Wildmoz Internet Glossary A-Z

Your Handy Glossary F:

Favicon:
Favicon is short for favorite icon. When a user adds a favorite page (bookmark), for a specific Web page, that Web page loads a customized icon into the user’s browser, typically a tiny version of a Website’s logo. Best understood as a graphical image or picture that is representative of the user in picture form and appears on their nav-bar or browser tab, like the B on Blogger tabs.

Favourite page:
Favorite page is a Web page link stored in a browser for quick and easy retrieval, or else it is referred to as a bookmark. See Bookmark in this Glossary.

FAQ:
FAQ Frequently Asked Questions; is an information list, in question and answer format, of common inquiries from users about a topic or application giving meaningful responses. FAQs appear worldwide and on the Web.

Fax:
Fax a facsimile machine. 1. Information transmitted by means of text and /or graphic images over standard telephone lines, in a printout format. 2. PC internet faxes are sent via email to a printer. 3. From an email/fax to an email/fax for printing.

Fiber optics:
Fiber optic cable has a much greater bandwidth capacity than conventional cable or copper wire and is made out of glass or a type of plastic, created in a bundle of threads. Many old lines are in the process of converting copper to fiber optics, performing data transference, modulated from copper lines into light waves. The modulated light waves have the ability to transmit data at only 35% less that the speed of light, which is 186,000 miles a second or 300,000 kilometers per second.

File server:
File server is a computer connected via a network with the primary task of storing files that can be shared by network users from the file server.

Firewall:
Firewall is an Internet security application or program that can be implemented in both hardware, using a router and software in the computer, or a combination of both. A firewall is the technology that gives user’s safe access to the Internet while retaining internal computer network security.

Forum:
Forum or Internet forum is an online discussion website and differs from chat rooms. Discussions posted at a forum are known as a ‘thread’ leading to many threads if that forum is an active one.

Frameworks:
Frameworks today produce dynamic web pages. The framework aims to alleviate the overhead associated with common activities performed in Web development and design. There are modifiable and non-modifiable frameworks. Frameworks are used to create web page/pages (sites), without the user needing to have the knowledge of code. The main types of framework are the software framework, web application framework, Web template system framework, CMS framework and a host of other types and applications pertaining to and for frameworks. See CMS in this glossary.

Freeware:
Freeware from the words “free” and “software”. Freeware is computer software that is available for use, at no cost or for an optional fee. The term “freeware” is commonly applied to free software/open-source software. Well known examples of freeware include browsers like Firefox and Google Chrome, or programs like Adobe Flash Player or aids like 7-Zip for unzipping zipped files.

Frequency:
Frequency is measured by the speed a wave travels past a given point and by the distance between the waves of the signal and is measured in cycles per second or Hertz (Hz).

FTP:
FTP, File Transfer Protocol as the name suggests, is the protocol used on the Internet for exchanging files. FTP is the oldest, most commonly used and trusted method to download or upload a file to or from a server, also referred to as the Web host.