Download Parts of the URL

Parts of the URL
The URL (or Uniform Resource Locator) is the address where a particular web
site lives. For example: http://www.csulb.edu/library There are different parts
of a site which make up the URL. We will look at each part in turn.
http://www.csulb.edu/library
This tells you the protocol for viewing the site. Specifically, HTTP is the
abbreviation for hypertext transfer protocol. There are others, such as ftp for
file transfers across the Internet, and file for documents on your local machine.
http://www.csulb.edu/library
The "www" is the abbreviation for World Wide Web. WWW is not always part of
a URL and many browsers will enter it automatically. You may see also see
other types of site in this part of the URL such as forums. or groups. for
discussion board sites. e,g: http://groups.yahoo.com
http://www.csulb.edu/library
This is the server name and tells you which computer the web site is on. In this
case the server is California State University Long Beach (csulb). This can be a
useful clue as to what of site you are looking at. For example, businesses often
have their company name here (www.swanseaitec.co.uk)
http://www.csulb.edu/library
This is the most important part of the URL. It indicates the domain of the web
site you are viewing. The following page shows the main domains.
http://www.csulb.edu/library
A slash mark after the domain name means you are going to a sub- section of
the original website web site or a folder within it. For example the following URL
is a student page of a UCLA student. It does not contain any educational info but
it lives on a .edu site. http://www.bol.ucla.edu/~alison/mypage.html
From: http://www.csulb.edu/~ttravis/test/Tutorials/Internetwhat.htm
Top Level Domains
.edu
.ac
ac.uk
.edu and .ac are always affiliated with
universities, colleges and educational sites.
Keep in mind that many universities give
their students free space to create websites
so they are not always created by scholars
or cover scholarly topics
.org
.org.uk
.org is usually indicates that a site is run by
a non-profit organization like the Red Cross
or other charities. However, it is possible
for anyone to buy an .org ending for their
web site- even for profit companies!
.com
.co.uk
.com is the most popular and best known
domain used by companies wanting to
advertise
their
products
to
internet
consumers. It normally indicates a business
site, but like the .org domain names, can be
bought by anyone.
.net
.net is the latest of new endings for URLs. It
stands for network. Usually these sites are
owned by ISPs or host other technically
based sites
.gov
.gov.uk
.gov is exclusively used for sites owned and
operated by the government. No one but the
government is authorized to use this ending.
.gov indicates the American government,
and .gov.uk the British government. Lots of
local council sites for example use .gov.uk
There are also many country specific abbreviations which can be used in the
URL. e.g.
.uk (Britain)
.fr (France)
.ca (Canada)
From: http://www.csulb.edu/~ttravis/test/Tutorials/Internetwhat.htm