| A |
| 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. |
| Account | User account serving the accounting or the access protection. See also login. |
| Ad Click | Click on a banner through an Internet user which leads him through the hyperlink directly to the website of the company advertising. |
| Ad Click rate | An important classification number for the evaluation of the advertising efficiency. The ad Click- rate or CTR means the relationship between the ad Views and the number of the really clicked on banners (ad Click) . See also the more commonly used term CTR. |
| 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. |
| 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. See Bandwidth. |
| Agent | An agent is a program that performs some type of information gathering or processing task similar to those of a "bot." Agents are typically given very small and well-defined tasks to find information and report back. Many companies now sell software that enables you to configure an agent to search the Internet for certain types of information. |
| Animated GIF | A GIF graphic file, which consists of two or more images shown in a timed sequence to give the effect of motion. |
| 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. (See Compression). |
| ASP (Application Service Provider) | An Application Service Provider or ASP sells software as a service. Perhaps the most widespread example of ASPs are web hosting companies. Instead of buying your own web server and the software for it, you can rent space on the servers maintained by the web hosting company. The benefit is that end users save on the hardware, software and maintenance costs. The tradeoff is that ASPs cannot provide the same customization available when an application is running in house. Large software companies such as Microsoft, Oracle and SAP are now rushing to offer their products through ASPs. Many companies are now considering outsourcing their most complicated software packages such as human resource software. |
| Avatar | Avatars refer to pictures, drawings, or icons that users choose to represent themselves in a cyberspace system. Avatars offer a new opportunity for self-expression and social interaction with subtleties and complexities not seen in text-only chat rooms. Like characters in comic strips, you can communicate with others via typed text that appears in balloons that pop out from your head or body. The standard set of "avs" are designed to offer a wide range of behavioral and emotional expression. Sophisticated 3D avatars even change shape depending on what they are doing (e.g., walking, sitting, etc.). Check out a wide selection of avatars at www.theavatarfactory.com |
| B |
| Backbone | A central network connecting other networks together. |
| 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. |
| B2B | (short form for "Business-to-Business")B2B terms an e-business strategy which is oriented on business customers. There are often Web pages going into action which offer access to information only for registered users after the successful login (extranets). The promotion methods for B2B-Web pages strongly differ from those for B2C-offers: Here the personal contact is more important. Banner adverts are seldom. |
| B2C | (short form for "Business-to-Consumer")B2C terms an e-business-strategy which is oriented on private customers. Because the private customer business is appointed mainly anonymously, there are often public Web offers going into action in Internet for which the corresponding Website promotion is practised. |
| B2E | (short form for "Business-to-Employee")B2E terms an e-business-strategy which is oriented on co worker. As a rule it is about intranets to which only the co workers within a company have access. |
| 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. Synonymous with "bits per second" (bps) , e.g. 56,000 K bps = 56,000 K baud. |
| BBS | Bulletin Board System. A computer and associated hardware which provides electronic messaging services, archives of files and other services. Some BBSs are connected to the Internet but many are still accessible only via a direct modem-to-modem connection over a phone line. |
| 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 "favourites" list. |
| Bot | Short for robot, a program designed to search the Internet looking for information. Bots can also refer to any short piece of programming that performs a specific function. |
| Browser | A software program such as Netscape Navigator or Microsoft Internet Explorer (among others) that you use to view and explore the Internet (primarily the WWW). When you give the browser an address or click on a link, the browser goes out over the Internet and gets the files that you requested. Not all browsers have the same features or capabilities. |
| C |
| 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! |
| Call-Back-Button | A Button on the Website by courtesy of which a customer can convey his phone number to a call-centre and then he can be called back within few minutes in purpose of clarification of opened questions |
| Call-Centre | Central service organisation maintaining a hotline for customers requests. Increasingly used as contact centre per e-mail, chat, IVR. |
| CGI programming | Common Gateway Interaction. The protocol that allows a Web page to run a program on a Web server. Forms, counters and guest books are common examples of CGI programs. PERL is the scripting language often used to write CGIs. |
| Click Through | The number or percentage of visitors who click on a banner advertisement. This is important information to determine a banner's effectiveness. Bear in mind, however that click through is merely a measurement and not always the goal. Conversion rates or sales need to be evaluated as well. |
| 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. |
| Compression | A technique to make a file or a data stream smaller for faster transmission or to take up less storage space. |
| Cookies | A cookie is a text file placed on your hard drive by some Web pages that you visit. The cookie allows the Webmaster to track your visits to their Website as well as correlate that information with other information such as the previous page you visited, your operating system, your browser plus any information that you volunteer via a form. When you return to that Website the site will retrieve your cookie file from your hard drive and use whatever information is stored to target content and advertising to both your stated preferences (where asked) and the behavior that you exhibited. It is this technology that allows you to store items in an electronic shopping basket and "remember" other useful pieces of information such as passwords. |
| CPM | Cost Per Thousand. Some things change and some remain the same. Print publication ad rates are typically based on a CPM. Online publications seem to be adopting this standard as well. Average CPM rates for a banner ads have been falling steadily over the past few years. |
| 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. |
