Web database A Web search tool built by software "robots," or intelligent agents, that travel over the Web to look for subjects and information for the database. The quality of a search tool that uses database technology is determined by how comprehensive the database is and how well the search engine finds what you need and presents it to you.
Web page A document that you create to share with others on the Web. A Web page can include text, graphics, sound, animation, and video.
Web site A group of related Web pages.
Webmaster A person responsible for the visual layout of a Web site, its written content, its links to other locations, and often the techniques to follow up on the customer's inquiry.
what-if question An important form of exploration in a spreadsheet, in which you change the key variables to see the effect on the results of the computation.
wide area network (WAN) A computer network that directly connects computers separated by long distances.
wireless transmission Transmission that uses radio waves, generally over short distances.
word A unit of information, composed of bits and bytes, that can be stored in one memory location.
word processing A type of program that transforms a computer into a tool for creating, editing, proofreading, formatting, and printing documents.
word processing software Software that usually has more features and flexibility than a special-purpose word processor and that has been developed for use on general-purpose computers. For example, word processing software can be updated and allows the importing of documents.
word processor A special-purpose machine or software program designed to perform word processing (to create, edit, proofread, format, and print documents).
word wrap A word processing feature that automatically moves words down to the beginning of the next line if they extend beyond the right margin.
work area The on-screen area in which you build a spreadsheet.
workgroup operation An operation involving individual departments or other workgroups that handle a specific task.
workstation A powerful desktop computer designed to meet the computing needs of engineers, architects, and other professionals who need detailed graphic displays; in a LAN, a workstation runs application programs and serves as an access point to the network.
World Wide Web (WWW) A worldwide hypermedia system that uses the Internet as its transport mechanism.
worm A virus designed to alter data in memory or on disk.
Write Once, Read Many Compact Disc (WORM CD) An optical disk drive with storage capacities of up to one terabyte. After data is written, it becomes a read-only storage medium.