Web Hosting Jargon

Bandwidth
This is the size of the “pipe” that runs between the client and the server, and along which all the data travels. The wider the pipe, the more data can fit through it. The size of the pipe is usually measured in megabytes or gigabytes per month. You can now see where the term broadband comes from—it means you have a big fat data pipe!

FTP
This is the method used for transferring files from the client to the server and vice versa—it’s very useful for getting your web site onto the server in the first place! FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol.

Domain Name
This is the “bubbleunder.com” part in the web address http://www.bubbleunder.com. You can buy the rights to use a domain name for a fixed period of time—usually 1 or 2 years at a time (it’s not yours to own forever). This is referred to as registering the domain.

Hosting
Hosting refers to the storage of your web site files on an Internet-connected server somewhere. This hosting service is entirely separate from the registering
of your domain name, although many hosting companies offer both services. Site owners
use web hosts to store the files for their site so that the site owners themselves don’t have to expose their own personal computers’ hard drives to potentially malicious web surfers who request the web site’s pages over the Internet. Oh, and it beats having to make sure that their own computers are constantly up and running for everyone to access!