Glossary
Authentication Technique by which access to Internet or Intranet resources requires the user to identify himself or herself using a name and password.
Bandwidth Measure (in kilobytes of data transferred) of the traffic on the site.
Browser A program used to locate and view HTML documents (Netscape, Mosaic, Microsoft Explorer, for example.)
Client The browser (see above) used by a visitor to a Web site.
Client Errors An error occurring due to an invalid request by the visitor's browser. Client errors are in the 400-range. See "Return Code" definition.
Domain Name The text name corresponding to the numeric IP address of a computer on the Internet (i.e., chapters.sme.org).
Domain Name Lookup The process of converting a numeric IP address into a text name (for example, 198.109.68.188 is converted to chapters.sme.org).
Forms An HTML page which passes variables back to the server. These pages are used to gather information from users.
FTP File Transfer Protocol is a standard method of sending files between computers over the Internet.
GIF Graphics Interchange Format is an image file format commonly used in HTML documents.
Hit An action on the Web site, such as when a user views a page or downloads a file.
Home Page The main page of a Web site. The home page provides visitors with an overview and links to the rest of the site. It often contains or links to a Table of contents for the site.
Home Page URL The local path or Internet URL to the default page of the Web site for which SME chapters home page.
HTML Hyper Text Markup Language is used to write documents for the World Wide Web to specify hypertext links between related objects and documents.
HTTP Hyper Text Transfer Protocol is a standard method of transferring data between a Web server and a Web browser.
IP Address Internet Protocol address identifying a computer connected to the Internet.
JPEG Joint Photographic Expert Group is a method of storing an image in digital format.
Page Impressions Hit to HTML pages only (access to non-HTML documents are not counted).
Platform The operating system (i.e. Windows 95, Windows NT, etc.) used by a visitor to your Web site.
Protocol An established method of exchanging data over the Internet.
Referrer URL of an HTML page that refers to your Web site.
Return Code The return status of the request which specifies whether the transfer was successful and why.
Possible "Success" codes are:
200 = Success: OK
201 = Success: Created
202 = Success: Accepted
203 = Success: Partial Information
204 = Success: No Response
300 = Success: Redirected
301 = Success: Moved
302 = Success: Found
303 = Success: New Method
304 = Success: Not Modified
Possible "Failed" codes are:
400 = Failed: Bad Request
401 = Failed: Unauthorized
402 = Failed: Payment Required
403 = Failed: Forbidden
404 = Failed: Not Found
500 = Failed: Internal Error
501 = Failed: Not Implemented
502 = Failed: Overloaded Temporarily
503 = Failed: Gateway Timeout
Scripts An HTML page which passes variables back to the server.
Search Engines A databased website containing information which can be used to find sites of interest.
Server (Web) A computer that hosts information available to anyone accessing the Internet. Activity on a Web server is recorder in a log file.
Server Errors An error occurring at the server. Server errors are in the 500-range. See "Return Code" definition.
Site (Web) A location on the Internet containing HTML documents that visitors can view using a browser.
Spiders An automated program which searches the internet.
Suffix (Domain Name) The three digit suffix of a domain can be used to identify the type of organization.
Possible "Suffixes" are:
.com = Commercial
.edu = Educational
.int = International
.gov = Government
.mil = Military
.net = Network
.org = Organization
URL Uniform Resource Locator is a means of identifying an exact location on the Internet. For example, http://chapters.sme.org/signup/signup4.htm is the URL which defines the use of HTTP to access the Web page Default.htm in the /signup/ directory on the SME Chapters Web site). As the previous example shows, a URL is comprised of four parts: Protocol Type (HTTP), Machine Name (chapters.sme.org), Directory Path (/signup/), and File Name (signup4.htm).
User Address The domain name or IP address for the remote user.
World Wide Web (WWW, the Web, W3) The Web is a hypertext-based, distributed system developed to provide Internet users an easy, intuitive means of accessing information.