Terms for being linked to, or disconnected from, the web In computer innovation and telecom, online indicates a state of connectivity, and offline shows a disconnected state. In modern-day terminology this usually describes an Internet connection, but (especially when expressed "on line" or "on the line") might describe any tool or functional unit that is linked to a bigger system.
"Online" has come to describe activities carried out on and information available on the Web, for example: "online identity", "online predator", "online betting", "online shopping", "online banking", and "online learning". Similar significance is also offered by the prefixes "cyber" and "e", as in the words "the online world", "cybercrime", "email", and "ecommerce". In contrast, "offline" can refer to either computing activities carried out while disconnected from the Internet, or options to Web activities (such as shopping in brick-and-mortar shops).
Antecedents [edit] Throughout the 19th century, the term "on line" was frequently used in both the railroad and telegraph industries. For railroads, a signal box would send messages down the line (track), through a telegraph line (cable), indicating the track's status: "Train on line" or "Line clear". Check Here For More would describe sending current through a line as "direct on line" or "battery on line"; or they may refer to an issue with the circuit as being "on line", rather than the source of power or end-point devices.
One such MUA is Microsoft Outlook. When online it will try to connect to mail servers (to look for new mail at regular intervals, for example), and when offline it will not attempt to make any such connection. The online or offline state of the MUA does not necessarily show the connection status between the computer on which it is running and the web.
Likewise, a computer system might be configured to utilize a dial-up connection on need (as when an application such as Outlook efforts to make connection to a server), but the user may not long for Outlook to set off that call whenever it is set up to look for mail. Offline media playing [edit] Another example of the usage of these ideas is digital audio technology.