Definition of Terms

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.aspx: The file name extension used for Microsoft’s Active Server Page internet documents.
.html: The file name extension used for HTML documents on the CST web server. The file extension .htm is equivalent.
absolute URL: The fully qualified uniform resource locator to a web document. An absolute URL starts with the scheme (http://), followed by the web server name (www), followed by the subdomain(s) and domain (.cs.camosun.bc.ca), followed by a folder name path (/reviews/2006/), followed by an optional document (/learning.html).
angle brackets < and >: Used in the definition of HTML tags. The order of their use is: less-than symbol, the tag name, any attributes for that tag, followed by the greater-than symbol. For example, <html>. No space is allowed after the < and the tag name. No space is allowed before the >. For example, the HTML tag definition < html > is invalid.
Apache: The name of the popular open-source web server software produced and supported by the Apache Group.
asimov: The name of the computer server used for lab work in the Computer Systems Technology program. Asimov is a Windows-based server. The other student server, deepblue, runs Linux.
binary file: A file containing any amount of non-human-readable characters, also called control characters. If you view the contents of a binary file, the control characters may appear a circumflex (^) followed by a letter as in (^h, ^w, ^o, etc). Programming language source code is compiled into an executable file, which is a binary file. Some executable files have a file name extension of .exe, .dll or .lib.
braces { and }: This style of enclosures is used in programming to denote a block of related instructions. Open brace or left brace is {. Close brace or right brace is }.
brackets [ and ]: This style of enclosures is used occasionally in CSS and in programming. Open bracket or left bracket is [. Close bracket or right bracket is ].
cache: When the browser renders an HTML file, it will attempt to preserve a copy of that file in its cache (a secret place on the local drive) so that the next time the browser is asked to load up that file (via the "Back" and "Forward" navigation buttons), the browser can retrieve it much faster from its cache rather than having to send an HTTP GET message to the internet. The browser cache is used when you click on the "Go Back" and "Go Forward" buttons. The assumption is that static HTML files will not change so the cached copy and the original are identical anyway. You can force the browser to retrieve the original file by clicking on the "refresh" button (or pressing the keyboard button labelled F5) for Microsoft Internet Explorer. For Firefox, click the "reload" button or press control-R. Browsers’ cache files can be manually cleared out by selecting the browser’s Tools | Options menu panel.
Camosun student account: This is the account you use to log into a desktop computer in a CST lab. The account number will begin with a C followed by 8 digits.
Cascading style sheet: A set of formatting rules used to provide enhanced visual detail to HTML content.
case sensitive: A characteristic that implies using lower-case letters and their upper-case versions are treated as different characters. File names used on the deepblue server are case sensitive because the file named "abc.txt" is not the same as the file named "ABC.txt". File names used on Windows XP are case insensitive. HTML version 4 and earlier use tag names that can be specified in an HTML document as either uppercase or lowercase, thus HTML v4 is case insensitive. The URL scheme names and host names are case insensitive.
colspan: Used in the definition of a table data element <td> to make that element span more than one column.
CSS: Cascading style sheet. A set of special formatting and display rules applied to an HTML document can be placed into a separate document. That document will have a file name extension of .css to indicate that it contains CSS style rules.
current folder: When the browser displays an HTML file, that HTML file resides in its own current folder. There might be other files and folders within that current folder. A term used to distinguish between subfolders and parent folders.
deprecated: Term used to denote something no longer supported or will be soon obsolete. Better alternatives are encouraged instead. Many HTML tags such as <font> , <dir>, <menu> and <s> are deprecated in favour of CSS styles or (in the case of <dir> and <menu> ), the <ul> HTML tag.
DreamWeaver: The name of the commercial web site design application from Macromedia.
file: A container of related information stored on a computer. Files are referred by their file name which can have up to 254 characters. Avoid using spaces in your HTML file names—it makes for more work referring to them in the browser.
folder: A collection of related files and possibly some subfolders. In Windows the backslash character \ is used to separate the folder names in a path name as in C:\Windows\System32\Temp\drivers\. In Unix the forward slash is used instead.
FrontPage: Microsoft’s commercial web site development application for novices. Discontinued as of late 2006.
home page: A web site’s main page. This is "front door" to the "building" from where you can visit different areas of a web site. Usually a home page will be an HTML document named index.html or default.html. Depending how a web server is configured, you can optionally not specify the index.html in a URL. If you leave it out in the URL, the web server will assume that is the file you wanted to see displayed in the browser.
host name: The name given to a computer to be accessible on the Internet. The host name starts with the web server name (typically www) followed by the domain (for example, cs.camosun.bc.ca).
HTML: The Hypertext Markup Language. This is the set of tags used to define the structure of a document meant for viewing by a browser. HTML documents will typically have a file name extension of .html. HTML tags are identified by the angle brackets < and >. If you view HTML in a text editor, you will see HTML tags and content (text) to be formatted by the HTML. The browser receives HTML information and determines the layout and appearance of the content.
HTML document: A file containing information written in HTML.
HTML editor: A program that permits editing of HTML documents. These programs provide you the option of working in tag-mode, where you see your document’s HTML tags, or view-mode, where you view the display layout as if the browser had rendered it.
HTML tag: An HTML tag attaches some purpose to some text or image that the browser must render. Tag names in HTML are enclosed in angle-brackets < >. Example, the HTML tag <b> tells the browser to format the subsequent text as bold face up to the next </b> HTML tag.
human readable: Implies that the content can be read by humans – for example, it doesn’t contain binary machine code. Opposite of binary file. HTML and css files are human readable. A compiled program executable file is not human readable, it’s a binary file. Text editors can readily handle human readable files.
index.html: Generally the HTML file used as the main page to a web site.
IP address: Each computer connected on the Internet is assigned an IP address so it can be identified. Messages in the form of small data packets traverse the Internet and are directed efficiently to their destination through the use of unique IP addresses.
KompoZer: The open source web site / web page design application.
Linux server: The student server named deepblue is a Linux server. The student server named Asimov is a Windows server.
octet: IP addresses are made up of four octets separated by periods as in 104.27.210.19. An IP address octet’s value can range from 0 to 255.
parent folder: The folder that contains the current folder. The parent folder of your images folder is public_html.
parenthesis: The round ones: ( and ). Open parenthesis or left parenthesis is (. Closed parenthesis or right parenthesis is ).
port: A port is a numbered doorway into a server. Some of the numbered doorways are preassigned as defaults such as port 80 for http communication and port 21 for ftp communication. Many ports (there are 65535 of them) are either closed or blocked for security purposes .
public_html: The name of the folder that serves each student’s web site. Any content placed within the public_html folder is potentially viewable by anyone via the internet. It is located on each student’s root folder and its URL shortcut is ~ (tilde – pronounced till-dah) as in the URL http://asimov.cs.camosun.bc.ca/~cst06xxxx/ . Never include public_html in your URL – it’s not needed.
read permission: In the Unix operating system each file and folder has its own set of permissions (read, write and execute) to three different categories of Unix accounts (user, group, and other). Permissions are either enabled for an action or disabled, to each category. The read permission allows access for the file to be read. The write permission allows the file to be edited or deleted. The execute permission allows the file to be run (but only if the file is a program). The user account is you, the owner of the file. Group refers to any defined groups made up by the system administrator. Other is everybody else. All your HTML documents stored under the public_html folder should have the read permission enabled to other so the web server can see them. If you disable the read permission to "other", then the web server will not be able to serve out that HTML document. To set the permission of a file using the WinSCP program, right click on the file when it is shown on the remote folder window (the one on the right) and select the properties menu option. Click on the "r" box next to the Other category to toggle the read enable for others.
readability: In HTML a measure of how easy it is to read a document based on use of white space and indentation. Appropriate use of white space enhances the readability of a HTML document so all the tags and text are not pushed together making it harder to scan visually.
Red Hat Linux: A version of the Unix operating system widely employed as a web server.
relative URL: The relative part of the term implies that the path in the given URL is relative to the current document. For example, a relative URL of "thisdir.html" would imply the file "thisdir.html" and the current document are in the same folder. Be aware that a forward slash at the start of a relative URL means you are referencing a document at the web server root. The advantage of using relative URLs in your HTML documents is that those documents are easier to relocate to a new server or folder without having to manually change the references.
root: This term has several meanings depending on the context. Root can refer to the start of the folder tree – either the web server root or your personal web site root. The web server root is likely not something you need to reference. Your personal web site root is located as your public_html folder. Root is also the name of the system administrator account on Unix systems.
rowspan: HTML tables can contain cells that span multiple rows. The rowspan attribute, if it is needed, is defined inside the HTML <td> tag as <td rowspan= "n"> where n represents the number of rows to span for that cell.
SSH: SSH, or secure shell, is a secure method of communications between computers. The lab computers have this software installed and you can also download a free version to use at home. The two varieties of SSH installed in the labs are WinSSH and WinSCP.
subfolder: Or subdirectory. This is a folder kept within another folder. A subfolder of the folder public_html is images.
syntax highlighting: A much-needed feature of the better file editors which permits known language keywords to appear on the screen window in a defined colour. For example, all HTML tags could display in blue; all the comments appear as green; and all the numbers appear as purple. The helps you identify the content and find possible errors in the file.
tag attribute: The HTML tag name is a single word or letter and within the tag after the name, there can be additional information called attributes. The attributes are of the form nameOfAttribute="valueOfAttribute" as in src= "cat.png". The order of the attributes’ definition within the tag does not matter. Some tag attributes are required (like src), while some are optional (like title).
table: An HTML table defines a structure of rows and columns, the intersection of each is called cells. Tables, rows, columns and cells have attributes you can define such as borders, width and background colour. An HTML table definition begins with the HTML tag <table> and ends with </table>. Table rows are defined in row order with <tr> and </tr>. Within each row, the tags <td> and </td> are used to identify the cells.
text editor: A text editor is a program that permits you to view and alter the contents of a file containing human-readable content (a text file). A text editor does not embed hidden control codes into the edited file. NotePad, TextPad and UltraEditor are examples of text editors. Microsoft Word and WordPad are not text editors because they insert control codes used for formatting the content.
text file: A text file contains only human-readable characters like letters, numbers, typographic symbols and white spaces (space, tabs and new lines). HTML files are text files.
TextPad: A free text editor which features syntax highlighting of HTML and CSS code. The default text editor for Microsoft Windows is Notepad and it does not support syntax highlighting.
tilde (~): Used in the definition of the URL to a user’s web site on the deepblue server. It precedes the user’s name as in http://www.cs.camosun.bc.ca/~langs/ . For CST students, the URL would be http://asimov.cs.camosun.bc.ca/~c0xxxxx/ which points to /home//c0xxxxx/public_html.
URL: Uniform Resource Locator provides a unique address to any document found on the internet. See absolute URL.
web browser: Software that allows for viewing of and interacting with documents found on the internet. Popular browsers include Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox and Opera. HTML content from other web sites is rendered by the web browser for display in the browser window.
web publishing: Creating, editing and posting internet documents onto a web site. Programs such as DreamWeaver, Nvu and Microsoft FrontPage can be used for this activity. Typically you are able to view the resulting display of your HTML document coding as you create and edit your web page content.
web server: A computer with more than average memory and processing capabilities to facilitate the viewing of its web site content out to the internet. Web server software is needed as well and that could be Apache or Microsoft IIS.
white space: The technical term for any spaces, tabs or newlines. It’s always a good idea to provide plenty of white space in your work to enhance its readability and maintainability.
WinSCP: The name of the Microsoft Windows program similar to SSH (but more advanced) which allows you to copy, move, edit and remove file contents on your student account.
W3C: The World Wide Web Consortium. An international organization responsible for determining the standards and guidelines of internet usage including HTML.
www: The default name of a web server. Most web servers on the internet will use this name but they do not have to use it. It just makes it easier to remember the web server name as "www".
XHTML: eXtensible HTML is a newer, stricter version of HTML based on XML. Some of the XHTML rules are: all XHTML tags must be in lowercase, define values for any tag attributes, use double-quotes around values, define an empty tag if it doesn’t have an end tag as in
and
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