Answers to Common Questions
and Other Helpful Hints

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Questions and Terms

Cookies
Emoticons
Flames
Form Basics
Common Form Problems
Frames - What are they?
The Frames Trap - Why some web sites won't let go of you.
Privacy
zine

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Cookies

Cookies are simple text files that help track repeated visits to an Internet site. More about Cookies.

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Emoticons

Groups of keyboard characters used to form a pictographic face to indicate an emotion. Some of the more commonly used are

smile	:-)
wink	;-)
sad	:-(
surprise	=:-o

Variations are numerous. Emoticons are commonly used in e-mail. It is a derivative of ascii art -- the use of keyboard characters to create pictures.

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Flames are opinions, criticisms or suggestions that take on an extremely personal nature. The original point of discussion is subverted by personal nature of the attack. Flames are more apt to occur on the Internet because of the lack of verbal and non-verbal clues we use in everyday communication.

A single flame can erupt into a ( "Flame" ) War when one flame leads to a similar response and the situation continues to escalate.

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Frames

What are they?

Frames are sections of a browser's window which can be manipulated indepentently. Each frame is often resizable and scrollable much like a "window" in graphically oriented operating systems.

Frames allow a browser to view different parts of a site or different sites simultaneously. Usually there is a element of coordination between the individual frames--one may be an index, another a page referenced by the index, and yet another a generic site banner or logo.

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The Frames Trap

or Why some web sites won't let go of you.

The Frames Trap occurs when a site does not provide an easy exit from the control of their frames. Links to other sites are " trapped " within the linking sites web of control. While there are pausable user benefits to this arrangement -- most sites that use this technique extensively are lacking in their own quality material.

Another variation of the frames trap results in additional versions of the browser being started. Thus multiple copies of the browser are running simultaeously. This variation is often less obvious because the newer copies hide the older copies from view.

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