Terminology

Accessibility - A general term used to describe how easy it is for people to get to, use, and understand things. It is not to be confused with usability which is used to describe how easily a thing can be used by any type of user. One meaning of accessibility specifically focuses on people with disabilities.

Agile Conceptual Framework – project management methodology for software development in which production is done in phases of small demonstrable deliverables allowing product goals, direction, and scope to be reassessed and potentially redirected incrementally with every deliverable

Application - a software program that allows a user to perform specific tasks like word processing, email, accounting, database management.

Content Management System (CMS) - Software that enables one to add and/or manipulate content on a Web site.

Custom .NET Development - applications built with Microsoft's .NET Framework turnkey to meet client needs unique to the client or the client's line of work

Database - A collection of information organized in such a way that a computer program can quickly select desired pieces of data. You can think of a database as an electronic filing system.

Graphical User Interface (GUI) - A program interface that takes advantage of the computer's graphics capabilities to make the program easier to use. Well-designed graphical user interfaces can free the user from learning complex command languages. On the other hand, many users find that they work more effectively with a command-driven interface, especially if they already know the command language.

Human Computer Interface (HCI) - A discipline concerned with the study, design, construction and implementation of human-centric interactive computer systems. A user interface, such as a GUI, is how a human interacts with a computer, and HCI goes beyond designing screens and menus that are easier to use and studies the reasoning behind building specific functionality into computers and the long-term effects that systems will have on humans.

Information Architecture - Information Architecture involves the successful design, organization, and navigation of information so that it is easy for a user to be able to find and manage information easily.

Interface - A boundary across which two independent systems meet and act on or communicate with each other. In computer technology, there are several types of interfaces.
· user interface - the keyboard, mouse, menus of a computer system. The user interface allows the user to communicate with the operating system. Also see GUI.
· software interface - the languages and codes that the applications use to communicate with each other and with the hardware.
· hardware interface - the wires, plugs and sockets that hardware devices use to communicate with each other.

Managed Services - The practice of transferring day-to-day related management responsibility as a strategic method for improved effective and efficient operations.

Prototype - A strategy in system development in which a scaled down system or portion of a system is constructed in a short time, tested, and improved in several iterations. A prototype is an initial version of a system that is quickly developed to test the effectiveness of the overall design being used to solve a particular problem. Prototyping is similar to the Evolutionary (Iterative) Design Process. It is sometimes termed rapid prototyping and is similar to rapid application development (RAD).

Software - A generic term for computer programs, including systems programs which operate the computer itself, and applications programs which control the particular task at hand.

Software Requirement Specification (SRS) - An SRS is an organization's understanding (in writing) of a customer or potential client's system requirements and dependencies at a particular point in time (usually) prior to any actual design or development work. It's a two-way insurance policy that assures that both the client and the organization understand the other's requirements from that perspective at a given point in time.

Test-Driven Development (TDD) – software development methodology involving repeatedly writing test cases for classes and then building the corresponding classes to implement only the code necessary to successful pass the tests

Unified Modeling Language (UML) - Unified Modelling Language is an Object Management Group (OMG) standard for modelling software artifacts. Using UML, developers and architects can make a blueprint of a project, much like ERD diagrams are used for relational design.

Usability - Efficiency with which a user can perform required tasks with a product, for example, a website. Usability can be measured objectively via performance errors and productivity, and subjectively via user preferences and interface characteristics. Web design features that affect usability include navigation design and content layout.

User Centered Design (UCD) - User-centered design (UCD) is a modern, widely practiced design philosophy rooted in the idea that users must take center-stage in the design of any computer system. Users, designers, and technical practitioners work together to articulate the wants, needs, and limitations of the user and create a system that addresses these elements. Often, user-centered design projects are informed by ethnographic studies of the environments in which users will be interacting with the system

Web Application - A Web application uses a web site as the front-end to a more typical application. In a web application client data input executes business logic on the server.

Web Development - Web development incorporates all areas of creating a Web site for the World Wide Web. This includes Web design (graphic design, XHTML, CSS, usability and semantics), programming, server administration, content management, marketing, testing and deployment. The term can also specifially be used to refer to the "back end", that is, programming and server administration.