Glossary of Terms

from websiteslug.com

browser: the program you use to see web pages. Internet Explorer is the most common browser. Another very popular browser is Firefox, which you can download for free.

DNS numbers (Domain Name Servers numbers): This set of numbers is like a map--it tells the computers that run the internet what to display when someone types in your web address (domain name). i.e. It tells the computers that run the internet where to look for the files that make up your website.

When you register your domain name, your domain name is assigned a default DNS number. You need to change the default DNS number so that it matches the DNS number of your "host" (server). Then, when someone types in your domain name (web address), the computers that run the internet will know which host company is storing your website page files--and then the computers that run the intenet will go to that host, find your web pages, and display them for the person who typed in your web address.

If you don't match your website domain name's DNS numbers to the DNS numbers of your host (server), no one will ever be able to see your website!

domain name: what people type in to get to your website. Also called a “web address.” Here are some famous web addresses/domain names: www.yahoo.com, www.google.com, and www.myspace.com.

Domain Name Servers (DNS numbers): see "DNS numbers"

home page: this is the "front page" of a website. When you're making your front page (the page people will see when they type in your web address [domain name]), save the file with the file name "index" and it will save as your index.html (or index.htm) file.

When someone types in your web address, the computers that run the internet automatically display this file. If you don't create an index file, people will only see a weird list of all of your html files.

index file: the home page or front page of your website--see "home page" above

host (web host, website hosting company, server): a company that takes all of the pages you create on your personal computer and puts them on the web. All of your web pages are "uploaded" to a host by you.

You can't create a web page on your home computer and expect it to show up on the internet! After you create a web page, you "upload" it (send it over the internet) to a hosting company (Lunarpages is one popular hosting company).

The hosting company’s computer is connected to the World Wide Web, and whenever someone types in your web address, they get plugged into your folder on the hosting company’s computer, and they can browse through all of the pages you’ve sent (uploaded) there. Get it? These “hosts” are also called “servers”—they serve your content up to the masses!

html code: symbols and letters that a web browser uses in order to properly display the content on a web page. A basic understanding of html code is very helpful, but it's not necessary in order to create a web page.

Every web page-making program will automatically create the code behind the scenes, so to speak, while you type away and copy and paste. When you use a web page-making program, it feels a lot like you're just typing something up like you usually do on your computer. You may never even see the html code itself, but it's there.

For instance, if you type "I love chocolate milk," and you want it to be in a large red font on your web page, behind-the-scenes with the code it looks like this: <font color="#FF0000" size="5">I love chocolate milk.</font> All that stuff between the sideways "v's" is html code.

register.com: a website where you can purchase a domain name.

After you pay for a domain name (web address), in order for people to see anything when they type in your domain name you need to create a web page, save it as an index.html file, and upload it to a host (server).

registering a domain name: when you register a domain name, you're purchasing the rights to a web address. For instance, the folks that run yahoo.com began by "registering" the domain name "www.yahoo.com." You can only purchase the rights (register) to a domain name that has not already been registered.

search engines: websites where you go to search the web. Google and Yahoo are the most famous search engines. Everyone who has a website has the goal of being listed at the top of Google and Yahoo's rankings. You see, when you go to Google to search, let's say, for "scissors," Google will throw up a big list of websites that have something to do with scissors, and the websites that are near the top of the list will get clicked on (visited) the most. The closer you are to the top of Google's listings, the more visitors to your website you will have.

server: this is a computer which stores the files that make up web pages. Hosts have servers, and when you sign up with a website hosting company, they will create a folder on one of their servers just for you. You create your web pages at home, then upload them to your folder on the server so they can be seen on the internet.

subdomain: When you sign up with a hosting company, you can run several websites from this one account. The first domain name you sign up with is going to be the name of your account, but within that account you can create folders that contain the files for completely separate websites, called subdomains.

When you come up with an idea for a new website, get another domain name and then set up a subdomain within your existing website hosting account. When you do this, your hosting company creates a new folder within your account where all of the new website's files will go. Everyone who types in your new domain name is automatically sent to the matching subdomain folder within your account.

submit a website / web page: If you create a website one day and then type in your domain name into Google's search box, it probably won't come up in the search results. That's because it takes a search engine like Google a little while to realize that this new website is out there on the world wide web. Eventually they wil find it, but you can expedite this process by submitting your site to search engines--it's kind of a way to let them know you're up and running.

It is not necessary to submit your website to the search engines--people can visit your website whether Google knows about it or not. However, many people believe that the faster the search engines know about your site, the faster you will get a little traction in their search results.

upload: this means "send somewhere, via computer, so that others can get to it." In the same way that you might upload a picture in order to attach it to an e-mail, you upload html files to your web host so they can be seen when someone types in your domain name (web address). Everything that you want to be seen on your website must be uploaded to a server at a web hosting company.

Most people use an "ftp" program to upload their files. Dreamweaver, a web page-making program, has a built-in ftp program, so as you create html files for your website, with the click of your mouse you can upload them to your web hosting account.

There are many free, free-standing ftp programs you can get on the web if you're not using Dreamweaver.

web address: what people type in to get to your website. Also called a “domain name.” Here are some famous web addresses/domain names: www.yahoo.com, www.google.com, and www.myspace.com.

web host: see "host"

website hosting company: see "host"

web page: a document, in html or htm format, that a web browser can display. When you upload html files to a web host, they can be seen on the the internet. Most web sites are made up of a bunch of html files. (Some web pages are php files--they're a little more sophisticated than html files.)

A website's "home page" is always an html file saved as "index.html." The index file has links on it to all of the other html files or web pages of a website.

website: a place on the internet where someone has posted some kind of information. A website can be made up of one or more pages.