Glossary

Technology terms

General Marketing Terms | Printing and typesetting terms

A - I | J - Z

Acrobat Reader

A free program from Adobe, used for displaying and printing PDF files. Creating and editing sophisticated PDFs requires commercial programs such as Acrobat Distiller but most programs like Microsoft Word can save files as a PDF.

Attachment

A file which is sent as an attachment to an email rather than as text in the email itself.

Betacam SP

The format for video footage, which is broadcast quality.

Bit

A binary digit, the smallest atom of digital information, represented by the number 0 or 1.

Blog

Weblog, usually shortened to blog. Often text-based commentaries on a specific subject that ranges from current affairs to books or gardening and are posted on a website. There are audio logs (podcasts), photologs and vlogs (video). Some people use blogs as an online diary.

bps

Bytes per second. A measurement of how fast data is moved from one place to another. A 28.8 modem can move 28,800 bytes per second.

Browser

Software application used to find and see web pages. These include Safari, Internet Explorer, Netscape, etc.

Byte

A combination of eight bits that constitues a basic digital "word" size, capable of forming 256 possible combinations of bits.

CD ROM

A "read only" disk which can be displayed on your computer. CD Roms contain 650 megabytes of data.

CMS

Content Management System. A system that enables you to update your website.

Compression

The re-encoding of data to make it smaller. Most image file formats use compression because image files tend to be large and consume large amounts of disk space and transmission time over networks.

Convergence

When two distinct technologies converge.

DAT

Digital Audio Tape -- usually required by broadcasters. A magnetic tape originally designed for use in audio applications, but now popular for storing data. Capacities range up to 12 gigabytes.

Database

A collection of records stored on a computer system in a systematic way so that answers can be obtained to assist you in the making of decisions.

DLT

Digital Linear Tape -- A fairly new high-end tape format. Capacities range up to 35 gigabytes.

Digitisation

Synonymous with scanning, it is the conversion from printed paper, film, or some other media, to an electronic form where the page is represented as either black and white dots, or colour or greyscale pixels.

Download

To transmit a file from a remote computer to your local computer.

DVD

Digital Versatile Disk -- An optical storage medium that can store up to 4.7 GB (single layer), 8.5 GB (double layer), 9.4 GB (double sided, single layer), or 17 GB (double sided, double layer). Transfer rates and seek times are similar to those of CD-ROM for currently available drives. DVD specifications includes higher level specifications for audio and video capabilities.

Electronic Document

A document that has been scanned, or was originally created on a computer. Documents become more useful when stored electronically because they can be widely distributed quickly, and allow searching. HTML and PDF are well known electronic document formats.

EPS

Encapsulated PostScript. A file format using the PostScript language and including a screen preview of the artwork, making it useful for desktop publishing.

GIF

An image file format that is commonly used on the web. It "lossless" which means it will not compress as small as JPEG, but will retain all of the image's quality.

Greyscale

An image type that uses black, white, and 254 shades of grey. Frequently used in discussions about scanners as a measure of their ability to capture halftone images.

Hit

As used in reference to the World Wide Web, hit means a single request from a web browser for a single item from a web server; thus in order for a web browser to display a page that contains 3 graphics, 4 hits would occur at the server: 1 for the HTML page, and one for each of the 3 graphics.

HTML

Hyper Text Mark-up Language -- A language used to create documents for the world wide web, interpreted by browsers.

Hyperlink

A connection between files on a web page or word document that can be clicked to open another file such as another document or web page.

Hypertext

A text that contains links to other documents.

Internet

Also 'the Net'. The communications system created by the interconnecting networks of computers around the world.

Image File Format

When a page is scanned, the page can be stored in a number of file types. The type should be chosen based on the desired use of the image, and the software that will be used. Different file formats commonly use different methods of compression as well, and some types of images compress better using some formats rather than others.

Impression

Relates to the number of times a web page advertising banner is accessed -- normally counted during a 24-hour period.

ISP

Internet Service Provider. A company who provides access to the Internet, usually by modem, cable or ISDN.

Return to top

JBIG

A 'lossless' image compression format for binary (black and white) images. Compresses better than G4 by up to 25 percent. Also supports progressive encoding. Licensing issues have slowed its adoption for use.

JPEG

Joint Photographers Experts Group format -- Commonly used to display photographs and other continuous-tone images in HTML documents over the World Wide Web and other online services. Retains all the colour information and supports 'lossiness', which means that it will throw away some detail in order to achieve better compression. It does not work well for text. Not commonly used in printing because of data loss which degrades images.

Macro

A series of instructions which would normally be issued one at a time on the keyboard to control a program. A macro facility allows the instructions to be stored and issued automatically by a single keystroke.

MMS

Multimedia Messaging Service. The deliver of video and sound messages to mobile telephones.

Modem

A device primarily used for transmitting data between computers over telephone lines.

PAL

A colour television transmission system used in Australia.

PDF

Portable Document Format. A file which displays on any computer, regardless of the software the original was created in, how the document will look when it is printed.

Plug-in

A computer program that plugs into a larger application, such as a web browser, that gives specific functionality,such as the ability to read, edit or hear certain kinds of multimedia files.

Podcasts

Audio or video files that can be downloaded onto desktops and mobile devices such as MP3 players. Capable of being downloaded automatically using RSS feeds. See RSS.

Portable

To be functional across differing types of computers and operating systems. This can be used to describe programs or electronic documents.

Portal

Usually used as a marketing term to described a Website that is or is intended to be the first place people see when using the Web. Typically a 'Portal site' has a catalogue of web sites, a search engine, or both. A Portal site may also offer email and other service to entice people to use that site as their main 'point of entry' (hence 'portal') to the Web.

Resolution

The number of dots per inch (dpi) that were stored during scanning. The greater the number, the greater the amount of detail that is visible. It is recommended that you use between 72 dpi for images that will be displayed on the screen and 300 dpi for images that will print on common inexpensive printers. Higher resolution images take up more space.

RSS

Really Simple Syndication. A system that enables a user to subscribe to newsfeeds, which are delivered directly onto a person's desktop. The user needs to have special software such as NetNewsWire.

RTF

Rich Text Format is a file format that allows the exchange of text files between different word processors in different operating systems.

Search engine

Sites on the world wide web used to help people to find web sites.

Scalable

The degree to which hardware or software systems can adapt to increased demands.

SMS

Short Messaging Service. Text messaging to mobile phones that is limited to 160 characters.

Snail mail

Post that is sent conventionally using road, sea or air transport.

Streaming

Real-time distribution of audio and video on the world wide web.

TIFF

Tagged Image File Format. A graphics file format commonly used to store digital images.

URL

Uniform Resource Locator. The address of a files and sites on the world wide web.

Website

A location on the World Wide Web which has an address prefixed by 'www' and which can be accessed over the Internet.

VHS

The most common format for coding and playing a video tape for a video cassette recorder. BETA was a competitor but could not compete.

WAP

Wireless Application Protocol -- Enables mobile phones to access digital information on the Internet and elsewhere.

www

World wide web. A large-scale, networked, hypertext information system, primarily consisting of URLs, available over the Internet.

Return to top