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Glossary
Definitions
of the most commonly used terms related to websites and graphics.
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Autoresponder
 An
(e-mail) autoresponder is a software program that sends
a pre-written reply to anyone sending a message to the
autoresponders e-mail address. Typically, an address on
your website. If someone sends an e-mail to an autoresponders
e-mail address, it automatically and immediately e-mails
this person the reply (for example: "Thank you for sending
me a message. I will reply shortly."), and at the same
time it also sends the incoming message to a designated
recipient so they can reply to this e-mail message later
on. |
Domain
Name
Domain names are the easy to remember names for computers
on the Internet (i.e. sightdesigners.com). They correspond
to a set of numbers (called Internet Protocol, or IP,
numbers) that serve as routing addresses on the Internet.
The computer that your domain name is registered on is
the Domain Name Server or DNS. Learn more here. |
 Host
Internet companies that provide space for your website
on their computer, or server, are said to
be the "host" of your website. A server is a
powerful computer and operating system which holds data
to be shared over the Internet. |
Internet
Service Provider (ISP)
An ISP is a company that provides internet connection
to its customers through a dial-up service, Cable or DSL.
You then get access to their computers, which are permanently
connected to the internet. |
Spam
Unsolicited e-mail duplicated to many people at once,
usually involving advertising or offering services. Spam
is the cyber version of junk mail that we all have to
live with to some degree. This term is derived from the
famous Monty Python sketch where they get Spam on the
menu with everything. |
Uniform
Resource Locater (URL)
The address of a website (www.sightdesigners.com) or document
on the Web, such as, (www.sightdesigners.com/glossary.html). |
Bitmap
An image displayed as a series of lines of dots. As its
name suggests, a bitmap is a map of dots. Each dot, or
pixel, is actually a square with a color assigned to it
or it can even be transparent. Every graphic you see on
the Web is a bitmap because computer monitors display
pixels. Bitmaps used on the web are .gif, .jpg and sometimes
.png. |
CMYK
This stands for Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black. They
are the four inks used in color process printing and in
your desktop printer as well. A CMYK color is expressed
as a set of four numbers, each representing a certain
percentage of each ink. |
Compression
 A
method of packing data in order to save disk storage space
or download time. Graphics files on the Web are typically
compressed to download faster. The technique used should
produce the smallest file size while retaining the highest
visual quality. |
DPI
This refers to Dots Per Inch, which is a measure of the
quality of a printed image. A higher dpi produces a higher
quality image since there is more detail displayed per
inch. Printers output in the range of 300 to 1200 dpi
while images on the Web are only 72 dpi. |
Resolution
A measure of the quality of an image. Print resolution
is generally expressed as dpi (the number of pixels per
inch -- 300 dpi) and screen resolution is usually ppi
(pixels on the horizontal axis by pixels on the vertical
axis -- 800x600). |
RGB
 Stands
for the colors Red, Green and Blue. In web design and
design for computer monitors, colors are defined in terms
of percentages of these three colors. For example, the
RGB abbreviation for the color blue is 0-0-255. Learn
more here. |
Vector
Images containing sets of lines, defined by the locations
of the end points. These images are easily scaled (made
larger or smaller) while retaining the detail, thereby
avoiding distortion. When designing a graphic which will
be used for print and on screen, such as a logo, it will
first be created as a vector file and then be converted
to a bitmap. |
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