IT 2 - Glossary of E-Commerce words and phrases

I.T is often made more complicated by the use of technical jargon, which our alphabetical glossary of terms should help you with.

Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line – A broadband internet connection.

Business to business.

Business to business to consumer.

Technology is the always-open gateway to a new world of Internet services delivered at lightning fast speeds to homes, offices and businesses. Think of a broadband connection to the Internet as a fat pipeline running into and out of a home or

business. The revolution on this technology is yet to happen- but will play a significant role in the Internet in the next few years.

A programme that allows you to find and look at information on the World Wide Web (www). Examples of browsers include Microsoft Explorer and Netscape Navigator. Client computer that uses the services of another computer.

A computer that uses the services of another computer.

A cookie is a record stored on a user’s machine created as a result of a webserver instructing a web browser what to do. Cookies allow a website to maintain information on a particular user. Put simply, a cookie is a mechanism that allows a

website to record your comings and goings.

Digital Certificates are designed to facilitate secure electronic transactions between certified parties.

To copy files from another computer to your computer.

Electronic Data Interchange. The transfer of data between different companies using networks, such as the Internet. As more and more companies get connected to the Internet, EDI is becoming increasingly important as an easy mechanism for companies to buy, sell, and trade information.

Electronic mail. A way of sending and receiving messages via computers.

Using a secret code so that people cannot read messages without permission. For example, whenever credit card details are passed to companies over the Internet, encryption is used to ensure no one else has access to that information.

A version of the Internet that has restricted access (usually requires an online account number or user id and password to obtain access or a digital certificate).

Security service that separates and protects data on a LAN from hackers who might access the LAN from the Internet.

Freely available software.

File Transfer Protocol. A system used to transfer files from one computer to another over the Internet.

A term used by some to mean "a clever programmer". A "good hack" is a clever solution to a programming problem and "hacking" is the act of doing it. This act can sometimes be a deliberate act- where the hacker breaks into the security system in order to access, steal or destroy sensitive information.

An introductory page containing links to other pages on a website.

HyperText Mark Up Language. The computer language used to create pages on the World Wide Web.

HyperText Transfer Protocol. The way in which World Wide Web pages are transferred over the Internet.

(Secure Hypertext Transfer Protocol) is a Web protocol built into its browser that encrypts and decrypts user page requests as well as the pages that are returned by the Web server. HTTPS is really just the use of a Secure Socket Layer (SSL) as a sub-layer under its regular HTTP application layering.

A highlighted word or picture within a web document that when clicked takes you to another place within the document or to another document altogether.

A computer network consisting of millions of linked computers all using a common communication language to share information, data and services. Also known as the Net, Cyberspace, or Information Superhighway.

A private version of the Internet that only allows people within an organization to share Information, data and services.

Integrated Services Digital Network. A high-speed digital telephone line, which can transmit data between computers extremely quickly.

Internet Service Providers. Companies that sell Internet connections or offer them for free.

The field used to type in the address (or URL) of the site you wish to visit. This is called the address box in Internet Explorer.

The place where E-mail is stored by an ISP, and accessed by the mailbox owner.

Modulate/DEModulate. A device that allows data to be sent via a telephone line.

Computers that are connected so that they can share information, data and services. Local Area Networks (LANs) are those in the same or nearby buildings. Wide Area Networks (WANs) are those that are further away.

Not connected to the Internet.

Connected to the Internet.

A message to send information from one system to another in a common format. (Extensible Mark-Up Language.)

Portable Document Format. A standard way of printing documents via the Internet, which enables formatted printing on a local printer, usually to a better standard than taking screen prints.

On computer and telecommunication devices, a port (noun) is generally a specific place for being physically connected to some other device, usually with a socket and plug of some kind.

A term, generally synonymous with gateway, for a World Wide Web site that is or proposes to be a major starting site for users when they get connected to the Web or that users tend to visit as an anchor site.

A large computer that provides a service to other computers (known as Clients) on a network.

Abbreviation of Standard Generalised Mark-up Language, a system for organising and tagging elements of a document. SGML itself does not specify any particular formatting rather, it specifies the rules for tagging elements. These tags can then be interpreted to format elements in different ways.

Software that you can try out before you have to pay for it.

To wander around and explore the Internet searching for information.

A tag is a generic term for a language element descriptor.

This is the term used for monitoring the number of users on the website.

This is the more general term for the number of users on a site but usually refers to the whole site rather than individual pages or user sessions.

To copy files from your computer to another computer.

Uniform Resource Locator. A standard system used by Browsers to locate information on the Internet, also known as the address.

Is the term used for a person who accesses a web site- once on the site they become known as the user. User sessions are often included in tracking systems and reports to gauge how many people have visited the site.

Wireless Application Protocol-WAP is a secure specification that allows users to access information instantly via hand-held wireless devices such as mobile phones, pagers, two-way radios, smart phones and communicators.

A screen of information displayed on the Internet.

A mechanism for accessing information / viewing web pages on the Internet.

Short for Extensible Mark-up Language, XML is a pared-down version of SGML, designed especially for web documents. It allows designers to create their own customised tags, enabling the definition, transmission, validation, interpretation

of data between applications and between organisations.

(Extensible Stylesheet Language), formerly called Extensible Style Language, is a language for creating a style sheet that describes how data is sent over the Web using the Extensible Mark-up.