Well here we are, at the end of our four-part series on the website
process, from start to finish. Part four isn't really part of the
process, but more of a generic summary of some popular terms and
buzzwords that will help you sound more web-savvy when your Web
Designer shows up at your door.

To get started, I'd like to explain. I'm going to basically define
some terms and give a brief summary where it is needed. If you want
to know more about a specific term or other website buzzword that I
missed, feel free to email me personally at will@.... Now,
on with the dog and pony show!

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The Website Process - Part Four of Four

Web Development - Development usually means the process of
(sometimes physically!)drawing out your website. The original map
is usually called a 'site map'. You may even see that term on sites
sometimes. Site maps show you a map of the site, how to get to
pages that may be of interest to you.

Web Design - Design and development are not the same, although
sometimes they intermingle. Design includes the color scheme and
layout of the actual pages. Do you want a menu on the top or left?
Do you want a footer? How wide should your pages be? Do you want
to use a database or provide all the information statically (see
below for defs)? A good designer will have a few designs for you to
choose from, assuming you portrayed your ideas for your site to him
well.

Hosting - Every webpage on the Internet 'lives' somewhere. Whether
it is on a company server or a shared server, it lives somewhere.
Once the pages are created, they have to be copied to a server, and
then the world has to be 'told' where these pages are. Hosting
includes all of your database and email features, in most cases.
Hosting companies (such as this one) also should provide very good
support, because you don't want your site to be inaccessible!

URL - A Uniform Resource Locator (URL) is the buzzword (or is it
abbreviation?) for your domain name. For example, our URL is
techlh.com. URL's are purchased yearly, with 2,3,5 and 10 year
purchase options available.

Static and Dynamic websites - Static websites are also referred to
as 'hard-coded' sites. The information does not change, or interact
according to what you click while on the site. Dynamic pages change
according to your mouse clicks or information entered. A good
example of a dynamic page is a search engine. When you type in a
query, the server takes that word or phrase, compares it against a
database, and then provides the results 'on the fly'. If someone
changes the database, then the next time you do that same query, it
would change. Dynamic pages are much friendlier and ultimately save
you money, since a change to a database is easier than paying a
developer every time there is an update/change.

Parking - Some companies like to own all the domain names (URLs)
related to their company. So they'll purchase all the options -
the .com, .net, .biz, .info, etc. Then they will do something
called parking: parking that domain on top of their 'real' one. All
the URLs point to the same website, there is no need to create
multiple websites for each domain name.

Email forwarding - Hosting companies usually give you a certain
number of email boxes. They should also give you forwarding
capability. This will allow you to set up a 'virtual' mailbox,
which will then forward to your real email. It makes your website
look more professional, sending an email to info@...
instead of john.doe@....

HTML - Hypertext Markup Language is the basis for all websites.
When on a website, click on VIEW and then SOURCE. This will show
you the actual code that someone (or a program) wrote to display
that page to you.

PHP, C++, ASP, Perl - These are programming languages that allow for
(usually) dynamic websites.

Blog - Short for weB LOG, it usually refers to someone's online
journal. These blogs can be (and are) used for pure entertainment
or business purposes.

Lighthouse Technologies offers a great Web Buyer's Guide to anyone
who wants it. It lists a BUNCH of terms and explains them in some
details. You can get yours at http://www.techlh.com/web_buyer.htm

Do you still have questions? Email me at will@...!
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--------------------

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--------------------

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Look for more interesting and offbeat offers in the future.

For more information on the BlogShares promotion, look at
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Thanks for reading. If you enjoy the newsletter, consider passing
it on to a few friends who may benefit from it!
Will Hanke, Owner
Lighthouse Technologies
www.techlh.com