Glossary of Technical Terms & Portal Terms

NOTE: Technical terms were taken verbatim from the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 Glossary, W3C Working Draft 17 May 2007. Portal terms were taken from the NOCCCD Glossary of Portal Terms.

Technical Terms

alternate version: version that provides all of the same information and functionality in the same human language and is as up to date as the non-accessible content
assistive technology: tools such as screen magnifiers and screen readers
captions: text presented and synchronized with multimedia to provide not only the speech, but also non-speech information conveyed through sound, including meaningful sound effects and identification of speakers
content (Web content): information and sensory experience to be communicated to the user by means of a user agent, as well as code or markup that define the structure, presentation, and interactions associated with those elements
copyright: property rights protected by law
fair use: fair use is not a law or a right, but a legal position referred to in the United States Copyright Act that allows limited use of copyrighted material for criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research
full text alternative for multimedia: document including correctly sequenced text descriptions of all visual settings, actions, speakers, and non-speech sounds, and transcript of all dialogue combined with a means of achieving any outcomes that are achieved using interaction (if any) during the multimedia
information that is conveyed by color differences: information presented in a manner that depends entirely on the ability to perceive color
multimedia: audio or video synchronized with another format for presenting information and/or with time-based interactive components
public domain: works in the public domain are not protected by copyright or have copyrights expired, these works are free to use by the pubic at large
screen readers: tools which are used by people who are blind to read textual information through synthesized speech or braille
structure: the way the parts of a Web page are organized in relation to each other; and the way a collection of Web pages is organized
user agent: any software that retrieves and presents Web content for users, for example: Web browsers, media players, plug-ins, and other programs — including assistive technologies — that help in retrieving, rendering, and interacting with Web content
group studio: A feature within the portal that enables a specific group of people to participate in a collaborative environment; includes collaborative tools such as online group discussion
layout: The design of a portal tab. It is a group of channels set up in a certain number of columns that fall within a tab.
portal: MyGateway is a Web-based interface that offers a single access point to information, to conduct transactions, and to share communications. It is a private personalized Web space to consolidated content, services and collaborative tools that are tailored to a particular user or group of users.
luminis: A portal-software platform, developed by SunGard Higher Education, which integrates with Banner. The software behind MyGateway.
role: Portal users are assigned one or more roles based on their “status” or “position” at the College. A user will have the role of ‘student’, ‘faculty’, ‘staff’, alumni, or a combination if they hold multiple roles. The user’s role determines what content is presented to them. Roles are authenticated through Banner.
announcement: Timely, important, role-specific messages that are pushed to portal users. It appears as a framed box within a tab.
locked: Those tools (tabs and channels) that are deemed essential to each tab. Users may not remove them from their default location.
channel: A content delivery tool. Each channel has its own purpose for distributing content; it may provide information from Banner, or it might include College event, service or resource information. A channel may also include links to more detailed topic-specific information, Web services or other applications. Channels can have targeted (role-specific) and non-targeted (broad, general appeal) content. It appears as a framed box within a tab.
content: The information displayed in a tab, channel, announcement. This encompasses data, text, links, images, etc.
tab: A tab is a navigational tool. When a user logs in, the user is directed to the home tab—the main tab within the portal. Predefined tabs appear in the portal according to the user’s role.
theme: A set of colors, fonts, logos and icons that change the look of a web site without affecting its functionality.