Internet Golssary & Popular Internet Terms

Internet Glossary

The world of SEO and Internet Marketing has gained considerable popularity in the last few years, and has its own language and dictionary of terms. We have compiled a list of some of the most used words in Search Engine Optimization and other Internet related terms to help you.

Select a letter to see the terms starting with this letter.

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Glossary starting with 'H'

Clicking on the glossary term will take you to information about that term.
• Hack • Hacker • Hacktivist • HAGO • Handheld Device Markup Language • Handle • Handshake • Hardware Handshake • hash • HDCP • HDLC • HDML • HDSL • HDTP • HDTV • HDTV-over-IP • head • header • Helper Application • Helper Program • HHOK • High Availability • High-bit-rate Digital Subscriber Line • High-data-rate Digital Subscriber Line • High-Definition Television • High-Performance File System • Hijackware • History • Hit • Holy War • Home Automation • Home Controller • Home Network • Home Page • Homebrew • Homogeneous Network • Honeynet Project • Honeypot • Honker • Hop • Host • Host Integration Server • Host Name • Host Not Responding • Host Unreachable • Hosting • Hot Link • HotBot • HotJava • Hotlist • Hotmail • HotWired • Hover Button • HPFS • HTCPCP • HTML • HTML attribute • HTML Code Fragment • HTML Document • HTML Editor • HTML Extensions • HTML page • HTML Server Control • HTML Tag • HTML Validation Service • HTTP • HTTP Daemon • HTTP Next Generation • HTTP Server • HTTP Status Codes • HTTP Streaming • HTTP-NG • HTTPd • HTTPS • hub • Hybrid Network • Hybris Virus • Hyper Text Coffee Pot Control Protocol • Hyperlink • Hypermedia • Hypertext • Hypertext Link • Hypertext Markup Language • Hypertext Transfer Protocol • Hypertext Transfer Protocol Daemon • Hypertext Transfer Protocol Next Generation • HyperWave • HYTELNET • HyTime

#	Term and Description
1.	Hack 1. To apply creative ingenuity to a programming problem or project. 2. To alter the behavior of an application or an operating system by modifying its code rather than by running the program and selecting options.
2.	Hacker 1. A computerphile; a person who is totally engrossed in computer technology and computer programming or who likes to examine the code of operating systems and other programs to see how they work. 2. A person, more commonly considered a cracker, who uses computer expertise for illicit ends, such as by gaining access to computer systems without permission and tampering with programs and data.
3.	Hacktivist An individual who furthers political or social agendas through hacking activity. Hacktivists may break into computer systems to disrupt traffic or cause confusion, and may alter Web pages or e-mail to display content sympathetic to a specific cause.
4.	HAGO Have A Good One. An expression used to conclude e-mail messages or in signing off from IRC.
5.	Handheld Device Markup Language See "HDML".
6.	Handle 1. In online communication, such as chats and bulletin boards, the name a person uses to identify himself or herself. A handle is comparable to an alias or a nickname and is like those used with CB radio. 2. A unique alphanumeric identifier of up to 10 characters assigned by InterNIC to the domain names, contacts, and network records in its domain name database. The NIC handle is used as a shorthand means of finding records and ensuring accuracy in the database.
7.	Handshake A series of signals acknowledging that communication or the transfer of information can take place between computers or other devices. A hardware handshake is an exchange of signals over specific wires (other than the data wires) in which each device indicates its readiness to send or receive data. A software handshake consists of signals transmitted over the same wires used to transfer data, as in modem-to-modem communications over telephone lines.
8.	Hardware Handshake 1. Built into a system using hardware such as logic circuits, rather than accomplished through programming. 2. Physically connected to a system or a network, as by means of a network connector board and cable.
9.	hash In many FTP client programs, a command that instructs the FTP client to display a pound sign (#) each time it sends or receives a block of data.
10.	HDCP High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection.
11.	HDLC High-level Data Link Control.
12.	HDML Handheld Device Markup Language. A simple, firstgeneration markup language used to define hypertext-like content and applications for wireless and other handheld devices with small displays. This language is used primarily to create Web sites viewed via wireless phones and personal digital assistants (PDAs). HDML provides content consisting mainly of text with limited graphics.
13.	HDSL High-bit-rate Digital Subscriber Line.
14.	HDTP Handheld Device Transport Protocol. Protocol that enables a handheld device, such as a wireless phone or personal digital assistant (PDA), to access the Internet. HDTP regulates the input and output of data interpreted by the device�s microbrowser.
15.	HDTV High-Definition TeleVision. A new television display standard that doubles the existing screen resolution and increases the screen aspect ratio from 4:3 to 16:9. This aspect ratio creates a television screen that is shaped like a movie Screen.
16.	HDTV-over-IP An Internet-based delivery option for High Definition Television (HDTV). HDTV-over-IP provides options for new and expanded services to ISPs, cable companies, telecommunications carriers, and business intranets, with its most extensive use in education. Universities use high-speed networks such as Internet2 to provide the intensive bandwidth demanded by HDTVover- IP. Because HDTV-over-IP offers extreme image fidelity and sharpness, it is seen as ideal for delivery of distance education courses requiring precise visuals for which conventional video cannot provide sufficient resolution.
17.	head In HTML, a section of coding that precedes the body of a document and is used to describe the document itself (title, author, and so on) rather than the elements within the document.
18.	header An information structure that precedes and identifies the information that follows, such as a block of bytes in communications, a file on a disk, a set of records in a database, or an executable program.
19.	Helper Application An application intended to be launched by a Web browser when the browser downloads a file that it is not able to process itself. Examples of helper applications are sound and movie players. Helper applications generally must be obtained and installed by users; they usually are not included in the browser itself. Many current Web browsers no longer require helper applications for common multimedia file formats. Also called "helper program".
20.	Helper Program See "Helper Application".
21.	HHOK Ha, Ha, Only Kidding. An indication of humor or facetiousness often used in e-mail and online communications.
22.	High Availability The ability of a system or device to be usable when it is needed. When expressed as a percentage, high availability is the actual service time divided by the required service time. Although high availability does not guarantee that a system will have no downtime, a network often is considered highly available if it achieves 99.999 percent network uptime.
23.	High-bit-rate Digital Subscriber Line See "HDSL".
24.	High-data-rate Digital Subscriber Line See "HDSL".
25.	High-Definition Television See "HDTV".
26.	High-Performance File System See "HPFS".
27.	Hijackware Software that appears to be a useful plug-in or utility, but which will take over a user's Internet surfing or shopping activity by creating pop-up advertisements for competing products or redirecting the user to competitor's Web sites. Typically users will download and install a hijackware product believing it to be free browser enhancement software. Businesses pay the makers of hijackware products to push their shopping sites and product advertising onto Internet users, sometimes to the point of denying the user access to competing Web sites.
28.	History A list of the user's actions within a program, such as commands entered in an operating system shell, menus passed through using Gopher, or links followed using a Web browser.
29.	Hit 1. A successful retrieval of data from a cache rather than from the slower hard disk or RAM. 2. A successful retrieval of a record matching a query in a database. 3. Retrieval of a file from a Web site. Each separate file accessed on a Web page, including HTML documents and graphics, counts as a hit. 4. In computer war and other games, when a character is successfully fired on, attacked, or otherwise taken out.
30.	Holy War An argument in a mailing list, newsgroup, or other forum over some emotional and controversial topic, such as abortion or Northern Ireland. Introducing a holy war that is off the purported topic of the forum is considered a violation of netiquette.
31.	Home Automation The process of programmatically controlling appliances, lighting, heating and cooling systems, and other devices in a home network.
32.	Home Controller A software or hardware interface used to control the systems in a home network for home automation.
33.	Home Network 1. A communications network in a home or building used for home automation. Home networks can use wiring (existing or new) or wireless connections. See also home automation, home controller. 2. Two or more computers in a home that are interconnected to form a local area network (LAN).
34.	Home Page 1. A document intended to serve as a starting point in a hypertext system, especially the World Wide Web. A home page is called a start page in Microsoft Internet Explorer. 2. An entry page for a set of Web pages and other files in a Web site. 3. A personal Web page, usually for an individual.
35.	Homebrew Hardware or software developed by an individual at home or by a company for its own use rather than as a commercial product, such as hardware developed by electronics hobbyists when microcomputers first appeared in the 1970s.
36.	Homogeneous Network A network on which all the hosts are similar and only one protocol is used.
37.	Honeynet Project A nonprofit security research group created to collect and analyze data on hacking tools and methods by maintaining a decoy network of computers that is potentially attractive to hackers. The Honeynet Project sets up entire networks of computers in different combinations of operating systems and security to realistically simulate those used in businesses and organizations. Hackers are lured to the network where all inbound and outbound data is captured and contained to help researchers learn about hacker tactics and motives.
38.	Honeypot A security program designed to lure and distract a network attacker with decoy data. The honeypot appears to be a system that the intruder would like to crack but which, in reality, is safely separated from the actual network. This allows network administrators to observe attackers and study their activities without the intruders knowing they are being monitored. Honeypot programs get their name from the "like a bear to honey" metaphor.
39.	Honker A slang term for a hacker, the term originated in China. The Honker Union of China is an active group of Chinese hackers with nationalistic or hacktivist aims. The Honker Union of China has claimed patriotic motivation for defacing Japanese and U.S. Web sites, hacking U.S. networks, and releasing the Lion worm and other malicious programs.
40.	Hop In data communications, one segment of the path between routers on a geographically dispersed network. A hop is comparable to one "leg" of a journey that includes intervening stops between the starting point and the destination. The distance between each of those stops (routers) would be a communications hop.
41.	Host 1. The main computer in a mainframe or minicomputer environment that is, the computer to which terminals are connected. 2. In PC-based networks, a computer that provides access to other computers. 3. On the Internet or other large networks, a server computer that has access to other computers on the network. A host computer provides services, such as news, mail, or data, to computers that connect to it. 4. To provide services to client computers that connect from remote location, for example, to offer Internet access or to be the source for a news or mail service.
42.	Host Integration Server A software application from Microsoft Corporation to allow businesses to integrate existing application, data, and network assets with new business applications and technologies. Host Integration Server preserves a company's existing legacy infrastructure and investments, while providing out-of-the-box development tools that enable integration with client/server and Web networks.
43.	Host Name The name of a specific server on a specific network within the Internet, leftmost in the complete host specification. For example, www.microsoft.com indicates the server called "www" within the network at Microsoft Corporation.
44.	Host Not Responding An error message issued by an Internet client indicating that the computer to which a request has been sent is refusing the connection or is otherwise unavailable to respond to the request.
45.	Host Unreachable An error condition that occurs when the particular computer to which the user wishes to connect over a TCP/IP network cannot be accessed on its LAN because it is either down or disconnected from the network. The error message the user sees may or may not be phrased in this manner.
46.	Hosting The practice of providing computer and communication facilities to businesses or individuals, especially for use in creating Web and electronic commerce sites. A hosting service can provide high-speed access to the Internet, redundant power and data storage, and 24-hour maintenance at lower cost than implementing the same services independently.
47.	Hot Link A connection between two programs that instructs the second program to make changes to data when changes occur in the first program. For example, a word processor or desktop publishing program could update a document based on information obtained from a database through a hot link.
48.	HotBot An Internet search engine developed by Inktomi Corporation and HotWired, Inc. Using Slurp, a Web robot, this tool maintains a database of documents that can be matched to key words entered by the user, in a fashion similar to other search engines. HotBot incorporates many workstations in parallel to search and index Web pages.
49.	HotJava A Web browser developed by Sun Microsystems, Inc., that is optimized to run Java applications and applets embedded in Web pages.
50.	Hotlist A list of frequently accessed items, such as Web pages in a Web browser, from which the user can select one. The hotlist of Web pages is called the bookmark list in Netscape Navigator and Lynx and is called the Favorites folder in Microsoft Internet Explorer.
51.	Hotmail A Web-based e-mail service launched in 1996 and owned and operated by Microsoft since December 1997. Hotmail provides free e-mail accounts and can be used by anyone with Internet access and Web browsing software.
52.	HotWired A Web site affiliated with Wired magazine that contains news, gossip, and other information about the culture of the Internet.
53.	Hover Button Text or an image on a Web page, usually in the form of a button, that changes appearance when a cursor passes over it. The hover button may change color, blink, display a pop-up with additional information, or produce other similar effects. Hover buttons are usually implemented through ActiveX objects and scripting, although hover behavior can also be set through HTML attributes.
54.	HPFS High Performance File System. A file system available with OS/2 versions 1.2 and later.
55.	HTCPCP Hyper Text Coffee Pot Control Protocol.
56.	HTML Hypertext Markup Language. The markup language used for documents on the World Wide Web. A tag-based notation language used to format documents that can then be interpreted and rendered by an Internet browser. HTML is an application of SGML (Standard Generalized Markup Language) that uses tags to mark elements, such as text and graphics, in a document to indicate how Web browsers should display these elements to the user and should respond to user actions such as activation of a link by means of a key press or mouse click. HTML 2, defined by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), included features of HTML common to all Web browsers as of 1994 and was the first version of HTML widely used on the World Wide Web. HTML+ was proposed for extending HTML 2 in 1994, but it was never implemented. HTML 3, which also was never standardized or fully implemented by a major browser developer, introduced tables. HTML 3.2 incorporated features widely implemented as of early 1996, including tables, applets, and the ability to flow text around images. HTML 4, the latest specification, supports style sheets and scripting languages and includes internationalization and accessibility features. Future HTML development will be carried out by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). Most Web browsers, notably Netscape Navigator and Internet Explorer, recognize HTML tags beyond those included in the present standard.
57.	HTML attribute A value within an HTML tag that assigns additional properties to the object being defined. Some HTML editing software assigns some attributes automatically when you create an object such as a paragraph or table.
58.	HTML Code Fragment HTML code that you add to a Web page to create features such as a script, a counter, or a scrolling marquee. Often used in the context of webrings to add a link and standard graphics or automation to an individual page to indicate membership.
59.	HTML Document A hypertext document that has been coded with HTML.
60.	HTML Editor A software program used to create and modify HTML documents (Web pages). Most HTML editors include a method for inserting HTML tags without actually having to type out each tag. A number of HTML editors will also automatically reformat a document with HTML tags, based on formatting codes used by the word processing program in which the document was created.
61.	HTML Extensions A feature or setting that is an extension to the formal HTML specification. Extensions may not be supported by all Web browsers, but they may be used widely by Web authors. An example of an extension is marquee scrolling text.
62.	HTML page A document on the World Wide Web. A Web page consists of an HTML file, with associated files for graphics and scripts, in a particular directory on a particular machine (and thus identifiable by a URL). Usually a Web page contains links to other Web pages.
63.	HTML Server Control An ASP.NET server control that belongs to the System.Web.UI.HtmlControls namespace. An HTML server control maps directly to an HTML element and is declared on an ASP.NET page as an HTML element marked by a runat=server attribute. In contrast to Web server controls, HTML server controls do not have an <asp:ControlName> tag prefix.
64.	HTML Tag In markup languages such as SGML and HTML, a code that identifies an element in a document, such as a heading or a paragraph, for the purposes of formatting, indexing, and linking information in the document. In both SGML and HTML, a tag is generally a pair of angle brackets that contain one or more letters and numbers. Usually one pair of angle brackets is placed before an element, and another pair is placed after, to indicate where the element begins and ends. For example, in HTML, <B>hello world</B> indicates that the phrase "hello world" should be bold.
65.	HTML Validation Service A service used to confirm that a Web page uses valid HTML according to the latest standard and/or that its hyperlinks are valid. An HTML validation service can catch small syntactical errors in HTML coding as well as deviations from the HTML standards.
66.	HTTP Hypertext Transfer Protocol. The protocol used to carry requests from a browser to a Web server and to transport pages from Web servers back to the requesting browser. Although HTTP is almost universally used on the Web, it is not an especially secure protocol.
67.	HTTP Daemon See "HTTPd".
68.	HTTP Next Generation See "HTTP-NG".
69.	HTTP Server 1. Server software that uses HTTP to serve up HTML documents and any associated files and scripts when requested by a client, such as a Web browser. The connection between client and server is usually broken after the requested document or file has been served. HTTP servers are used on Web and Intranet sites. Also called: Web server. See also HTML, HTTP, server (definition 2). Compare application server. 2. Any machine on which an HTTP server program is running.
70.	HTTP Status Codes Three-digit codes sent by an HTTP server that indicate the results of a request for data. Codes beginning with 1 respond to requests that the client may not have finished sending; with 2, successful requests; with 3, further action that the client must take; with 4, requests that failed because of client error; and with 5, requests that failed because of server error.
71.	HTTP Streaming The process of downloading streaming digital media using an HTTP server (a standard Internet server) rather than a server designed specifically to transmit streaming media. HTTP streaming downloads the media file onto a computer, which plays the downloaded file as it becomes available.
72.	HTTP-NG Hypertext Transfer Protocol Next Generation. A standard under development by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) for improving performance and enabling the addition of features such as security. Whereas the current version of HTTP establishes a connection each time a request is made, HTTP-NG will set up one connection (which consists of separate channels for control information and data) for an entire session between a particular client and a particular server.
73.	HTTPd Hypertext Transfer Protocol Daemon. A small, fast HTTP server that was available free from NCSA. HTTPd was the predecessor for Apache. Also called "HTTP Daemon".
74.	HTTPS 1. Acronym for Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure. A variation of HTTP that provides for encryption and transmission through a secure port. HTTPS was devised by Netscape and allows HTTP to run over a security mechanism known as SSL (Secure Sockets Layer). See also HTTP, SSL. 2. Web server software for Windows NT. Developed by the European Microsoft Windows NT Academic Centre (EMWAC) at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, it offers such features as WAIS search capability.
75.	hub In a network, a device joining communication lines at a central location, providing a common connection to all devices on the network. The term is an analogy to the hub of a wheel.
76.	Hybrid Network A network constructed of different topologies, such as ring and star.
77.	Hybris Virus A slow-spreading but persistent self-updating Internet worm first detected in late 2000. The Hybris virus is activated whenever an infected computer is connected to the Internet. It attaches itself to all outgoing e-mail messages, maintains a list of all e-mail addresses in the headers of incoming e-mail messages, and sends copies of itself to all e-mail addresses on the list. Hybris is difficult to eradicate because it updates itself regularly, accessing and downloading updates and plug-ins from anonymous postings to the alt.comp.virus newsgroup. Hybris incorporates downloaded extensions into its code, and it e-mails its modified form to additional potential victims. Hybris often includes a spiral plug-in which produces a spinning disk on top of any active windows on a user's screen.
78.	Hyper Text Coffee Pot Control Protocol See "HTCPCP".
79.	Hyperlink A connection between an element in a hypertext document, such as a word, a phrase, a symbol, or an image, and a different element in the document, another document, a file, or a script. The user activates the link by clicking on the linked element, which is usually underlined or in a color different from the rest of the document to indicate that the element is linked. Hyperlinks are indicated in a hypertext document through tags in markup languages such as SGML and HTML. These tags are generally not visible to the user. Also called "hot link", "hypertext link", "link".
80.	Hypermedia The combination of text, video, graphic images, sound, hyperlinks, and other elements in the form typical of Web documents. Essentially, hypermedia is the modern extension of hypertext, the hyperlinked, textbased documents of the original Internet. Hypermedia attempts to offer a working and learning environment that parallels human thinking�that is, one in which the user can make associations between topics, rather than move sequentially from one to the next, as in an alphabetic list. For example, a hypermedia presentation on navigation might include links to astronomy, bird migration, geography, satellites, and radar.
81.	Hypertext Text linked together in a complex, nonsequential web of associations in which the user can browse through related topics. For example, in an article with the word iron, traveling among the links to iron might lead the user to the periodic table of the elements or a map of the migration of metallurgy in Iron Age Europe. The term hypertext was coined in 1965 to describe documents presented by a computer that express the nonlinear structure of ideas as opposed to the linear format of books, film, and speech. The term hypermedia, more recently introduced, is nearly synonymous but emphasizes the nontextual element, such as animation, recorded sound, and video.
82.	Hypertext Link See "Hyperlink".
83.	Hypertext Markup Language See "HTML".
84.	Hypertext Transfer Protocol See "HTTP".
85.	Hypertext Transfer Protocol Daemon See "HTTPd".
86.	Hypertext Transfer Protocol Next Generation See "HTTP-NG".
87.	HyperWave A World Wide Web server that specializes in database manipulation and multimedia.
88.	HYTELNET A menu-driven index of Internet resources that are accessible via telnet, including library catalogs, databases and bibliographies, bulletin boards, and network information services. HYTELNET can operate through a client program on a computer connected to the Internet, or through the World Wide Web.
89.	HyTime Hypermedia/Time-based Structuring Language. A markup language standard that describes links within and between documents and hypermedia objects. The standard defines structures and some semantic features, enabling description of traversal and presentation information of objects.

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