Glossary of Web Development Terms

• ActionScript: Additional functionality for Flash.
• ASP: Scripting Language for Dynamic Web Pages
• ASPX: Scripting Language for Dynamic Web Pages
• CSS: Style sheets to control page layout
• FTP: File Transfer Protocol
• HTML: Standard web page construction
• XHTML: A Reformulation of HTML in XML
• IFrames: Inline Frames
• JScript: Javascript to enhance pages with effects
• MDB: Microsoft Access Databases
• MySQL: MySQL Database
• PHP: Scripting Language for Dynamic Web Pages
• RSS: Really Simple Syndication
• SSL: Secure Sockets Layer
• SWF: Flash for animation

HTML

The Hyper Text Transfer Protocol is the standard publishing language of the World Wide Web. Normal HTML page design can consist of text, images, layout tables, lists, etc.

XHTML

A Reformulation of HTML in XML. XHTML is the next step in the evolution of the Internet, it is a stricter and cleaner version of HTML that is interoperable with many devices.

JScript

Javascript is the standard way to achieve simple effects for instance a button changing colour as you hover over it.

ASP

Active Server Pages add extended functionality to standard HTML pages. Web pages can be dynamically processed from temporary or stored data, for example from a database.

ASPX

Part of Microsoft’s .NET software development platform. Web pages can be dynamically processed from temporary or stored data, for example from a database. It is the successor to Microsoft’s Active Server Pages (ASP) technology.

PHP

A widely-used general-purpose scripting language that adds extended functionality to standard HTML pages. Web pages can be dynamically processed from temporary or stored data, for example from a database.

MDB

Microsoft Access is the simplest of the commonly used Databases, but is powerful enough to enable possibly limitless pages to be created from a single template page.

MySQL

A very powerfull multithreaded, multi-user SQL (Structured Query Language) database management system. MySQL is an Open Source Database, designed for speed, power and precision in mission critical, heavy load use.

CSS

Cascading Style Sheets broaden the standard page formatting options offered by the HTML standard and by linking to external files reduce the file size of the page.

SWF

Macromedia Flash was originally designed to create simple animations using simple vector shapes and single colours. Flash files can now contain sounds, complex graphics, and advanced dynamic scripting.

ActionScript

ActionScripting adds nonlinear functionality to websites

IFrames

IFrames are inline elements to which you can load external pages.

SSL

Secure Sockets Layer works by using a private key to encrypt data that's transferred over the SSL connection. Both Netscape Navigator and Internet Explorer support SSL, and many Web sites use the protocol to obtain confidential user information, such as credit card numbers.

FTP

A mechanism for transferring files from one computer to another, often across a network or via a modem

RSS

Think of it as a distributable “What’s New” for a site. Typical uses include Latest Headlines from News sites.