Glossary of Internet Service Related Terms

Scandisk

A Windows utility that checks the integrity of data stored on a hard disk drive, identifies problems, and where possible puts them right.

Scanner

A machine that scans a printed image, such as a photograph or a page of text, and turns it into a file that can be displayed and manipulated on a computer.

Script

A script is a type of program that consists of a set of instructions for another application or utility to use.

SCSI

Small Computer System Interface [pronounced 'Scuzzy']. A high speed data interface that uses a card, which plugs into an ISA [integrated system architecture] socket on the computer motherboard. SCSI cards that use PCI slots are also available.

Search Engine

A search engine is a type of software that creates indexes of databases or Internet sites based on the titles of files, keywords, or the full text of files. The search engine has an interface that allows you to type what you're looking for into a blank field. It then gives you a list of the results of the search. When you use a search engine on the Web, the results are presented to you in hypertext, which means you can click on any item in the list to get the actual file.

Search Engine Optimization

Search Engine Optimization is the constantly changing and very competitive practice of designing web sites and pages to rank as highly as possible in search results from search engines. When a search is done in a search engine the first web sites to appear on the list under sponsored links are the best search engine optimized sites for the keyword entered in.

Search Term

A single word or group of words used in a search engine document query. It also refers to the strategic keywords used to optimize Web page content.

Second Level Domain

The domain names system is organized as a hierarchy. After the root, the top level domain is the highest in the hierarchy, followed next by the second level domain. The second level domain in www.mysite.com, would be the “mysite” portion.

Secondary Server

A name server that will be used in addition to and as a backup for the primary name server for a domain name. Names and IP addresses of secondary servers are provided by registrars when they register names. Both a primary and secondary server name server are required.

Sectors

Hard disk drives are split into tracks and sectors, which is a way for the computer to identify where particular files or pieces of data are stored.

Security Certificate

Secure sockets layer, SSL, uses security certificates, often stored as text files to establish a secure, or encrypted connection on the web.

SEM - Search Engine Marketing

Advertising a product or service on search engine results pages. These are usually listed as "sponsored links" or "advertisement" on the results pages of popular engines.

Server

A server is a computer that handles requests for data, e-mail, file transfers, and other network services from other computers (i.e., clients).

Session

A continuous period of time during which a user's browser is viewing Web pages or a Web application within the same server or domain.

SGML

Standard Generalised Markup Language - a meta-language that provides a comprehensive set of syntax rules for marking up the structure of documents and data. [HTML is a subset of SGML.]

Shared Hosting

This is the most common form of hosting and the least expensive. Your web site data is stored on a hard drive with a number of other web sites, and you are limited to a specific space allotment, and data transfer.

Shareware

Shareware is software that is freely distributed for a small fee paid on an "honor system." You are not required to pay the fee to try the program, but if you like the software enough to use it, you are expected to send the fee directly to the creator

Shockwave

Shockwave is a set of programs that allow Macromedia Director animation files to be played over the Internet with a web browser. Possible uses for this type of animation on the Web include online advertising, games, training, and animated logos.

Shopping Cart Software

Shopping cart software allows a web site user to shop online in a similar way to shopping in a real store. A virtual shopping cart is provided and customers can add or remove items prior to paying at a checkout location. Many ecommerce sites offer a free shopping cart, but the ability to use credit cards is usually an additional charge through a third party.

Signature

A signature is text automatically included at the bottom of an e-mail message or newsgroup posting to personalize it. This can be anything from a clever quote to some additional information about the sender, such as a title, company name and additional e-mail addresses

Signature file

Return address information such as name, telephone number, and email address that users put at the bottom of email messages. Known as a 'sig'.

Site Builder

Either online or hard copy software used to ease the process of building a web site. Site building software often contains templates, clip art, fonts, color variations, and layout designs for building a web site.

Site Map

A listing of all sections of a website. Usually, each listing is an active link, enabling a visitor to click on the link and move directly to a section from the site map. Also a useful tool for getting search engine spiders to crawl an entire site by following all the links on the site map.

SLIP

An acronym for Serial Line Internet Protocol, SLIP is a communications protocol that, like PPP, allows you to connect your computer to the Internet itself using a telephone line. It is part of the TCP/IP suite of programs necessary to connect to and use the Internet. If you have a dial-up account to an Internet service provider, you are using either PPP or SLIP to make your connection to the Internet. Although SLIP is easy to install and use, it does not provide the error correction or negotiation features that PPP has. For this reason, PPP is rapidly replacing SLIP as the more common standard.

SMTP

An acronym for Simple Mail Transfer Protocol, SMTP is the protocol used for routing e-mail across the Internet. Most SMTP look like this: mail.cpu-net.com

SOAP

Simple Object Access Protocol - which provides a way for applications to communicate with each other using XML.

Source Code

The HTML and Java programming of a web document. Look in your browser under View Source Code to look at a page's code. If their page does something cool and you would like to use their code as a template, cut and paste their source code into a word processing program and save it.

SPAM

Originally just a canned sandwich filler product, spam now also refers to the practice of blindly posting commercial messages or advertisements to a large number of unrelated and uninterested newsgroups, and bulk e-mailing unsolicited commercial messages.

Spider

A spider, or Web crawler, is a program that finds all the links from a page and returns them to another program for processing. All web sites submitted to an Internet search engine rely on the search engine's spider robots to discover new Web sites, pages, and changes and update their index accordingly.

Spyware

Software that secretly installs other software on a users computer and monitors the computer’s use without the user’s knowledge or consent. Worse than spam, Spyware is a curse to the technical world.

SQL

Structured Query Language - a standard language for talking to databases.

SRS - Shared Registration System

The Shared Registration System is The central system for all accredited registrars to access and register and control domain names.

SSL

An acronym for Secure Socket Layer, SSL is a protocol developed by Netscape Communications Corporation for securing data transmission in commercial transactions on the Internet. Using public-key cryptography, SSL provides server authentication, data encryption, and data integrity for client/server communications

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. Sometimes + immediately before them makes them searchable.

Streaming

A technology for delivering audio or video files so that they can be heard or seen whilst downloading, without having to wait for the complete file.

Streaming Media

Streaming data refers to multimedia files, such as video clips and audio, that begin playing seconds after it is received by your computer from the World Wide Web. The media is delivered in a "stream" from the server so that you don't have to wait several minutes or longer to download multimedia files.

String/Search String

A string refers to a sequence of characters, words, or other elements that are connected to each other in some way. A search string usually refers to a string of words or a phrase that is used to search and locate or retrieve a specific piece of information contained in a database or a set of documents.

Style sheet

A template or a file which defines the layout of a document or a series of documents.

Subdomain

Typically known as a "domain within a domain", subdomains are individual Web addresses built upon a pre-existing domain name (such as clientname.yourhostingcompany.com). As a reseller, you will have the option of assigning subdomains to clients if they do not choose to have a domain name.

Submission

To suggest a website to be included in a search engine or directory, so that it may be evaluated and included in search results.

Submission Service

A service which charges a fee to submit your site to the search engines for you. Using these services is no longer necessary as it is free to submit to the search engines and submitting to five engines can get your site listed in the main engines. Submission services can be useful in getting listed in the minor engines.

Support

Depending on the web host support may be offered in on or more of the following forms: Forums, Frequently Asked Question and Answers, Telephone, Email, Trouble Ticket, and Live Chat.

Syntax Error

Syntax is the order in which words and phrases are put together, such as a URL (web address) which consists of several phrases that are strung together to define a location or service on the Internet. A syntax error occurs when a user (or programmer) has put words in an order that a program does not understand. A syntax error while surfing the Web may be caused by a mistyped or inadvertently rearranged URL, making it incomprehensible to a web browser.