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Why do I need a web site?
The main reasons a company would want a web site are to improve
customer service, develop their corporate image, find new
prospects, increase visibility, perform transactions, expand
their market, meet their customers expectations, reduce their
costs, and to catch up and surpass the competition.
How do people find out about my web site?
The best way for the public to find out about your web site
is to add your URL to all of your advertising media and collateral.
Make sure you put your web site address on your business cards,
brochures, magazine ads, radio ads, newspaper ads, TV ads,
press releases, and trade show publications. Internet users
utilize "Search Engines" to find things on the web. We can
add you to the most popular search engines so that people
can find your site based on key words (meta tags) you choose.
In addition, there are a number of paid solutions. We can
get you set up on a submission campaign so your site will
come up on Search Engines such as Google, Yahoo, Overture
and more.
How do I get my own web address?
This is also known as a domain name. A company called InterNIC
controls the names to make sure there are no duplicates. There
is an initial fee to register your domain name and an annual
fee to keep your domain name registered. You will also need
a place to host your site. There are a few different options
and where you host your site often depends on the type of
site you have. We have a number of solutions and can help
arrange this for you.
How do I get my pictures on the Internet?
Your pictures need to be in a digital format. If you do not
have one, we can scan in the image for you. A scanned in image
is when a photograph or drawing must be digitized and processed
by us. We scan in the image, size it, adjust the color, brightness,
and contrast as necessary, then save it in digital format
for use on the Internet.
How do I “refresh” a page to see the changes?
Your computer saves (caches) web sites that you have downloaded
so that when you want to view it again, your computer doesn't
have to spend time downloading. When this happens click on
the Reload or Refresh button in your menu bar which forces
a new download. You will then be able to see the changes.
Who owns the work when the project is completed?
When the project is finished and all parties are completely
satisfied you, the client, will own everything except source
files, which can be made available to you. We will make these
files available for download on our extranet where you can
login at any time.
I don’t know all of the computer
lingo. Can you please translate?
Of course we can, here is list
of Terminology:
ActiveX
Control: A component that can be inserted into a page
to provide functionality not directly available in HTML, such
as animation sequences, credit-card transactions, or spreadsheet
calculations.
Address
Bar: The long, thin box near the top of a web browser
window, which contains the web address of the web page currently
being viewed.
ASP: Active Server Pages technology allows
the site developer to create dynamic web pages through the
use of ActiveX. ASP pages are used for numerous tasks including
form handling, database connectivity, even putting a date
and time on a page. (Note: We are referring to ASP in
the context of dynamic web pages, ASP can also refer to Application
Service Provider.)
Browser: Client software that is used to look at various
kinds of Internet resources. (i.e. Internet Explorer or Netscape
Navigator)
Cache: A section of a computer's memory, which retains
recently accessed data in order to speed up repeated access
to the same data. Your computer and browser use cache memory
to load web pages more quickly. Your ISP also uses a cache
for this purpose. If you ask your computer to view a page,
and it finds the page in the cache, it will read the cached
page instead of the page from the Internet, unless you reload
the page.
Cookie: The most common meaning of 'Cookie' on the
Internet refers to a piece of information sent by a Web Server
to a Web Browser. The Browser software is expected to save
and to send back to the Server whenever the browser makes
additional requests from the Server. Cookies might contain
information such as login or registration information, online
'shopping cart' information, user preferences, etc. When a
Server receives a request from a Browser that includes a Cookie,
the Server is able to use the information stored in the Cookie.
For example, the Server might customize what is sent back
to the user, or keep a log of particular user's requests.
Cookies are usually set to expire after a predetermined amount
of time and are usually saved in memory until the Browser
software is closed down, at which time they may be saved to
disk if their 'expire time' has not been reached. Cookies
do not read your hard drive and send your life story to the
CIA, but they can be used to gather more information about
a user than would be possible without them.
CSS: Cascading Style Sheets. Style sheets when attached
to documents describe how the document is displayed or printed.
For example, a CSS is attached to an HTML document to influence
its layout when accessed by a browser to keep the look uniform.
CSS supports cascading, i.e. a single document may use two
or more style sheets that are than applied according to specified
priorities.
DNS: Domain Name System/Domain Name Service.
DNS Transfer:
To point a domain name to a different name server in order
to make another company responsible for its hosting services.
DTD: Document Type Definition is a collection of
XML declarations that defines the legal structure, elements,
and attributes that are available for use in a document that
complies with the DTD.
Download: To receive information from another computer
over a network.
E-Commerce: Electronic Commerce is the general exchange of
goods and services on the Internet.
Firewall: A method of protecting one network from another
network. A firewall blocks unwanted access to the protected
network while giving the protected network access to networks
outside of the firewall. A company will typically install
a firewall to give users access to the Internet while protecting
their internal information.
FTP: File Transmission Protocol
HTML: Hypertext Markup Language is the language used
to code most web sites. It is a language that all browsers
on all computers are able to read.
HTTP: Hypertext Transfer Protocol is the set of rules
for exchanging files (text, graphic images, sound, video,
and other multimedia files) on the Internet.
Hyperlink: A jump from text or from an image map to a
page or other type of file on the Internet. On Internet pages,
hyperlinks are the primary way to navigate between pages and
among websites.
Hypertext: Originally, any textual information on a computer
containing jumps to other information. The hypertext jumps
are called hyperlinks. On Internet pages, hypertext is the
primary way to navigate between pages and among web sites.
Hypertext on Internet pages has been expanded to include hyperlinks
from text and hyperlinks from image maps
Image Map: An image containing one or more hotspots (a.k.a.
invisible regions), which are assigned hyperlinks. Typically,
an image map gives users visual cues about the information
made available by clicking on each part of the image. For
example, a geographical map could be made into an image map
by assigning hotspots to each region of interest on the map.
Internet: The global computer network, composed of thousands
of Wide Area Networks (WANs) and Local Area Networks (LANs),
that uses TCPIP to provide worldwide communications to homes,
schools, businesses, and governments. The World Wide Web runs
on the Internet.
IP Number: Internet Protocol Number, sometimes called
a dotted quad. It is a unique number consisting of 4 parts
separated by dots, (for example 64.68.82.168). Every machine
that is on the Internet has a unique IP number.
JAVA: An object oriented programming language specifically
designed for use on the Internet. Java classes compile into
Java-byte code. This code can be executed on any platform
that implements the Java Virtual Machine (JVM).
Markup: Markup refers to the string of characters or
symbols that you insert at specific places in a text or word
processing file to specify how the file should look when it’s
printed or displayed, or to describe the document's logical
structure. The markup indicators are often called "tags."
Meta Tag: An HTML tag that must appear in the header
portion of the page. Meta tags supply information about the
page but do not affect its display. "Generator" is a common
meta-tag used to specify which editor created the page.
Namespaces: W3C activity concerning XML to enable documents
to use names specified in foreign DTD's. A namespace declaration
within an XML document points to a namespace 'ns' via a URI.
PDF: Portable Document Format. Adobe defined this
format for platform independent transmission of digital documents.
Perl: Scripting Language
POP 3: Post Office Protocol, Version 3; A protocol
that allows a user to retrieve e-mail from a mail server by
way of an Internet connection. POP e-mail is most useful for
users who lack a permanent network connection since it provides
a virtual "post office" that will hold e-mail until it can
be retrieved. POP3 does not specify a particular means of
writing or sending mail; this function is handled by a mail
transfer protocol such as SMTP.
Script: A type of computer code that can be directly
executed by a program that understands the language in which
the script is written.
Server: A computer used to transfer files via an Internet
connection.
SMTP: Simple Mail Transport Protocol is the main
protocol used to send electronic mail on the Internet. SMTP
consists of a set of rules for how a program sending mail
and a program receiving mail should interact. Almost all Internet
e-mail is sent and received by clients and servers using SMTP,
so if you wanted to set up an e-mail server on the Internet
you would look for e-mail server software that supports SMTP.
Spam (or Spamming):
An inappropriate attempt to use a mailing list, or other networked
communications facility as if it was a broadcast medium (which
it’s not) by sending the same message to a large number of
people who didn't ask for it. Although uncertain, the term
probably comes from a famous Monty Python skit that featured
the word spam repeated over and over. The term may also have
come from someone's low opinion of the food product with the
same name, which is generally perceived as a generic content-free
waste of resources. (Spam is a registered trademark of
Hormel Corporation for its processed meat product.)
SQL: Structured Query Language is a specialized
programming language for sending queries to databases. Most
industrial-strength and many smaller database applications
can be addressed using SQL. Each specific application will
have its own version of SQL implementing features unique to
that application, but all SQL-capable databases support a
common subset of SQL.
SSL: Secure Sockets Layer is a protocol designed
by Netscape Communications to enable encrypted, authenticated
communications across the Internet. SSL used mostly (but not
exclusively) in communications between web browsers and web
servers. URL's that begin with 'https' indicate that an SSL
connection will be used. SSL provides 3 important things:
Privacy, Authentication, and Message Integrity. In an SSL
connection each side of the connection must have a Security
Certificate, which each side's software sends to the other.
Each side then encrypts what it sends using information from
both its own and the other side's Certificate, ensuring that
only the intended recipient can de-crypt it, and that the
other side can be sure the data came from the place it claims
to have come from, and that the message has not been tampered
with.
TCP: Transmission Control Protocol. Internet networking
software that controls the transmission packets of data over
the Internet. Among its tasks, TCP checks for lost packets,
puts the data from multiple packets into the correct order,
and requests that missing or damaged packets be resent. Computers
must run TCP to communicate with World Wide Web servers.
TLD: Top Level Domain. The rightmost part of a domain
name. Generic TLD's include .com, .net, and .org; country
code TLDs include .jp (Japan), .uk (United Kingdom) and .au
(Australia). Others include .edu (Education), .biz, .us, .mil
(Military) and .gov (Government).
Upload: To transmit information to another computer
over a network.
URI: Universal Resource Identifier, either a URL
or a URN. A URI is a way of identifying content in the web,
whether it is a page of text, a video or sound clip, an image,
or a program.
URL: Universal Resource Locator is the unique address
of a document on the Internet.
URN: Uniform Resource Name
W3C: World Wide Web Consortium
Web: Often used as a short way to refer to the World
Wide Web or the Internet.
Web Address: A domain name or URL
Web Browser: Software that gives a user access to the Internet.
Web browsers provide a graphical interface that lets users
click buttons, icons, and menu options to view and navigate
through Web pages. (i.e. Microsoft Internet Explorer and Netscape
Navigator).
Web Host: a company responsible for hosting a web page.
Web Hosting: A service that allows you to upload and store
a site's HTML documents and related files on a Web server.
This makes the files available on the Internet to be viewed
by the public. (a.k.a. called site hosting)
Web Page: A document written in HTML that can be accessed
on the Internet.
Web Server: A computer that stores Web documents and makes
them available to the rest of the world. A server may be dedicated,
meaning its sole purpose is to be a Web server, or non-dedicated,
meaning it can be used for basic computing in addition to
acting as a server.
Web Site: A group of pages on the World Wide Web that
are developed and maintained by a company, organization, or
individual, usually to convey information.
World Wide Web:
The information available on the Internet through interconnected
sites that are accessible with a web browser.
XHTML: Extensible Hypertext Markup Language is a reformulation
of HTML 4.0 in XML 1.0. XHTML is a new language for building
web pages that has recently been proposed as a W3C Recommendation.
This proposed recommendation has caused a lot of debate on
account of XHTML's usage of XML namespaces.
We hope that you found our list
of FAQ’s helpful and that we were able to answer most of your
questions. Please contact LDS for answers to any of your other questions and
to get started on your project today!
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