Internet

The global network that connects millions of computers worldwide. In 1999, there were over 200 million users in over 100 countries throughout the world, and this number is growing rapidly. The Internet includes services for electronic mail and file transfer, as well as the World Wide Web.

World Wide Web

The global collection of Web pages written using a specific language called HTML. These pages are stored on Web servers, and accessible via Web browsers throughout the world.

Note: Although the terms Internet and World Wide Web are often used interchangeably, they are not synonymous. Simply put, the Internet allows many types of data to be exchanged, while the Web is a subset of the Internet that allows a specific type of data (HTML) to be exchanged.

Web site

A location on the WWW containing a number of Web pages linked to each other. A Web site is owned and maintained by an individual or organization, and usually has a standard design to distinguish its pages.

Web page

One of the individual screens that make part of a Web site. Web pages are written using a special authoring language called HTML.

Web browser

A program that allows readers to view Web pages. Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer are currently the two most widely-used browsers.

Web server

A computer that stores Web pages and delivers these pages to a Web browser when it is requested to do so. Every Web server has a unique address.

HTML

Hypertext Mark-Up Language, the language used to write Web pages. It consists of text which defines the content of the page, and tags which are used to define how that content should appear on screen.

Hypertext

The means by which text or graphics can link to another location on the web. Clicking on a hyperlink can take you to another location on the same page, to a different page on the same Web site, or to a different Web site.

Home  page

The starting page for a Web Site. It often has a table of contents that allows a reader to link to other parts of the site.

URL

Uniform Resource Locator, the unique address address for a Web page. You can type a URL into the Address or Location text box at the top of your Web browser, and the browser will attempt to locate and display the associated Web page. Similarly, a hypertext link refers to a URL, and when you click on this link the browser will search for the Web page using this URL.