Active Server Pages (ASP) is Microsoft´s server-side technology for dynamically-generated web pages that is marketed as an add-on to Internet Information Services (IIS).

A high-speed, high-capacity data transmission channel that sends and receives information on coaxial cable or fiber-optic cable (which has a wider bandwidth than conventional telephone lines), giving it the ability to carry video, voice, and data simultaneously. As the definition suggests, broadband is primarily used to send different types of signals simultaneously, using the same FDM (Frequency Division Multiplexing) technique used for cable TV. In theory, broadband makes possible a whole new set of Internet applications, such as streaming video, due to speeds up to 20 times as fast as conventional modems. It is measured in kilobits, megabits, or gigabits per second.

A modem that plugs into a cable network to provide Internet access, typically for homes or small businesses. It receives Internet data over the same type of cable that cable television uses (coaxial cable or fiber-optic cable). Cable modems provide more bandwidth (up to 10 Mbps) than regular modems (which send signals over regular telephone lines, see: POTS). Data-intensive operations, like video, are easily delivered. Cable modems have maximum data rates that are six times those of a T1 dedicated line, but since cable connections are shared, the actual speed is comparable to that of a phone line using DSL.

Common Gateway Interface is an important World Wide Web technology that enables a clients web browser to request data from a program executed on the web server. CGI specifies a standard for passing data between the client and the program.

Otherwise known as a null-modem cable, this specially designed cable, allows a user to connect two computers directly to each other via their communications ports (RS-232 ports). Null modems are particularly useful with portable computers because they enable the portable computer to exchange data with a larger system.

In computing, Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) is a style sheet language used to describe the presentation of a document written in a markup language. Its most common application is to style web pages written in HTML and XHTML, but the language can be applied to any application of XML, such as SVG or XUL. The CSS specifications are maintained by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).
CSS
is used by both the authors and readers of web pages to define colors, fonts, layout, and other aspects of document presentation. It is designed primarily to enable the separation of document structure (written in HTML or a similar markup language) from document presentation (written in CSS). This separation provides a number of benefits, including improved content accessibility, greater flexibility and control in the specification of presentational characteristics, and reduced complexity of the structural content. CSS is also capable of controlling the document's style separately in alternative rendering methods, such as on-screen, in print, by voice (when read out by a speech-based browser or screen reader) and on braille-based, tactile devices.

Digital Subscriber Lines are a method for moving data over regular phone lines. A DSL circuit is much faster than a regular phone connection, and the wires coming into the subscriber´s premises are the same (copper) wires used for regular phone service. A DSL circuit must be configured to connect two specific locations, similar to a leased line (however a DSL circuit is not a leased line).

The domain name system (DNS) is an Internet service that translates domain names (like doscrackers.com) into IP addresses (like 204.160.88.11). We use domain names because people can remember words better than numbers, but web servers still need the IP numbers to access the page. Every time you use a domain name, a DNS server must translate the name into the corresponding IP address.

consists primarily of the distributing, buying, selling, marketing, and servicing of products or services over electronic systems such as the Internet and other computer networks. The information technology industry might see it as an electronic business application aimed at commercial transactions. It can involve electronic funds transfer, supply chain management, e-marketing, online marketing, online transaction processing, electronic data interchange, automated inventory management systems, and automated data-collection systems.

This is a very common method of networking computers in a LAN. There is more than one type of Ethernet. By 2001 the standard type was "100-BaseT" which can handle up to about 100,000,000 bits-per-second and can be used with almost any kind of computer.

A system designed to prevent unauthorized access to or from a private network. Firewalls can be implemented in both hardware and software, or a combination of both. Firewalls are frequently used to prevent unauthorized Internet users from accessing private networks connected to the Internet, especially intranets. All messages entering or leaving the intranet pass through the firewall, which examines each message and blocks those that do not meet the specified security criteria.
A firewall is considered a first line of defense in protecting private information. For greater security, data can be encrypted.

In computing, Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML) is a markup language designed for the creation of web pages and other information viewable in a browser. HTML is used to structure information -- denoting certain text as headings, paragraphs, lists and so on -- and can be used to define the semantics of a document.

Originally defined by Tim Berners Lee and further developed by the IETF with a simplified SGML syntax, HTML is now an international standard (ISO/IEC 15445:2000). The HTML specification is maintained by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).

In terms of file extensions, HTML documents are frequently named ".HTM", a shortened version implemented in order to get the documents to display properly on DOS/Windows 3.1 systems. This variant conforms with the 8.3 limit on file naming which was a result of the File Allocation Table file system. While unnecessary for modern versions of Windows, the shortened form remains common by convention.

Early versions of HTML were defined with looser syntactical rules which helped its adoption by those unfamiliar with web publishing. web browsers commonly made assumptions about intent and proceeded with rendering of the page. Over time, the trend in the official standards has been to create increasingly strict language syntax; however, browsers still continue to render pages that are far from valid HTML. HTML 4.01 is the current version of the HTML specification, although the W3C is moving toward replacing it with XHTML, which applies the stricter rules of XML to HTML.

In computer terminology, it is a common connection point for devices in a network. For example, hubs are used to connect segments of a LAN. A hub has multiple ports so that when a packet arrives at one port, it is copied to the others so that all segments of the LAN can see all of the packets. Therefore, in data communications, a hub is a place of convergence, where data arrives from one or more directions and is forwarded out in one or more other directions.

A numeric address that is given to servers and users connected to the Internet. For servers, it is translated into a domain name, by a Domain Name Server (DNS). For users, it is assigned by the Internet Service Provider (ISP) when the user goes online. This IP address might be the same number each time you log on (called a static IP), or it might be a newly assigned number each time you connect, based on what's available. Most Internet users prefer the static IP because some Internet telephony programs, for example, such as CUSeeMe, need your current IP address to make a connection.

Short for Internet Service Provider, a company that provides access to the Internet. For a monthly fee, the service provider gives you a software package, username, password and access phone number. Equipped with a modem, you can then log on to the Internet and browse the World Wide Web and USENET, and send and receive e-mail.

In addition to serving individuals, ISPs also serve large companies, providing a direct connection from the company's networks to the Internet. ISPs themselves are connected to one another through Network Access Points (NAPs).

In its modern form, is an object-based scripting programming language based on the concept of prototypes. The language is best known for its use in websites, but is also used to enable scripting access to objects embedded in other applications. It was originally developed by Brendan Eich of Netscape Communications Corporation under the name Mocha, then LiveScript, and finally renamed to JavaScript. Like Java, JavaScript has a C-like syntax, but it has far more in common with the Self programming language than with Java.

A network that connects computers in a relatively small, predetermined area (such as a room, a building, or a set of buildings). LANs can be connected to each other over telephone lines and radio waves. Workstations and personal computers in an office are commonly connected in a LAN. This means that many users can share expensive devices, such as laser printers, as well as data, and allows individual users to send or receive files and to share access to files and data. Users can also use the LAN to communicate with each other, by sending e-mail or engaging in chat sessions. Each computer connected to a LAN is called a node.

Short for Media Access Control address, a hardware address that uniquely identifies each node of a network. In IEEE 802 networks, the Data Link Control (DLC) layer of the OSI Reference Model is divided into two sublayers: the Logical Link Control (LLC) layer and the Media Access Control (MAC) layer. The MAC layer interfaces directly with the network medium. Consequently, each different type of network medium requires a different MAC layer.

A device that connects a computer to a phone line. A telephone for a computer. A modem allows a computer to talk to other computers through the phone system. Basically, modems do for computers what a telephone does for humans.

Short for Network Address Translation, an Internet standard that enables a local-area network (LAN) to use one set of IP addresses for internal traffic and a second set of addresses for external traffic. A NAT box located where the LAN meets the Internet makes all necessary IP address translations.

As a Networked Information Center, it is an office that handles information for a network (such as InterNIC, a well-known organization where new domain names are registered). As a Network Interface Card, it is a printed circuit board (such as an expansion card) that you insert into a computer to connect it to a network.

is an open-source, reflective programming language used mainly for developing server-side applications and dynamic web content, and more recently, other software. Originally, PHP stood for "Personal Home Page". Today, the official meaning is the recursive acronym "PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor". Some fans of this language also use the label "Pretty Hypertext Preprocessor".
Examples of PHP applications include phpBB as well as MediaWiki. The PHP model can be seen as an alternative to Microsoft's ASP.NET/C#/VB.NET system, Adobe's ColdFusion system, Sun Microsystems' JSP/Java system, the Zope/Python system, and to the Mod perl/Perl system.

A host computer on a network. It houses information and responds to requests for information (for example, it houses websites and executes their links to other websites). The term "server" also refers to the software that makes the act of "serving information" possible. Commerce servers, for example, use software to run the main functions of an e-commerce website, such as product display, online ordering, and inventory management (you´ll also hear this described as shopping cart technology). A server is the control computer on a LAN, meaning it controls the software, access to printers, and other parts of the network (usually accompanied by workstations that "share the load"). A server may be dedicated (where its sole purpose is to be the server) or non-dedicated (where in addition to being the server, it can be used for basic computing purposes).

This is a set of methods aimed at improving the ranking of a website in search engine listings. The term also refers to an industry of consultants who carry out optimization projects on behalf of clients´ sites. Practitioners may use "white hat SEO" (methods generally approved by search engines, such as building content and improving site quality), or "black hat SEO" (tricks such as cloaking and spamdexing). White hatters charge that black hat methods are an attempt to manipulate search rankings unfairly. Black hatters counter that all SEO is an attempt to manipulate rankings, and that the particular methods one uses to rank well are irrelevant. Austin Texas Advertising is a "White Hat" wearing company and never use, encourage or publish tricky methods of getting search engines to index our clients content. We strive to publish valid key word rich content with efficient design.

Short for Universal Serial Bus, an external bus standard that supports data transfer rates of 12 Mbps. A single USB port can be used to connect up to 127 peripheral devices, such as mice, modems, and keyboards. USB also supports Plug-and-Play installation and hot plugging.

Wide Area Network A network that uses high-speed, long-distance communications cables or satellites to connect computers over distances greater than those traversed by LANs (which range about two miles). The Internet itself is considered a WAN.

This the design or designing of a web page, website or web application. The term generally refers to the graphical side of web development using images, CSS and one of the HTML standards.

When the Internet was first invented, the World Wide Web hadn't yet made its entrance. When it did, web design consisted of a basic markup language, called HTML that included some formatting options, and the ability to link pages together using hyperlinks. It was this feature that characterized the web among other communication methods, and characterized web design among other design methods. Because of this unique behavior of the World Wide Web, and the unique behavior it encouraged in users, web design would prove to be unlike any other form of design before or since, with the possible exception of interactive CD-ROM design.

As the web and web design progressed, the markup language used to make it, known as HTML, became more complex and flexible. Things like tables, which could be used to display tabular information, were soon subverted for use as invisible layout devices. With the advent of Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), table based layout is increasingly regarded as outdated. Database integration technologies such as server-side scripting (see CGI, PHP, ASP.NET, ASP, JSP, and ColdFusion) and design standards like CSS further changed and enhanced the way the web was made.

The introduction of Macromedia (now owned by Adobe) Flash into an already interactivity-ready scene has further changed the face of the web, giving new power to designers and media creators, and offering new interactivity features to users. Flash is much more restrictive than the open HTML format, though, requiring a proprietary plug-in to be seen, and it does not integrate with most web browser UI features like the "Back" button.

As in all professions, there are arguments on different ways of doing things. These are a few of the ongoing ones.

Programmers were the original web page designers in the early 1990s. Currently most web designers come from a graphic artist background in print, where the artist has absolute control over the size and dimensions of all aspects of the design. On the web, however, the web designer has no control over several factors, especially the width of the browser window.

Many designers compensate for this by wrapping their entire web page in a fixed width box, essentially limiting it to an exact pixel-perfect value, which is a fixed layout. Some create the illusion of liquidity by building the graphics for their web page at a size larger than any current standard monitor size (however, at the current rate of monitor super sizing, this method will soon become obsolete). Other designers say that this is bad because it ignores the preferences of the user, who might have their browser sized a specific way that they like best. These people propose a liquid layout, where the size of the web page adjusts itself based on the size of the browser window.

There is for usability (rather than wanting control) that a designer may choose a more fixed layout. Studies have shown that there is usually an optimal line width in terms of readability. One rule to appear from such studies is that lines should be between 40-60 characters long, or approximately 11 words per line.

This decision of which style of layout to use is often made on a case by case basis, depending on the needs and audience of the website.

Adobe Flash is a robust graphics animation/application development program used to create and deliver dynamic content, media (such as sound and video), and interactive applications over the web via the browser.

Many graphic artists use Flash because it gives them exact control over every part of the design, and anything can be animated and generally "jazzed up." Some application designers enjoy flash because it lets them create applications that don't have to be refreshed or go to a new web page every time an action occurs. There are many sites which forego HTML entirely for Flash.

Flash detractors claim that Flash websites tend to be poorly designed, and often use confusing and non-standard user-interfaces. Up until recently, search engines have been unable to index Flash objects, which have prevented stores from having their products easily found. It is possible to specify alternate content to be displayed for browsers that do not support Flash. Using alternate content also helps search engines to understand the page, and can result in much better visibility for the page.

The most recent incarnation of Flash's scripting language (called "actionscript", which is an ECMA language similar to JavaScript) incorporates long-awaited usability features, such as respecting the browser's font size and allowing blind users to use screen readers. Actionscript 2.0 is an Object-Oriented language, allowing the use of CSS, XML, and the design of class-based web applications.

The final consensus is that Flash is simply a tool, and like all tools it takes a skillful crafts person to know when, and how, to use it properly. Adobe's other two products, Fireworks and Dreamweaver, makes Flash integration with graphics and HTML a lot easier.

Back when Netscape Navigator 4 dominated the browser market, the popular (but now deprecated) solution available for designers to lay out a web page was by using tables. Often even simple designs for a page would require dozens of tables nested in each other. Many web templates in Dreamweaver still use this technique today. Navigator 4 didn't support CSS to a useful degree, so it simply wasn't used.

After the browser wars were over, and Internet Explorer dominated the market, designers started turning towards CSS as an alternate, better means of laying out their pages. CSS proponents say that tables should only be used for tabular data, not for layout. Using CSS instead of tables also returns HTML to a semantic markup, which helps bots and search engines understand what's going on in a web page. Today, all modern web browsers now support CSS with different degrees of limitations.

However, one of the main points against CSS is that by relying on it exclusively, control is essentially relinquished as each browser has its own quirks which result in a slightly different page display. This is especially a problem as not every browser supports the same subset of CSS codes. For some designers used to the creating table-based layouts, developing websites in CSS often becomes a matter of replicating what can be done with tables, leading some to find CSS design rather cumbersome. For example, it has proved rather difficult to produce certain design elements, such as vertical positioning, and full-length footers in a design using absolute positions.

These days most modern browsers have solved most of these quirks in CSS rendering and this has made many different CSS layouts possible. However, people still continue to use old browsers which do not get updated any more. Most notable among these are Internet Explorer 5 and 5.5 which, according to some web designers, are becoming the new Netscape Navigator 4 a block that holds the internet back from converting to CSS design.

Since so many web developers have a graphic arts background, they often pay more attention to how a page looks, without considering how visitors are going to find the page. On the other side of the issue, search engine optimization consultants (SEOs) obsess about how well a website works: how much traffic it generates, and how many sales it makes. As a result, the designers and SEOs often end up in disputes where the designer wants more 'pretty' graphics, and the SEO wants lots of 'ugly' keyword-rich text, bullet lists, and text links.

The traditional method of laying out web pages, Hypertext Mark-up Language (HTML) is static. There are two ways of delivering content dynamically:
Server-side A web server, running special software, constructs an HTML page 'on the fly', according to the user's request and possibly other variables, such as time or stock levels.
Suitable scripting languages include:
PHP
ASP
JSP
CGI
XSLT can be used translate data in XML format into HTML.

mySQL is a popular, free, database, suitable for use with the above; it allows users, subject top password access if required, to update content.

Client-side scripting works at the user's browser, and therefore should not be used for "mission critical´ work, where the user´s capabilities are not known -it is more suited to adding decoration and other ephemeral content. It is most often achieved through JavaScript.

Client side DHTML can pose major problems for computer accessibility and search engine optimization. Most software designed for assisting people with disabilities, and most search engine robots do not support client side DHTML.

If a web site's menus are built with Javascript, it is usually impossible for search engines to find the pages listed in the menus, unless an alternative navigation scheme is provided elsewhere on the page.