Application A Web application is a combination of one or more interactive Web pages that can invoke and integrate Browsers, Active Server Pages (ASP), server-side Visual Basic or Java scripts, Access or SQL Server databases, HTML, XML, Cookies, and/or Component Object Model (COM) objects to create a dynamic website for bidirectional submitting, retrieving, and storing of information. In contrast, a Web application is not needed to deliver a unidirectional medium for publishing and broadcasting static electronic documents.

Active Server Pages (ASP) Microsofts Web server framework that allows for development of interactive websites. ASPs combine HTML and a scripting language to provide an application server environment to run server-side scripts such as VB Script and JavaScript. These scripts can invoke COM ojects and other server applications such as MS Access and SQL databases.

Active-X Dynamic Link Libraries are components used to develop multi-tiered solutions. These libraries involve advanced Visual Basic programming and integrate heavily with the server-side processing portion of a Web-based application.

Browser Short for Web browser, a software application used to locate and display Web pages. The two most popular browsers are Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer. Both of these are graphical browsers, which means that they can display images as well as text. In addition, most modern browsers can present multimedia information, including sound and video, though they require plug-ins for some formats.

Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) A feature added to HTML that gives both website developers and users more control over how pages are displayed. With CSS, designers and users can create style sheets that define how different elements, such as headers and links, appear. These style sheets can then be applied to any Web page. The term cascading derives from the fact that multiple style sheets can be applied to the same Web page.

Client-side scripting is a term used to describe code that runs on the client browser, and not on the server. Client-side scripting enables the application to execute many features that would not otherwise be possible. Some of these features include animation, sound, pop-up menus, and alert boxes. Due to the expanded multitude of client browsers currently in use at UCSF, it is recommended that a 'thin" client be used when developing software. 'Thin" client is a term used to describe an application that performs most of its functionality on the server side, as opposed to the client side.

Clear text authentication is required for compatibility with both Netscape and Internet Explorer browsers.

Common Gateway Interface (CGI) Server-side programs that can receive data from a client browser, process it, and return it to the client.

Dreamweaver is Macromedias Development Tool which allows users to create Web pages, set up and maintain their site as a whole, easily monitor the condition of their website, and make updates.

FrontPage FrontPage 98 and 2000 are Microsoft Development Tools which allow users to create Web pages, set up and maintain their site as a whole, easily monitor the condition of their website, and make updates.

File Transfer Protocol (FTP) Abbreviation of File Transfer Protocol, the protocol used on the Internet for sending files.

HTML Abbreviation of Hyper Text Mark-up Language and is the core language of the World Wide Web.

Internet Information Server (IIS) Microsoft's Web server for the NT environment.

Server-side scripting is a term used to describe the code and processing that occurs on the server when a Web application is being executed. The functionality here may involve connecting to a database, or sending mail in response to a function on the site. This type of scripting is usually browser-independent as long as the code that is programmed into it is functional on all major browser platforms. It is preferred that as much code as possible be written on to the server-side.