Application Server
An application server performs the business logic for a Web site. The application server often works with a Web server, also called a Web Application Server. The application server provides the processing power to deliver dynamic content to the user. Applications servers such as Allaire's ColdFusion and Vignette Story Server make on-the-fly compilations of components into Web pages.

Architecture
In Web information design, architecture is a term applied to the planning, as well as the outcome, of the overall structure of a Web site. The term is also used to describe the overall structure of a software application or computer network.

Back-end
A back-end application or program supports the front-end services, usually by performing operations and calculations with the data supplied by a user.

Bandwidth
Bandwidth is the capacity available to accept and transmit data. The bigger the bandwidth, the faster data can move.

Banner
A banner is an advertisement in the form of a graphic image that runs across the top, bottom, or side margin of a Web page.

Baseline
In Web development, a baseline is a defined criteria at or above which a product is expected to function.

Brand; Branding
A brand is a product, service, or concept that is distinguished from other products, services, or concepts so that it can be communicated and marketed. Branding is the process of creating and then communicating the brand to the public.

Candidate Technical Architecture
The candidate technical architecture is a preliminary plan for a new solution. It includes a high-level software, hardware and data architecture.

Client-side
Client-side refers to any operation or action that is performed by the client workstation, as opposed to the server.

Content
Content is all the information on a Web site, especially text and pictures.

Cookie
A cookie is a file saved on a Web user's hard drive that is used by Web sites to record data about the user.

Deliverable
A deliverable is anything 'delivered' in the course of a project, generally to the client. Common deliverables include competitive site audits, creative strategy, style guides and storyboards.

Domain Model
The domain model defines, on a high level, the minimum functions of the system, the main actors on the systems and how they interact.

Domain Name
A domain name is the 'www.company-name.com' that references a specific location on the World Wide Web.

Dynamic HTML (DHTML)
Dynamic HTML is a collective term for a combination of new Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) tags and options, style sheets, and programming that will let you create Web pages that are animated and more responsive to user interaction than previous versions of HTML.

Dynamic Page vs. Static Page
A dynamic Web page is one whose content is created at the request of a client, sometimes based on information supplied by a user. A static page is created once and looks the same to every user.

Encryption
The process of encoding data so it is unreadable by all but the sender and receiver.

E-tailing
Short for 'electronic retailing,' e-tailing is the practice of selling retail goods over the Internet.

Extranet
An extranet is a Web site for selected users, rather than for the general public. An extranet uses the Internet as its transmission system but requires a password to gain entrance.

Filtering
Filtering is the analysis by a program of a user request to determine which content to return in the requested page.

Fold
In Web design, the fold is the line past which a viewer of a Web site has to scroll to view. Therefore, 'above the fold' is the area that the viewer can immediately see when opening a Web page.

Frames
In a Web site, frames are multiple, independently controllable sections on a Web page. A typical use of frames is to have one frame containing a selection of navigation links and another frame containing the space where the main content appears.

Front-end
A front-end application is one that users interact with directly, such as a Web browser.

Functional Requirements
Functional requirements documents define how a system must behave when presented with certain inputs or conditions.

Functional Specification
The functional specification is the blueprint for a system. It provides documentation for the database, human and machine procedures, and all the input, processing and output detail for each piece of data in the system.

Graphical User Interface (GUI)
A GUI (usually pronounced GOO-ee) is a graphical user interface, rather than a purely textual interface.

Host
On the Internet, the host is any computer that has full two-way access to other computers on the Internet. A host has a specific local or host number that, together with the network number, forms its unique Internet Protocol address.

Hosting
Hosting is the business of housing, serving and maintaining files for one or more Web sites.

Hyperlink
A hyperlink is a predefined link between one object, page, or location and another. The link may be either text (called hypertext) or a small icon (called hypergraphic).

Hypertext Markup Language (HTML)
HTML is the document format used on the World Wide Web. HTML defines the page layout, fonts and graphic elements, and the links to other documents.

Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP)
HTTP is the set of rules for exchanging files (text, graphic images, sound, video, and other multimedia files) on the World Wide Web.

Interactivity
Interactivity is the dialog that occurs between the user and the Web site.

Java
Java is a object-oriented programming language that adds animation to Web sites. These small applications, known as Java applets, allow for a richer user experience and can operate on any Java-enabled application.

Navigation
On the Web, navigation is the act of moving between sites or within a site, either by clicking on links or by entering information.

Personalization
Personalization is a Web site's ability to create an experience that is unique to a user. Certain technologies accomplish this by serving content based on information provided by the user, or by interpreting the user's behavior while on the site and serving up content based on pre-defined assumptions.

Platform
A platform is an underlying computer system on which application programs run. A platform includes an operating system, the coordinating program, and a microprocessor.

Portal
A portal is a Web site that serves as a 'door' to other sites on the Internet, or gathers and organizes information from many sources.

Query
A query is a request for information from a database.

Regression Test
In software development, the regression test ensures that bugs have not been introduced to a system during an enhancement or upgrade to the system.

Requirement
In Web development, a requirement is a capability of a system or application necessary for the user to achieve an objective. Requirements are also the necessary technical capabilities of a system to satisfy a contract, standard, specification, or other formally imposed documentation.

Rich HTML
Rich HTML pages are those pages that are complex in data, design, and presentation. Rich HTML pages may have dynamic content sections, a complex layout that is unique to that page, and include multi-media elements.

Rich Media
Rich media usually refers to advertising that contains elements, such as animation or pull-down menus, that are more elaborate than found in common banner ads.

Secure Socket Layer (SSL)
SSL is a protocol which enables encrypted, authenticated communications across the Internet.

Server
A server is a computer in a network shared by more than one user. The term may refer to either hardware or software, or both.

Server-side
Server-side refers to any operation or action that is performed by a server as opposed to the client.

Splash Page
A splash page, also known as an interstitial, is a preliminary page that precedes the regular home page of a Web site. Splash pages are often timed to move on to the home page after a short period of time.

Task
A task is a single unit of work within a workflow. Examples of tasks include creation/editing of a variety of Web assets, approval of a set of modified content, automatic link checking of edited HTML content, automatic email reminders of past due dates, and timed deployment to a bank of production servers.

Task Flow Diagram
A task flow diagram is a complete sequence of user interactions with the system for given tasks. Task flow diagrams map the most plausible routes through a site for any given user and task.

Test Plan
The test plan outlines all the tests that must be run to ensure that all functions of an application or Web site work properly.

Use Case
A use case is a description of the actions that a system performs that yields an observable result of value to a particular user.

User Profile
A mini-database of information about a user's content preferences, market segmentation, past visit and purchase behavior, or other user information. User profiles are used to generate dynamic content for a particular site visitor.

Web Server
A Web server is a program or computer that, using the client/server model and the World Wide Web's Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), serves the files that form Web pages to users.

XML (eXtensible Markup Language)
XML is a system for defining specialized markup languages. XML allows for Web pages to function like database records, enabling the exchange and processing of data.