Glossary

The following list of definitions contains phrases, words and acronyms used on the Web Centre site and in reference texts referred to from this site.

Application

A piece of software designed to meet a specific purpose.

Alt tags

The ‘alt’ attribute is used in image tags to provide alternate text for user agents (such as browsers) that do not display images or where the user has turned images off in their browser.

Bandwidth

Refers to the range between the highest and lowest frequencies of a transmission. Commonly understood to mean the amount of data that can be transmitted over a network connection (i.e. 56k often refers to transmission over a 56k modem connection).

Browser

An application or program (such as Internet Explorer or Netscape) that is used to view or interact with different kinds of internet resources.

Central server

The server that hosts the top level pages of the University website.

CMS

Content Management System.

CWIS

Campus Wide Information Systems: www.its.unimelb.edu.au/cwis/

CSS

Cascading Style Sheets define formatting for a web page when called upon.

Database

A software package for storing data.

Dpi/ppi

Dots per inch is a measure of the resolution of a printer. Pixels per inch is the number of pixels displayed in an image and refers to the display resolution not the image resolution. The terms dpi and ppi are often incorrectly used interchangeably.

E-commerce

Business transactions conducted electronically, including over the Internet.

Extranet

An extended Intranet based on internet-standard protocols, which allows access via the Internet by people outside the enterprise.

Frames

HTML tag that allows for windows to be nested within web pages.

Gif

Image format that allows for indexed images of 256 colours or less and transparency. This is currently the best format for saving line art (i.e., flat colour artwork such as logos and graphs) for use on the Web.

Homepage

The index page of a site or sub-site. The index page of The University of Melbourne website is the homepage: www.unimelb.edu.au

HREOC

Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission: www.hreoc.gov.au/

HTML or HyperText Markup Language

The programming language of web pages that uses tags to define page formatting and layout.

http (HyperText Transfer Protocol)

The method by which documents are transferred via the web from servers to user agents (i.e., browsers) and individual users.

Hyperlink

Text (or image) that provides a dynamic link to another web resources or site.

Internet

The global computer network.

Internet page

An externally focused webpage that is accessible via the Web.

Intranet

A private network within an organisation, often protected from Internet traffic by a ’firewall’ (software that controls access from the outside).

Intranet page

An internally focused page that is not accessible via the Web except where a valid login and password are provided or the machine used to access the webpage is within an acceptable IP range.

IP or Internet Protocol

The most important protocol upon which the Internet is based, it defines how packets of data get from source to destination.

IP Address

Every computer connected to the Internet has an IP address, written in dotted numeral notation, which corresponds to its domain name.

Local Area Network (LAN)

A network of computers in a relatively small geographical area.

Jpg/jpeg

Compression format that allows for images to contain millions of colours (photographic). This is currently the best format for saving photographic images for use on the Web.

Meta tags

Series of HTML tags accessed by search engines that contain data describing the web page eg: author, content description etc.

MPSO

Media and Publication Services Office: www.mpso.unimelb.edu.au/mpso

Official University webpages

Officially endorsed statements or information about the university that have been published on the University website in a manner that is compliant with the structural and technical requirements of University webpage publishing standards.

PDF or Portable Document Format

Format used for creating static files of new or existing documents for use on the web. These files are usually viewed by using Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Protocol

The language that one computer uses to talk to another.

Server

Computer that provides network services, such as hosting websites or providing e-mail capabilities.

Server Side Include

HTML Tag that provides attaching of data from other html pages.

Site/sub-site

A collection of webpages within a website that has a discrete purpose or audience. For example a faculty site (or sub-site) exists within the larger University of Melbourne website.

WAI

W3C's Web Accessibility Initiative: www.w3.org/WAI/

Webpage

A single HTML page such as a page within the University of Melbourne website or an external website.

Website

A complete site such as the University of Melbourne website. A website may have a number of sites (or sub-sites) that exist within the website. For example the University of Melbourne website has several faculty and division sites (or sub-sites).

W3C

World Wide Web Consortium: www.w3.org/WAI/

If you find any phrases, words and acronyms used on the Web Centre site that should be included in this list, please contact us.