Managing Interactive Media Glossary: H

Glossary: H (14 entries found)

hacker: A person who uses considerable computing skill in deviant ways, including introducing computer viruses into a computing community. The term is also used, less often and informally, to denote a skilled computer programmer with no malicious intent. Similarly hacking.
half-toning: In graphics, a method for reproducing shades of grey by using black dots of varying sizes. See also dither.
hardware: A piece of equipment; as distinct from software.
HCI: HumanÐComputer Interaction, the analysis of interaction between people (users) and computers. This originated with stand-alone computer systems but is increasingly important for integrated public systems such as the Internet. The analysis of successful use for a segment of the public market can drive the design and make-overs of websites and similar systems. See also interface.
header: The invisible part of a web page in which formatting information for the page and meta tags are placed. See also metatag.
high-level design: The first attempt to define the interactive structure and content of a program. The term comes from software engineering. See also outline design.
hits, hit rate: Either the number of individual requests for data that a web page receives or the number of different visitors who have called that page up. This latter is now more usually called page impressions.
host machine: The computer on which a program runs.
hot-spot: A section of an image on the screen that instigates an action when the pointer enters or clicks in it.
HSCSD: High Speed Circuit Switched Data, a higher speed version of GSM and a 2.5G mobile technology. Unlike GPRS, an HSCSD connection is made like a call and charged by time, rather than being 'always on' and charged by data transported.
HTML: Hypertext mark-up language: the system used in web pages to describe a web page and its contents. Eventually a combination of XML and Style Sheets (CSS) will together describe the contents and define how they should be displayed. XHTML is an XML-compliant version of HTML.
HTTP: HyperText Transfer Protocol, the Internet communications protocol used in the World Wide Web. Basically, a browser calls up a web page by sending an HTTP request to the server. HTTPS is the encrypted and secure version of HTTP.
hybrid web, web/CD or web/DVD: A multimedia application that needs both a web connection and a CD or DVD to function fully. This could be a disc that updates itself from a website or a website that uses a disc to hold large multimedia assets such as movies.
hypertext: Non-linear text that is read by following jumps and links in the text itself.