Bandwidth. How much information can be transferred to and from the visitors to your website in a certain time frame (usually one month) before you incur an additional fee and/or have to upgrade your account to the next level of service. This includes the information transferred by page views on your website, by visitors uploading and downloading information to your website, and information transferred to and from your domain by email.

Database. A collection of information stored in a computer in a systematic way, often used on websites to support inventory listings, catalogs, message forums, and photo galleries, among other things.

Domain name. The text name (e.g. www.yoursitename.com) corresponding to the numeric IP address of a computer on the Internet.

Forum. Also known as a message forum, a message board, or a bulletin board, a forum allows for messages to be posted and kept on a website for future viewing.

FrontPage. A Microsoft software product used to design Web pages.

GB. Also known as a gigabyte, this is a unit of computer storage measurement consisting of about a thousand megabytes (MB) of data.

Hosting. The process of storing your website pages on a computer (a Web server) and making them available to the world via the Internet.

IP address. Each machine connected to the Internet has an address known as an Internet Protocol (IP) address. The IP address takes the form of four numbers separated by dots (e.g. 123.45.67.890).

Linux. An operating system based on Unix (another operating system), used to run Web servers.

MB. Also known as a megabyte, this is a unit of computer storage measurement consisting of about a million bytes (or 1,024 kilobytes (KB)) of data.

MySQL. A database that uses a language called SQL (Structured Query Language) for adding, accessing, and processing data in a database. MySQL typically run on Linux/Unix servers in conjunction with PHP. MySQL is noted for its speed, reliability, and flexibility.

Operating system. The software program on a computer that manages all of the other programs on a computer.

Secure server. A Web server that is capable of establishing encrypted communications to protect sensitive information being transmitted over the Internet.

Server. A computer that holds information and responds to requests for information.

Tracking. Provides detailed and accurate counting and behavior information about the visitors to your website.

Traffic. The amount of visitors and visits received by a website.

Uptimes. The time during which a computer (such as a Web server) is functioning without failure.

Windows. An operating system with a graphical user interface used to run Web servers.