Welcome to the Computing Glossary. This page contains descriptions of the acronyms, terms, and other computing jargon used on the Computing Services web site.

HTML
An acronym for the Hypertext Markup Language. This special markup language is used to published documents on the World Wide Web. HTML uses tags like <h1> and </h1> to structure text into headings, paragraphs, lists, hypertext links and more. An Introduction to HTML is also available that provides instructions on the use of HTML for the beginner.

IMAP
An acronym for the Internet Mail Access Protocol. This protocol allows you to read your electronic mail by connecting to the Mail Server and accessing your entire mailbox. You simply see copies of the messages in your mailbox and all of the messages stay on the Mail Server. The IMAP Server on the Marshall University Mail Hub is located at mail.marshall.edu.

ISP
An acronym for Internet Service Provider. An ISP provide connections (via a dial-up modem or direct network connections) to the Internet. Some Internet Service Providers are: WVNET, America Online, EZNET West Virginia, and Ram Technologies.

POP
An acronym for the Post Office Protocol. The current version of this protocol is version 3 and sometimes the acronym POP3 is used to mean the Post Office Protocol Version 3. This protocol allows you to read your electronic mail by connecting to the Mail Server and dowloading your inbox (new electronic mail messages) to your computer. Note that POP cannot be used to access any other folders in your mailbox. The POP Server on the Marshall University Mail Hub is located at mail.marshall.edu.

SMTP
Acronym for the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol. This protocol is used to send electronic mail messages and to transfer electronic mail between computers. The SMTP Server on the Marshall University Mail Hub is located at mail.marshall.edu. If you are on-campus, or if you dial-in using WVNET as your ISP you can use the Marshall University SMTP Server. Otherwise, you should contact your ISP to determine the Internet name of their SMTP server.

TELNET
Telnet is the name of a program that can be used to login to a computer that supports logins via the Telnet protocol. When using Telnet to login to a computer you must specify the Internet name of that computer.