Our everyday conversations contain a lot of terms, acronyms, and ideas that are not always easy to understand – regardless of technical acumen. Consider this blog entry a glossary of key terms to give you (and ourselves) a common foundation:

• CMS: Content Management Solutions are software solutions that enable users to manage content in a collaborative way. They are most commonly used to manage a websites content, page hierarchy, etc. [wiki] [web]
• API: Application Programming Interfaces provide a way to securely access tools and data from external systems and services. TazaChocolate.com ecommerce system uses UPS’s API to provide their customers with tracking numbers once their yummy chocolates are on their way. [wiki] [web]
• SEO: Search Engine Optimization is the process of improving traffic to a website or webpage from search engines via un-paid, ‘natural, search results. This approach requires editing content, site architecture, keywords and removing anything that may prevent it from being indexed by a search engine or diminish their ranking. [wiki]
• SEM: In addition to the procedures used with SEO, Search Engine Marketing employs paid placements, contextual advertising, and paid inclusions to improve websites traffic from search engines results. We most commonly know these practices as “Sponsored Links” where the search engine results are preceded by a company or services add; “Pay-Per-Click” where the search engine gets paid when ever these ads are clicked; and when websites ads are served based on the content of the page. [wiki]
• HTML5: HTML5 is a major upgrade to main language that drives websites. It will allow audio and video to be played without plug-ins, securely store user data, create vector graphics, etc… Although the final specification won’t be done prior to 2012 many of its features are already supported in the latest versions of most browsers. [wiki] [blog] [demos, gallery]
• H.264: H.264 is a popular video compression technology that is being used in many applications from Blu-ray disc and web videos. It is independent of file types; therefore it can be used with several video formats including Flash video and QuickTime. [wiki] [blog]
• AJAX: Ajax is a name commonly used to refer to a group of web technologies used on browsers to communicate with a web server without reloading the page or negatively affecting the user’s experience. They are most commonly used to update a webpage’s content based on user input such as displaying a product preview without going to another page and animating elements. [wiki] [web]
   

The web is growing and changing at a rapid pace, with it so will our vocabulary, and this page. Stop by from time to time to check out new entries, updates, or drop us a line to tell us about what you would like us to cover.