Glossary

FIND IT FAST Learn the Net The Web HOW TO Use the Site Master the Basics Surf the Web Harness E-mail Find Information Download Files Socialize Conference Music, Video & Photos Web Publishing Do E-Business Find the Right Job Protect Yourself ONLINE SHOPPING How It Works Top Ten Tips Discount Coupons RESOURCES Animated Internet Glossary Free Weekly Newsletter COMPANY INFO About Us Partner Programs Write Us Privacy Policy

Access Provider Adobe Acrobat Reader ActiveX ADSL Agent Anchor Applet Archie ARPANET ASCII Attribute Avatar Backbone Bandwidth BBS BFN Binary File Bit Bitmapped Image Bot Bps Browser BTW Byte Cache CD-ROM CGI Chat Chat Room Clickable Image Client Computer Virus Cookie Cryptography Cyberspace Database Desktop Computer Dial-Up Account Directory Dithering Domain Name Dpi Download E-mail E-mail Address Emoticon Encryption Executable File External Viewer Extranet FAQ File Compression File Permissions Finger Firewall Flaming/Flame War Floppy Disk Forms FTP Gateway GIF Gopher GUI Hacker Hits Home Page Host Hotlist Host Name HTML Http Hypertext Icon Image Map IMHO Inline Graphics/Video Internet Service Provider Internet Telephony Intranet IP Address IRC ISDN Java JavaScript JPEG Jughead LAN Link List Administrator Listserv Login Name LOL Lotus Notes Lurker Lynx Mailing List MIME Mirror Modem MOV MPG/MPEG Multimedia Navigation Tools Netiquette Netscape Network Newsgroup Newsreader Node NSFNET Object-Oriented Programming Packet/Packet Switching Parsing Password Pathname PDF PERL Ping Pixel PKZIP/PKUNZIP Plug-in Pointer POP POP Server Port Posting PPP Protocol Pull Technology Push Technology QuickTime Query RGB Mode Robot ROTFL Router Script Search Engine Server Shareware Shockwave Signature SLIP SMTP Spam SSL Streaming Media String/Search String Syntax Error T1 Line T3 Line Tags TCP/IP Telnet Thread Topic Drift UNIX Upgrade Uploading URL Usenet User Name UUCP UUencode Veronica Viewer Virtual Reality VRML WAIS WAN Web Page Web Ring Webmaster Website WinSock WinZIP World Wide Web ZIP

Avatar An avatar is a graphic facsimile that you can use in chat rooms. Anyone who has participated in a web chat realizes that exchanging typed messages can get boring very quickly. But what if you could assume a visual identity, say a frog or a clown? An avatar lets you role play and interact with people you meet online. The term was popularized in the novel Snow Crash written by Neal Stephenson. See Tags.