0-9A-Z Computer Jargon Dictionary
A | B | C | D | E F | G H | I J | K L M | N O P | Q R S | T U V | W X Y Z
W3C
(World Wide Web Consortium) An influential group of interested parties who agree what is and isn’t official HTML. Originally WWWC, but W3C is a lot easier to say.
Wallpaper
A picture or motif on your Windows desktop.Tochange the Windowswallpaper right-click anywhere on the desktop, select Properties fromthe pop-up menu, choose the Desktop tab and select a new entry from thelist under Background. To add pictures of your own to the list, savethem as .bmp(bitmap) files and put them in your Windows folder.
WAN
(Wide Area Network) A sortof group of networks, or more properly LANs, connected together.
WAP
(Wireless Application Protocol;pr. “wapp” or “wopp”) A system to enable mobile phones to browse the WorldWide Web. In practise the site has to be specially designed and text only,and only a very few sites have bothered to set up a WAP version.
WAV file, Wave
Acomputer sound recording. WAV files tend to be very large, sosound recordings are often compressed into MP3s on the internet,giving a slightly lower quality but much smaller files.
Webcam
(WEB CAMera) a kind of cheap TV camerawhich you can use for videoconferencing over the internet, or just showingoff. The picture quality usually isn’t all that great but it doesn’tneed to be, because high quality real time video won’t fit down an ordinaryinternet connection anyway.
Webhost
A company which makes webpages available on the World Wide Web, usuallyas a commercial venture.
Weblog
A website documenting someone’s life and/orthoughts, also known as a blog.
Webmail
Email controlled from a website such as Hotmailor Yahoo instead of with a dedicated mail program like Outlook Expressor Eudora. Many ISPs allow you to access your email both with a mailprogram and via the Web, so that you can access your email while travelling.
Webmaster
The person prinicipally responsible for maintaininga website.
Webserver
A computer which fetches or stores World Wide Web pages and providesthem over the internet on request.
Website
A page or group of pages on the World Wide Web.
Webspace
The storage on an internet server where websites are kept. Webspace can be hired from a commercial provider, or is sometimes provided freewithan internet dialup account.
Websurfing
Looking at pages on the World Wide Web. Often just called surfing.
Wi-Fi
(WIreless FIdelity) A method of connectingcomputers together in a network without cables, using small transmitter/receiversconnected to ordinary PCs, printers, broadband modems etc. See 80211 etc.
Wiki
A website where the users create and editthe content collaboratively, the best known being Wikipedia,a huge online encyclopedia. Entries on controversial subjects shouldbe viewed with caution, as they may have been edited by persons withstrongbut not necessarily correct views.
Win95
Windows 95. See Windows.
Win98
Windows 98. See Windows.
Win9x
Compatible with or pertaining to both Windows95 and Windows 98.
Windows
A family of operating systems from the Microsoft Corporation,standard on most PCs. Windows 95, 98 and ME (Millenium Edition)are three generations of the version intended mainly for home use; WindowsNT and 2000, developed and released in parallel with the 9x family, wereintended more for use in office and network environments, supposedly morerobust but usually requiring a more powerful computer. The latest versionis Windows XP, intended to bring the two different “flavours” togetherin a unified whole.
Windows 2000
A version of Windows intended for businessusers, the successor to Windows NT. Now theoretically supersededby Windows XP, but many businesses are still using it.
Windows 3.1 / 3.11
Microsoft’s standard PC operating environment before the release of Windows95. Not strictly speaking an operating system in its own right, more anadd-on which provides DOS with a GUI. Windows 3.11 was officiallycalled “Windows for Workgroups” because it was purportedly designed foruse with networks, but in practice is no different to 3.1.
Windows 98SE
(Second Edition) An upgrade to Microsoft’s Windows 98. Generallyagreed to be the best of the Win9x bunch.
Windows Key
An extra key on keyboards made after 1995, located between Ctrl and Altand bearing the Microsoft Windows logo. Pressing this key in any Win95/98application should immediately call up the Taskbar with the Start Menuopen. (If your keyboard doesn’t have a Windows key you can perform thesame task by pressing Ctrl-Esc).
Windows ME
(Millenium Edition) The successorto Windows 98, but not widely taken up and now replacedby Windows XP. See Windows.
Windows NT
A version of Windows intended for businessuse, more stable for networking but less game-friendly than its Win9x cousins. Superseded first by Windows 2000 and now by Windows XP.
Windows Vista
Microsoft’s latest version of its popular Windows operatingsystem, released in 2007, intended to replace XP. It has been releasedin no less than six differentversions, with varying capabilities and prices.
Windows XP
The latest version of Windows and generally agreed to bethe most stable. Intended to bring together and replace the different9xand NT versions of Windows (see Windows) – but Microsoftreleased two versions, “Home” and “Professional”.
Winsock
A program required by Windows to communicate with the internet, usuallyinstalled automatically along with internet connection software.
Winzip
The most popular program for compressing files, either for storage ortransmission via the internet, widely available as a free download. Thecompressed files it creates have the extension .zip. See also zip.
Wireless network
A computer network which uses radio transmitters (usually) to move informationbetween computers without the need for physical cables. See Wi-Fi.
Wizard
A Windows feature which presents a userwith simple menus or options for what would otherwise be a complex task,and carries them out automatically. Almost all Windows programs are installed via Wizards, and they are also widely used inside Windows programs.
Word Processor
A program used for creating documents, letters etc. Thebest known is Microsoft Word.
World Wide Web (WWW or just “the Web”)
The easiest part of the Internet to understand and use, the WorldWide Web consists of many millions of pages of text and images publishedby anyone and everyone, from governments and large corporations down tothe humblest home user, in a standardised hypertext format. A particularperson or company’s area is called a website. Viewed with a program calleda browser. Wandering around the World Wide Web is often called Websurfing or just surfing.
Worm
A malicious program introduced into computers by stealth,similar to a virus.
WP
Stand for WordPress, a popular open source blog engine
Write-protected
A write-protected file has been set so thatit cannot be altered or deleted without first removing the write protection.Also called read-only. You can write-protect a file inwindows by right-clicking on it and checking the “read-only”box under attributes. Floppy disks can be write-protected by moving thesmall plastic square in the top right corner.
WTF
(What The F***) Internet slang, notsuitable for polite company.
WWW
See World Wide Web.
WYSIWYG
(What You See Is What You Get; pr. “whizzy-wig”) A computer interface, usually for creating documents, that reproduces the end-product as accurately as possible on screen. Standard on all modern software, so you don’t often hear it mentioned these days.
YMMV
(Your Mileage May Vary) Internet slang, meaning “your experience may be different”. Derives froma disclaimer in US car ads.
Zip
A popular standard for file compression developed by the PKWare corporation. Files thus compressed usually havethe extension .zip. See Winzip.
Zip drive
A special drive for removable data cartridges, often used for making backups as the cartridges can hold a lot more data than a floppydisk. Now pretty much obsolete, as almost all PCs have CD or DVD writersfitted as standard.
Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Category: Website | Wiki
Tags: Jargon
Newer post: Logo Trunk-Keep and Host Logo BrandOne Response to “0-9A-Z Computer Jargon Dictionary”
Older post: Color Choosing in Website Designer
I has been woundering if you got further links on this matter