Some frequently asked questions and technical terms

Faq or Term	Description
What can I have on my web site?	Along with your product and service information, your site can have other informative and interactive features. product, service & contact information online sales facilities company background examples of your work industry information and resources company news and updates entertainment, discussion, chat, community
What is a Secure Server?	It's a method of securely transmitting information between the customer and web server, while authenticity is assured with digital certificates.
Why should my business have a web site?	Using the Internet for your business can enhance and develop your competitive edge, it allows you to offer information to your customers 24 hour a day.
.biz	A new top level domain awarded by ICANN. Melbourne IT’s joint venture company NeuLevel will operate the registry for this domain name space.
ASP	An active server page (ASP) is an HTML page that includes scripts processed on a server before the page is sent to the user. This is similar to a CGI or a server-side include
AuDA	au Domain Administration (ACN079 009 340), a non-profit making organisation established in April 1999 with the aim of becoming the Internet industry self-regulatory body for administering the.au namespace
Bandwidth	Bandwidth is a measure of the amount of data transmitted over a measured period of time. For example, it takes longer to download a picture than it does to download text because it required more bandwidth.
Broadband	Telecommunication that provides multiple channels of data over a single communication medium.
Browser	Software application used to display HTML documents. Browsers may be used to display and retrieve Internet webpages and documents
ccTLD	The Country Code Top Level Domains (eg.au or .nz)
CGI	Common Gateway Interface (CGI) is a standard way to pass a user’s request to a web server and to receive data back for the user on an interactive web page. It is not dependent on the type of machine that is being used to request the information.
DNS	The domain name system (DNS) is the way that Internet domain names are located and translated into Internet Protocol addresses. A domain name is a meaningful and easy-to-remember "handle" for an Internet address.
Domain Name	Each computer has a unique address on the internet which consists of a long complicated string of numbers called an ‘IP’ Address (IP means Internet Protocol). This string of numbers makes IP addresses hard to remember. The Domain Name System (known as the DNS) allows a domain name (a familiar string of letters) to be used in place of an IP Address. A domain name is used to locate an organization or other entity on the Internet.
eCommerce	The conduct of commerce in goods and services, with the assistance of electronic networks (such as the Internet)
E-mail	E-mail (electronic mail) is the exchange of computer-stored messages by telecommunication.
Firewall	A firewall is a program or set of programs that protects a private network from outsiders. For example, a company’s intranet would be made unavailable to outsiders using a firewall.
Flash	Created by Macromedia, Flash is a program used to created animation on a web page that can stream to a user.
FrontPage	A web site development tool created by Microsoft, FrontPage is designed for optimal performance on Windows NT servers. Also used by many do-it-yourselfers to create amateur looking web sites.
FTP	File transfer protocol (FTP) is the simplest way to transfer files between computers over the internet. It is an application protocol that uses TCP/IP protocols and is typically used to upload web pages to a server or to download software from a site to a user’s own computer.
GB	A gigabyte is a measure of storage capacity and is roughly a billion bytes, which is 1,073,741,824 bytes.
gTLD	Generic Top Level Domains. This refers to the suffix attached to Internet domain names, such as .com, .gov, .edu, .org, .mil, .net
HTTP	Hypertext transfer protocol (http) is the set of rules for exchanging files on the world wide web. It is an application protocol.
ICANN	ICANN or Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers is a non-profit corporation that was formed to assume responsibility for the Internet protocol address space allocation, protocol parameter assignment, domain name system management, and root server management functions now performed under US Government contract by IANA and other entities
Internet	A global network of networks, of computers with a common addressing system using the Internet protocol for end-to-end communication
IP address	An IP address identifies each user on the internet with a unique number. Each packet of information sent from a computer has its user’s IP address.
ISDN	ISDN is a set of standards that provide users faster access to the internet over standard telephone lines. The user must have a special modem adapted to ISDN as must the ISP.
ISP	An internet service provider (ISP) is a company that provides businesses and individuals with access to the internet. Typically, these companies also provide web design and web hosting.
LAN	A local area network (LAN) is a group of computers that share a common communications line and, typically, share some common resources over a small geography.
Linux	Linux is an operating system that is similar to UNIX, but was originally a free system.
Memory	Memory is the holding place for instructions while a user is using an application. Often, when referencing memory one is actually referring to random access memory (RAM).
Operating System	An operating system (OS) is the computer program that manages all other programs on the machine.
Perl	Perl is a programming language used on UNIX and Windows IIS systems. It is similar to C.
Plug & Play	Plug and play is the concept that new hardware can be plugged into an existing computer and the computer will recognize the hardware and install it itself.
RAID	A redundant array of independent disks (RAID) is a way of storing the same data on multiple disks in order to have redundant copies of that information.
Router	A router connects at least two networks, and directs packets to the next network point towards its destination.
Search Engine	An electronic service that scans the Internet for web sites related to criteria entered by an end user and returns a list of relevant sites.
Shopping Cart	An internet based system designed to allow an online shopper to collect items and then, when the user is ready, to purchase the chosen items.
SQL	Structured query language (SQL) is a standard language for interacting with a database.
Streaming Media	With streaming media, a user sees a continuous, animated image without having to download a large file. This is achieved by sending the sequence of moving images in small packets that are displayed as they arrive.
TCP/IP	Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) is the communication language of the internet.
TLD	Acronym for Top Level Domains such as .au or .com
URL	Acronym for Universal Resource Locator. The address that defines the route to a file on the Web or any other Internet facility. URLs are typed into the browser in order to locate and view a Worldwide Web page. They are also embedded within the web pages themselves to provide simplified links to other pages
Website Hosting	A service that provides an electronic repository (usually a computer) for information available to other computers on the network.
Worldwide Web WWW	A system of Internet servers that support specially formatted documents. The documents are formatted in a language called HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) that supports links to other documents, as well as graphics, audio, and video files

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