Does the "brochureware" posted on your website a few years ago now look tired and oh so last century? Want to jazz it up with some cool animation and sound? Or maybe add some moving images and text that magically appear every time a mouse rolls over an icon? If you're reluctant to start because you are intimidated by all of the techno-jargon and acronyms that Web designers toss around, cheer up! This little glossary won't make you fluent in Webese, but it does provide definitions for a few basic terms you're likely to hear. This glossary was prepared with the help of San Francisco-based Web designer, Ryan Bailey

Click through rate:
A way to measure the number of users clicking onto a site or ad.

Cookie:
Personal information provided by the user that is recorded as an encoded text file and stored on the user's hard drive. When the user visits the site again, the Web server retrieves the "cookie" and reconfigures itself based on the user's profile and preferences.

CGI (Common Gateway Interface):

An interface that enables Web authors to obtain real-time access to data stored in formats that are incompatible with Web browsers..

Cross-platform compatible:
A website written with HTML language that can be read by different operating systems and browsers.

Firewall:
Security measures designed to protect a networked system from unauthorized or unwelcome access.

Flash:
Multimedia software, developed by Macromedia, that provides increased functionality through animation and interactive systems while maintaining compact files appropriate for the Web..

Form:
An interactive document that contains fields into which users can type in information for such things as surveys, purchases or data search. Forms are made up of the HTML code and a CGI programming script that processes the data..

Frame:
One way to lay out and operate a Web page using HTML (also, see Table). A Frame divides the page into a rectangular section that is a separate HTML document from the rest of the page. This allows the browser display window to be subdivided into sections that change independently while leaving title graphics, navigational bars and such intact. A disadvantage is that frames require more files from the Web server..

GIF(Graphic Interchange Format):
A file compression format developed by CompuServe to transfer graphic files to and from online services..

GIF Animation:
Simple animation using multiple frames stored in a single file e.g., Web banner ads that move.

GUI (Graphical User Interface):
Front-end software meant to provide an attractive and easy-to-use interface between the user and application..

HTML (HyperText Markup Language):
The language used to tag various parts of a Web document so that browsing software will know how to display links, text, graphics and attached media.

Hyperlink:
An element in an electronic document that links to another place in the same document or to an entirely different document..

Information architecture (site map, navigation system):
An organizational chart that maps out how users will navigate through a site..

Java:

An object-oriented programming language developed by Sun Microsystems.

JavaScript:
Not to be mistaken with Java, this is a scripting tool that adds functionality but is not an independent language. JavaScript must be run within a browser.

JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group):
An image-compression format used to transfer color photographs and images over computer networks. Along with GIF, it is a common way to move photos over the Web.

Lossy:
A way of describing data that gets lost when compressing files. (Example: JPEG is a lossy image format because it drops pixels to save space.)

MPEG (Moving Pictures Expert Group):
An international standard for video compression and desktop movie presentation.

Raster Images:
Graphic images formed through pixels, or bit-maps..

Rollover Button:
Graphic object (button) that has an "on" and "off" state, i.e., a button that highlights when the cursor is passed over it.

Screen Resolution:

Resolution determines the amount of space designers have to work with on the screen. The higher the resolution, the more space, and vice versa. Most design is for a standard 15-inch monitor running at 800x600 dpi.

Streaming Media:
A streaming file allows multimedia content stored on a client server to start playing before it's completely downloaded onto the user's computer. To play streaming media, the user's browser must have a streaming media player, which can be downloaded free, and sufficient bandwidth to download quickly and get good quality.

Table:
Like Frame, Table is an element of HTML that affects how a page is laid out and operates. Tables allow designers to arrange data (text, images, links, forms, etc.) into rows and columns of cells similar to a spreadsheet.

Vector Graphics:
A graphic format that uses mathematical plotting points to form an image, rather than using pixels (see Raster).

Web Host:
The service provider that provides the space on which to place your website.

Web-Safe Palette:
Because some Internet users have operating systems with 8-bit color resolution, they are limited to viewing only 256 colors (as opposed to some 16 million available colors). About 40 colors vary between Macintosh and PC systems, thus leaving 216 common colors that are considered Web-safe and usable for images regardless of the operating system or browser they are displayed on.