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Above The Fold
The content on a Web page that is visible without scrolling. The content you see when you have to scroll down is referred to as below the fold. The area above the fold is considered the most desirable real estate on a Web page.

Acrobat
Created by Adobe, Acrobat is a cross-platform software program that decodes, reads, and converts documents in a format called PDF (Portable Document Format).

ActiveX
A set of technologies created by Microsoft to enable interactive content on Web sites. With ActiveX, Web sites can be animated using multimedia effects, interactive objects, and sophisticated applications that create a user experience comparable to a high-quality CD-ROM. The same effects can be experienced with Java, Shockwave, Flash, and numerous other applets and programs-the difference is that ActiveX is an exclusive Microsoft product making use of ActiveX Controls.

Ad Banner
An advertisement on a Web page, it links to another Web site or buffer page. Ad banners are the most common unit of advertising on the Web and cost anywhere from free to $5,000 to more than $150,000 per month depending on the amount of traffic and page views the Web site (and thus the ad banner) receives.

Banner Ad

Ad Click
A click on an online ad, it takes a user to another Web site.

AGP
Accelerated Graphics Port. A PCI-based interface that was designed specifically for demands of 3D graphics applications. The 32-bit AGP channel directly links the graphics controller to the main memory. While the channel runs at only 66 MHz, it supports data transmission during both the rising and falling ends of the clock cycle, yielding an effective speed of 133 MHz.

Aliasing And Anti-Aliasing
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.

Alt-Tab
By pressing "alt+tab" simultaneously on your keyboard (or Command-Tab on a Mac), you can hide the window that's on your screen and bring up one from behind it.

Analog
Refers to electronic transmission accomplished by adding signals of varying frequency or amplitude to carrier waves of a given frequency of alternating electromagnetic current.

Anchor
This HTML tag directs the user to another location on the same Web page.

App
Short for application.

Applet
A small program or application, usually written in Java, that runs on a Web browser to provide animation or computation.

Application
Used interchangeably with program and software, this is a general term for a program that performs specific tasks, such as word processing, database management, e-mail sending or retrieval, or Web browsing. Unlike system software, which maintains and organizes the computer system (such as the operating system), an app is an end-user program.

Application Server
A group of programs collectively integrated into a Web server's environment so that it interacts with the API. Because these applications are connected to an API, they allow higher-level tasks to be performed remotely. This kind of server enables a user at a Web page to perform sophisticated interactions, such as querying a database or running other programs loaded on the server.

ASCII
The worldwide standard for the code numbers used by computers to represent all the uppercase and lowercase Latin letters, numbers, punctuation, and other symbols. There are 128 standard ASCII codes, each of which can be represented by a 7 digit binary number: 0000000 through 1111111. In the online world, ASCII is also used to describe files that are stored in plain text format. Some rather inventive individuals have developed what is known as ASCII art, a lowbrow art form in a high-tech medium, using only the ASCII character set to create images. Pronounced "askey".

Authentication
A security measure or "technique" by which access to Internet or intranet resources requires the user to enter a username and password. Client/server networks (such as Windows NT) and some Web sites require your identity to be authenticated before you can access any files. Authentication ensures that the person at the other end of a digital connection is the approved user.

Authorization
A process that verifies whether or not an individual or organization who has requested an action actually has the right to make the request. Requiring a password to modify a domain name's registration information is an example of authorization.