Glossary of Terms

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H

Hardware - The actual, physical computer and all its wires and peripherals, such as the printer, the disk drive, and the modem. Also See: Software

Hit - As used in reference to the World Wide Web, "hit" means a single request from a web browser for a single item from a web server; thus in order for a web browser to display a page that contains 3 graphics, 4 "hits" would occur at the server; 1 for the HTML page, and one for each of the 3 graphics. "Hits" are often used as a very rough measure of load on a server, e.g. "Our server has been getting 300,000 hits per month." Because each "hit" can represent anything from a request for a tiny document (or even a request for a missing document) all the way to a request that requires some significant extra processing (such as a complex search request), the actual load on a machine from 1 hit is almost impossible to define.

Holdback - A portion of the revenue from a merchant's credit card transactions, held in reserve by the merchant account provider to cover possible disputed charges, charge back fees, and other expenses. After a predetermined time, holdbacks are turned over to the merchant. Note: MAPs almost never pay interest on holdbacks.

Home Page - Originally, the web page that your browser is set to use when it starts up. The more common meaning refers to the main web page for a business, organization, person or simply the main page out of a collection of web pages, e.g. "Welcome to the noblelabs.com Homepage." Also See: Browser, Web

Host - A computer connected to the Internet that serves your web pages, e-mail, database, e-commerce solution. It may also allow FTP, Also See: FTP

HTML - Hypertext mark-up language, used in writing pages for the World Wide Web. It lets the text include codes that define fonts, layout, embedded graphics, and hypertext links. Don't worry: You don't have to know anything about it to use the World Wide Web.

HTTP - Hypertext transfer protocol, which is the way World Wide Web pages are transferred over the Net.

Hypertext - A system of writing and displaying text that enables the text to be linked in multiple ways, to be available at several levels of detail, and to contain links to related documents. Hypermedia can also contain pictures, sounds, video - you name it. The World Wide Web uses hypertext.