Terms Letter: S
S/MIME
Secure Multi-purpose Internet Mail Extension (S/MIME) is a specification for encrypting and authenticating MIME data. It is a way of making email messages more secure.
Scripting Language
A programming language designed specifically for Web site programming. Examples are PHP, Perl, Java Script, VBScript, ETC
Search engine
A «search engine» is a Web site that employs bots to search the Web. Search engines take the information gathered by its bots and use it to create a searchable index of the Net. The Major search engines are Google, Yahoo, MSN, AskJeeves
Search form
An HTML form on your site which submits a query to a program or script on the web server which performs search on your site and then returns the results.
Self-extracting Archive
An archive files that can extract itself. It is usually an executable program which contains both the compressed files and the decompressing program. Once executed it extracts the compressed files. You do not need to have the original program that created the archive installed on your computer.
SEO
Short for Search Engine Optimization. That is to optimize your page to rank well and be search engine friendly. The goal is to achieve higher placement in the search results for particular terms/keywords.
SERP
Stands for Search Engine Result Pages/Positions.
Server
A server is a computer program that provides services to other computer programs. In the client/server model, a server is a program that fulfills requests from client programs. A computer application may function as a client with requests for services from other programs and also as a server of requests from other programs. Specific to the Web, a Web Server is the computer program that serves requested HTML pages or files. The Web browser in your computer is a client that requests HTML files from Web servers.
Service Provider
A company that provides certain services, usually for a certain fee. As you are looking at our page you are already using the services of your local ISP(Internet service provider)
Session
It is the period of time during which two parties exchange data. It starts the moment when one of the party establish a connection to the other one and ends once the connection is terminated.
Setup fee
In context of web hosting it is the initial fee that a web hosting company will charge you for setting up a web hosting account. Some companies do not have setup fees. You can use our Price search page to find web hosting companies that do not have setup fees – e.g Free setup hosting plans.
Shopping Cart
It is a web based program/software that allows visitors to your site to browse a product catalog on your site and place orders online. Usually shopping cards are designed to handle various payment method as well as to calculate taxes and shipping fees. Many web hosting companies with e-commerce web hosting plans offer pre-installed shopping carts. However there are many shopping carts available for download as well as there are many paid ones that you can download and install on your own.
Signed applet
A Java applet that is digitally signed by its vendor.
SLIP
Acronym for Serial Line Internet Protocol, SLIP is a serial packet protocol used to connect a remote computer to the Internet using modems or direct connections, SLIP requires an Internet provider with special SLIP accounts. It is similar to PPP protocol
Smileys
Characters used in email, chat, ICQ, MSN, Yahoo messaging that are used to express emotions. For example: 🙂 😛 😉 :X 😐 🙁 :o)
SMTP
Simple Mail Transfer Protocol. A protocol for transferring email messages from one server to another. It is also used by the email programs to retrieve email messages from a mail server
Snail Mail
A normal mail, delivered with regular postal services.
SNMP
Simple Network Management Protocol. Commonly used protocol that is used for network management.
Spam
Unsolicited email message most often for marketing purposes that is being sent out to users that have not subscripted for such information. It is the Email equivalent of junk mail. It is becoming one of the biggest problems in the Internet today.
Spider
An automated program (sometimes called a webcrawler) which crawls over the World Wide Web, gathering web pages for search engines.
SPX
Sequenced Packet Exchange. A common protocol used on Novell networks.
SQL
Structured Query Language. A specialized programming language for sending queries to databases. Most industrial-strength and many smaller database applications can be addressed using SQL. Many web hosting companies have hosting plans that offer SQL databases like – MySQL, PostgreSQL, MS SQL
SSH
Secure Shell. It allows a user to connect remotely to a Unix based web hosting server. All data exchanged between the server and the user is encrypted using a protocol developed by SSH Communications Security. SSH programs provide strong authentication and encrypted communications, replacing less secure access methods like telnet, rsh, rlogin.
SSI
Abbreviation for «Server-Side Includes». A server-side scripting language. SSI scripting commands are embedded within a webpage and are parsed and executed on the web server to generate dynamic HTML pages. Most web hosting companies require SSI files to end with .shtml file extension.
SSL
Secure Sockets Layer. A technology used on the Internet to secure web pages and transactions by means of public key cryptography. A digitally secure communications channel is established between the server and the client after which all data is encrypted. Message integrity is provided by the use of digital signatures, and trust in an individual or a website is ascertained by using digital certificates which are signed by a Certificate Authority acting as a «trusted third party». The encryption strength used in SSL is 40-bit and 128 bit. Before using SSL in eCommerce, you’ll need to get a certificate from a Certificate Authority like Verisign, Thawte, InstantSSL
Static (or dedicated) IP
If a web hosting company offer a dedicated IP with their hosting plan, this means that your site will be assigned its own IP address. Most shared hosting plans do not have this option. However some web hosting companies will give you a dedicated IP address if you need to install SSL certificate for example.
STP
Shielded Twisted Pair. Copper cable that includes one or more sets of cable pairs which have been molded into an insulating material and covered by a braided shielding conductor. STP offers better noise protection than unshielded twisted pair (UTP) but is much more expensive and more difficult to use.
Streaming
Streaming audio or video is an audio or video is a technique which allows an audio signal to be listened to and a video signal to viewed while it is being transmitted from a Web site without requiring a full download of the streamed media file. Most popular streaming formats are Real Audio/Video as well as Windows Media Audio/Video.
Subdomain
Subdomain is a way to divide your web site into sections with short and easy to remember names. For example you can have a subdomain like eshop.yourdomain.com. Most web hosting companies have subdomains as a feature in their hosting plans.
Surfing
Informal term for exploring the internet (as in «surfing the ‘net»).
Switch
A device that improves network performance by segmenting the network and reducing competition for bandwidth. When a switch port receives data packets, it forwards those packets only to the appropriate port for the intended recipient. It also provides greater security than hubs.