Attachment
An attachment is a file which is joined to and sent as part of a standard text email message.

Browser
A browser enables you use to view webpages and websites. Netscape Navigator and Internet Explorer are the main providers.

Bug
A bug is an error or series of errors in a piece of software, which may cause it to perform in an undesirable way.

Cookie
A Cookie is a mechanism which some sites use to record information about a person's trip to a site. The browser will remember the information and will send it, on request, to a server. Information may include the type of browser they are using and the way in which they move around the site. This is not necessarily an intrusion on your privacy; it can be used to give information following databases you have previously shown an interest in.

Cookies cannot get data from your computer other than what is in the Cookie file and they can't get your email address or any information that you didn't give the requesting page in the first place. They cannot damage user files, nor can they read information from a user's hard drive.

Cursor
A cursor is a blinking line or shape on the screen that tells you where the next character will go when you type on the keyboard.

Domain
The Internet is divided into smaller sets known as domains, including .com (business), .ac.uk (education), .org (charities and non-profit making companies), .gov (government) and others.

Download
To download is to move files e.g. pictures from a site on the Internet to your personal homepage or computer.

Email
Email is a way of sending messages from one computer to another. It stands for 'electronic mail'. You send a message to someone, with attachments such as photos or files if you wish, using something called a modem or a network. The message waits in another computer until the person goes online to get it. Some telephones and televisions also allow you to send emails.

Hardware
Hardware is all the physical stuff to do with computers like keyboards, monitors, printers, modems, scanners, CD-Rom drives etc.

Home Page
The home page is the starting point of a website on the World Wide Web for a particular group or organization.

HTML
HTML stand for HyperText Mark-up Language. It is the standard language for writing a website or making up documents for the World Wide Web.

Hyperlink
A hyperlink is recognised by being underlined and highlighted (very often blue). Clicking on the words link you to other documents with related subject matter. A link can take you to another part of the same webpage, another webpage in the same website, or a page from an entirely different website somewhere else on the Internet. Links can be from text and from images. The mouse pointer changes to a hand shape when passing over a hyperlink to show that it may be clicked if desired.

Icon
An icon is a tiny picture on the screen that represents a program, file or folder. To tell the computer to open a program, file or folder, double-click using your mouse on the icon.

Internet
The Internet is millions of computers around the world connected to each other. When you're on the Internet, your computer is connected to others by networks of telephone wire, cable and satellite.

Monitor
A monitor is another word for describing the screen of the computer.

Mouse
A mouse is a small device attached to your computer by a cord, which lets you give commands to the computer.

Navigation Bar
A Navigation Bar is a set of hypertext links to the main sections of a website. It appears on each webpage within a websites. Not all website will have a navigation bar, but many will including www.dance-kids.org

Password
A password is a code used to gain access to a locked system. Good passwords contain letters (both upper case and lower case) and non-letters and are not simple combinations such as trees6. A good password might be Jam£2-5%.

Search Engine
A search engine is a programme that can perform searches for information on the Internet based on the words or phrases you supply. There are some search engines that only recommend sites that are safe for kids to use, e.g. yahooligans.com

Software
Software is anything that can be stored electronically. It is computer instructions or data.

Toolbar
The toolbar is the selection of buttons which are displayed vertically or horizontally offering functions such as save, copy, print etc. This toolbar will be found on your browser navigation not the website navigation.

Virus
A virus is a computer program that was written to purposely damage computer systems. Your computer can get a virus from another computer through modems, networks or disks. You can protect your computer from viruses by using virus protection software, and by only downloading programs from sources you trust.

Website
A website is a collection of webpages arranged together to provide information, entertainment or advice. It can consist of text, graphics, sound, for example. You are looking at a webpage that is part of an overall website now.

World Wide Web (www)
The World Wide Web is the part of the Internet that consists of pages (documents) linked to each other around the world via the Internet. These pages have pictures, sounds and lots, lots more. A website will have many pages.