Glossary of termsPlease click on a question to gain an explanation. For further help please visit our Forum. Or click here to download information about glossary of terms pdf file (95k). Or click here for help on pdf files.  How do I register my name?
What is a domain name?
How do I get a domain name?
What does URL mean?
What does hosting mean?
What are search engines?
What does FTP mean?
What is password protection?
What does having unlimited e-mail addresses mean?
What are announcement lists?
What are e-mail auto responders?
What is PHP3?
What is MySQL?
What is Miva Empressa?
What is SSI?
What are customised error messages?
What is RealAudio HTTP Streaming?
What is Perl?
What does bandwidth mean?
What does ecommerce mean?
What is a shopping cart?
What is a secure server?
What is on-line credit card verification?
What are CGI scripts?
What is a guest book?
What is discuss web board?
What is formmail?
What is a web site hits logger?
What is a text or graphical counter?
What are postcards?
What is a web site advertiser?
What are free for all links?
What is a cgi bin?
 How do I register my name?
Registering your name is an easy process, you can contact us here at Sitepro Media and we will set it up for you. The difficulty in most cases is being able to obtain the name you want as nearly 5000 names are being registered per day in the UK alone. Web site names (URL) are unique and most of the best descriptive names have gone already, especially abbreviated ones that only contain 3 letters have all gone. You need to be very creative in thinking of a name that has not already been taken. Sitepro Media can check to see if your preferred name is still available. Top of page
What is a domain name The domain name identifies a web page, the name usually appears in the URL sometimes with the name of the host computer e.g. www.bloggs.Sitepro Media.co.uk. The domain name identifies the address of a computer on a network. Domain names have a suffix e.g. .gov (used by government agencies) or .co uk (used by UK companies) and .com (commercial organisation) which indicates which TLM (top-level domain) it belongs to. Top of page
How do I get a domain name? To obtain your domain name you need to contact us here at Sitepro Media and we will see if your chosen name is available. If the name is available then we can register it for you. Once you have chosen your name, it is very important to register it as soon as possible as there are a large number of names being registered every day in the UK and the rest of the world. So to avoid disappointment you must act quickly. Sitepro Media can register you domain within the hour. Some domain registering companies can take up to 3 days before actually registering your domain, you may find that somebody has already taken that name because of the delay. Top of page
What does URL mean? URL (Uniform Resource Locator), identifies the internet address of a site or document on the World Wide Web. A URL describes both the protocol used by the site (e.g. HTTP, FTP etc) and the domain name. A full URL may appear as: http://www.Sitepro Media.co.uk. No two addresses are ever the same. Top of page
What does hosting mean? Hosting is where you web site will be stored on a computer known as a server. Which is connected to the internet all year round. It has its own IP address and two way access to other servers. All web sites are hosted on servers. Sitepro Media offers you hosting of your web site, you are able to choose the amount of space that you need or we can advise you. Please contact us at Sitepro Media to inquire about the costs. Top of page
What are search engines? Search engines are usually dedicated web sites which offer internet searches for subjects you are interested in. Alta Vista, Excite, Yahoo and Google are examples. On entering a keyword, a list of locations is returned which contain either the keyword or something very similar that you typed in and a description of what the site contains. No search engine is perfect, but as they each run on different software some are better than others for particular kinds of searches. Top of page
What does FTP mean? FTP (File Transfer Protocol) is a way for computers on the Internet to exchange files. FTP is a common tool for uploading web pages on to the server and for downloading files or programs from host computers on the Internet. There are a number of programmes that you can obtain for you to be able to transfer files across the internet, the most common one is a programme called Fetch and WS-Fetch, you can normally get these free from the internet. Top of page
What is password protection? Password protection is a facility to protect a directory. The only way you are able to view or download files from this protected directory is to enter a login name and a password. Protecting certain directories is useful if you want to create a members only section within your web site or you have sensitive information that you only want your personal clients or employees to gain access to. Top of page
What does having unlimited e-mail addresses mean? Unlimited e-mail addresses means that you can have any number of names which link to your e-mail on your web site. For example you could have anyname@sitepromedia.co.uk. This allows you when the e-mail is sent to identify what particular contents it may hold. With some e-mail software packages like Microsoft Outlook Express you are able to filter the different e-mail's that you have received into mail boxes, so that they can be delivered, (if you are on an intranet) to a particular individual that it concerns i.e. sales or marketing. Top of page
What are announcement lists? An announcement list allows you to send an e-mail to a group of people automatically. An announcement list can be a weekly or monthly news letter or updated news about your services and products, basically it can be of anything that you feel will be of benefit to others. People can subscribe to your news letter on-line and then can easily un-subscribe if they wish. Or you have to do is send an e-mail in the usual way and it will be sent automatically to all who have subscribe to your news letter. Top of page
What are e-mail auto responders? An autoresponder allows a certain e-mail address to respond with a set message. For example you could set-up an autoresponder called info@sitepromedia.co.uk and have it autorespond with information about your products or services. An autoresponder is also useful if you are going to be away from your e-mail for a few days. You could simply set up an autoresponder on your main e-mail address with a message like "I'm away from the office until Friday, I will get back to you as soon as I return". Top of page
What is PHP? PHP is a server-side, cross-platform, HTML embedded scripting language. Top of page
What is MySQL? MySQL is a true multi-user, multi-threaded SQL database server. SQL (Structured Query Language) is the most popular and standardised database language in the world. MySQL is a client/server implementation that consists of a server daemon mysqld and many different client programs and libraries. SQL is a standardised language that makes it easy to store, update and access information. For example, you can use SQL to retrieve product information and store customer information for a web site. MySQL is also fast and flexible enough to allow you to store logs and pictures in it. Top of page
What is Miva Empressa? The XML based Miva Script language allows web developers to use advanced commerce and database features in a familiar environment, using HTML tags. Miva Merchant is a browser based Storefront and Catalog development tool that integrates cataloging, product maintenance, category management, shopping basket and order processing. Multiple stores can be maintained by one central administrator or specific store functions can be delegated to sub-administrators. The software is organised as a series of modules that can be field upgraded to provide new functionality without any changes to the core system. Developers can use the browser based interface to build stores or can get "under the hood" with complete access to the underlying source codes written in XML based Miva Script. Merchants manage their stores with a user friendly browser based interface. Top of page
What is SSI? SSI (server side include), is a type of HTML comment that directs the web server to dynamically generated data for the web page whenever it is requested. Top of page
What are customised error messages? When a page is not found on your web site an error message appears, normally known as the 404 error. The 404 Error Page allows you to present a friendly error message to a web site user if a file or page is not found on your web site. Top of page
What is RealAudio HTTP streaming? RealAudio is a program for delivering music and other sounds over the web, without the need to download the file first and listen to it afterwards. You need a RealAudio player or plug-in to hear it, which you can obtain free from the internet. Streaming media, as it is called, also allows for video delivery. Top of page
What is Perl? Perl is a programming language frequently used on web sites especially in CGI scripts. It was especially designed to process text. Its popularity is due to its speed, ease of use, and the fact that it's free. It also has the flexibility to run on any platform whether Windows NT, UNIX or Macintosh. Top of page
What does bandwidth mean? Bandwidth measures the range of frequencies occupied by data being transmitted. The greater the range of frequencies the more information can be sent in a given time. The bandwidth is used to express the maximum capacity of data a connection can carry. The more complex the data the longer it takes to download e.g. a colour picture takes longer than plain text. Bandwidth for digital devises is measured in bits per second (bps) and multiples thereof, (KBPS) kilobits per second, (MBPS) mega bits per second, (Gbps) gigabits per second. Analog (telephones and television) bandwidth is measured in cycles per second or hertz (Hz). ISDN connections (the new phone system), although expensive are the fastest means of transmitting both voice and data, although a new ADSL system will take over. If you are hosting your site with Sitepro Media then you have 2GB of bandwidth per month, this is over 60mb's a day. This is a lot of bandwidth and you will proberly never use all of this each month. Top of page
What does ecommerce mean? Electronic commerce is the buying and selling of goods and services over the Internet. Conducting business on-line usually involves paying with digital cash. Encryption of credit and debit cards and personal details make on-line transactions no less secure than buying by phone or mail or in your local shop. Top of page
What is a Shopping Cart? A Shopping Cart is an on-line version of a trolley popular on ecommerce sites where multiple purchases are common. Usually a button offers the option of adding an item to the shopping cart. Often a running total of the bill is displayed. Once shopping is completed, a 'go to checkout' option is selected. Where you will see your products that you have brought and the total amount. You will then be prompted to enter your details and credit card number. The goods then will be delivered to your door. Top of page
What is a secure server? In order to accept payments online, your customers will expect you to offer security for their payment information. Your ecommerce site should offer unlimited access to a SSL secure server which encrypts credit card and other payment information. This gives your customers the confidence in knowing their information is safe and secure. Top of page
What is on-line credit card verification? If you want to accept credit card payments on-line, you will need to have your own merchant account. A merchant account is a specialised business bank account which allows you to accept credit card payments on-line and verify that the credit card is valid. Contact us at Sitepro Media to guide you through the necessary steps to set this up. Or contact your local bank about the steps needed to set up a merchant account. Top of page
What are CGI scripts? Common Gateway Interface, is a program, known as a script, which can be written in several languages including Java. Web developers use CGI scripts to link a web page to a computer program that then performs a task and then returns that data. For example, a form that you fill out on-line, may be sent for processing and a message of confirmation returned. Top of page
What is a guest book? A guestbook allows visitors on your site to leave their name, e-mail address and some comments about your site. This is useful to gain feedback about your site. Top of page
What is a Discus web board? Discus Web Board is a world wide web discussion board, it allows for threaded discussions on your web site between others. Discus offers a powerful administrative tool and easy to use interface. At last count, over 8000 internet sites are using Discus. Please note that Discus is spelt with one "s". Top of page
What is Formmail? Formmail is a world wide web form to e-mail gateway, which will parse the results of any form and send them to the e-mail address you specify. This script has many features which will allow you to control the output of the script. This script is useful if you either want feedback about your site or information passed onto you. Sitepro Media are using this script on their web site, to allow you to send information about a web site that you might want us to design for you. You can view this form by clicking here. Top of page
What is a web site hits logger? A web site hits logger will keep track of how many hits you have had to your website, what site they are coming from, their IP address, their web browser and their operating system. This is useful to see if you are getting a number of hits from the same person or company. The advantage of the web site hits logger is that only you can view the number of hits that you have had on your web site. Top of page
What is a text or graphical counter? A counter is a script that allows you to visually see how many people have looked at your site. It also allows people who view your site to see how many visits you have had. A text counter will display a text count of the number of visitors to a page in your web site. Text counter includes options such as numbers, linking from the count, displaying the date from when the count began and more. A graphical counter which will display the numbers only, will allow you to keep track of how many people visit your site. Top of page
What are postcards? A fast way to get more traffic to your site is by installing a postcard script. It will allow visitors to send each other personalised postcards which differ from ordinary e-mail messages, and they just look like a post card, but without the stamp . Top of page
What is a web site advertiser? The Web Site Advertiser will allow you to run banner advertisements of any size on your website and keep track of your impressions and click ratios. This can be useful if your site is extremely popular as you can earn a small income from each banner that you advertise on your web site. Top of page
What are free for all links? Free for all links, is a special page on your web site where people can leave their web site address and e-mail address, plus a description of what the site contains. This can be used for people who have similar interests and have a web site that relates to a similar topic. One example would be a photography web site could have a free for all links page and a number of links to it that display other photographers and their sites. When your free for all links page is well a stabilised it can become an important source of information for other users accessing your web site. Top of page
What is a CGI bin? A CGI bin is where you will keep all your scripts needed on your web site in its own directory. This is where you will point all your cgi based web pages too. The script then will perform a task for you and then returns the data to how you have set up the script. For example, a form that you fill out on-line, may be sent for processing and a message of confirmation returned. A CGI script is a Common Gateway Interface, is a program, known as a script, which can be written in several languages including Java. Top of page
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