Glossary
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- Presentation
Presentation is the look of a Web site; its layout, fonts, colours, some of the images that are just used for decoration etc. Web page presentation can be entirely controlled by the CSS. Presentation, within the context of Web standards discussion, is often used in contrast to content.
- Programming
The formal definition of programming is “creating a sequence of instructions to enable the computer to do something”. In some ways authoring Web documents appears to be programming, and in some cases it is programming (especially in regards to JavaScript). However, HTML, XHTML and CSS are mark-up languages and require a browser to interpret instructions for the computer and so are not truly programming languages. The term programming usually implies some type of logic and formulation of rules is involved.
- RDF (Resource Description Framework)
A language for describing relationships between resources using specific vocabularies (“ontologies”) so that knowledge models we have in the real world can be better correlated for information re-use.
- RSS (“Really Simple Syndication”, “RDF Site Summary” or “Rich Site Summary”)
A popular, but contentious format for syndicating news and Web site updates. All RSS standards which are currently in use are XML, and of these, RSS 1.0 is also RDF.
- Screen Readers
A screen reader is a software program that reads the text on a computer screen aloud to a user. Screen readers are often used by blind or visually impaired people.
- Semantic structure
Semantic structure means organization that has meaning. So for example, a Web page that is structured semantically must have mark-up that accurately reflects and extends the meaning of the content. For more information on semantic structure and the Web you can see the Semantic Web initiative.
- SGML
SGML is a system for defining markup languages. Each markup language defined in SGML is called an SGML application. HTML is an example of an SGML application.
- SMIL (Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language) and SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics)
Multimedia and graphics-related standards; the latter is well-supported by Adobe and has advantages over the Macromedia Flash format because it is an XML language. Using SVG animation in combination with the DOM has results which are equivalent to Flash, but with a result that is accessible and better semantically structured.
- Specification (often shortened to Spec)
A specification is a detailed description of design criteria for a piece of work. However, within the context of Web standards, we mean the specifications as put forward by standards bodies that tell us exactly the way HTML, XHTML, CSS and other languages should be coded.
- Sticky Wicket
Aside from the cricket reference, it is commonly considered a difficult or embarrasing problem or situation.
How does it relate to the web? It doesn't. Just liked them. However, we do help our clients with their difficult problems and situations. :)
