LEO: Literacy Education Online READING URLs

What is a URL?

The Four Parts of a URL

1. type of transfer

   The first part of the URL is an indication of what kind of information is being transferred. Here are the most common types of transfers:

   http: hypertext, the standard format for the World Wide Web

   gopher: gopher format, text only precursor of the Web

   ftp: file transfer protocol, a computer file that can be sent directly to your computer.

   news: newsgroup format.

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2. servername.domain

   The second part of the URL tells you where a Web site resides. This part of the address sometimes includes the name of the machine, the domain (where the computer lives), and the home country of the computer. This part of the URL will show you not only where the information is coming from but whether or not the source is an educational (.edu) institution or commercial (.com) service.

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3. directories and subdirectories

   The third section of the URL shows you the place where the page you are looking for lives. If the directory or subdirectory begins with a tilde (~), looks like a person's name, and follows a directory called "users" or "people," the page is probably living on someone's personal Internet account. For example: http://server.state.edu/~jsmith/mypage.html

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4. filename.filetype

   The final part of the URL specifically names the individual document at which you are looking. Once you click on a link at a home page, you will see a filename appear. Standard file type appears. Standard file types include:

   .html or .htm: hypertext (this is standard for the Web)

   .gif, .jpg, .bmp: image types (formats of visual images)

   .zip, .tar: compressed files (these files will be downloaded onto your hard drive; your computer may not be able to interpret them, and you may need to get an "unzipping" utility)

Reference

        http://milton.mse.jhu.edu:8001/research/education/url.html (30 Dec. 1996)

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