Sick of jargon? We like to keep things simple.

ABC | DEF | GHI | JKL | MNO | PQR | STU | VWXYZ

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D: Domain Name | Domain Name Registration | Drop Down Menu

E: E-commerce | E-learning | Email | Entry Page | E-zine

F: Firefox | Flash | Frames

Domain Name
A name that identifies one or more IP addresses. For example, the domain name microsoft.com represents about a dozen IP addresses. Domain names are used in URLs to identify particular Web pages. For example, in the URL http://www.pcwebopedia.com/index.html, the domain name is pcwebopedia.com.

Every domain name has a suffix that indicates which top level domain (TLD) it belongs to. There are only a limited number of such domains. For example:

gov - Government agencies
edu - Educational institutions
org - Organizations (nonprofit)
mil - Military
com - commercial business
net - Network organizations
au - Australia
uk - United Kingdom

Because the Internet is based on IP addresses, not domain names, every Web server requires a Domain Name System (DNS) server to translate domain names into IP addresses.

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Domain Name Registration
The only way to register and start using a domain name is to use the services of a domain name registrar. The registrar you choose will determine the cost for registering a domain name, but in general expect to pay a bi-yearly fee. The registrar will ask you to provide some contact and technical information to have on record. This information is stored in a registry, which other computers can access to find information on your site. While it may seem like a privacy issue, it is best to be honest when supplying the contact information to a registrar. The registrar can cancel a contract and resell the domain name if it cannot contact an actual person to settle legal issues that may arise.

There are many laws that regulate the registration of domain names, such as registering a copyrighted name or registering a domain name for the sole purpose of blocking someone else from using it. Check with your domain name registrar for the laws that affect how you register your domain name.

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Drop Down Menu
See Pull Down menu

E-commerce (Electronic Commerce)
Often referred to as simply e-commerce, business that is conducted over the Internet using any of the applications that rely on the Internet, such as e-mail, instant messaging, shopping carts, Web services, UDDI, FTP, and EDI, among others. Electronic commerce can be between two businesses transmitting funds, goods, services and/or data or between a business and a customer.

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E-learning (Electronic learning)
Education via the Internet, network, or standalone computer. e-learning is essentially the network-enabled transfer of skills and knowledge. e-learning refers to using electronic applications and processes to learn. e-learning applications and processes include Web-based learning, computer-based learning, virtual classrooms and digital collaboration. Content is delivered via the Internet, intranet/extranet, audio or video tape, satellite TV, and CD-ROM.*

e-learning was first called "Internet-Based training" then "Web-Based Training" Today you will still find these terms being used, along with variations of e-learning such as elearning, Elearning, and eLearning.

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Email
Short for electronic mail, the transmission of messages over communications networks. The messages can be notes entered from the keyboard or electronic files stored on disk. Most mainframes, minicomputers, and computer networks have an e-mail system. Some electronic-mail systems are confined to a single computer system or network, but others have gateways to other computer systems, enabling users to send electronic mail anywhere in the world. Companies that are fully computerized make extensive use of e-mail because it is fast, flexible, and reliable.

Most e-mail systems include a rudimentary text editor for composing messages, but many allow you to edit your messages using any editor you want. You then send the message to the recipient by specifying the recipient's address. You can also send the same message to several users at once. This is called broadcasting.

Sent messages are stored in electronic mailboxes until the recipient fetches them. To see if you have any mail, you may have to check your electronic mailbox periodically, although many systems alert you when mail is received. After reading your mail, you can store it in a text file, forward it to other users, or delete it. Copies of memos can be printed out on a printer if you want a paper copy.

All online services and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) offer e-mail, and most also support gateways so that you can exchange mail with users of other systems. Usually, it takes only a few seconds or minutes for mail to arrive at its destination. This is a particularly effective way to communicate with a group because you can broadcast a message or document to everyone in the group at once.

Although different e-mail systems use different formats, there are some emerging standards that are making it possible for users on all systems to exchange messages. In the PC world, an important e-mail standard is MAPI. The CCITT standards organization has developed the X.400 standard, which attempts to provide a universal way of addressing messages. To date, though, the de facto addressing standard is the one used by the Internet system because almost all e-mail systems have an Internet gateway.

Another common spelling for e-mail is email.

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Entry page
The page on the site that is first viewed by the user. Also see home page

E-zine
Short for electronic magazine, the name for a web site that is modeled after a print magazine. Some e-zines are simply electronic versions of existing print magazines, whereas others exist only in their digital format. Most e-zines are advertiser-supported but a few charge a subscription.

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Firefox
Firefox is a free, open source Web browser for Windows, Linux and Mac OS X. It is based on the Mozilla code base and offers customization options and features such as its capability to block pop-up windows, tabbed browsing, privacy and security measures, smart searching, and RSS live bookmarks.

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Flash
See Adobe Flash

Frames
A feature supported by most modern Web browsers than enables the Web author to divide the browser display area into two or more sections (frames). The contents of each frame are taken from a different Web page. Frames provide great flexibility in designing Web pages, but many designers avoid them because they are supported unevenly by current browsers.

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