I am writing some documentation for a web application and I want to make sure I am using the correct terminology in describing this root directory.
My web application can be configured to be used in any directory. For example you could install it at http://site.com/, or you could install it at http://site.com/mydir/, or you could install it all http://site.com/dira/dirb/.
In each of those cases the root directory would be /, /mydir/ and /dira/dirb/. My question is, is there a term for this exact type of absolute root directory concept? Document root? application root? web root? Or is this a special type of root that is specific to my application that I should invent a name for?
I refer to it as a [web]application root -- the root of that particular application.
It is the root of the application, but not necessarily that of the web(site), depending on how that is defined. In a different environment, however, a Site and a Web have very specific meanings. In SharePoint, for instance, a "Web root" relative path might be "/mysite/myweb". A "document root" sounds like a place to find documents ... not an application.
The important thing is that the users knows what is meant -- and to this effect I'd recommend clearly separating the concerns of "web"/"document" and "application".
Happy coding.