Web Definitions - October

Bulletin board
A bulletin board is a location on a Web site where people come to share information. Typically, you see a list of postings for a certain topic. You can read each posting, choose to respond to one or more of them, and then enter and post your response. Or you can start your own thread, a continuing sub-topic within the topic under discussion. If this type of concept fits with your product and target market, it can be a great way for visitors to trade information.

Domain name
A network name associated with an organization (e.g., google.com or yahoo.com). Domain names are organized in a hierarchy, with each level separated by a "dot." Common organizational types are commercial (.com), government (.gov), and network (.net). In the U.S., most Internet addresses follow a standard format: name of server.name of organization.type of organization.

Flash
A Web-based animation application that transforms Web pages into a swirl of action, colors, and excitement. Without broadband access, this involves a long loading time (and the potential loss of visitors who are unwilling to wait). As well, a Flash application means no content for Search Engines spiders to crawl and rank (which means that you can't take advantage of free Search Engine traffic).

Hyperlinks
The underlined words or phrases you click on in Web documents to jump to another screen or page. Hyperlinks contain HTML-coded references that point to other Web pages, which your browser then jumps to.