Rich Media Glossary

Common terms used in rich media / multi media environments.

Animated GIF

An image made up of several frames which the browser loops through, creating the illusion of movement. Used in many advertising banners.

ASP [Active Server Pages]

Microsoft's programming language used to build interactive websites, rather than just display static information.

AVI (Audio Video Interleave, .avi)

Developed by Microsoft to play an AVI you need to download Windows Media Player

Bookmark / Favorites

A record of a website address held in your browser for quick return. Referred to as ‘Favourites’ in Microsoft Internet Explorer.

Browser

Software application you use to view web pages. The browser fetches the information from the web server, reads the page HTML and displays it on your computer screen.

Client

A webserver ‘serves’ web pages to users computers, known as clients.

Cookie

A small text file sent by a server to your browser to identify you. Cookies assist you by reloading cached elements, making pages load faster, and informs the webserver of your preferences.

Dynamic HTML [Dynamic Hypertext Mark up Language]

A combination of HTML, JavaScript and stylesheets that designers using to build interactive websites. Limited in use due to the differences in the way different browsers render HTML.

FireWire

Digital camcorders often use FireWire connections to transfer video from the camcorder to your computer at high speed. Your computer will require a FireWire connection to use this, as most of the higher grade laptops and computers do.

FLV – Flash Video Format

A type of file used to add video movies to a webpage.

GIF [Graphic Interchange Format]

A compressed image format used on the web. Whereas JPEGs are often used to compress photos, GIFS are best for compressing logos or illustrations with large areas of flat colour.

HTTP [Hypertext Transfer Protocol]

A set of rules that describe how Internet should work. For instance, http at the beginning of a URL tells the Internet to go fetch the page.

HTML [HyperText Markup Language]

The accepted standard of formatting for web documents so they can be read by web browsers. This includes text, images, links and forms to collect information from users.

Icon

A small image used on web pages to represent a button, or a special section.

ISP [Internet Service Provider]

Internet Service Providers connect you to the Internet and maintains your session whilst you surf the Net and send and receive emails. The Internet connects all the webservers of the world to you.

Java

Java applets are small programs that run within your web browser.

JavaScript

JavaScript is a simple programming language included in web pages to control the way a page is displayed, or to control the browser. It only works at the client end, that is, it cannot control behaviour of the web server.

JPEG [Joint Photographic Experts Group]

Another image format used in web pages. As with GIF, JPEG compresses files so they can be downloaded faster. JPEGS are best used for photographic images, GIFs tend to render vector graphic better and as much smaller files.

MPEG

Moving Picture Experts Group. A compressed video movie file

Plug-in

A piece of software you add on to your web browser to add extra functionality. Common plug-ins include Flash [ to view Flash movies], QuickTime [ to view video and other rich media] and RealPlayer [ also displays video, and plays streaming music]. If you come across these kinds of files on a website and you don't have the right plug-in, you won't be able to see/hear the content. Fortunately, plug-ins are mostly free and quick to download.

.qt .mov - QuickTime Movie File

QuickTime is one of the most popular video formats on the web, developed by Apple. To play a qt.mov file you need to download the Quicktime Movie Player

Render

The process by which a browser receives an HTML file from the server, reads it, looks for any images or other linked or embedded files and positions all the page elements to appear as designed on your computer screen, subject to your browser rules. Problems arise because different browsers have different rules, therefore present the page elements in a slightly different fashion, often with disasterous results to format layout.

Screen Reader

A program used by visually impaired people to read the contents of a computer screen. Web pages should be designed to be used by a screen reader.

Streaming

Audio and video files can be large files, which take a long time to download from the server to the user computer. Streaming allows the browser to start playing the file before the whole file is downloaded. You will often see the words “buffering” when downloading rich media – this means that an insufficient amount of the file has been downloaded before playing can commence.

Splash Screen

A very annoying entry media that many ignorant websites employ to supposedly make the website look great. Instead, it more often just sends the message – we don’t give a hoot about you and making you wait to get into our site, we are super cool and are shoving it in your face.

URL [Uniform Resource Locator]

A web address of a webpage, so the Internet knows where to find it. Just like a home address or phone number.

User

The word commonly used to describe anyone who visits a website. Also called visitors.

Validation

The test used to ensure that the HTML used to build a webpage conforms to W3 standards.

WAI [Web Accessibility Initiative]

Guidelines established in 1998 to highlight and improve the difficulties experienced by many web users on a day-to-day basis. http://www.w3.org/WAI/

Web Page

A HTML file stored on a web server; displayed in a web browser.

Webmaster

A stealthy breed of person who creates, maintains, and is responsible for a website. Normally prefers to remain elusive from Users, so commonly present themselves in forums using Avatars.

Widgets

Small applications you run on your desktop to create your own customised interactive, multimedia dashborad. Keep track of weather, stock markets, iTunes, Games, Calculators...whatever turns you on. Dock each widget tile into your desktop grid. Various widgets are often packaged together in a toolkit.

WWW [World Wide Web]

The web is the name given to the total collection all the files and web pages stored on web servers around the world, and the connections between them. The web is only ONE part of the Internet, which also includes email, FTP and other ways of sharing information.