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You know what missing trader intra community fraud is and what a 64-8 does – but do you understand all the words and phrases that crop up in Taxation’s articles about online matters?
Accessibility: degree by which people with disabilities can successfully use a website; subject that will be addressed soon by this column.
Apps: application software; Angry Birds and possibly some others.
Avatar: picture or animated character meant to represent a web user; tedious and derivative movie that twice broke down when Taxation’s online editor paid about 12 quid to see it in a stiflingly hot south-London cinema full of chattering numbskulls.
Blog: broadly speaking, a website or part of a site that features thoughts and opinions of one or more author. Taxation’s blog contains numerous mentions of Batman, robots and Page 3 girls. For some reason.
Browser: software you are using right now to view the web. (It’s probably Internet Explorer. Firefox is way cooler. No one who’s hip uses Safari these days.)
Business networking: the exploitation of sites like LinkedIn to establish professional contacts, promote one’s work and find career opportunities; refreshing for the lack of users’ holiday photos.
Cloud: web-based computing and storing of document, to put it simply; can be really handy.
Content: articles and podcasts (see below) and what have you. It’s important.
E-publishing: electronic publishing; digital books; medium in which a tax adviser can tote Tolley’s orange and yellow handbooks without the risk of irreparable lumbar damage.
Meme: phrase, point of reference, concept or behaviour that is very popular among web users; online cultural fad; rhymes with ‘cream’.
Moderation: the activity of keeping web users’ comments free of offensive language and legally dodgy claims; not a journalistic approach to drinking beer.
Plugin: little piece of extra software that enhances a larger counterpart, be it a browser or app; also known as an add-on; Tweetbeat Firsthand is a smashing plugin for Firefox.
Podcast: a downloadable sound file, often featuring people talking about stuff. The Taxation podcast features our editor, Mike Truman, sharing his view on the week’s tax topics.
RSS: disputed initialism most commonly said to stand for really simple syndication; the manner by which web users can freely subscribe to streams of news and other information via a reader such as Google’s; RSS feeds can be recognised by a little orange and white symbol, examples of which can be seen to the right of this article.
Semantic web: a version of the web that computers can read, understand and put in to context; will either make finding and sharing information easier for humans, or our laptops will achieve self-awareness.
SEO: search engine optimisation; the method by which websites attempt to appear high up in the rankings of Google and its like. Tax advisers can receive SEO advice via Taxation’s new editorial service.
Smartphone: like a regular mobile phone, but better looking, much more expensive and better at accessing webby things; device that an alarming number of commuters prefer to reading or thoughtful reflection.
Social networking: Facebook and that; sites that allow individuals to share the minutiae of their lives, interact with their favourite brands and muck about on virtual farms.
Tablet: style of portable computer popularised by the iPad; something small and round that might be needed to settle a tax accountant’s nerves when presented on 30 January with a Tesco bag full of receipts.
Tweets: short messages published by users of Twitter, not all of which are about the purchasing of crisps or the consuming thereof; handy medium for sharing/staying up to date with the latest news and features about tax.
Viral: something – most often a video or advert – that gains great popularity through being shared by web users, and will sometimes become a meme (see above); rhymes with ‘spiral’.
VPN: virtual private network; security system that allows an individual working in public/on the move to use the web without fear of nosey-parker hackers; does not defend against nosey-parker Starbucks patrons.
