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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 "D"

  • daemon: A program which runs continually within a network node to handle tasks such as directing mail or routing data.
  • data binding: Substituting a real value in a program after it has been compiled; in dHTML, data binding allows a browser to retieve content from a database and view it in a table.
  • data type: How a specific set of numbers or letters are supposed to be recognized and used in a script or program; example include intergers, strings, Booleans, functions, and objects.
  • datagram: The standard format for a packet of data, as arranged by IP.
  • degrade: How well a Web page displays in older or less popular Web browsers. Designs made with simple HTML usually "degrade gracefully" but cutting edge designs don't.
  • demographics: The characteristics of people in a given market; for example, age, sex, incomre, professions, martial status, where they live, etc.
  • denial-of-service attack: An intentional overload of requests to a Web site or online service aimed at crashing the target's system.
  • desktop: A metaphorical directory mapping feature of Windows and Mac OS showing icons for drives and files behind floating window boxes.
  • desktop computer: A personal computer small enough to fit on your desk but too big to be considered easily portable like a laptop or PalmPilot.
  • destination site: A Web site designed to attract users for its unique content, not just as a step along with way like portal sites or search engines.
  • dial-up: Accessing the Internet through a modem which dials into a network each time a user starts an online session.
  • direct response: How many users acted based on an ad; ususally this is a measurement of clickthroughs while ignoring the value of Web branding.
  • Director: Macromedia's interactive multimedia authoring application; part of the company's family of Shockwave tools.
  • Disney Corp.: More than Mickey Mouse, this corporation also owns ESPN, ABC, the Go Network, and hundreds of other media and technology companies.
  • DNS: Domain name system, an Internet service that translates domain names (www.something.com) into IP addresses (207.46.138.11) which are used to find computers connected to the Internet.
  • Dogpile.com: A Web search engine site.
  • DOM: Document Object Model, the proposed specification for how objects on a Web page are represented. Microsoft and Netscape each advocate their own DOM.
  • domain: A part of the DNS name.
  • DOS: Disk Operating System, Microsoft's original operating system for PCs. DOS still runs under Windows 95/98, but not WinNT/2000.
  • dot-com: A company involved in e-commerce or another Internet-dependent business.
  • dot-Communism: The rapid growth of Web sites and Internet-related business that has been going on since the early-1990s.
  • DoubleClick: An Internet advertising company.
  • downloading: Moving or copying a file from a remote computer to a local network or desktop computer.
  • Dreamweaver: Macromedia Inc.'s WYSIWYG HTML editor used to create Web pages.
  • Dreamweaver UltraDev: A version of Macromedia's WYSIWYG HTML editor aimed at designers working with database-driven Web sites.
  • Drudge, Matt: Online columnist who gained attention breaking news on his Web site during the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal.
  • DSL: Digital subscriber lines, a broadband delivery method using standard copper telephone wires but many times faster than modem dial-up services.
  • DTD: Document Type Definition, rules that define how SGML rules are applied to a particular markup language.
  • duotone: Images that only display two colors, usually the result of color tinting a grayscale image over a different specific color.
  • DVD: Digital Video Disk, a removeable media format of data storage - bascially a compact disc which holds seven times as much stuff.
  • Dyson, Esther: A popular Web columnist, author of Release 2.0; she is NOT the daughter of Freeman Dyson, inventor of the Dyson Sphere.

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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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