This page contains definitions for many of the words and expressions you may encounter while working with Moodle.
If you don't find the answer here try the Using Moodle course on moodle.org, and search the forums for keywords. You may have to try a few different search phrases before you find a resolution.
If you still can't find any answers try posting your question on the appropriate forum in Using Moodle - someone should be able to help you.
A proprietary method of controlling certain functions (applets) in a web page
Most late version browsers can run these small programs if the Active-X or Java feature in the browser has been enabled.
American Standard Code for Information Interchange
Certain file types require that you upload in ASCII mode when using your FTP program. It's usually best to choose " AUTO " in your FTP settings.
Certain file types require that you upload in binary mode when using your FTP program. It's usually best to choose " AUTO " in your FTP settings.
Please see CSS below.
Abbreviation for "Cascading Style Sheets". CSS is used as a style template to make it easier to update the look of many web pages at the same time and CSS also makes it possible to have several pages that all follow a similar theme. CSS is an extremely efficient method of building complex web sites. Will eventually be replaced by XSL
Concurrent Versioning System is simply a method of storing files on a server that ensures that all persons working on that file are always working on the most recent version of that file.
The term " database ", as used in Moodle, applies to an electronic collection of information.
The place where Moodle can save uploaded files. This directory should be readable and writeable by the web server user but it should not be accessible directly via the web.
A unique address on the internet. ie. http://www.moodle.org
Please see dirroot
A root directory has content and a name. This root directory may contain
several sub-directories and the name is the location on your server
where your Moodle files will reside after you upload them.
A website may contain several root directories each containing a seperate Moodle
installation. Your Moodle installation may be located at http://www.yoursite.com/moodle/
in which case your " dirroot " would be ie. http://www.moodle.org/moodle
If you had two Moodle sites on the same server then each would have a distinct
" dirroot "
ie. http://www.yoursite.com/school26 & http://www.yoursite.com/school27
Therefore /school26 is a dirroot and /school27 is a dirroot.
File transfer protocol - the upload method you must use to transfer your Moodle installation to your web server
A business that will host your web site for a fee. They typically provide everything you need. All you have to provide them with is the content, a domain name and some local currency.
A language that standardized a method of writing the hypertext language. This language is called HTML or Hypertext Mark-up Language. It can only be used to describe how a page will display its' content.
A method of writing text that provides hyper links to additional content or information in different locations. This ability to hyper re-locate a user to a new location is the foundation of the world wide web and was the concept which demanded a need to standardize a method of writing this hypertext language. That language evolved into HTML. also seeXHTML
It is literally a directory index.
A programming language that can be used to write programs that may run on multiple operating systems.
A programming language that can be used to write programs that may run on multiple operating systems.
The word Moodle is an acronym for Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment
A server powered by mySQL programming. MySQL is the world's most popular open source database, recognized for its speed and reliability.
A Moodle Nightly is the most recent version available for download from the Moodle site. You are always downloading a version that is less than 24 hours old if you use a nightly.
PHP is a server-side scripting language which executes commands on the server side then delivers dynamic HTML pages to the web browser. Your server must be PHP enabled in order to run Moodle.
This is where your web site or database, or both, resides. You may choose to run your own server or have a hosting provider look after this for you.
Please see CSS above.
To upload is simply to move your files from your computer to a server. Please see FTP
Uniform Resource Locator is the address that is used to reach a website. The URL also contains information that describes the method of transmission- HTTP or Hypertext Transfer Protocol.
XHTML will, eventually, replace HTML as the language used to program web pages for display in your web browser. XHTML will, hopefully, make writing code for browsers easier as XHTML code will cause the page to display exactly the same in any web browser. XHTML will be an intermediate step on the path to XML. see also XML
Extensible Mark-up Language is just what the name implies, extensible. The programmer has a very wide latitude when writing XML as the programmer may choose to add instructions as she/he writes. This is in direct opposition to HTML which has a clearly defined and documented set of instructions available and no freedom exists to " extend " this set of rules. Due to its' extreme versatility XML may be the end of the evolutionary path for HTML. also see XHTML
Extensible Style Language is the style definition language that will complement XML. also see CSS
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