V

viral marketing
A marketing concept that induces internet users to pass on a marketing message to other users, thereby creating a potentially exponential growth in the message's visibility and effect. Viral marketing is basically the internet's equivalent of mouth-of-mouth advertising.

virtual domain
A domain hosted on a virtual server.

virtual hosting
The provision of web server hosting service so that an individual or company doesn't have to purchase and maintain its own web server and connections to the internet.

virtual server
Server at someone else's location that is shared by multiple website owners so that each owner can use and administer it as though they had complete control of the server.

virus
Piece of programming code designed to cause havoc to computer systems and usually spread by way of email to other computers. You can protect your computer from viruses by scanning all email attachments and downloaded software using anti-virus software.

vortal (vertical industry portal)
Web site that provides a gateway, or portal, to information related to a particular industry, such as automobile, health care, or insurance.

W

WAP (Wireless Application Protocol)
An open international standard for applications that use wireless communication. For example, e.g. Email and internet access from a mobile phone.

WASP (Wireless Applications Service Provider)
An organization that provides content and applications for wireless devices.

WAV (Wave file)
A popular audio file format that has become a standard PC audio file format for everything from system and game sounds to CD-quality audio. Files in this format end in ".wav".

Web browser
Program that lets you view webpages on the World Wide Web. Popular browsers are Google Chrome, Firefox and Microsoft Internet Explorer.
https://www.google.com/intl/en/chrome/browser/
http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/new/
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/

Web design
The development of a website.

Web directory
Searchable subject guide typically organized by major topics and subtopics. The best-known directories are LookSmart, the Open Directory Project and Yahoo.

Web ring
Group of related sites all interlinked together. Navigation is usually by going forward and backward along the "ring" of sites.

Web server
A computer that serves webpages and files to internet users.

Web traffic
The number of visitors to a website over a given period of time.

Web usability
The user-friendliness and ease-of-use of a website to achieve specified goals.

WebCrawler
WebCrawler was acquired by InfoSpace from the now defunct Excite@Home Network. As a result, InfoSpace has decided to replace the WebCrawler search engine results with Overture pay per click search engine results. So search results on both WebCrawler and Overture are identical.

weblog / blog
Web page made up of usually short, frequently updated posts (links, commentary, news, diaries, project updates, etc.) that are arranged chronologically.

WebTV
Microsoft's WebTV provides web access via a standard television using a set-top modem box similar to a cable TV box.

Whois
An online service that tells you who owns a particular second-level ".com," ".net," and ".org" domain name.

Windows CE
An operating system based on the Microsoft Windows operating system designed for mobile computers and devices.

word stemming
Concept used by some search engines to return search results that include keywords that extend beyond what you searched for.

WWW (World Wide Web)
Global network of computers on the internet that provide pages of information in HTML.

WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get)
Web site editor or program in which the screen displays what the end result will look like while the document is being created.

X

XML (Extensible Markup Language)
Relatively new language which provides more efficient data delivery over the web. XML is similar to HTML and both are used to describe the contents of a page or file.

Y

Yahoo!
A popular web portal offering an array of internet services.
http://www.yahoo.com

Z

ZIP file
A compressed file. You need a file unzipping program, such as PKZIP or WinZip, to decompress compressed ZIP files.
http://www.pkware.com
http://www.winzip.com