Web Hosting Glossary

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Firewall
A security measure whereby all IP traffic can be managed in as much detail as is necessary. This is used to disallow unauthorized kinds of traffic, traffic from specific IP addresses, or any other such form of traffic. This can be thought of as a virtual security gate that controls all traffic into, and even out of, a network.

Flash
This is a multimedia format and application created by MacroMedia, now owned by Adobe. Flash allows a person to create highly functional and visually appealing web content, and has become the standard format for such content. It is known to be rather difficult to learn, but its capabilities are impressive. It provides capabilities for audio, video, streaming, and vector animations, and is able to communicate with PHP and with databases, allowing for dynamic content.

FrontPage
This is a web design and development application developed by Microsoft, and distributed as both a standalone application and as a component in Microsoft’s Office suite of applications. Although FrontPage can work just fine on its own as an HTML editor, many of its functions require the presence of FrontPage Server Extensions on the web server.

FrontPage Hosting
A web hosting account which has FrontPage server extensions installed, allowing for the functionality of many of FrontPage’s advanced features. It is an extension of standard hosting, rather than a completely different kind of hosting in and of itself.

FrontPage Server Extensions
A suite of server add-ons which allow FrontPage to communicate with the web server in a manner necessary for the proprietary features of FrontPage to function. These are not necessary in order to use FrontPage, but many of FrontPage’s features rely on them, such as FrontPage forms.

FTP (File Transfer Protocol)
An acronym for File Transfer Protocol, this is the standard protocol used to transfer files to and from machines on the internet. This is distinct from, say HTTP, which is another protocol altogether. Although some browsers, such as Microsoft Internet Explorer, have built in FTP capabilities, the most common, and most functional, way to use FTP is by way of an FTP client, such as WS_FTP, CuteFTP, or even a command line.