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METROMEMETICS.COM : THE LEXICON :

The Lexicon of New Media Terms

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Note: These entries have been loosely complied from hundreds of online and print sources. Make independent confirmation and proper citation before using any of this material for professional or academic purposes.

Terms beginning with "A"

  • Access: Microsoft's desktop database application.
  • ACID: Atomic, consistent, isolated and durable - four properties of a valid data transaction.
  • ACL: Access control list, how Windows NT stores user permissions to use a disk file or directory.
  • acquisition: What marketers call is when you try something and like it. A click on a banner is a trial; when you buy something from the banner's advertiser you've been aquired.
  • Acrobat: Adobe Inc.'s cross-platform document format designed to keep a document looking the same regardless of the user's system.
  • action: The user's part of the interactive experience, like using a form or clicking on a link.
  • ActiveX: Microsoft's Internet technology for creating software controls which enhance Web pages or run as stand-alone applications.
  • ADN: Advanced Digital Network, usually refers to a 56Kbps leased-line.
  • ADO: ActiveX data objects, a way to provide data access to relational databases and other data stores.
  • Adobe: Software company which makes programs for designing print and Web content; main products include Illustrator, Acrobat and Photoshop.
  • Adobe PageMill: An early WYSIWYG HTML editor later replaced by GoLive.
  • AI: Artifical intelligence, ranging from anticipating related search terms to turning off your spaceship's life support system.
  • Alertbox: Heuristics guru Jakob Nielesen's online adivce column at www.useit.com focused on Web design and usablity.
  • alpha version: New software in its earliest stages of development.
  • Amazon.com: One of the first big online retailers, originally the site featured mainly books but later it expanded to offer several kinds of products.
  • anaonymous FTP: Using the word "anonymous" as a generic login to an file transfer protocol (FTP) site.
  • Andreessen, Marc: Creator of Mosiac and Netscape, the first graphic Web browsers.
  • ANSI: American National Standards Institute, the body responsible for standards like ASCII.
  • AOL: American Online, the largest Internet Access Provider in the U.S. reknown for its easy but limiting software.
  • Apache: A popular Web server made to run on the UNIX OS platform.
  • API: Application program interface, the core common routines an OS uses for software.
  • AppleScript: A scripting language created to run with the Macintosh OS and some Mac applications.
  • applet: A small program designed to run within another application, such a Web page headline applet running within a Web browser like Netscape.
  • application: A program created to do a users or computers do specific tasks, like writing letters in Word or cropping images in Photoshop.
  • archie: An Internet file sharing/searching protocol which was displaced by the World Wide Web after 1990.
  • architecture: How a Web site's components like sections, pages or media are arranged.
  • ARPANET: An early form of the Internet designed to keep computers talking after a nuclear war.
  • array: An indexed collection of data values, often used by a script or database to select chunks of information.
  • ASCII art: Crude drawings and images made up of ASCII characters.
  • ASCII text: American Standard Code for Information Interchange, standard computer characters like text and numbers.
  • ASP: Active Server Pages, Web documents which mix HTML and VBScript and run off of Microsoft Web servers.
  • ASP: Application Service Provider, a company which creates customized programs for other companies to use.
  • ATM: Automated Teller Machines, also called cash machines.
  • Aurora: Code name for the compnent of Netscape's post-4.0 browser which manages differnt types of files.
  • AvantGo: Company and product aimed at delivering Web content to PalmPilot users.
  • awareness: How well-known a company, brand or product is; for example, AOL and Coca-Cola have high awareness.

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Note: These entries have been loosely complied from hundreds of online and print sources. Make independent confirmation and proper citation before using any of this material for professional or academic purposes.

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