Hyper-Text Markup Language. It's what makes the web the web. HTML is a way to format
text, similar to what you see when you reveal codes in WordPerfect. The difference that
makes HTML special is that it allows links, images, forms, Java applets and a lots of
other things.
Tag
In HTML all formatting is done with tags. Most tags come in pairs, one to open the
formatting and one to close it. A few tags work alone.
Browser
A browser is what you're viewing this page with. Netscape is a browser; Mosaic is a
browser. A browser is just an Internet application which can understand HTML.
URL
Universal Resource Locator. That's just a fancy way of saying "the address of a web
page."
Path
When specifying a link of any sort you must use the correct path. The path is the set of
direction telling the browser how to get from where you are to where the link is. The path
can be absolute or relative. Absolute links apply no matter where you currently are.
http://www.texascook.com/index.html is an absolute link. Relative links are directions
that start from where you are. ../ma/mar1/htmlmenu.html is a relative link. It will only
find the htmlmenu.html page if you're in the https://www.angelfire.com/ma/mar1 directory
already.
GIF
Pronounced 'gif' or 'jif.' GIFs are one of many graphic formats. GIFs are very common
and very popular mainly because they are easy to interpret. They are of mid-grade image
quality, and are usually pretty compact. HTML allows both GIFs and JPGs as image links.
JPG
Pronounced 'jay-peg.' JPGs are a high-quality graphics format. JPGs are much better
quality than GIFs, but also take up much more memory.
Hex
Short for hexadecimal. Hex is a base 16 number system. For the easy way out see COLORS.
Script
Scripts are programs your HTML page can tell the server to run. Scripts can do just
about anything, from processing information to generating fractals.
Perl
Perl is a language, like BASIC or C++. The advantage of Perl is it's simplicity and how
well it interacts with HTML browsers. Because of this, Perl is the chosen language for
writing scripts. C++ is also used, but only when lots of processing power or speed is
needed.
ISP
Internet Service Provider. This is the place you call when you want to get online.
POP1
Point of Presence. A POP is a place you can call locally to connect to a large ISP. AOL
and CompuServe have many POPs scattered around the nation.
POP2
Post Office Protocol. This kind of POP is what handles your mail. Your POP account is
your email account. POP speaks SMTP, Simple Mail Transfer Protocol.
FTP
File Transfer Protocol. Every time you transfer a file directly across the net (not by
attaching it to email) you're FTPing. FTP has come to mean transferring a file. An FTP
site is a place allowing access to files for downloading. There are two basic ways to FTP.
You can do it graphically with WS_FTP or Netscape or any other windows app. You can also
do it by hand while you're logged in to a shell account. A shell account is just an
account you can log into and directly and manually issue commands.
SLIP and PPP
SLIP and PPP are just more ways for your computer to talk to others. Your SLIP or PPP
account is where you dial in to use all these neat graphical Internet apps.
