Glossary H

Hacker: A person who intentionally logs on to other computers by bypassing the security system. Some hackers do this to steal valuable information or to cause irreparable damage.

Hand-Keyed Transaction: The process of keying an account number for a transaction rather than swiping a card through a magnetic strip card reader to read the primary account number.

Hit: The retrieval of a Web page when it is accessed by a user or a program. Each time you click through to a Web site, a hit is recorded.

Homepage (also, Welcome page): The opening page of a Web site. It usually contains site navigation and appropriate contact information.

Host: Any computer that can operate as the beginning and end point of data transfers. An Internet host has a unique Internet address (IP address) and a unique domain or host name.

Hosting Provider: Offer various services to merchants and other service providers. Services range from simple to complex; from shared space on a server to an entire range of "shopping cart" options; from payment applications to connections to payment gateways and processors; and for hosting dedicated to just one customer for each server.

HTML: Hyper Text Markup Language. The HTML is the text-based language used to construct Web pages, understood by Web browsers.

HTTP: Hyper Text Transfer Protocol. The procedure used by the World Wide Web that dictates the way communications are formatted and transmitted, and how Web servers and browsers respond to various commands. When choosing a link, you are sending a request for that file to the http protocol on the computer hosting the Web site. Example: Selecting a link to "http://www.visabrc.com" sends a request to the hosting computer at Visa. The file is then transmitted to your Web browser.

Hyperlink: A highlighted, underlined phrase or word on a Web page that is usually selected to proceed to either another part of the page or to another Web page.

Hypertext: Text which contains links that can be selected with a mouse. When the user clicks/selects the link, they are taken to another document or a different section of the current document.