Web hosting, domain and email terms, explained simply.
Plain-English meanings of the words you meet when you build a website, register a .co.zw, set up business email or take payments online, with Zimbabwe examples.
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A
The Zimbabwean domain extension for academic institutions such as universities and colleges.
Making a website usable by everyone, including people with disabilities.
A short text description of an image for screen readers and search engines.
B
A physical server with no virtualisation layer, giving you the full hardware.
C
A DNS record that says which certificate authorities may issue SSL certificates for your domain.
A mailbox that receives mail sent to any address at your domain that does not exist.
A network of servers worldwide that keeps copies of your images, styles and scripts closer to visitors.
A theme that inherits from a parent theme so you can customise it safely.
Hosting that runs on a pool of connected servers, so resources can grow or shrink as needed.
A server operating system that isolates shared hosting accounts and enforces resource limits.
Software for building and editing a website without writing code.
Google’s set of real-world measures of loading, responsiveness and visual stability.
The control panel included with our hosting, used to manage files, email, databases, SSL and backups.
A program, such as Googlebot, that visits web pages to add them to a search index.
Money held on your client account that is used to pay future invoices.
Zimbabwe’s 2021 law on protecting personal information and cyber security.
D
A secure building that houses servers with backup power, cooling and fast internet links.
The total amount of data sent from your hosting to visitors, usually measured monthly.
Flooding a website or server with traffic from many machines to knock it offline.
A digital signature added to the emails you send, proving they really came from your domain.
A DNS record that tells receiving servers what to do with mail that fails SPF or DKIM checks.
The internet’s address book, which turns domain names into the server addresses for your website and email.
Sending visitors from one domain to another web address automatically.
A service that hides the owner’s personal contact details from public WHOIS results.
A domain-validated SSL certificate that proves control of the domain only.
E
Zimbabwe’s most widely used mobile money service, run on the Econet network.
An app for reading and sending email, such as Outlook, Apple Mail or the Gmail app.
A transfer authorisation code, also called an auth code, that proves you control a domain.
An extended-validation SSL certificate with the strictest checks on the organisation.
F
A cPanel tool for uploading, editing and organising your website files in a browser.
Settings that control who can read, write or run a file on the server.
A fully qualified domain name: the complete name of a host, such as mail.yourbusiness.co.zw.
G
A free tool that measures visitors, where they came from and what they do on your site.
A free Google listing that shows your business on Maps and in local search.
A free Google tool that shows how your site performs in search and reports problems.
A short time after expiry when a domain can usually still be renewed at the normal price.
A generic top-level domain that is not tied to a country, such as .com, .org, .net or .online.
H
A configuration file for Apache-compatible web servers that controls redirects and settings per folder.
Newer versions of the web’s protocol that load many files faster over one connection.
I
A domain that uses characters outside A–Z, such as accented letters or other scripts.
Making images smaller in file size without visible loss of quality.
How quickly a page responds when someone taps or clicks.
A numeric address that identifies a device or server on the internet.
J
K
L
Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP: the classic software combination for websites.
How long the biggest visible element on a page takes to appear.
A free, automated certificate authority that issues domain-validated SSL certificates.
Hosting supported by a team in your own country, or on servers located nearby.
M
Hosting where the provider looks after updates, security and maintenance for you.
A secure HTTPS page that loads some images or scripts over insecure HTTP.
Sending and receiving money with a mobile phone account instead of a bank account.
Designing for phones first, then enlarging the layout for bigger screens.
A promise to refund a new service if you are not satisfied within a set time.
A DNS record that tells the internet which server receives email for your domain.
N
The servers that hold a domain’s DNS records and decide which provider manages them.
Using the same business Name, Address and Phone number everywhere online.
The site’s SSL certificate has expired or the device clock is wrong.
The browser’s warning that a page is not using HTTPS, or has a problem with its certificate.
A very fast type of SSD storage that connects directly to the server’s high-speed bus.
O
Tags that control how a link looks when shared on WhatsApp, Facebook or LinkedIn.
An organisation-validated SSL certificate that also checks the business behind the domain.
P
A domain that is registered but not used for a website, or that shows the same site as another domain.
An app that creates and stores strong, unique passwords for every account.
A service that processes online payments between a customer and a business.
A Zimbabwean payment gateway for accepting EcoCash, OneMoney, Telecash, Visa, Mastercard and ZimSwitch online.
Fake emails or websites designed to trick people into giving passwords or money.
The Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe, which regulates telecoms and internet services.
A page that explains what personal data a website collects and how it is used.
A preliminary invoice issued before payment, often used to get purchase approval.
Q
R
The modern replacement for WHOIS that gives domain registration data in a structured format.
A period after the grace period when an expired domain can be recovered for an extra fee.
Hosting that lets you create and manage separate hosting accounts for your own clients.
The share of CPU, memory and processes each account may use on a shared server.
A server that sits in front of other servers and forwards requests to them.
A file that tells search engine crawlers which parts of a site they may visit.
S
Planned work on servers, announced in advance, that may cause brief downtime.
The part of a domain just to the left of the TLD, such as “co” in .co.zw or “yourbusiness” in yourbusiness.com.
Improving a website so it appears higher in search results like Google.
A computer that runs all the time to deliver websites, email or applications over a network.
Hosting where many websites share one server, each with its own account and limits.
A written promise about the level of service, such as uptime, and what happens if it is missed.
A digital certificate that encrypts the connection to your website and enables HTTPS.
A private copy of your website for testing changes before they go live.
Temporarily switching off a service, usually because an invoice is unpaid.
T
Transport Layer Security, the encryption that protects data between browsers and servers.
How long a DNS answer is stored by internet providers before they check again.
A second login step, such as a code from an app, as well as your password.
U
A server where you, not the provider, handle software updates, security and fixes.
Automatic checks that test whether a website or server is responding, every few minutes.
V
Your own virtual server with guaranteed CPU, memory and storage, and full root access.
W
A firewall that filters web requests to block attacks such as SQL injection.
Renting space on an internet-connected server so your website and email are available all the time.
An automatic message one system sends to another when something happens.
A modern image format that is much smaller than JPEG or PNG at similar quality.
Moving a website, its database and email from one host to another.
A blank white page on a WordPress site, usually caused by a PHP error.
The administration panel used with reseller hosting and servers to create and manage cPanel accounts.
A public lookup that shows whether a domain is registered and basic details about it.
Free, open-source software used to build websites, blogs and online shops.
WordPress’s main configuration file, holding database details and security keys.
Z
#
Keep 3 copies of data, on 2 kinds of storage, with 1 copy off-site.
A general server error, often caused by a faulty plugin, theme or .htaccess file.
A server acting as a gateway got an invalid response from another server.
Your hosting account has used its share of server resources.
An email server refused a message, often because the address does not exist or the sender is blocked.
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