a programming technique for creating interactive web applications. small amounts of data are exchanged as needed instead of pulling entire web pages to be reloaded each time the user makes a change. this increases the web page’s response time, interactivity, and overall usability. ajax is a cross-platform technology that can be used on many different operating systems, computer architectures, and web browsers as it is based on open standards such as javascript and xml.
alias, antialias
aliasing is a web design term used to describe the undesirable distortion of visual elements on a computer screen. these peculiarities take many forms, such as the appearance of jagged or stair-stepped edges along what is supposed to be a smooth, curvy surface (like an o or s) or diagonal lines on the screen (also known as “the jaggies”).
anti-aliasing is a software technique used in imaging systems (such as photoshop) to make these curved edges or diagonal lines look smooth and continuous.
anchor tag
in html, anchors mark the start and end of hypertext links. for example, consider this html code:
background
the area of a display screen not covered by characters and graphics. the background is like a canvas on top of which characters and graphics are placed. some monitors allow you to control the color or shading of the background.
bandwidth
the technical definition of “bandwidth” involves the difference between two frequencies and the amount of information that can flow through a channel, as expressed in cycles per second (hertz). it also refers to the range of frequencies (not the speed), or the measured amount of information, that can be transmitted over a connection: the higher the frequency, the higher the bandwidth and the greater the capacity of a channel to carry information.
in web jargon, you may hear bandwidth described as the amount of time it takes for a web page to fully load. even though this notion is widely used, it is fundamentally incorrect. you will also hear bandwidth refer to the amount of traffic on a web site, but again this is actually not accurate. one reason why these ideas proliferate is because internet users refer to larger graphics as “bandwidth hogs,” meaning they take up so much room that the download is very slow.
in real life, the term bandwidth has made it’s way into mainstream slang. it is often heard around the office to describe tech exec’s inability to think about or do multiple things at once, as in, “i don’t have the bandwidth to deal with your request right now.” if a person is described as having “low bandwidth,” it means he or she is considered slow on the uptake ;-)
baseline grid
in typography, the imaginary line on which characters sit. the x-height of a font is measured from the baseline to the top of a lowercase x. the descender, for those characters that have one, is defined as the portion of the character that falls below the baseline.
bmp
the standard bit-mapped graphics format used in the windows environment. by convention, graphics files in the bmp format end with a.bmp extension.bmp files store graphics in a format called device-independent bitmap (dib).
browser
a program used to view, download, upload, surf, or otherwise access documents (for example, web pages) on the internet. netscape navigator and internet explorer are well-known “web browsers” that enable you to view and interact with web sites.
browsers read pages that are “marked up” or coded (usually in html but not always). these pages reside on servers. the browsers interpret the code into what we see rendered as a web page. as well-designed software programs, browsers contain a variety of tools, including bookmarks and the back button, that make “surfing the net” more enjoyable. you will need a browser to “get on the web.”
browser compatibility
term used to compare the way a web page looks on one browser as opposed to another. for example, if you view a website on netscape, it will look pretty much the same as it does on internet explorer (illustrating browser compatibility). some time ago, though, if you viewed a site on the aol browser, it would’ve looked jumbled (a case of browser incompatibility). the reason these incompatibilities exist relates to the way a browser interprets the code that creates a web page (html).
browser compatibility can also refer to cross-platform compatibility, which is, for example, the way a page renders or displays on a windows system as opposed to on a mac. the differences are usually very slight, however, just enough to annoy some web designers and their clients into spending great time and energy on beta-testing a web site with every browser on every type of system. browser compatibility is often mentioned in conjunction with the term browser support, but the two should not be confused.
button & interactive states
a graphic that a user can “click on” to do something, such as download a program or go to another web page. traditionally, in guis, a button is a dialogue box option used to execute a command (such as the “ok” button or “cancel” button).
bytes, kilobytes, megabytes
the fundamental data unit of personal computers, a byte is eight contiguous bits. the byte is also the basic unit of measurement for computer storage, storing the equivalent of one character. computer architecture is based mostly on binary numbers, so bytes are counted in powers of two (which is why some people prefer to call groups of eight bits “octets”). the terms kilo (in kilobyte, abbreviated as k) and mega (in megabyte, abbreviated as m) are used to count bytes (even though they are misleading, since they derive from a decimal base of 10 numbers).
card sort
a technique to group, categorise and develop a hierarchy for different types of content. in the card sorting process, selected groups of users are given index cards to group which may refer to types of documents, organisational key words and concepts, document titles, descriptions of documents or navigation labels.card-sorting informs creation of a design for content labelling and grouping which eventually translates into the site structure and navigation.
useful for assessing how meaningful labels in navigation systems are.
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 (content management system)
a program used to create a framework for the content of a web site.cmses are deployed primarily for interactive use by a potentially large number of contributors. for example, the software for the website wikipedia is based on a wiki, which is a particular type of content management system.
compression
a method for storing text, data, or images in fewer bits, it makes data smaller so less disk or file space is needed to represent the same information. consequently, the information may be transmitted in less time. compression takes place via one of several compression standards, including jpg, mpeg, gif, tif, and zip.
columns
on a display screen in character mode, a column is a vertical line of characters extending from the top to the bottom of the screen. the size of a text display is usually measured in rows and columns.
css: cascading style sheets
a feature of html that gives both web site developers and users more control over how web pages are displayed. with css, designers and users can create style sheets that define how different elements, such as headers and links, appear. these style sheets can then be applied to any page on a particular web site. so in theory all the pages can be formatted the same way making it much easier. the term cascading derives from the fact that multiple style sheets can be applied to the same web page. css was developed by the w3c. the specification is still evolving and is not fully supported by any current web browsers.
No comments:
Post a Comment