Wildmoz Internet Glossary A-Z

Your Handy Glossary V:

Validation:
Validation, the process of checking your documents against the formal standard published by the (W3C) Worldwide Web Consortium. Various free validation services can analyze Web pages and style sheets for errors in your code, check for accessibility issues, verify your hyperlinks, CSS and identify spelling errors.

Vector:
Vector graphics are images defined by geometric primitives as opposed to bitmaps. Unlike JPEGs, GIFs, and BMP images, vector graphics are not made up of a grid of pixels. Instead, vector graphics are comprised of paths, which are defined by a start and end point, along with other points, curves, and angles along the way. A path can be a line, a square, a triangle, or a curvy shape. These paths can be used to create simple drawings or complex diagrams. Paths are even used to define the characters of specific typefaces. Because vector-based images are not made up of a specific number of dots, they can be scaled to a larger size and not lose any image quality. If you blow up a raster graphic, it will look blocky, or “pixelated.” When you blow up or expand a vector graphic, the edges of each object within the graphic stay smooth and clean. This makes vector graphics ideal for logos, which can be small enough to appear on a business card, but can also be scaled to fill a billboard. Common types of vector graphics include Adobe Illustrator, Macromedia Freehand, and EPS files. Many Flash animations also use vector graphics, since they scale better and typically take up less space than bitmap images. See also Vector Markup Language (VML) next in this Glossary.

Vector Markup Language:
Vector Markup Language, VML an XML language used to produce vector graphics. From this language developed SVG scalable vector graphics which mixes vector/raster graphics in XML.

Virus:
Virus, even a simple virus is dangerous because it can quickly use all available memory and bring the system to a halt. Like a biological virus, a computer virus is something you don’t want to get. Computer viruses are small programs or scripts that can negatively affect the health of your computer. These malicious little programs can replicate themselves, create files, move files, erase files, consume your computer’s memory, and cause your computer not to function correctly. Some viruses can duplicate themselves, attach themselves to programs, and travel across networks. In fact, opening an infected e-mail attachment is the most common way to get a virus. An even more dangerous type of virus is one capable of transmitting itself across the Internet on its own. All computer viruses are man-made.

Virus detection program:
Virus detection program, a software program to detect, diagnose, and eliminate computer viruses.

VoIP:
VoIP, Voice over Internet Protocol is a method for turning analog audio signals into digital data which can be transferred over the internet. An example of free VoIP is Google calls from a free g-mail account.