- click: click the mouse. move the mouse so the pointer is covering whatever you want to click on.
- URL: the web address for a webpage. it often starts with http://www. For example: http://www.google.com or http://www.techinenglish.blogspot.com.
- Hyperlink (or just "link"): text that you can click on to go to a particular webpage. the text is often just the URL of the webpage, but can also be something like Click Here. Links normally appear in underlined blue until you click on them, when they turn underlined purple.
- browser: a program that lets you view websites
- word processor: a program that lets you create and edit text documents
- address bar: the text field at the top of most browser windows that tells you what the URL of the webpage you are viewing is and lets you type in a new one. this is the main way to go to new web sites (i.e. ones you aren't already viewing).
- push "tab," "space," etc.: certain keys on the keyboard aren't labeled with single letters, but rather words. these will be in quotes.
- type "words:" type those words in quotes into the specified text field.
- go to
: type the URL in the brackets into your browser's address bar and push "enter" or "return." (either will do). - file: a collection of bits and bytes that run on a particular program and contain some specified data.
- hard drive: hardware where files are stored indefinitely (until you delete a file). when you "save" a file, its contents are "written" on the hard drive.
- RAM: acronym for "Random Access Memory," which is where the computer can temporarily store files necessary for programs to run. RAM gets erased whenever a computer is shut off. this is why computers don't remember what programs you were using right before you shut them off.
- memory: informally, the number of bits or bytes that can be stored on a hard drive. technically, the amount of RAM a computer has. either way, normal amounts of memory range from single bits or bytes to kilobits or kilobytes (Kb or KB), which are 1000 bits or bytes, to mega- and gigabits and bytes (Mb, MB, Gb, GB, respectively), which are 1000 Kb, KB, Mb, or MB, respectively. Recently, the terabyte and petabyte have come into use, representing 1000 GB and 1000 TB, respectively.
Tomorrow: Media
