Prjct 3:terms

AJAX
AJAX stands for Asynchronous JavaScript And XML. It is not a new programming language, but a new way to use existing JavaScript and HTTP requests. It works by exchanging small amounts of data with the server "behind the scenes" so that entire web pages do not have to be reloaded each time there is a need to fetch data from the server. This is intended to increase the web page's interactively, speed, functionality and usability.

AJAX is asynchronous, in that extra data is requested from the server and loaded in the background without interfering with the display and behavior of the existing page.

Alias, antialias
In digital signal processing, anti-aliasing is the technique of minimizing the distortion artifacts known as aliasing when representing a high-resolution signal at a lower resolution. Anti-aliasing is used in digital photography, computer graphics, digital audio, and many other domains.

In the image domain, aliasing artifacts can appear as wavy lines or bands, or moiré patterns, or popping, strobing, or as unwanted sparkling


Anchor Tag
The anchor tag is used to create links to:

HTML files - internal (on current page or within current website) & external (other websites)

and to other types of file (e.g. video)


Background (in CSS)
CSS background properties define the background effects of a webpage such as a background color, image, repeating image, image position, or a fixed image (that doesn’t move with the scroll).


Bandwidth
Refers to a data rate measured in bits per second.


Baseline Grid
System of guides to insure different elements of type are set on the same baseline across the entire page for more consistent read, and overall better usability.


BMP
A bitmap is a type of memory organization or image file format. Files of this type are ideal for the web and include GIF, PNG, TIFF, and JPEG.


Browser
A software application which enables a user to display and interact with text, images, videos, music and other information typically located on a web page or a local area network.


Browser Compatibility
Web sites should be designed with each browsers unique characteristics in mind. Often, sites are made without considering how browsers may handle their content which sometimes causes certain aspects of appearance or function on of a site not to work the way they were intended.


Button & Interactive states
Buttons on an interface are the visual representation of a set of instructions or tasks to be performed upon the buttons activation by the user. Buttons can have interactive states aside from the task performed on release of the button. it can react in a visual way when a user rolls the cursor over it, before rolling over it, or upon click of the button.

bytes, kilobytes, megabytes
Bytes are a unit of measurement of information storage.

A kilobyte (KB) is made up of 1,024 bytes.

1,024 kilobytes= 1 megabyte(MB)


Card Sort
Card sorting is a way to involve users in grouping information for a Web site. Participants in a card sorting session are asked to organize the content from your Web site in a way that makes sense to them. Participants review items from your Web site and then group these items into categories. Card sorting helps you learn how users think about your content and helps as guide in building your structure.

Chrome
Browser chrome’ is a euphemism for the graphical framework and elements of the web browser window. Chrome includes the browser
title bar, toolbar buttons, Back, Forward, Stop, etc.
horiztontal and vertical scrollbars status bar: the strip at the bottom of the browser window the window frame

CMS (contentent managment system)
A content management system (CMS) is a program used to create a framework for the content of a Web site. CMSs are deployed primarily for interactive use by a potentially large number of contributors

Columns
Vertical and horizontal increments that define the underlying grid of a webpage.

Compression
the process of encoding information using fewer bits (or other information-bearing units) than an unencoded representation would use through use of specific encoding schemes.

CSS (cascading style sheets)
computer language used to describe the presentation of structured web documents. It involves stylistic rules describing colors, fonts and layout used to style documents written in HTML, XHTML, SVG, XUL, and other markup languages.