Web Hosting Glossary A

Access: Access is a database system by Microsoft. Used in both web applications, and regular desktop applications. Usually ASP is used to integrate with this database from a website, and Windows hosting is usually required for an Access database to run.

Anonymous FTP: This is a method for uploading and downloading (sending files to your webspace, and bringing them down from your webspace) using FTP but does not require a username or password to do so. Generally the username Anonymous is used, and either no password, or sometimes your email address as the password. The advatages to this are that users of your site or webspace can freely upload and download files but of course there's a lack of security.

Apache: Apache is the software that resides on a web hosts server which allows it to serve webpages on the internet. The software is opensource and freely available across the net. Generally it's run on servers using Linux, Unix, or FreeBSD as an operating system. It can be run on windows although generally Apache's major competitor Microsoft IIS is used on windows based machines.

Applet: usually used in conjunction with the term Java, as a Java Applet. These are small programs that run inside your web browser such as Internet Explorer. They're only small and are developed to do exact particular tasks. They run in what's known as a sandbox, under protection so they cannot perform any unathorized or harmful actions.

ASP: ASP is an acronym that stands for Active Server Pages. This is a type of programming language developed a few years ago that is generally used for working with dynamic content on webpages. ASP usually must be run with Windows hosting, therefore it's important to be sure to look for a windows server if you're going to be running ASP pages. ASP integrates with MSSQL (microsoft sequal database), and Microsoft access (see above) to create dynamic database driven website generally. While it is a very robust coding language, it's major competitor PHP seems to be more widely used.

ASP Hosting: ASP hosting, is web hosting that supports Active Server Pages. Generally this is a Windows based web hosting package, but there are a select few Linux/Unix hosting providers that do support it.

Autoresponder: An Autoresponder is a simple function to a web hosting account that works with your email addresses. Just like it sounds an Autoresponder can be setup to automatically reply to messages that are sent to a particular email address. These are useful for Away or Vacation messages, or for automating a sales process. i.e. A customer makes a purchase from your site, payment is processed to a certain email address, and that address automatically responds with a thank you to your new customer once the email is recieved. They can be a simple yet very powerful tool for marketing online, and customer service.