Learning Website Basics

Welcome to Website Basics

• Selecting a Web Authoring Tool
• Using a Web Authoring Program
• Creating and Publishing Your Website
• Layout and Designing a Website - The Planning Stage
• Publishing Your Web Pages to the Remote Server
• Coming to Terms - Internet's Language (Terms and Acronyms)

Complete the Tutorial

The Internet

Selecting a Web Authoring Tool

Note: If you want to learn more about the Web authoring tools, which will help you in selected the tool you are comfortable with, we suggest that you search the Internet for information about Web authoring tool using a search engine, such as Google or a search engine of your choice. Another reliable method for finding a suitable Web authoring tool, is to asks friends or co-worker about which Web authoring tool they found easiest to use.

To select a Web authoring tool:

1. When you have selected a Web authoring tool, install it to the drive of your choice.
2. Read the Web authoring tool's tutorial from beginning to end.
3. After reading the Web authoring tool's tutorial, then read Layout and Designing a Website - The Planning Stage section on this help page. Plan and create your Website just as you did in the their tutorial.
4. Publish your Website to your server.

Using a Web Authoring Program

To use a Web Authoring Program:

Creating and Publishing Your Website

To create and publish your Website:

1. Select, download, and install a Web authoring program.
2. Complete the program tutorial from beginning to end.
3. After reading the Layout and Design section on this page, plan and create your own Website just as you did in the tutorial.
4. Publish your Website to your server.

Layout and Designing a Website - The Planning Stage

To Layout and Design a Website

• A typical Website consists of a Home page and additional pages if required. Sometimes a Website contains an Entry page before a Home page. The Entry page acts as a gateway to the Website by requiring some form of identification.
• The Home page welcomes visitors and acts as the Table of Contents for your Website. From the Home page guide can visitors to other pages or Websites.
• The following graphics is a typical Website layout:
  
  
• To create a Website that is unique, define your target or market audience; focusing on your audience will help you decide what content you should include or exclude from your Website. Do not to be verbose, writing precise and limiting your words will keep the size of you Website within the disc size of you account
• Whenever possible, build your entire directory (folder) and file system for your Website "before" you add any content; it is easier to test and adjust the design and navigation features "before" you fill the pages with information and it becomes too cluttered. If your Website contains 5 to 10 pages, you can create a folder for your text files, and if your Website contains images, a folder for graphics files. Large Websites contain many Web pages, and have several folders to keep the information organized.
• You might find it helpful to draw pages on a whiteboard, blackboard, or to write out your ideas on paper, shuffling them around until the flow makes sense.
• Create file names as short as possible, devising a naming convention that can easily be remember.
• For example, naming files about a seminar, placed in a folder named seminar, as follows:
  • Image Files - seminar_layout.png or seminar_process_flow.gif
  • Text Files - seminar _function.htm
• If you want to add an additional section to your Website, just create a new folder for additional files.
• You can link to existing files or graphics in the newly created section.
• Nothing beats tables for organizing the information you have. You should find and use a tutorial that explains how tables are created and used.
• White space is nice; it's easy on the eye and helps guide a viewer through the information. Avoid cluttering a single Web page with too much information; instead, add another page.
• Select a font that is easily read, like Arial or Verdana.
• Avoid ALL CAPS TEXT. IT SEEMS TO BE SHOUTING AT YOU.
• While selecting colors, experiment until you find an attractive combination. Trial and error is the most common method for getting the look you want. For best results in selecting your colors, go to browser-safe colors palette. This will ensure that they look the same on different operating systems and computers.
• Graphics are saved as image files with one of the four following file extensions:
  • .jpg - best for photographs and other images that contain lots of shading
  • .gif - best for flat fields of color having no shading, such as sketches and cartoon images
  • .png - designed to replace the gif format
  • .tif - best for gray-scale images
• Verify that your hyperlinks operate. Do they work? Broken links frustrate visitors.
• Balance your use of graphics against the time it takes to display them. The larger the graphic, the longer it takes for the page to display.
• Test your Website. Have friends and family members proofread your text. Listen to their opinions. They might raise issues that have not occurred to you.
• View your Website from Netscape and Internet Explorer. View it from other browsers, if you have access to them. Websites display can differently on each browser.
• Keep your Website interesting and attractive by updating its content periodically. Always re-check hyperlinks after making changes.

Publishing Your Web Pages to the Remote Server

To publish your Web pages:

1. Start your Web browser.
2. Type http://your_domain/ControlPanel/ in the address bar; then press Enter (replace your_domain with your domain name).
   
   The Control Panel Login window appears.
3. Type your user ID and password in the appropriate fields.
   
   If your user ID/password combination does not work, an error message appears. Contact Support.
4. Click Login. If you are logging in for the first time, the Quick Start page appears. If not, the page you have selected on the Quick Start page in the Set my Start Page to drop-down list appears.
5. My Website from the drop-down list. The My Website Home window appears displaying the Website Status window.
6. Click Website Utilities. The Backup Website window appears.
7. Click Edit Website. The www/htdocs directory appears.
8. You can add, edit, or delete Website files, as desired.

Coming to Terms - Internet's Language (Terms and Acronyms)

• Aggregator
  A customized live information feed from Web sources, including Weblogs, podcasts, and media Websites. People use aggregators to avoid having to revisit sites over and over to find new content. Aggregator features are being offered on more web portals every month.
• Apache
  An HTTP software used with FreeBSD. Apache has an "open source" license. Anyone can use it. Apache Version 2.0 runs on UNIX-based operating systems (for example, Linux, Digital UNIX, AIX, and so on), on the UNIX/POSIX-derived systems (for example, Rhapsody, BeOS, BS2000/OSD, and so on), and on Windows 2000. Apache is widely used than other Web servers combined.
• Backroom
  The Web Hosting Backroom - or "Backroom" - is an ordering, information, and support center for account customers. Here they can check server health, order additional products, change the password that grants access to the Backroom, download support documentation, and browse marketing and advertising tips. Reseller and Retail Client access the Backroom using different URLs. The home page that appears after authentication displays slightly different information to each customer type. Resellers have access to a Sales and Marketing section in the Backroom. Retail Clients do not have this access
• Blind Carbon Copy (Bcc)
  Used in e-mail to represent, blind carbon copy, or BCC. When emailing messages, all email recipients in the Bcc field, are unseen (blind) by all other recipients.
• Carbon Copy (Cc)
  Used in e-mail to represent, carbon copy, or Cc. When emailing messages, the Cc field is used to add multiple recipients that you consider secondary recipients (also-need-to-know). Also, unlike Blind Carbon Copy (Bcc), the addresses in Cc field are not hidden (blind) from the other recipients.
• Confirmation Message
  A message that appears after a user has completed a procedure or task, to indicate that the desired results have occurred.
  
  For example, after a user types their name and password on a login screen and clicks Enter, a message might appear confirming that they have successfully logged in.
• Counter
  A feature that display the number of times (hits) your Website has been viewed by another person.
• Download
  To copy data (usually an entire file from a main source to a peripheral device . The term is often used to describe the process of copying a file from an online service or bulletin board service (BBS) to one's own computer. Downloading can also refer to copying a file from a network file server to a computer on the network
• Blacklist
  Databases of known IP addresses that send spam. Various Internet and email service providers subscribe to blacklist databases in order to filter out spam that is regularly sent to their subscribers. The Blacklisting feature is enabled by default on all plans; however, you can disable Blacklisting if you are concerned that some email messages you want to receive are not getting past this filter.
• Whitelist
  Databases of known IP addresses that send spam. Various Internet and email service providers subscribe to whitelist databases in order to filter out spam that is regularly sent to their subscribers. The Whitelist feature is enabled by default on all plans; however, you can disable Whitelisting if you are concerned that some email messages you want to receive are not getting past this filter.
• File Transfer Protocol (FTP)
  A method for downloading public files using the File Transfer Protocol (FTP). Anonymous FTP is called anonymous because you don't need to identify yourself before accessing files. In general, you enter the word anonymous or ftp when the host prompts you for a username; you can enter anything for the password, such as your e-mail address or simply the word "guest". In many cases, when you access an anonymous FTP site, you won't even be prompted for your name and password. You can use the Archie system to obtain a list of anonymous FTP sites and files available on each site
• FrontPage Password)
  Microsoft FrontPage, a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation. A software program to create and manage Web pages.
• Bread Crumbs
  A Web site navigation technique. Bread crumbs typically appear horizontally near the top of a Web page, providing links back to each previous page that the user navigates through in order to get to the current page. Basically, they provide a trail for the user to follow back to the starting/entry point of a Web site and may look something like this:
  
  home page --> section page --> sub section page
  
  This technique also is referred to as a bread crumb trail
• Browser
  A software program like Netscape or Internet Explorer that finds and displays Web pages. You click hyperlinks (usually blue-underlined text) to move from page to page.
• Business Blog (b-blog)
  A frequent, chronological publication of personal thoughts and Web links.
  
  A blog is often a mixture of what is happening in a person's life and what is happening on the Web, a kind of hybrid diary/guide site, although there are as many unique types of blogs as there are people.
  
  People maintained blogs long before the term was coined, but the trend gained momentum with the introduction of automated published systems, most notably Blogger at blogger.com. Thousands of people use services such as Blogger to simplify and accelerate the publishing process.
  
  Blogs are alternatively called web logs or weblogs. However, "blog" seems less likely to cause confusion, as "web log" can also mean a server's log files.
• Certificate Authority or Certification Authority (CA)
  A group of individual that issues Digital Certificates for use by account owner of Website. It is an example of a trusted third party. CA's are characteristic of many public key infrastructure (PKI) schemes. There are many commercial CAs that charge for their services. Institutions and governments may have their own CAs, and there are free CAs.
• Certificate Signing Request (CSR): An electronically generated request to a CA to have them verify a private individual's or company's Information. Once this is verified the CA will generate and return a Signed Certificate. A CSR can be generated many times with out consequence, but there can be only one of these on a Signature account at any one time.
• Common Gateway Interface (CGI)
  A standard means for a Web server to pass a user's request to an application program and to receive data back to the user. When the user clicks a highlighted word or enters a URL to access a Web page, the server returns the requested page; however, when a user fills out a form on a Web page and submits the form, an application program normally processes it. Then, the Web server passes the information to an application program that processes the data and might return a confirmation message. This convention of passing data between the server and the application is called a CGI and is part of the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP). The application program developer can ensure that it gets used regardless of which operating system the server uses (PC, Macintosh, UNIX, OS/390, and so on). Because the interface is consistent, a programmer can write a CGI application in several languages. C, C++, Java, and Perl are the most popular languages for CGI applications.
• cron
  A cron is a FreeBSD daemon that executes commands at specified dates and times according to instructions in the crontab file. A system scheduler for UNIX.
• crontab
  The file that contains the times when certain commands are executed by the cron daemon.
• daemon
  A UNIX term defining a process that runs in the background and performs a specified operation at predefined times or in response to certain events. Other operating systems provide support for daemons, but do not necessarily use the same term for the process.
• Digital Certificate:
  A Digital Certificate issued by a Certificate Authority (CA) certifies that a merchant or individual and particular website are connected, just as photo on your driver's license connects identity with personal details. complete digital certificate consists of following separate part:
  • Private Key (.key): A private or secret key is an encryption/decryption key known only to the party or parties that exchange the encrypted information. This is commonly generated by the site's hosting machine / account.
  • Signed Certificate (.crt): The other half of the Digital Certificate. It is commonly generated by a Certificate Authority and is stored both on the machine used to host the site as well as publicly by the CA. It can then be accessed by the requesting browser in order to verify the veracity of the certificate.
• Decryption
  The process of decoding data that has been encrypted into a secret format. Decryption requires a secret key or password.
• Domain
  An Internet entity address. For example, email addresses are referred by the format, userid@domain. A Web site is opened by accessing its domain, such as your_company.com. Domains normally end in a Top Level Domain (TLD) such as com, net, org or a country designation where the Web site resides (for example, ".it" for Italy and ".no" for Norway).
• Electronic Commerce (e-commerce or ecommerce)
  Conducting electronic Commerce (marketing, selling, distributing, and servicing of products) between businesses and customers using the Internet and paying by electronic funds, such as, electronic checking, Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) and so on.
• Email Address
  Another address that will receive email for a given mail user. For example, a sales manager might also want to receive general information requests - he can do this by adding an alias for info@your_domain to his mailuser account.
• Email Alias
  The exchange of electronic text messages and computer files over the Internet, normally between computers or terminals.
  
  Another address that will receive email for a given mail user. For example, a sales manager might also want to receive general information requests - he can do this by adding an alias for info@your_domaininfo@your_domain to his mailuser account.
• Email Forwards
  The mail forwarding function automatically forwards all email received at one email address to another address where it can be accessed. A customer's mail forwarding can be configured by each individual site user.
• Encryption
  The translation of data into a secret code. Encryption is the most effective way to achieve data security.
• Error Code
  A numbered message that appears after a user has completed a procedure or task, to indicate that the desired results have not occurred. The number indicates the component of the software or hardware where the failure occurred. For example, in Word, if you attempt to select a link to a target that no longer exists, a 404 file not found error code appears.
• Error Message
  A text message that appears after a user has completed a procedure or task, to indicate that the desired results have not occurred. For example, on a login screen, after a user incorrectly types their name or password and clicks Enter, a message appears indicating that either their name or password are incorrect and that they must return to the previous screen and try again.
• File Manager
  The facility on your Control Panel that provides complete file and directory management. Functions include copying, creating, deleting, viewing, editing, renaming, uploading, and moving files and directories. Additional functions include changing permissions, creating a symbolic link, and restoring files from backup.
• FreeBSD
  An open-source variation of UNIX that is used as the platform for the Signature system.
• File Transfer Protocol (FTP)
  A set of rules that governs how data is moved between devices over the Internet. For your account, a modified version of ProFTP runs as the virtual server user. The authentication mechanism is modified to use LDAP and to allow virtual FTP users.
• Guestbook
  A page on some Web sites that allows visitors to that site to provide feedback to the site owner. For example, the visitor can provide information such as their name, email address, and comments relating to the site.
• Graphical User Interface (GUI)
  A program interface that takes advantage of the computer's graphics capabilities to make the program easier to use. In addition to their visual components, GUIs also make it easier to move data from one application to another. A true GUI includes standard formats for representing text and graphics. Because the formats are well defined, different programs that run under a common GUI can share data. This makes it possible, for example, to copy a graph created by a spreadsheet program into a document created by a word processor.
• Home Page
  The main page of a Website. Typically, the home page serves as an index or table of contents to other documents stored at the site.
• htaccess
  A Web server configuration file that contains commands known by the server that tell the server how to behave in certain instances. Some of the most common uses of an htaccess file include the capability to restrict access to certain files or directories on the Internet (or intranet) through password protection. Additionally htaccess is used to automatically redirect users, ban or allow certain IP addresses access to the server, and to call a custom designed 404 error Web rather than the standard error 404 file that usually appears in your browser. Apache Web servers, and other NCSA compliant Web servers can use htaccess.
• HyperText Markup Language (HTML)
  The set of markup tag language typed into a file that will be displayed through a browser on a Web site. The markup tells the Web browser how to display a Web page's words and images. Each code is called a tag. Some tags include beginning and ending symbols. For example, a simple table begins with <table> and ends with </table>.
• Hyperlink (aka Link)
  An element in an electronic document that links to another place in the same document or to an entirely different document. Typically, you click the hyperlink to follow the link. Hyperlinks are the most essential ingredient of all hypertext systems, including the World Wide Web
• Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP)
  The Internet protocol (the first element in a URL) that distributes information over the World Wide Web.
  
  The set of markup tag language typed into a file that will be displayed through a browser on a Web site. The markup tells the Web browser how to display a Web page's words and images.
• Hypertext Transfer Protocol Daemon (HTTPD)
  A hypertext-transfer protocol daemon that waits in attendance for requests to come in from the rest of the Web.
• Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS)
  A hypertext-transfer protocol over Secure Socket Layer (SSL) that was developed by Netscape to encrypt and decrypt user page requests and pages returned by the Web server. HTTPS simply uses SSL as a sub-layer below the HTTP application layering. HTTPS uses port 443 (instead of port 80-used by HTTP), when communicating with the lower layer, TCP/IP.
  
  SSL can use a 40-bit key-size RC4 stream-encryption algorithm that is sufficient for ecommerce.
• Internet Address
  An Internet address uniquely identifies a node on the Internet. Internet address may also refer to the name or IP of a Web site (URL). The term Internet address can also represent someone's email address.
• Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP)
  A protocol for retrieving email messages. Unlike POP, you can use IMAP to access your mail from any computer that has an Internet connection. You can then choose to download messages to your client computer or leave them on the server to access them later, from another machine.
• Internet Network Connection
  The manner in which your computer is connect to the Internet and communicates with the Server.
  
  The following are five different connection technologies used to access the Internet. They are listed in order of data transfer speed, the slowest to the fastest connection:
  • Dial-Up Connection
    Dial-up connection are used in the home environment using basic telephone wiring. Users are connect to the Internet by conventional modem at a maximum download speed of 58kps.
  • Cable Modem
    Cable modems connect users to the Internet using the cable television network's coaxial cable at a maximum download speed of 5.0 Mbps.
  • Digital Subscriber Line (DSL)
    DSL is used by home users and many small businesses connect through a Digital telephone line standard telephone wiring to provide high speed transmissions at a maximum download speed of 5.0 Mbps.
  • Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN)
    Some businesses connect through an ISDN network connection. This technology uses a terminal adaptor (installed by your phone company) for digital voice and data transmission of either 64kbps or 128kbps ISDN.
  • T1 (or higher) connection
    Used by medium to large sized businesses, universities, and local and national government organizations often use a T1 (or higher) connection, a technology that uses high-speed telephone wiring to produce rapid-rate, high-capacity transmissions at 1.5mbps, 384kkbps, or 786kbps.
    
    All you really need to know about these types of connections is that computers connect and download at different speeds over the Internet; therefore, you should design your Web pages to download fairly quickly to accommodate the slower connections.
• IP Address
  An IP address is a 32-bit number that identifies each sender or receiver of information that is sent across the Internet. When you request an HTML page (by typing the name of the domain in your browser), you are really requesting to see whatever resides at the IP address referenced by that domain name. An IP address has two parts: an identifier of a specific Internet network and an identifier of the particular device (a server or a workstation) within that network.
• Internet Protocol (IP)
  The method or protocol used to send data from one computer to another on the Internet. Each computer (host) on the Internet has at least one IP address that uniquely identifies it from all other computers on the Internet.
• iTunes
  A licensed software from Apple Computer. iTunes is a type of aggregator software. It is used for it's digital music players, including the IPod lines. It connects to the "iTunes Music Store", where customer purchase music, movie, and audio books files.
• Java
  A programming language designed for the distributed Internet environment, it has "look and feel" of the C++ language and enforces an object-oriented programming model. Developers use Java to create complete applications that can run on a single computer or be distributed among servers and clients in a network. Java also can be used to build application modules or applet for Web pages. Applets allow a Web page user to interact with the page.
• Link (Hyperlink)
  Links are areas that you click to go from one page to another.
• Local-Area Network (LAN)
  A computer network that spans a relatively small area. Most LANs are confined to a single building or group of buildings. However, one LAN can be connected to other LANs over any distance via telephone lines and radio waves. A system of LANs connected in this way is called a wide-area network (WAN). Most LANs connect workstations and personal computers. Each node (individual computer ) in a LAN has its own CPU with which it executes programs, but it also is able to access data and devices anywhere on the LAN. This means that many users can share expensive devices, such as laser printers, as well as data. Users can also use the LAN to communicate with each other, by sending email messages or engaging in chat sessions.
• MIME (Multi-Purpose Internet Mail Extensions) Used to exchange many different kinds of data files such as audio, video, images, application programs, and others on the Internet.
• Modem
  The word, modem is short for modulate-demodulate. Most computers are connected to the Internet through telephone lines. Computers use digital technology (data packets), whereas telephones use analog technology (a continuous electronic current), the two technologies are not compatible. A device called the modem is necessary for converting digital data to the telephonic analog technology. The modem also converts incoming analog data across the telephone lines transmissions analog data to digital data for the computer to read it.
• MySQL
  An open-source Relational Database Management System (RDMS) that uses Structured Query Language (SQL) to add, access, and process data. MySQL may be downloaded and modified to support user requirements, based on the public license. MySQL is fast, reliable, and flexible and performs best when managing content rather than executing transactions. MySQL has not been modified for the Signature system architecture.
• nameserver
  A program that stores information about named resources and responds to queries about domain names.
• Podcasting
  A podcast is a Web feed of audio or video files placed on the Internet for anyone to subscribe to, and also the content of that feed. Podcasters' Websites also may offer direct download of their files, but the subscription feed of automatically delivered new content is what distinguishes a podcast from a simple download or real-time streaming.
• Portable Network Graphics (PNG)
  Short for Portable Network Graphics, and pronounced ping, a new bit-mapped graphics format similar to GIF. In fact, PNG was approved as a standard by the World Wide Web consortium to replace GIF. The most recent versions of Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer now support PNG.
• Post Office Protocol (POP3)
  A protocol used to receive, store, and transmit email. Clients on computers that connect to the servers use POP3 to send and receive email. Unlike IMAP, POP allows users to receive mail only from one computer.
• Protocol
  A set of rules or standards used to communicate from one computer to another and to exchange information with minimal errors. The generally accepted protocol for standardizing computer communications is the seven-layer hardware and software guideline-set known as Open Systems Interconnection (OSI).
• Relational Database Management System (RDMS)
  A relational database management system (RDMS) is a type of database management system (DBMS) that stores data in the form of related tables.
• Reseller
  A customer who brands the Control Panel with their own logo and then sells accounts to their customers.
• RSS
  An RSS is a form of an aggregator software that supplies Syndicated Web content through a Web feed. RSS belongs to a group of XML dialects for Web syndication used by news Websites and weblogs, and other format. The version of RSS used for our Podcasting is "RSS 2.0", which refers to the following acronym, "Really Simple Syndication (RSS)".
• Server
  Your account is hosted on a remote computer called a Server. It is a high-capacity computer that connects to the Internet and operates 24x7.
• Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP)
  A protocol used for email message transmission. Because it has limited ability to queue messages at the receiving end, it is normally used with POP3 or IMAP4. These protocols allow the user to save messages in a server Inbox and download them as desired from the server. Normally, programs that use SMTP are used for sending email and either POP3 or IMAP are used for receiving messages that have been received for them at their local server.
  
  Note: Most mail programs allow you to specify both an SMTP server and a POP server.
• Secure Shell (SSH )
  A UNIX-based command interface (and protocol) that provides secure access to a remote computer. Network administrators often use SSH to remotely control Web servers. SSH is composed of three utilities, slogin, ssh, and scp, which are secure versions of three earlier UNIX utilities, rlogin, rsh, and rcp. Both ends of the client/server connection are authenticated using a digital certificate, and passwords are encrypted for protection. See also: Encryption.
• Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)
  A common protocol that manages message transmission security on the Internet. SSL uses a program layer that is located between the HTTP and TCP layers. Both Microsoft Internet Explorer and Netscape include SSL in their products. Historically, SSL has been the message security standard until recently evolving into Transport Layer Security. SSL uses the "sockets" method to transmit data between a client and a server program on a network (or between layers within a single computer). Additionally SSL uses the RAS key encryption system, which includes a digital certificate.
• spam
  Unsolicited email on the Internet. From the sender's point-of-view, this is a form of bulk mail. From a receiver's point of view, this is simply junk mail. Generally, it is not considered good "netiquette" to send spam. However, some apparently unsolicited email is actually email the recipient has agreed to receive when they registered with a site and checked a box agreeing to receive postings about particular products or interests.
• spammer
  A person, business, or group who sends un-solicited email.
• Structured Query Language (SQL)
  The standardized query language for requesting information from a database
• TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and the Internet Protocol (IP
  The suite of communications protocols used to connect hosts on the Internet. TCP/IP uses several protocols, the two main ones being TCP and IP. TCP/IP is built into the UNIX operating system and is used by the Internet, making it the de facto standard for transmitting data over networks. Even network operating systems that have their own protocols, such as Netware, also support TCP/IP.
• Telnet
  A user command and underlying TCP/IP protocol used to access a remote (or host) computer, if permission has been granted. With Telnet, you log on as a regular user with whatever privileges you may have been granted to the specific application and data on that computer.
• Top-Level-Domain (TLD)
  The suffix attached to Internet domain names. There are a limited number of predefined suffixes, and each one represents a TLD. New TLD suffixes are approved on a regular basis. Current TLD's include:
  • .com - commercial businesses; this is the most common TLD
  • .gov - U.S. government agencies
  • .edu - Educational institutions such as universities
  • .org - Organizations (mostly nonprofit)
  • .mil - Military
  • .net - Network organizations
  • .ca - Canada
  • .th - Thailand
• Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)
  The suite of communications protocols used to connect hosts on the Internet. TCP/IP uses several protocols, the two main ones being TCP and IP. TCP/IP is built into the UNIX operating system for transmitting data over networks. Even network operating systems that have their own protocols, such as Netware, also support TCP/IP.
• Uniform Resource Locator (URL)
  A fancy name for a Web address. A browser uses the URL to locate a requested page. Let's dissect a fictional sample Web address:
  
  http :// www. domain name .com /products
  • http- This part is the protocol that computers read and process. Other protocols include https and ftp .
  • :// - Tells the Web browser that the actual Web address (domain name) follows.
  • www. - This represent the World Wide Web. Do not forget to include the dot.
  • domain name - This part identifies the name selected and register by the owner to a registrar. This name along with the selected top-level domain make up the URL which is called the domain name, for example, hockeyharbor.com.
  • .com - Identifies the Website's Top-Level Domain (TLD).
    
    Three letter combinations are general categories for Websites. You have probably seen addresses using .com, .gov, .edu, .org, and .net. Two letter combinations that either follow or replace the traditional three letter TLD in the URL are country codes, for example .de for Germany, .ca for Canada, .th for Thailand, .uk for United Kingdom, and .jp for Japan.
  • /products - indicates which page of the Website a user is requesting. Sometimes you will see a string of these separated by a /. An example of a user requesting a Website page, /stats. In addition to Website pages, a user can request a product, for example /Webmail.
• UNIX
  An operating system designed to be an interactive time-sharing system. UNIX is the first operating system written in the C language. Because UNIX is not a proprietary operating system owned by any one of the leading computer companies and because it is written in a standard language that embraces many popular ideas, UNIX has become the first truly open operating system that could be enhanced by any developer.
• Urchin
  A statistics presentation package that uses raw log files provided by Apache to display useful information about the visitors to Web sites. This application uses graphs, charts, and text to present the statistical data.
• Wide-Area Network (WAN)
  A computer network that spans a relatively large geographical area. Typically, a WAN consists of two or more local-area networks (LANs). Computers connected to a wide-area network are often connected through public networks, such as the telephone system. They can also be connected through leased lines or satellites. The largest WAN in existence is the Internet.
• World Wide Web (WWW)
  The World Wide Web is like a vast library containing millions upon millions of Internet Web pages. Each site is a collection of related pages, the pages are identified by the domain.name in its Web address.
• XML
  Is used to share data across different architecture, mainly systems that are connected to the Internet. It provides a text-based method of describing and apply a tree-based structure to the information.
  
  XML is Internet usable, general-purpose usable, SGML compatibility, facilitation of easy development of processing software, minimization of optional features, legibility, formality, conciseness, and ease of authoring.
• zone file
  A zone file is a file maintained by an authority host; it provides all necessary routing information for a particular domain. It includes the domain name registered for the Web site. At startup, each zone text file is read into memory and stored there for quick responses