BSEB Inter Multimedia & Web Tech key terms

Any digital presentation that combines two or more media types, such as text, images, sound, video, or animation, usually delivered through a computer or mobile device and often made interactive for the user.

A multimedia system in which elements such as text, images, audio, or video are linked together so users can jump between them non-linearly, as on the World Wide Web.

Software that lets a creator assemble multimedia content by arranging text, graphics, audio, and video without writing low-level code, often exporting the result for web or disc playback.

The property of a media product that responds to user actions such as clicks, taps, typing, or voice, allowing the audience to influence what happens next rather than only watching passively.

A sequence of rough sketches or panels showing the planned order of scenes, shots, and interactions in a multimedia or animation project before production begins.

The craft of arranging type so text is readable and visually appropriate, covering choice of typeface, size, spacing, alignment, and hierarchy within a layout.

A single designed family of letterforms sharing consistent visual characteristics, such as Arial or Times New Roman, which can be rendered at many sizes and weights.

A specific file or digital instance of a typeface in one size, weight, and style, for example bold 12-point Arial, used by software to draw characters on screen or paper.

A small stroke or foot at the end of a letter's main lines, typical of traditional typefaces such as Georgia; fonts without these strokes are called sans-serif.

Adjusting the horizontal space between two specific characters so pairs such as AV or To look evenly spaced, improving the visual flow of a word.

How easily individual characters and words can be distinguished from one another, affected by typeface design, size, contrast, and spacing rather than by overall layout.

A picture stored as a grid of pixels, each holding colour values; it can look blocky when enlarged, and its quality depends on resolution and colour depth.

An image described by mathematical paths, curves, and fill properties rather than pixels, so it can be scaled to any size without losing sharpness or gaining visible jagged edges.

The amount of detail an image or display can hold, usually expressed as pixel dimensions or dots per inch; higher values allow sharper output but larger file sizes.

The number of bits used to store the colour of each pixel, which sets how many distinct colours an image can show, such as 8-bit, 24-bit, or 32-bit.

Reducing the size of a media file by removing redundancy; lossless methods preserve every original value, while lossy methods discard detail the eye or ear may not notice.

A rule set, implemented in software or hardware, that encodes media into a compressed stream and decodes it back for playback, for example MP3 for audio or H.264 for video.

The number of bits processed or transmitted per second in an audio or video stream; higher rates generally mean better quality but larger files and greater bandwidth needs.

How many times per second an analogue audio signal is measured when converted to digital, measured in hertz; common values are 44.1 kHz for music and 8 kHz for speech.

Delivering audio or video over a network so playback can start before the whole file arrives, buffering a small amount of data to keep sound and picture continuous.

Creating the illusion of movement by displaying a series of slightly different images in rapid succession, exploiting the eye's tendency to blend closely spaced frames.

The number of individual images shown per second in an animation or video; common values are 24, 25, and 30 frames per second, and higher rates give smoother motion.

A frame in an animation that defines an important position or state, such as the start or end of a movement, with intermediate frames generated between keyframes.

Automatically generating the frames between two keyframes so an object appears to move, change size, or change colour smoothly, saving the animator from drawing each frame.

The markup language used to describe the structure and meaning of web page content through elements and tags, such as headings, paragraphs, lists, links, and images.

A complete HTML unit made of a start tag, its content, and an end tag, for example a paragraph element; some elements are void and have no closing tag.

Extra information written inside an HTML start tag as a name and value pair, such as src or alt on an image, which modifies how the element behaves or is displayed.

Choosing HTML elements that describe the meaning of content, such as header, nav, main, and article, rather than elements chosen only for their default appearance.

A clickable reference in a document, created with the anchor element and an href attribute, that navigates the user to another page, file, or position on the same page.

The style sheet language that controls how HTML documents look, setting colours, fonts, spacing, and layout through rules that match elements using selectors.

The part of a CSS rule that identifies which elements the declarations apply to, for example a tag name, a class, an id, or a combination of these.

The set of rules browsers use to decide which CSS declaration wins when several apply to the same element, weighing origin, importance, specificity, and source order.

A weight assigned to a CSS selector based on the kinds of selectors it contains, used with the cascade to resolve conflicts between competing style rules.

Building pages that adapt their layout to different screen sizes using flexible grids, fluid images, and media queries, so content stays usable on phones, tablets, and desktops.

A CSS feature that applies style rules only when conditions about the device are met, such as minimum width, orientation, or reduced-motion preference.

Designing and coding so people with disabilities, including visual, hearing, motor, or cognitive impairments, can perceive, operate, and understand digital content, often following WCAG guidance.

A short written description given in an image's alt attribute, read by screen readers and shown when the image fails to load, conveying the image's purpose to those who cannot see it.

The difference in lightness or colour between foreground and background, which must be strong enough for text to remain readable, especially for users with low vision.

A programming language that runs in web browsers and on servers, used to make pages interactive by responding to events, changing the document, and communicating with servers.

The Document Object Model, a tree-shaped representation of an HTML page that scripts can read and modify, so page content and structure can change while the user is viewing it.

A function or code block that runs in response to a user or browser action, such as a click, key press, page load, or timer, enabling interactive behaviour on a page.

Code that executes in the user's browser rather than on the server, allowing immediate responses to input but relying on the visitor's device for processing power.

Code that runs on the web server to build pages, process forms, query databases, or manage sessions before sending results to the browser, keeping sensitive logic off the client.

A uniform resource locator, the address that identifies a resource on the web, typically giving the protocol, domain name, optional port, path, and query string.

The request-response protocol browsers and servers use to exchange web resources, where the client sends a method and address and the server returns a status code and content.

The Domain Name System, a distributed directory that translates human-readable domain names into the numeric IP addresses computers use to route network traffic.

The maximum rate at which data can travel across a network connection, usually measured in bits per second, which limits how quickly large media files can load.

A service that stores website files on a server connected to the internet and delivers them to visitors, often including domain setup, email, and database support.

The legal right of a creator to control copying, distribution, and adaptation of an original work, which applies automatically to images, music, video, and code online.

A set of public licences that let creators grant permission in advance for others to share or adapt their work under stated conditions such as attribution or non-commercial use.

Presenting someone else's words, images, code, or ideas as one's own without proper credit, an ethical and academic offence even when the source is freely available online.

A limited legal allowance for quoting or reusing copyrighted material without permission for purposes such as criticism, teaching, or news reporting, judged case by case.

Scalable Vector Graphics, an XML-based image format for drawing shapes, lines, and text with paths, which stays sharp at any size and can be styled or animated with code.

A font file delivered over the network and loaded by a web page through CSS, letting designers use typefaces not installed on the visitor's device.