Internet Terms & Definitions

 

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

 

V

 

validator
A program or script that can check the validity of the HTML for your Web pages. They are commonly used before Web pages are posted for public use to make sure that the pages can be read and used by all browsers and search engines. Some validators will also check for "broke links," links which no longer work, and some will also spell check your text. Doctor HTML and NetMechanic are two good online validators.

value
In HTML, a value is the specification of an attribute. Usually there are a small number of kinds of values that can be entered. For the TABLE attribute BORDER, the value must be a positive integer which represents the desired pixel width of the table. For the ALT attribute of image tags, on the other hand, the value is any text you would like to be visible when the image is not. Values are also usually contained in quotation marks.

virtual memory
Virtual memory is the term for the way some computers use space on your hard drive to act as memory for your computer. This way, even if you have only 8MB of memory installed, you could run programs that required 12MB of memory. Often, turning virtual memory on makes your computer run slower, and some programs conflict with it.

virus
Viruses are small computer programs designed to make copies of themselves over and over. The viruses need "hosts" to live in; they attach themselves to other programs and reproduce when the other programs are run. You can get "infected" by a virus in two ways: by downloading infected files or programs from a network, or by inserting an infected disk into your computer. But, in each case, you need to run the program to become infected. Some viruses, like macro viruses, are relatively harmless, others can crash and paralyze your whole computer. Viruses can NOT be spread in an email message, but they can be spread in an email attachment.


VRML
Virtual Reality Modeling Language. The language used to create 3-D graphics for the Web. VRML pages can be viewed from all angles and manipulated. A VRML plug-in viewer is needed for your Web browser in order to view the 3-D effects.