Technology+Vocabulary

A software program that lets you complete a task, such as writing a paper, creating a poster, designing an image, or viewing a Web page.
 * [[image:vocab.gif width="134" height="180" align="left"]]Application **

a computer user's representation of himself/herself or alter ego, whether in the form of a three-dimensional model used in computer games, or a two-dimensional icon (picture) used on Internet forums and other communities
 * Avatar **

**Blog** Originally short for "weblog", a blog is a web page that contains entries i reverse chronological order, with the most recent entry on top.

**Browser** The software application that allows you to view Internet pages such as Internet Explorer, Google Chrome or FireFox.

**Client/server** A term denoting the technology relationship between two types of computers, the client (normally your Mac or PC) and the server (a computer that stores and delivers information or files to you). When surfing the Internet, you are the client, and the pages you are reading come from the server, such as the www4teachers server.

**Command Key** A key on Mac keyboards only that is used to access commands through the keyboard rather than the menus.x commands are commonly shortcuts.

**Desktop** The background behind all your windows, menus, and dialog boxes: your virtual desk. You can change the look of your desktop by applying different properties to it through your control panel.

**Download** To save a file onto your computer from another source, like the Internet. People often download files, such as free-ware, share-ware, for installations, and sounds, movie clips, text files, or news streams onto their computer for viewing or listening.

**Ethernet** A common method of networking computers in a Local Area Network (LAN). Ethernet can handle from 10,000,000-100,000,000 bits-per-second (or 10-100 megabits-per-second) and can be used with almost any kind of computer.

The Finder is the default open application on a Macintosh, and it's represented by a little, purple, happy face icon in the top right-hand corner of the screen. Most people think of it as the desktop, however, or as the utility that lets you navigate quickly among open programs. When you click on the Finder, you can designate which of your open applications will be the //active// one.
 * Finder **

**Firewall** Hardware and/or software that separates a Local Area Network (LAN) into two or more parts for security purposes.

**FTP** File Transfer Protocol. A set of rules that allows two computers to "talk" to one another while transferring files from one to another. This is the protocol used when you transfer a file from one computer to another across the Internet. Many Internet sites have publicly accessible repositories of information that can be obtained using FTP, by logging in using the account name "anonymous." These sites are called "anonymous ftp servers."

**GIF** Graphics Interchange Format. An efficient method of storing graphics developed for CompuServe in the early 1980s. GIF files take up a small amount of disk space and can be transmitted quickly over phone lines. GIFs can be viewed on any computer platform and are best for illustrations, cartoons, logos, or similar non-photographic graphics.

**Hard Drive** A device for storing information in a fixed location within your computer. The equivalent of a filing cabinet in an office, the hard drive is used for storing programs and documents that are not being used.

**Home Page** The page on the Internet which most often gives users access to the rest of the Web site. A site is a collection of pages.

**HTML** Hypertext Markup Language. This is the coding language used to create sites on the World Wide Web.

**Instant Messaging (IM)** Instant messaging or "chatting" is a popular method of exchanging text messages in real time. Popular IM applications include AOL's Instant Messenger (AIM), Microsoft's Messenger, Google Talk (GTalk and GChat) and Yahoo's Messenger. IM (including text messaging) is fast replacing e-mail, expecially among students.

**JPG or JPEG** An efficient method for storing graphic files for transmission across phone lines. Unlike GIF files, JPG files lose a little data when the image is converted, and their files are often much larger than GIFs. However, JPGs are your best choice for photographic imag

**Posting** Information added to a website. For example, if someone adds new information to their blog, that would be their latest posing. Also, "Comments" are opinions, thoughts and links that site visitors add to posts.

**Plug-in** A small piece of software that adds features to already existing, usually large, programs.

**RSS (Really Simple Syndication)** A form of syndication that lets users "subscribe' to receive new or updated content from blogs, news, or other frequently updated online content sources.

**Social Networking** Sites that connect individuals in a community, allowing them to communicate with friends, colleagues and even strangers. The most popular examples are MySpace, Facebook and Linkedin.

**Tags** An informal approach of using keywords to classify content and a primary method for organizing content stored in Web 2.0 applications and environments.

**Server** A computer or software package that provides a specific service to client software running on other computers. The term can refer to a particular piece of software, such as a WWW server, or to the machine on which the software is running, hence the popular phrase: "The server's down."

**Web 2.0** Commonly associated with web applications which facilitate interactive information sharing, nd collaboration on the World Wide Web.

**Widget** A "mini-application" embedded within a web page that provides specific information (weather, sports, scores, movie times, etc.)

**Wiki** Hawaiian for "quick", a wiki is a website that allows users to create, edit and collaborate content. Wikis are a powerful collaboration authoring tool for non-technical users, with a the best-known examples being Wikipedia.org, the online encyclopedia that leverages the knowledge of thousands of people worldwide.

**Zipped Files** Zipped files are files that are compressed and must be "unzipped" to be read. Zipped files download faster because they are smaller than an uncompressed equivalent.