A
- Addressability
-
The ability to request a resource via a unique URL. Once a client is authenticated, the state of the client should not affect access to an addressable resource.
- Aliasing
-
URL aliasing. Providing alternate URLs for a resource that redirects to the canonical URL for that resource.
- API
-
Application programming interface. A set of pre-determined functions that are exposed by an application or service for use by third-party developers. Web services will usually expose a documented API to detail how developers should interface with the service.
B
- Browser
-
Software used for viewing web content. See also user agent.
C
- CUE
-
Queensland Government Consistent User Experience Standard and template.
- Canonical URL
-
The one authoritatively correct URL for a resource. When a resource can be accessed via multiple URLs, a canonical URL should be chosen. All alias URLs for a resource should redirect to the canonical URL to enforce its authority.
D
- Deep linking
-
The act of linking to a web resource which is not the homepage of the website being linked to.
- Denial of Service (DoS) attack
-
An electronic attack whose purpose is to prohibit the target server use of a program or an entire system. For example: in a HTTP context it is common for an attacker to bombard a server with many requests until the server is unable to respond appropriately to legitimate HTTP requests.
G
- GET method
-
A HTTP request method. GET is not an acronym or an initialism, but is capitalised out of convention. The GET method should be used when requesting a resource. See also POST method.
H
- Header field
-
HTTP header. Multiple headers are sent as part of requests and responses. They are used to send content negotiation information between the server and the user agent (and vice versa).
- HTTP
-
HyperText Transfer Protocol. A cross-platform open standard communication protocol used to send and receive information on the internet between web browsers and web servers.
P
- POST method
-
A HTTP request method. POST is not an acronym or an initialism, but is capitalised out of convention. The POST method should be used when sending information to a server or interacting with a web application to change its state.
R
- Request
-
HTTP request. Every time a user agent requires access to a web resource it performs a request. For example: each web page loaded in a browser will often require several requests are made (one for the page itself and one for each image, script file, or other resource embedded in the page).
- Resource
-
HTTP resource. A file or a defined output of an application/database that can be served via HTTP to a user agent. Each unique resource should have at least one unique URL, this ensures the addressability of the resource.
- Response
-
HTTP response. Under normal operating conditions, for each request made by a user agent, a HTTP response will be returned by the server. The nature of the response depends on the request made and the current state of the server, but a common response is to send a status, along with headers and an entity-body containing the requested resource.
S
- Server
-
HTTP server. Software running on a host computer that listens for incoming requests and responds according to the HTTP protocol. A related term is web server. A web server will almost always act as a HTTP server, but may also support other protocols/functions.
- Status
-
HTTP status. A status code sent with a response to summarise the status of the requested resource. For example: a well known HTTP status is 404, this status is sent by a server when the requested resource cannot be located (or in a few other edge cases). Another common HTTP status is 200, this status is sent by the server when a document is found successfully, and is usually returned bundled with the requested document.
U
- URL
-
Universal resource locator. A string of characters used to locate a resource available via the Internet.
- URL normalisation
-
The process by which URLs are modified and standardised in a consistent manner. The goal of the normalisation process is to transform a URL into a normalised or canonical URL.
- User agent
-
Software used to access web content. This may be browser software (for end users) or more automated software agent that works on behalf of a person or organisation (example: a search engine indexing robot).
W
- Web application
-
Software system hosted on a server targeted at human users.
- Web service
-
Software system designed to support interoperable machine to machine interaction over a network. Web services are frequently just Web APIs that can be accessed over a network, such as the internet, and executed on a remote system hosting the service.
