Internet Glossary A-C

Internet glossary from A to C.

A-C | C-F | G-M | M-S | S-W | W-Z

ActiveMovie
A multimedia streaming technology developed by Microsoft. ActiveMovie is already built into the Internet Explorer browser.

ActiveX
A programming interface (API) that lets web browsers execute and download Windows applications.

Anchor (in web terms)
A start or end point used for a hyperlink.

ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line)
A special form of DSL line where the upload speed differs from the download speed.

Affiliate marketing
Affiliate marketing is an Internet-based marketing practice in which a business rewards one or more affiliates for each visitor or customer brought about by the affiliate's marketing efforts.

Ajax (asynchronous JavaScript and XML)
A group of interrelated web development techniques used for creating interactive web applications or rich Internet applications. With Ajax, web applications can retrieve data from the server asynchronously in the background without interfering with the display and behaviour of the existing page.

Animation
A type of optical illusion. It involves the appearance of motion caused by displaying still images one after another.

Apache
An open source web server mostly used for Linux, Solaris and UNIX platforms.

API (Application Programming Interface)
Abbreviation of application program interface, a set of routines, protocols and tools for building software applications.

Authentication (in web terms)
The method used to verify and identify a user, program or computer on the web.

ASF (Advanced Streaming Format)
Short for Advanced Streaming Format, a streaming multimedia file format developed by Microsoft.

ASP (Active Server Pages)
Active Server Pages is a technology developed by Microsoft that enables you to make dynamic and interactive web pages.

ASX (ASF Streaming Redirector)
Files storing information about ASF files in XML format. Developed by Microsoft.

AVI (Audio Video Interleave)
Video technology developed by Microsoft.

Banner Ad
A (most often graphic) advertisement placed on a web page, which usually links to an advertiser's web site.

Bandwidth
A rate of data transfer, or bit rate, measured in bits per second. The more bandwidth, the faster the connection.

Behavioural advertising (Behavioural targeting)
Uses information collected on an individual's web-browsing behaviour, such as the pages they have visited or the searches they have made, to select which advertisements to display to that individual.

BMP (Bitmap)
Image file format used to store digital images.

Bookmark (in web terms)
A link to a particular website, stored (bookmarked) by a web user for future use and easy access.

Bounce rates
Represents the average percentage of initial visitors to a site who 'bounce' away to a different site, rather than continue on to other pages within the same site.

Browse
Describes a user’s movement across the web using a web browser.

C
General purpose cross platform programming language to program advanced computer applications.

C++ (C Plus Plus)
An improved version of C.

C# (C Sharp)
Different version of C++ developed by Microsoft with added Java-like functions.

Cache (in web terms)
A web browser or web server feature which stores copies of web pages on a computer's hard disk.

Chat
Text based online communication between Internet users.

CGI (Common Gateway Interface)
Abbreviation of Common Gateway Interface, a specification for transferring information between a World Wide Web server and a CGI program.

Cinepac
A codec for computer video.

Client/Server (in web terms)
Client/server describes the relationship between two computer programs in which one program, the client, makes a service request from another program, the server, which fulfills the request.

Click Through Rate (CTR)
The ratio of the number of times a user clicks on an online advertisement per number of viewers who view the website.

Codec
Compressor/Decompressor is a common term for the technology used for compressing and decompressing data.