What is a domain name?
A domain name locates an organization or other entity on the Internet. For example, the domain name www.yahoo.com locates an Internet address for "www.yahoo.com" at Internet point 199.0.0.2 and a particular host server named "www".

What is a DNS server?
DNS servers are used to resolve hostnames to IP addresses so that we don't have to use long and difficult to remember numbers for each computer we want to connect to. Windows NT server has its own DNS service that does that and other functions like reverse lookup and mail exchange information.

What is a U.R.L.?
A URL (Uniform Resource Locator) is the address of a file (resource) accessible on the Internet. The type of resource depends on the Internet application protocol. Using the World Wide Web's protocol, the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) , the resource can be an HTML page (like the one you're reading), an image file, a program such as a common gateway interface application or Java applet, or any other file supported by HTTP. The URL contains the name of the protocol required to access the resource, a domain name that identifies a specific computer on the Internet, and a hierarchical description of a file location on the computer.

What is F.T.P. ?
File Transfer Protocol(FTP), a standard Internet protocol, is the simplest way to exchange files between computers on the Internet. FTP is commonly used to transfer Web page files from their creator to the computer that acts as their server for everyone on the Internet. It's also commonly used to download programs and other files to your computer from other servers.

What is TCP/IP?
TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) is the basic communication language or protocol of the Internet. It can also be used as a communications protocol in a private network (either an intranet or an extranet). When you are set up with direct access to the Internet, your computer is provided with a copy of the TCP/IP program just as every other computer that you may send messages to or get information from also has a copy of TCP/IP.

What is electronic commerce or e-commerce?
E-commerce (electronic commerce or EC) is the buying and selling of goods and services on the Internet/World Wide Web. There will be a need for security and/or merchant accounts to process orders automatically.

What is website security?
Website security or Secure Socket Layer(SSL)
SSL encryption offers 128-bit encryption so that information transmitted between the user and server (i.e.applications, feedback) cannot be 'listened in on' by malicious Internet hackers. This process requires a secure certificate to be obtained for your organization's domain name. If you would like more information on website security, speak to a representative today.

What is a website secure area?
A secure area within a website will provide a safe "password" protected page or pages.
For example. Your board members want to have their "monthly meeting schedule" posted on your website, but don't want the public to be able to access it. A specific link to a page, which requires the user to enter a login and password, prior to being able to view it would be implemented.

What is an email client?
An e-mail client is a program or application which allows you to retrieve e-mail and send it to others via the internet, it will allow you to save, sort, distribute, etc.... E-mail short for electronic mail.

What is an I.S.P?
An Internet Service Provider, is a company that provides you with the ability to have access to the internet.

What is an web/internet browser?
A Web browser is the vessel by which you are able to view the internet. This is a program which, A browser is an application program that provides a way to look at and interact with all the information on the World Wide Web.

What is a browser cache?
A cache (pronounced CASH) is a place to store something temporarily. From the french term cache' meaning "hidden" The files you automatically request by looking at a Web page are stored on your hard disk in a cache subdirectory under the directory for your browser (for example, Internet Explorer). When you return to a page you've recently looked at, the browser can get it from the cache rather than the original server, saving you time and the network the burden of some additional traffic. You can usually vary the size of your cache, depending on your particular browser.

What is an internet cookie?
A cookie is information that a Web site puts on your hard disk so that it can remember something about you at a later time. (More technically, it is information for future use that is stored by the server on the client side of a client/server communication.) Typically, a cookie records your preferences when using a particular site.

What is an CSS?
A cascading style sheet (CSS) is a Web page derived from multiple sources with a defined order of precedence where the definitions of any style element conflict. The Cascading Style Sheet, level 1 (CSS1) recommendation from the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), which is implemented in the latest versions of the Netscape and Microsoft Web browsers, specifies the possible style sheets or statements that may determine how a given element is presented in a Web page.

What is an DHTML?
Dynamic HTML is a collective term for a combination of new Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) tags and options, that will let you create Web pages more animated and more responsive to user interaction than previous versions of HTML. Much of dynamic HTML is specified in HTML 4.0. Simple examples of dynamic HTML pages would include (1) having the color of a text heading change when a user passes a mouse over it or (2) allowing a user to "drag and drop" an image to another place on a Web page. Dynamic HTML can allow Web documents to look and act like desktop applications or multimedia productions.

ASP Pages
An Active Server Page (ASP) is an HTML page that includes one or more scripts (small embedded programs) that are processed on a Microsoft Web server before the page is sent to the user. An ASP is somewhat similar to a server-side include or a common gateway interface (CGI) application in that all involve programs that run on the server, usually tailoring a page for the user. Typically, the script in the Web page at the server uses input received as the result of the user's request for the page to access data from a database and then builds or customizes the page on the fly before sending it to the requestor.

JSP Pages
Java Server Page (JSP) is a technology for controlling the content or appearance of Web pages through the use of servlets, small programs that are specified in the Web page and run on the Web server to modify the Web page before it is sent to the user who requested it. Sun Microsystems, the developer of Java, also refers to the JSP technology as the Servlet application program interface (API). JSP is comparable to Microsoft's Active Server Page (ASP) technology. Whereas a Java Server Page calls a Java program that is executed by the Web server, an Active Server Page contains a script that is interpreted by a script interpreter (such as VBScript or JScript) before the page is sent to the user.

XML
XML (Extensible Markup Language) is a flexible way to create common information formats and share both the format and the data on the World Wide Web, intranets, and elsewhere. For example, computer makers might agree on a standard or common way to describe the information about a computer product (processor speed, memory size, and so forth) and then describe the product information format with XML. Such a standard way of describing data would enable a user to send an intelligent agent (a program) to each computer maker's Web site, gather data, and then make a valid comparison. XML can be used by any individual or group of individuals or companies that wants to share information in a consistent way.

ColdFusion
ColdFusion, developed by Allaire which has recently merged with Macromedia, is a popular and sophisticated set of products for building Web sites and serving pages to users. With ColdFusion, a company can build a content database using input templates and combine these with application programs to create a Web site in which pages are developed dynamically as they are served. ColdFusion consists of ColdFusion Studio, which is used to build a site, and ColdFusion Server, which serves the pages to users. ColdFusion Studio is described as "a complete integrated development environment (IDE)" and ColdFusion Server as "a deployment platform."

CGI (Common Gateway Interface)
The common gateway interface (CGI) is a standard way for a Web server to pass a Web user's request to an application program and to receive data back to forward to the user. When the user requests a Web page (for example, by clicking on a highlighted word or entering a Web site address), the server sends back the requested page. However, when a user fills out a form on a Web page and sends it in, it usually needs to be processed by an application program. The Web server typically passes the form information to a small application program that processes the data and may send back a confirmation message. This method or convention for passing data back and forth between the server and the application is called the common gateway interface (CGI). It is part of the Web's Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP).

Perl
Perl is a script programming language that is similar in syntax to the C language and that includes a number of popular UNIX facilities such as SED, awk, and tr. Perl is an interpreted language that can optionally be compiled just before execution into either C code or cross-platform bytecode. When compiled, a Perl program is almost (but not quite) as fast as a fully precompiled C language program. Perl is regarded as a good choice for developing common gateway interface (CGI) programs because it has good text manipulation facilities (although it also handles binary files). It was invented by Larry Wall.

Visual Basic
Visual Basic (VB) is a programming environment from Microsoft in which a programmer uses a graphical user interface to choose and modify preselected sections of code written in the BASIC programming language.
Since Visual Basic is easy to learn and fast to write code with, it's sometimes used to prototype an application that will later be written in a more difficult but efficient language. Visual Basic is also widely used to write working programs. Microsoft says that there are at least 3 million developers using Visual Basic.