Backbone: A high-speed line, or series of connections, that forms a major pathway within a network. This term is relative, as a backbone in a small network may be much smaller than non-backbone lines in a large network.

Bandwidth: The transmission capacity of the lines that carry the Internet's electronic traffic. The greater the bandwidth, the more data that can be moved at one time. Lack of bandwidth can impose severe limitations on the ability of the Internet to quickly deliver information.

Baud: The baud rate of a modem is how many bits it can send or receive per second.

BBS: (Bulletin Board System) - An online meeting and information system that allows people to carry on discussions, make announcements and transfer files. There are thousands of BBS's around the world, varying in size from those running on a single machine with only 1 or 2 phone lines, to massive networks such as CompuServe.

Binhex: (BINary HEXadecimal) - A method for converting non-text files into ASCII files. This is required because Internet email can only handle ASCII files.

Bit: (Binary DigIT) - A bit is the smallest unit of computerized data, comprised of either a 0 (off) or a 1 (on). Bandwidth is usually measured in bits-per-second.

BITNET: ('Because It's Time NETwork' or 'Because It's There NETwork') - A network of educational sites separate from the Internet. Listserv, the most popular form of email discussion groups, originated on BITNET.

Bps: (Bits per second) - A measurement of how fast data is moved from one place to another. A 28.8 modem can move data at 28,800 bits per second.

Bookmark: A pointer to a Web site of interest. Within browsers, pages can be "bookmarked" for quick reference, rather than remembering and typing the complete URL in the address bar.

Browser: A software program that is used to view websites and other Internet resources on the WWW.

BTW: (By The Way) - A shorthand term appended to a comment in an online forum or email.

Byte: A set of bits that represent a single character. There are usually 8 bits in a byte.