to a profile of your interests. When you log onto a "customize" type of invitation on a Web page and fill in your name and other information, this may result in a cookie on your computer which that Web page will access to appear to "know" you and provide what you want. If you fill out these forms, you may also receive e-mail and other solicitation independent of cookies.

CRAWLER or WEBCRAWLER - Computer robot programs, referred to sometimes as "crawlers" or "knowledge-bots" or "knowbots" that are used by search engines to roam the World Wide Web via the Internet, visit sites and databases, and keep the search engine database of web pages up to date. They obtain new pages, update known pages, and delete obsolete ones. Their findings are then integrated into the "home" database.

Most large search engines operate several robots all the time. Even so, the Web is so enormous that it can take six months for spiders to cover it, resulting in a certain degree of "out-of-datedness" (link rot) in all the search engines.

DOMAIN
The domain of a site is the title that is shown in the site's address, ie sitename.com. A domain is unique to a machine or IP address, and tells the browser where to find the site which the user is looking for.

DNS (Domain Name Server)
A DNS will relate the domain address that is typed into the browser with the IP address that the website is hosted at. This means that if you want to visit a site then you can simply type in a web address for example, www.google.com instead of a hard to remember IP number such as 216.239.37.99.

DOWNLOAD
The process of copying files from a remote computer (server) down to your own system.

E-MAIL - ELECTRONIC MAIL 
E-mail is probably the most common modern use of the internet. Sending mail electronically means you can send messages almost instantly and can also be used to send files and programs such as images and sound files. 

ENCRYPTION
When you visit a site that contains or requires sensitive information such as credit card details or personal information, it is likely that any data exchanged will be 'encrypted'. This basically means that all information sent is scrambled and can only be read by the sender and the intended recipient. If the web address reads 'https://www.sitename.com' this means you are viewing over a secure connection and all information sent will be encrypted, this is important to look out for when sending things such as credit card details.

FIELD SEARCHING - Ability to limit a search by requiring word or phrase to appear in a specific field of documents (e.g., title, url, link).

FILE EXTENSION
At the end of a web address or filename, there will be an extension, such as .htm or .xml, this just tells the browser what type of file you are viewing and makes it easier to find the right file to display. 

FTP - FILE TRANSFER PROTOCOL
This is a method by which files are moved/exchanged from one computer to another over a network. FTP was in use long before the Web. This is also the method that is used to upload sites to the internet.

GROUPS -Discussion forums one can participate in, share ideas with, and form community. Most are free and some are open to new members. Yahoo Groups and Google Groups are both popular. Google Groups includes the former Usenet Newsgroups. Blogs are replacing some of the need for this type of community sharing and information exchange.

HOST 
A host is used to hold a website's files and alows people to view your site at any time of day as it will be always-on and means that people who are viewing your site do not have to access your PC. 

HTML - HYPER TEXT MARKUP LANGUAGE 
The oldest, and most common of languages used to created web sites. HTML code tells the brower how to display the site and defines the properties such as fonts and colours.

HEAD / HEADER
This is a section of code on a website which is not visible to viewers of a website but contains important information. The title that is displayed at the top of the screen when you are viewing a site is contained in the head section. The header is also where the keywords and descriptions which search engines look for are held. 

HISTORY 
A history is a record of all the sites and pages which you have viewed, for example, in the past two weeks. This makes it easy to find a site which you know was useful or interesting, but do not have the exact address to get there.

HISTORY, Search History - Available by using the combined keystrokes CTRL + H. You can set how many days your browser retains history in Edit | Preferences, or in Tools | Options.

HYPERTEXT - On the World Wide Web, the feature, built into HTML, that allows a text area, image, or other object to become a "link" (as if in a chain) that retrieves another computer file (another Web page, image, sound file, or other document) on the Internet. The range of possibilities is limited by the ability of the computer retrieving the outside file to view, play, or otherwise open the incoming file. It needs to have software that can interact with the imported file. Many software capabilities of this type are built into browsers or can be added as "plug-ins."

IP Address or IP Number - (Internet Protocol number or address). A unique number consisting of 4 parts separated by dots, e.g. 165.113.245.2

Every machine that is on the Internet has a unique IP address. If a machine does not have an IP number, it is not really on the Internet. Most machines also have one or more Domain Names that are easier for people to remember.

INTERNET 
This is the name given to describe the connection between all computers in the world. The network which connects these PCs and allows the viewing of pages or exchanging files and data is what is described as the 'internet'. 

ISP or Internet Service Provider - A company that sells Internet connections via modem/DSL/ADSL/Leased Lines/Dark Fibre (examples: BT, Virgin Media, Talk Talk etc- thousands of ISPs to choose from; not easy to evaluate).

JAVA - A network-oriented programming language invented by Sun Microsystems that is specifically designed for writing programs that can be safely downloaded to your computer through the Internet and immediately run without fear of viruses or other harm to our computer or files. Using small Java programs (called "Applets"), Web pages can include functions such as animations, calculators, and other fancy tricks. We can expect to see a huge variety of features added to the Web using Java, since you can write a Java program to do almost anything a regular computer program can do, and then include that Java program in a Web page.

JAVASCRIPT - A simple programming language developed by Netscape to enable greater interactivity in Web pages. It shares some characteristics with JAVA but is independent. It interacts with HTML, enabling dynamic content and motion

KEYWORD(S) - A word searched for in a search command. Keywords are searched in any order. Use spaces to separate keywords in simple keyword searching. To search keywords exactly as keyed (in the same order)

LINK "ROT" - Term used to describe the frustrating and frequent problem caused by the constant changing in URLs. A Web page or search tool offers a link and when you click on it, you get an error message (e.g., "not available") or a page saying the site has moved to a new URL. Search engine spiders cannot keep up with the changes. URLs change frequently because the documents are moved to new computers, the file structure on the computer is reorganized, or sites are discontinued. If there is no referring link to the new URL, there is little you can do but try to search for the same or an equivalent site from scratch.

LISTSERVERS - A discussion group mechanism that permits you to subscribe and receive and participate in discussions via e-mail. Blogs and RSS feeds provide some of the communication functionality of list servers.

META-SEARCH ENGINE - Search engines that automatically submit your keyword search to several other search tools, and retrieve results from all their databases. Convenient time-savers for relatively simple keyword searches (one or two keywords or phrases in " "). See Meta-Search Engines page for complete descriptions and examples.

NEWSGROUP - A discussion group operated through the Internet. Not to be confused with LISTSERVERS which operate through e-mail.

PDF - PORTABLE DOCUMENT FORMAT 
A PDF file is a file which can be downloaded or viewed online and is often used to display brochures or information sheets which are probably too large to be part of the site. 

PLUG-IN
An application which is integrated into a web browser and allows it to read certain types of files such as movies or sound files. 

POPULARITY RANKING
Some search engines use popularity rankings to determine in what order search results are displayed. A site's popularity is determined by how many links there are to the page on other sites.

PACKET, PACKET JAM - When you retrieve a document via the WWW, the document is sent in "packets" which fit in between other messages on the telecommunications lines, and then are reassembled when they arrive at your end. This occurs using TCP/IP protocol. The packets may be sent via different paths on the networks which carry the Internet. If any of these packets gets delayed, your document cannot be reassembled and displayed. This is called a "packet jam." You can often resolve packet jams by pressing STOP then RELOAD. RELOAD requests a fresh copy of the document, and it is likely to be sent without jamming.

PLUG-IN - An application built into a browser or added to a browser to enable it to interact with a special file type (such as a movie, sound file, Word document, etc.)

RSS or RSS feeds - Short for "Really Simple Syndication" (a.k.a. Rich Site Summary or RDF Site Summary), refers to a group of XML based web-content distribution and republication (Web syndication) formats primarily used by news sites and weblogs (blogs). Any website can issue an RSS feed. By subscribing to an RSS feed, you are alerted to new additions to the feed since you last read it. In order to read RSS feeds, you must use a "feed reader," which formats the XML code into an easily readable format (feed readers are to XML and RSS feeds as web browsers are to HTML and web pages.

SPIDERS - Same as Spider.

STEMMING & STOP WORDS - In keyword searching, word endings are automatically removed (lines becomes line); searches are performed on the stem + common endings (line or lines retrieves line, lines, line's, lines', lining, lined). Not very common as a practice, and not always disclosed. Can usually be avoided by placing a term in " ". Stop Words - In database searching, "stop words" are small and frequently occurring words like and, or, in, of that are often ignored when keyed as search terms. Sometimes putting them in quotes " " will allow you to search them.

SUBJECT DIRECTORY - An approach to Web documents by a lexicon of subject terms hierarchically grouped. May be browsed or searched by keywords. Subject directories are smaller than other searchable databases, because of the human involvement required to classify documents by subject.

SEARCH ENGINE
A search engine is a site which uses keywords entered by the user to display a list of sites and pages which are relevant to what they are looking for. There are many ways in which a search engine will find the sites which are most suitable and some of the most well known are Google, Yahoo and MSN. 

SCRIPT
A script is a code which is read by the browser to perform a certain function on a page. For example, a piece of text which displays the current time or date will use script to obtain the information each time the page is loaded, and most forms use script.

SERVER
A server is essentially a large computer which can hold files which can be accsessed via the internet or over a network. Websites are hosted on servers rather than PCs as they can be left on and user do not have to access another person's PC to view the files.

TCP/IP - (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) -- This is the suite of protocols that defines the Internet. Originally designed for the UNIX operating system, TCP/IP software is now available for every major kind of computer operating system. To be truly on the Internet, your computer must have TCP/IP software. See also IP Address.

TELNET - Internet service allowing one computer to log onto another, connecting as if not remote.

URL - Uniform Resource Locator. The unique address of any Web document. May be keyed in a browser's OPEN or LOCATION / GO TO box to retrieve a document .  The URL of a site is the address which you enter into the browser in order to view a site. When a URL is entered the browser will go to the domain and locate the files which are kept at the relevant IP address and then display the site. URL's are most commonly used to view websites, but can be used for other things such as a file transfer protocol (ftp://.....) or mail server. A typical URL will look like this - http://www.sitename.com/folder/file.htm this will display the 'file' page in the 'folder' folder on the 'sitename.com' website and the browser knows how to read the document due to the http:// prefix

USENET - Bulletin board-like network featuring thousands of "newsgroups." Google incorporates the historic file of Usenet Newsgroups (back to 1981) into its Google Groups. Yahoo Groups offers a similar service, but does not include the old "Usenet Newsgroups." Blogs are replacing some of the need for this type of community sharing and information exchange.

WIKI - A term meaning "quick" in Hawaiian, that is used for technology that gathers in one place a number of web pages focused on a theme, project, or collaboration. Wikis are generally used when users or group members are invited to develop, contribute, and update the content of the wiki. Wikis can be passworded in various ways to control or allow contributions. The most famous wiki is the Wikipedia.

WEB LOG /Blog
Blogs (or 'web log') are becoming a popular way of getting your views seen and heard without the need for extensive internet knowledge. A blog can be written by anyone with access to the internet and are essentially an online diary or journal in which the writer can enter anything they like about their chosen topic and can usually be rated or commented on by viewers.

WEBSITE 
A website is a collection of pages which are displayed under one address, for example google.com and can be accessed by anyone with an internet connection.  

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