Glossary

Internet and Website Terms

The Internet: The extensive, worldwide computer network available to the public.; Note the initial capital in Internet; Also called the Net.
An internet: Any set of interconnected computers; An intranet is a local area network (LAN) used internally by an organization or an individual.
WWW, World Wide Web, or the Web: A hypertext system that operates over the Internet, used for serving webpages and transferring files.
A hypertext document: A human readable file that contains references to other documents called hyperlinks, or just links.; Selecting (clicking on) a hyperlink causes the computer to display the linked document.
A Website, Web site, WWW site, or just site: A collection of Web pages on the Internet or an internet.; Several websites can dwell on one computer,; or a website can be split over several computers in different places.; The computers involved are known as servers because they serve pages to users.; The pedantic instance in capitalization is relaxed when discussing websites.
Homepage: The root page, index or default page of a website.
A web host: A company that rents out servers,; space on servers, or; just space for someone else's server for hosting a website.; Most hosing companies offfer a bewildering array of other services, but providing Internet connectivity is a basic.
Company or department server.: A modest size company can have its own web server running on an intranet.
ISP Internet service provider.: Connects individuals or companies to the Net.; Most larger ISP's also do web hosting.
Browser: A software program used to view web pages.; Examples are; Internet Explorer, Netscape, Mozzilla, Firefox, and Opera.