Terminology

by Ron Sharp, MAGIC

This page is taken from the newsletter of March 2024 see here.

Since the MAGIC zoom meeting presentation March 2024 in on the "Finder" app, it'll give you a head start to refresh yourself on terminology.

Screen	The screen refers to your whole computer screen, everything.
Window	The window is an app window that opens on the screen. Top Menu Bar (two words) is the menu list across the top of the Screen Toolbar (one word) is the list of tools on the top of an app window. (different from the menu bar on the top of the Screen) Sidebar (one word) is obviously on the side of an app window.
Dock	The Dock is the row of app icons most often at the bottom of the screen but can be moved to either side.
Finder	The Finder is the Application that manages and displays your Desktop. Click on the Finder icon, the first one in the dock, to open the Finder window. That is where you find and access all your files.
Internet service	Is your service provider company such as WhidbeyTel or Comcast Browser
Browser	The browser is a term for the application that interprets web pages to display on your device. Apples browser is Safari. It's one of the best in my opinion. It is different than a search engine.
Search Engine	The search engine is the software/application that finds the web pages the browser displays when you search for anything. The popular search engines are Google, DuckDuckGo, Yahoo, and Bing. (DuckDuckGo does not track your web searches)
Wi-Fi Network	Is the wireless network that you set up for your devices. Your wi-fi network has a different password than your internet service provider account.
MacOS	Apples operating system for the iMac and MacBook laptops and Mac Mini.
iOS	Apples operating system for their portable devices, iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. (Now there is also iPadOS which is a version of iOS for the iPad.)
iCloud	iCloud is Apples cloud service for backing up and syncing data between devices.
iCloud Drive	This is one option of iCloud that enables a cloud folder to share your data between your devices. This option also turns on a lot of other thing that mostly are unnecessary and should be turned off.
User	refers to the person your Mac was set up for and requires a password. Other Users can be created to keep individuals data separate.
File	A file is any bit of data labeled individually. It can be an image or a document or a spreadsheet, etc.
Folder	A folder is a container for many files.
Album	Is a folder for images.
Disk Drive	Is a storage drive. It can refer to the internal storage drive in a device or an external storage drive connected to a device. They can be a spinning disk drive or a Solid State Drive. (No moving parts)
Memory	Most often refers to the electronic memory that the device uses for processing data while working with applications. Also called RAM memory. It is different than the storage drive.
Pixel	Refers to a screen image quality, the more pixels per inch the sharper the image. One pixel is equal to one dot on the screen.
USB Drive, Flash Drive, Thumb drive	All refer to the small solid state storage devices that connect to other electronic devices to save or transfer your data.
USB	Universal Serial Bus is the port, connection type, for connecting devices. USB-C is the newer replacement that is smaller.

Take a break. Enough of this, time to take a break!