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Home > All Articles > Glossary > Common Terms > Terms A - D

Terms A - D

Active Server Pages

Active Server Pages allow both script code and HTML to be combined together in a single page that generates HTML code dynamically as it is accessed by the browser. This technology is extremely powerful and allows the creation of highly dynamic web sites that are compatible with almost any browser. The script code in the ASP page runs entirely on the server, the client browser only ever 'sees' HTML.
Active X

ActiveX Controls (created by Microsoft) that can be downloaded from the Internet, "activated" by a Web browser, and perform a variety of different functions. For example, they can make the Web page "active" by adding animation.
ADSL

Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line.  Technology to carry high speed data over ordinary phone lines up to 70 times faster than a 28.8 modem, and can be used concurrently with voice over the same line.  It is called "asymmetric" because download speeds are faster than upload speeds. 
Ad Slot 

A term adapted from traditional media buying.  In this context refers to a space on a Web page that has been reserved for a banner or button advertisement.
AOL

America Online The leading commercial online service. Frequently referred to as AOL, they offer Internet access as well as their own proprietary content.
Animated GIF
 A GIF graphic file, which consists of two or more images shown in a timed sequence to give the effect of motion.
Anti Virus Software
 A program which is written specifically to locate and remove harmful viruses from your PC.
Applet
 A small program written in the Java programming language.  It can be used to bring a Web page to life by adding special video and audio effects or to do computing or data delivery tasks.
Archie
 Both a program and a system of servers, Archie was the primary way to search for information on the Internet prior to the advent of Web based search engines.  You use Archie to find a file, then use FTP to get it.  Today's graphically astute WWW search engines are much more user-friendly.
Archive
 A technique of compressing multiple files into a single file to enable easier backup, handling or transmission.
Active registered account (ARA)
 An account set up through a registration process and used within a certain period. Many websites, ISPs (internet service providers) and portals force people to register, usually for free, to monitor usage of their site. It's also an important figure for investors and advertisers as a guide to how the site is growing.
Active registered user
 Anyone who has accessed a website and gone through the registration and authentication process and has an active registered account.
Application service provider (ASP)
 A company that rents software to customers over the internet or other private electronic networks. This is now one of the fastest-growing businesses on the internet and everyone's jumping on the bandwagon - telecoms companies, software companies, ISPs etc. It means companies can use software without bearing up-front costs of owning, managing and supporting a computer system. Instead, they just rent what they want from an ASP, usually through the internet, for a monthly fee. The ASP provides the hardware, server, software, upgrades and technical support. This makes the use of computers and technology much more accesable to small companies who might previously have been able to afford it. Forrester Research estimates revenues for ASPs will grow from virtually nothing in 1998 to $2.1.1bn by 2001 in the US. Investors like ASPs because of the business model which involves raking in a reliable and regular income from fees. As ASPs utilise software and the telephone network, software and telecoms companies are muscling in on sector. But some people are more sceptical. Tom Siebel, founder of US software giant Siebel Systems, is quoted as saying he sees very limited demand for the ASP model. NB: Not to be confused with ASP which also stands for Active Server Page, an HTML page which is a feature of the Microsoft Internet Information Server.
Ad Impression/View
 Virtually the same as a page impression/view (see below). It means the viewing of a web advert by webusers. One page impression equals one ad impression. It tells advertisers the number of times an advert is seen. An advertiser will pay depending on the number of times a particular page with his advert on is viewed. Advertising is usually sold per thousand impressions.
Bandwidth
 Refers to how much data a given line can transfer in a given time.   This is especially important to consider when designing Web sites with large graphic files or multi-media applications that require a lot of bandwidth to transmit.   These large files frequently cause slow download times for viewers. Bandwidth is a resource we all share on the Internet.
Banner
  A (generally) rectangular, graphic (usually paid) advertisement displayed on a Web page.  Interested viewers click on the banners and are linked directly to the advertiser's Website.
Baud
 A measurement of the speed at which a modem communicates.  Synonomous with "bits per second" (bps) , e.g. 56,000 K bps = 56,000 K baud.
Bookmark
 Web browsers such as Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer (see Browser) have this feature which allows you to save a URL (Web address) for future reference and convenient access.  Also called a "favorites" list.
Cache
 The area of memory on your computer where most browsers store files of Web pages that you have viewed recently.  This speeds up your viewing time, but takes up space on your hard drive.  Most browsers will clean the cache automatically when it gets close to full but can be cleaned manually as well.  If you have a file in your cache and the cache has not been cleared (cleaned or purged) recently you will not view any changes or additions to the page that may have been made since you last viewed the page.  When in doubt .. clear it out!
Clickstream
 Clickstream refers to the path taken by a visitor in a Web site. A visitor's journey through a Web site is somewhat analogous to a person walking through a maze. At each intersection, the visitor makes a decision on where to go next. Each decision is represented by a click on a link. The link could be to a different part of the current page, to another page in the site or to another site altogether. A visitor might also come upon an image or other file to download. This action is also represented by a click. This series of clicks represents that visitor's clickstream. This information is usually stored by the Web server and is a potential goldmine of information for marketers. The proverbial "popcorn trails" left behind by site visitors can be analyzed to determine, among other things, the most (and least) popular destinations for users who enter through the home page or other pages, the parts of the site where visitors are most likely to exit, the time spent at each point in the path, and more. This information provides valuable insight into the effectiveness of marketing-driven site enhancements as well as the effectiveness of the site's layout.
Cyberspace
 A term coined by William Gibson in his science fiction novel Neuromancer (1984) to describe the interconnected "world" of computers and the society that gathers around them.
Cybersquatting
 Cybersquatting is the act of registering a popular Internet address--usually a company name--with the intent of selling it to its rightful owner.
Churn rate
 Used by websites to express the number of actice registered accounts (see 'ARA' above) that have become inactive as a percentage of total active accounts. It tells you how many people have abandoned the service/website.
Click rate
 The percentage of ad impressions or views resulting in clickthroughs - so, the click rate is 5 per cent if there's one clickthrough for every 20 times an ad is viewed (ie the page the ad is on is viewed). It gives some idea of an advert's effectiveness. Click-through rate can also mean what an advertiser pays if a consumer clisks on an advert and is taken to his website.
Cost of customer acquisition
 How much it costs you using extra channels for sending messages. Not all companies are developing this technology, as many prefer to focus on GRPS developments.
Data Mining
 refers to the many methods of data analysis (often using sophisticated algorithms) to answer open-ended questions about your data.  Data mining is easily used by non-technical people and provides information in real time.
Dial-Up Connection
 A temporary connection between two computers via a telephone line normally using a modem. This is the most common method used to access the Internet.
Domain Name
 The non-numerical address (IP Address is the numerical address) for the computer where your Website is housed.  The domain name is the part of your URL that follows the "www".  You can register with an Internet clearing house such as InterNIC to reserve your own domain name or you can take your domain name from the host computer or server where your Website resides.  They usually begin with www. and end with the type of domain, example .com (commercial), .edu (educational), .org (organization, often non-profit.), and .gov (government).
Domain Name System (DNS)
 Servers located at many strategic places on the Internet to resolve the routing of email and Internet connections.
Download
 Copying a file that might contain software, email, an image, or document from another computer or the Internet to your own computer.
Dynamic HTML (DHTML)
 The next generation of the HTML language that allows more powerful control of positioning and layering of elements on a page and of events.
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