Glossary

A Description
A Record Forms part of a Zone File. The Address (A) record associates a hostname with an IP address.
ADSL A form of Broadband. ADSL stands for asymmetric digital subscriber line, a technology that allows more data to be sent over existing copper telephone lines that existing dial-up connections. Asymmetric refers to the fact that you can download faster than upload.
A Record Forms part of a Zone File. The Address (A) record associates a hostname with an IP address.
Anonymous FTP A method for allowing people to up/download files using FTP (File Transfer Protocol) whereby they do not have to identify themselves. Usually the username “anonymous” is used, and either the Password is provided by the FTP server, or anything may be used.
Anonymous FTP is generally avoided by many administrators as it may pose security issues by allowing unidentified users access to a server. We do not support this type of FTP connection on our hosting accounts.
Anti-Phishing Fraudulent attempts to persuade someone browsing to enter their personal details (e.g. card numbers or passwords) by pretending to be a legitimate banking or shopping site. Daily offers anti-phishing features to prevent this.
Anti-Spam A term for unsolicited commercial or junk e-mail, derived from the Monty Python sketch. Askimet offers anti-spam features to prevent this arriving in a user’s mailbox, so they never have to see it.
Anti-Virus A computer program specifically designed to cause damage to other systems. These are sometimes attached to e-mails disguised as useful programs. Daily offers anti-virus features to prevent these e-mails arriving in a user’s mailbox.
Apache A popular Web server (HTTP server), providing a full range of Web server features, including CGI, SSL, and virtual domains. Apache also supports plug-in modules for extensibility.
Applet A small Java program which is embedded in a webpage. Javavirtual machines are normally installed into Web browsers so they can then run the applets to perform interactive graphics, games etc. An applet is also a more general term for a small program designed to do a very specific task.
ASCII American Standard Code for Information Interchange. A code for information exchange formed by a string of 7 binary digits, each representing a character.
ASP Active Server Page (ASP) is a server-side scripting technology that can be used to create dynamic/interactive Web applications. An ASP page is a HTML page that contains server-side scripts that are processed by a Web server before being sent to the user’s browser. Please note that we do not support this type of script.
Attachment File sent encoded as part of an e-mail, but intended to be viewed separately. These are typically binary rather than text files, examples being audio or video clips, word processor documents or spreadsheets. The total size of the encoded e-mail including any attachment is usually limited by the sending and/or receiving mailservers.
Audio Streaming Some audio and video file formats allow the file to be streamed such that it will start playing before the entire file has downloaded. This usually requires a separate helper application alongside the browser on the client computer. Examples of these formats include Quicktime for video and Real Audio for audio.
Autoresponder Means of setting a standard e-mail to be automatically sent back to a someone who sends an e-mail to a given address. This might be to acknowledge receipt and/or thank the sender for their interest, could provide details on a particular product or service, or could advise of absence from an office over a certain period.
AVI Acronym for Audio Video Interleave. High quality format for video files. Not compressed so files can be quite large. Filenames normally end in .avi. Does not allow streaming.
B
Backbone A backbone is a larger transmission line that carries data gathered from smaller lines that interconnect with it. The connection points are known as network nodes or telecommunication data switching exchanges (DSEs).
Backup Facility to regularly copy files in an account’s website space to a DailyDrive server, allowing the user to restore lost files.
Bandwidth The amount of data passing through a connection over a given time. It is usually measured in bps (bits-per-second) or Mbps.
Banner Graphic image on a web page. This may be part of the internal site design or for external advertising. iWebServices offers a CGI script which will allow insertion of banner advertisements into a web page.
Bit Binary digit. A bit is an electronic signal which is either .on. (1) or .off. (0). It is the smallest unit of information the computer uses. There are 8 bits in 1 byte.
Blog The name for a web based log (an online journal or diary). Often the term ‘blog’ is used to avoid confusion with actual server logs (i.e. error logs or similar).
BMP Short for bitmap (an image format). BMP files are usually not compressed so they are typically much larger than compressed image file formats such as JPEG or PNG. Filenames end in .bmp
Body tag HTML tag used to denote body text and other elements within a web page.
Bps Bits per second (abbreviated bps or bit/sec). A common measure of data speed for computer and network carriers. As the term implies, the speed in bps is equal to the number of bits transmitted or received each second. Please note a ‘bit’ is always expressed in lowercase (bps) whereas a ‘byte’ is expressed as Bps.
Broadband A type of data transmission in which a single medium (wire) can carry several channels, as opposed to Baseband (e.g. dial-up Internet access) where only one channel can be carried. Broadband offers Internet users much faster speeds and often a permanent Internet connection.
Browser A program such as Microsoft’s Internet Explorer or Mozilla’s Firefox that reads HTML and other code to allow users to view web pages.
Bulletin Board A topic based online notice/discussion board, where users can post messages and/or reply to existing messages. Information is stored in a database and usually there are administrators or moderators who maintain the board.
Byte A unit of data that is eight binary digits (bits) long. A byte is the unit most computers use to represent a character such as a letter, number, or typographic symbol.
C
Cache A place to temporarily store data. For example, when a user visits a webpage then that page may be cached on the user’s local machine. When the user revisits the page, the browser loads the page from the cache rather than from the actual website. This saves time and reduces strain on both the local machine and the web server the page is hosted upon. However this can mean the user may not see recent changes and will need to refresh/reload the page or empty their cache. Please note that ISP’s can also cache pages.
Camino Web browser created by Mozilla for Apple Macs, which is designed to integrate well with the Mac interface.
Campaign Term used within the e-mail marketing feature available from the daily.co.uk control panel for many account types. This refers to a newsletter or ‘mailshot’ which can be configured to have a specific format to be sent out at a certain time.
Catch-All E-mail Forwarding It is common to set specific addresses at a domain as mailboxes or single e-mail forwarding addresses. Our accounts can also have e-mail sent to other addresses set to go to specific locations.
Certificate Authority A Certificate Authority is a trusted third party, which certifies Public Keys to ensure they belong to their claimed owners. Examples are Thawte and Verisign.
CGI Common Gateway Interface (CGI). A standard for running external programs in a web HTTP server. Referred to as ‘gateways’ because they open up an external world of information to the server.
cgi-bin CGI binary. This is the common directory or folder where cgi >programs, scripts, or files are executed and stored.
Check box Interface element useful when multiple options can be enabled/disabled in any combination. Note that the selection character will be a tick rather than a check in most web browsers.
Client Term used to refer to a computer program which connects to a server to retrieve data. Examples could be Outlook Express which is an e-mail client, or Mozilla Firefox which is a web (www) client.
CNAME Record Forms part of a Zone File. A Canonical Name (CNAME) record is used to create aliases that point to other names. It is commonly used to map WWW, FTP and MAIL subdomains to a domain name; for example, a CNAME record can associate the subdomain ftp.domain1.com with domain1.com.
Command Prompt Interface to enter text commands on a computer using a keyboard. Even though many computers emphasise graphical interfaces and applications in everyday use, almost all will still include some text command functionality. This can take different forms, there being multiple versions or ‘shells’ on UNIX -like systems such as Linux. On Linux servers, text commands are the main method of operation.

On typical Windows computers, this is sometimes referred to as a DOS prompt. A command prompt box is available as a ‘command prompt’ option within the start menus accessories, or by entering ‘cmd’ within the start menus ‘run’ box.
Cookie A small piece of information that is automatically stored on a client computer by a web browser and referenced to identify repeat visitors to a web site and to tailor information in anticipation of the visitor’s interests (e.g. usernames, passwords, display settings). Cookies have been objected to by some of the Internet community if used without a user’s prior consent.
CPU Abbreviation of Central Processing Unit. See Processor.
CSS Cascading Style Sheets. These define how different elements such as headers and links appear on a webpage. This allows for a standard format/presentation for multiple webpages while HTML or other code is still used for individual page content.
D
Database A collection of data or information stored in tables so that it can be organised and accessed quickly by web servers. We use the term to refer to a single database on a hosting account. Many databases will be present on a single database server, in this case MySQL.
Data Centre Site of servers and associated equipment connected to the Internet.
Data Transfer Amount of data transferred. Our accounts have a monthly data transfer allowance expressed in GB (gigabytes) and at any time the amount used up to that point can be viewed in the account control panel.
DHTML Dynamic Hypertext Markup Language. A form of HTML used to create web-page content that appear to change each time it is viewed without further interaction with the server. May contain javascript or similar to achieve this.
DNS domain name Service. A system for converting hostnames and domain names into IP addresses on the Internet.
Domain Name A series of alphanumeric strings separated by full stops, such as www.example123.com, that represents an address of a computer network connection.
Download Transfer a file or program from a central computer to another computer or to a computer at a remote location.
Downtime A measure of the amount of time a server has been inactive and unavailable on the network.
Drop-down Box Interface element used to select one item from a list. In many situations drop-down boxes and Radio Buttons would both be valid choices. Drop-down boxes tend to be used in preference to Radio Buttons where space on a page is limited and/or there are many possible options.
E
E-mail A system for sending and receiving messages electronically over a computer network.
E-mail Forwarding See forwarding
E-mail Headers ‘Hidden’ lines of information at the top of an e-mail which give information on the sender, originating server, software used etc.
Extensions See Frontpage
F
FAQ Frequently Asked Questions. The most commonly asked questions that users may submit. Often displayed on Support Sites or instructions/documentation.
Firefox Web browser created by the Mozilla Foundation www.mozilla.org). Available for many different operating systems.
Firewall Software and/or hardware specifically designed to increase security by blocking unauthorised or unwanted traffic to a server by a user defined set of rules.
Footer Section at the bottom of a web page, which can in various ways be set to be the same for different pages to ensure a consistent look and feel. Among others, this may be done in the web design program as a template, or using an SSI link to a separate HTML file, or using a frame.
Form A part of a web page which allows someone to enter (typically by checkboxes, Radio Buttons, drop-down boxes, single-line text boxes or text area boxes) and then have it submitted to a separate script to be processed. Typically this would submit to formmail which would create an e-mail containing the entered details and send to a recipient (often the site administrator).
Formmail Script which can be installed to process the results of a form submission and send an e-mail containing the results to an e-mail address.
Forwarding Web (www) and e-mail addresses can both be set to point to different locations instead. E.g. browsing to www.domain1.com could be set to point to a page at www.domain2.com, or e-mail sent to testaddress@domain1.com could be set to point to realaddress@domain2.com.
Forum Script(s) on website which form a discussion area for multiple readers browsing the site. These allow reading, creating and editing discussion ‘threads’ or ‘topics’. In some cases submitting some personal contact details is necessary to access some or all features, to discourage misuse of the forum.
Frame HTML layout tags can be used to divide up a page into separate areas or frames which will not be moved out of site when the user scrolls around the page. This can be useful for headers, footer or sidebars with menus or information which is intended to always be on display. Frames are now used less than in the past since they can cause confusion over links and there are other more flexible ways to achieve similar effects.
Frontpage Website design and publishing program by Microsoft which for full functionality uses special files (‘extensions’) on the web server. Please note that we do not support these extensions. It is still possible to use Frontpage to design a site and then publish (upload) by FTP protocol to our web servers.
FTP File Transfer Protocol. Means to transfer (upload/download) files from one computer to another (e.g. uploading a webpage on a user’s computer to their website), normally using a client program on the local computer.
FTP Client Program on local computer used to upload/download files to/from another computer such as a web server. Examples of FTP clients include Filezilla, SmartFTP, CuteFTP, WS-FTP or AceFTP for Windows, NcFTP (text-based), Konqueror or gFTP for Linux, and Fetch, Transmit or Cyberduck for Macintosh. In addition, some website design programs include their own FTP upload features.
G
Gateway A network point that acts as an entrance to another network.
Gecko The component of browsers from Mozilla (Firefox, Seamonkey, camino) or based on their work (e.g.) which actually controls how a web page looks on screen.
GIF Graphics Interchange Format. A compact graphic file format limited to 256 colours. Highly used in the Internet, GIF has some unique features such as interlacing (partial view while loading), transparency (by a single colour) and animation. Filenames end in .gif.
Gigabyte 1024 Megabytes. Commonly abbreviated as GB.
GUI Graphical User Interface. A user-friendly display for controlling/manipulating data or executing commands. Most common examples are control panels with simple buttons for creating >e-mail addresses or users, thus meaning the user does not have to run commands manually on a server. Hardware The physical components of a computer are termed hardware, as opposed the programs that run on it which are considered to be software. A common rule is that if something on a computer can be touched it is hardware. For instance an installation CD is hardware but the programs it contains are software.
H
Harvest Refers to practice of recording e-mail addresses found by various methods and in different locations, such as other e-mails, websites, forums or newsgroups. These are typically then used without permission for spam mailing lists.
Head tag HTML tag which can include general information about a web site, although often this will just be the title tag which displays its contents in common browsers’ title bar.
Header Section at the top of a web page, which can be set in various ways to be the same for different pages to ensure a consistent look and feel. Among others, this may be done in the web design program as a template, or using an SSI link to a separate HTML file, or using a frame.

Can also refer to ‘hidden’ information at the top of an e-mail which gives information on the sender, originating server, software used etc. see E-mail Header.
Helper Application A separate program which interacts with (e.g.) a browser to handle certain types of file.
Hits Requests for individual files from a web server. This is generally not the most meaningful measure of popularity of a page or site, since a page will often call multiple images, scripts and other files as part of displaying a single page.
Host A computer that is accessed by other users/computers and serves information to them upon request (such as webpages, music files etc.).
Hostname The unique name given to a computer connected to the Internet. The hostname is composed of two parts. The first part is the local name, e.g. www. The second part is the domain name e.g. example.co.uk (Fully Qualified Domain Name, a.k.a. FQDN is the whole string). A hostname may also be the domain name.
HTML (Hypertext Markup Language). Codes or ‘tags’ inserted in a file intended for display on a World Wide Web browser page. The markup tells the web browser how to display a web page’s words and images for the user.
HTTP Hypertext Transfer Protocol. A protocol that facilitates the transfer of hypertext-based files (e.g. web pages) between local and remote systems.
HTTPS A secure form of HTTP designed to transmit individual messages securely. See also SSL.
I
IAP Internet Access Provider. A company that provides connectivity to the Internet.
IMAP Internet Message Access Protocol is a standard protocol for accessing e-mail from a server rather than downloading it to your local computer. With IMAP, you can view just the heading and the sender of the e-mail and then decide whether to download the mail. IMAP is used for web-based e-mail readers. The main feature of IMAP is that folders are stored on the server and you can select more than just the inbox folder. POP3 only allows access to the inbox.
Index Page First page to be displayed when browsing to a domain name or a subdirectory of a domain name. The web server (apache) will be configured to look for valid index page filenames in a given order, so if index.html is present it might be used in preference to default.html or index.cgi, for example.
Internet A global network connecting millions of computers.
IP Address Internet Protocol Address. A unique series of numbers separated by periods that identify a computer (or other device). The IP address of a device is made up of the network to which it is connected, and a sequence representing the specific device within that network.
IP Address Blocking If you want to exclude visitors from specific locations, daily.co.uk allows you to prevent them from visiting your website by blocking their originating IP address.
IPS Tag Internet Provider Security Tag. Used by Nominet for all UK domain names and all hosting companies that host .uk domains. The tag signifies membership of Nominet and is used to identify the company responsible for the management of a .uk domain.
IRC Internet Relay Chat. Messages posted upon a specific channel that are viewable by all other users on that channel. May be text only, or have a Graphical Interface (GUI).
ISDN Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN): A high speed connection to the Internet (128 Kbps) made through existing copper phone lines. Requires ISDN adapters. Due to cost, this is not usually used by home users who prefer ADSL or other forms of broadband. ISDN channels are 64kbps, but channels can be bonded to form a 128kbps connection.
ISP Internet Service Provider. A company that provides services on the Internet. Someone who provides only Internet access is an IAP (Internet Access Provider).
J
Java A programming language designed mainly for use within the Internet. Note that our hosting accounts do not support Java ‘servlets’
JavaScript A programming language for use in webpages that allows the use of dynamic content. Not to be confused with Java. Filenames usually end in .js.
JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group). A graphics file compression format for still images that features adjustable levels of compression. commonly used for images such as photos where some loss of detail due to compression is acceptable unlike PNG, GIF or BMP that are lossless. Filenames usually end in .jpg.
K
Keywords Words used in search queries (typically in a search engine) to find relevant web sites. These are often specified in description of a web site submitted to a search engine.
Kilobyte 1024 Bytes. Commonly abbreviated as kB.
L
LAN Local Area Network. A group of computers and other devices spread over a relatively small area and connected by a communications link that enables any device to interact with any other on the network. Typical example is a LAN in an office.
Leased Line Connects two locations for private voice and/or data transfer. Unlike a dedicated cable, a leased line is actually a reserved circuit between two points. Leased lines most commonly are rented by businesses to connect branch offices.
Linux A trademark for an open-source version of the UNIX operating system.
Load balancing A way of allowing web or e-mail traffic to be spread across multiple servers, both sharing the total load and ensuring that if any one of the servers was to encounter a problem it would not result in downtime. Our web and mail servers employ load balancing to ensure consistent uptime.
Local Description of a location which is on the same network (LAN) as the user, as opposed to remote.
Login The process of a user identifying him or her self to a computer, usually by entering a username and password.
Logs Each time an action is carried out on a server (viewing a web page, sending an e-mail), details of the event and the time and date are stored in specific files on the server.
Lynx See text browser. Also a popular form of deodorant that if the advertising were to be believed makes the wearer irresistable to women. The company manufacturing Lynx, Unliever, has a lot to answer for.
M
Mac Abbreviation of Macintosh. see Macintosh.
Macintosh Type of computer produced by Apple.
Mailbox A mailbox is a file or set of files on a server which act as a repository for e-mail sent to an address. This may be viewed or downloaded by various methods, including IMAP (typically webmail) and POP3 (typically desktop e-mail clients such as Outlook or Thunderbird).
Mailing List A collection of e-mail addresses. This is used to send identical e-mails to all addresses (e.g. adverts or newsletters). Users on mailing lists should always have opted in themselves, as mailing lists can also be used to send spam e-mail.
Megabyte 1045768 bytes (or 1024 kB). Commonly abbreviated as MB.
Memory Hardware within a computer which temporarily store data which the computer is working on. This may be related to the operating system, application programs, or user files. Normally this is in the form of small circuit boards or ‘sticks’ which can store different amounts of data. A larger amount of memory allows a computer to work with larger files or more programs without resorting to slower methods of storing the information.
Meta Tag An HTML tag used to provide additional information about a web page. Rarely referenced by search engines any more, but can be used to define things like font.
MIME Abbreviation for multipurpose Internet mail extensions. A messaging standard that allows Internet users to exchange e-mail messages enhanced with graphics, video, and voice as attachments to the body of the text.
Modem MOdulator DEModulator. A device that links a computer to other computers through a telephone line. Nowadays it is common for this to be ADSL or similar which is much