What MIME is
Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions. An industry-standard code that defines how an e-mail message is sent in code and then decoded when received at its destination. It is actually a protocol for e-mail that enables the transmission of non-text data, such as graphics, audio, video, and other binary types of files. These files are encoded into text that would look like gobbledygook to us.
An e-mail program, such as Eudora, is MIME-compliant if it can send and receive files using the MIME standard. The MIME standard is universally used by Internet servers to identify the files that are sent to clients. Since the files are identified by the servers, users can accommodate new file formats by adding them to their browser's list of MIME-types and programs for handling each type. S/MIME, the secure version of the standard, utilizes an encryption system to protect e-mail, even when it is sent between different e-mail clients. S/MIME messages include the message itself and the encryption information (such as a digital certificate).
The meaning of Link
Text or images on a Web page that a user can click on in order to access or connect to another document. Links are most commonly thought of as the technology that connects two Web pages or Web sites. Once you click on a link, it could trigger a variety of events: It could "jump" to a different page or to another place on the same Web page; it could link to a file that will start downloading to your computer; it could trigger the launch of a helper application that will then process the clicked-on file, it could launch your e-mail program so you can send a message, and so on. What actually occurs when you click on a link is determined by the file's MIME type and the way your computer system is configured (or set up) to handle that MIME type. For example, browsers are configured to display all files that have HTML in their MIME extension. Links are also called hyperlinks, hypertext, and hot links, and they are coded in HTML by Web page authors or Web developers. The basic HTML code for using text to link to a Web site's homepage.
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