Web terminology dictionary of Commonly Used Webmaster Terms

CGI, Common Gateway Interface

CGI scripts are basically programs (software) which runs in the background on the computer where the web pages of a particular website are stored. These scripts serve the purpose which a simple document like a web page cannot do. For instance, if you want to search something on our website startwebsite.org using the Site Search option provided on the top right pane of this page, your search query actually goes to the CGI script which does the real search.

Downloading

When you download something from the Internet, you transfer the file from some computer on the Internet and then to your own computer. Traditionally, the term “download” was used only when you transferred something from a larger computer, like mainframe, to a smaller computer. However, the terminology has changed now-a-days when they speak of downloading from the Internet.

HTML, Hyper Text Mark-up Language

The web page you are viewing currently, you will see that some words are in bold, some underlined and some other in large fonts and so on. These things are accomplished by a hidden formatting code which constitutes a web page. These formatting codes will tell the web browser (such as Internet Explorer, Firefox or Netscape, etc) how it should display the web page. The language in which the formatting code is written is referred to as HTML.

FTP, File Transfer Protocol

Protocol is a set of rules which is followed over Internet and FTP, or File Transfer Protocol is a method used to transfer a file from one computer to another across Internet. FTP is often used by webmasters to publish their web pages on Internet. FTP is used to transfer their web pages from their computers to their web server and the transfer of files is usually accomplished by a program called an FTP client.

Perl

Perl is also a computer language used by webmasters. Perl is sometimes called as Perl CGI scripts or simply Perl scripts. Programs are written in Perl to do things that a simple document like a web page cannot do. For instance, Perl scripts are used to search a website for a particular document, send email for a feedback form, conduct online polls, etc.

PHP, PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor

PHP are software programs which run on the computer where the web pages of a website are stored. As they are computer programs, they can do things that a simple document like web page cannot do. For instance, just like Perl scripts the PHP scripts are used to search a website for a particular document, send email for a feedback form, conduct online polls, etc.

Uploading

Uploading is the term used by webmasters to refer to the act where they transfer a file from their own computer to another computer on the Internet. Just like downloading, uploading was traditionally used only when you transfer something from a smaller computer to a larger computer like a mainframe. However, this is not the sense in which uploading on the internet is used now-a-days.

Web Host

A web host is a company that has a computer or multiple computers that are permanently connected to the Internet. Web pages (documents) that are located on those computers can be read from anywhere and by anyone connected to the Internet.

Web Server

Web Server is used in two different senses. Firstly, a computer that is permanently connected to the Internet and allows people to read web pages located on that computer is called a web server. For instance, the web pages you are viewing right now on startwebsite.org are located on a web server somewhere in the world.
Secondly, a web server may refer to a computer program like apache. Just because the computer is connected to the Internet it doesn’t mean that anyone who is connected to the Internet can read the documents located on that computer. There has to be some computer program which runs on that computer to allow the users to read the web pages located on that computer using an appropriate browser. This computer program is also called as web server.

WYSIWYG, What You See Is What You Get

When a web page is designed or when you write a document using the WYSIWYG editor or word processor, the editor displays the page exactly (or almost the same) as it appears when it is published on the web page or when you take a print out of it. WYSIWYG means that what you see on the screen is what you get on output.