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Web Jargon Explained
There are several sites that provide a dictionary definition
to a lot of the buzz-words used on the Internet so we will concentrate
on adding a bit more detail about the areas we are involved
in.
What
is a Content Management System (CMS)?
Simply put, any facility that allows a client to update
parts of a website is a "CMS".
Our systems allow users to log-in to an administrative area
with their web browser and change components of the site directly
(or, in some circumstances, make a change then a second user
must approve it before it goes live). A database is used to
store the content "bit" of the page and a file called
a "Template" is used to give the overall structure
and look of the page.
When you, the user, click a link to see a page, the template
looks in the database, finds the latest bits of relevant information,
packages it up and sends it to your web browser.
What is an Extranet?
Your web browser is a great way of showing information to
a wide audience. Public information is shown via a website
- the Internet.
Private information or information that is only of use to
internal employees of a company is called an Intranet.
Now there is a group of people in-between Joe Public and internal
people that can include customers, suppliers and partners.
For this group it is now very common to provide something
called an Extranet.
This would normally be a web site that you log-in to and,
depending who you are, the information you see is adjusted
to suit your needs.
We have an extensive extranet for our clients as it is more
efficient for them to see all of their information at any time
in one place. Fortunately, it also saves us a great deal on
cost so we are able to service many more clients and maintain
low overheads.
What is E-Commerce?
Essentially, any system that allows you to select and purchase
goods online is an "E-Commerce" system. That covers
a very wide spectrum of sites however and many allow you to
select goods, print an order form and post it - e-commerce
with the emphasis well away from the "e"! Other
businesses have entire systems that communicate with suppliers
and customers and every logistical step of a purchase is handled
by the on-line system.
Choosing the right level for your business of system is important.
Ensure you have adequate flexibility in the early stages of
specifying your e-commerce system and it will grow with your
needs - not allowing for development will restrict your options
in the future.
What are domain names and how do they
work?
Domain names are essentially a human way of allowing the Internet
to work. Every single computer that exists on the Internet
is given a number to identify itself (an "IP address"
such as 195.102.142.131). Within this sequence of numbers
is also a way of finding out who else is in your "group"
and where to find other "groups" but that's starting
to get a bit complex for our needs here.
In general, this is great for computers because they love
numbers and can therefore associate IP addresses with other
computers very easily. Unfortunately, Humans are not as good
at handling numbers so easily and prefer nice sensible names.
The techie boffins who developed the Internet that we know
today, created a system of matching a name with a number -
the domain name was born.
They did leave some particularly irritating legacies however
such as using "dots, slashes and colons" like they
were going out of fashion and starting all web addresses with
the only 3 letters that can have 9 syllables when the word "web"
(note just 1 syllable) would have done nicely.
What does an Internet Service Provider
(ISP) do?
The "backbone" of the Internet is made up of large
numbers of telephone lines connecting groups of servers -
a literal web.
An ISP is one of these groups of servers that allows single
computers to connect to the internet either temporarily or permanently.
What is HTML / ASP? (Hyper Text Markup
Language / Active Server Page)
Just as Microsoft Word requires a file ending in .doc or .rtf
to be able to display information, so a Web browser requires
a file ending in .html or .asp (or indeed several other extensions).
When you type an address into your browser, it looks for the
domain name (see above), other computers tell your browser what
the corresponding IP address is (see above), your computer finds
the correctly numbered computer, asks for the page you have
requested, that page gets sent back to you in HTML and bingo,
you have your information! - all that in a couple of seconds.
How do search engines work?
Search engines use a piece of software called a "spider"
to move round sites on the Internet following all the links
they can.
They then find all the words used in a site and create and index
to them (ignoring things like "at" and "it"
etc).
Finally, they use lengthy rules on "ranking" certain
words, statements and sites so that when you type in a phrase,
they can bring you the most pertinent results.
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