Uniform Resource Locator

Information on the Web is found by identifying a Uniform Resource Locator (URL). A URL uniquely specifies documents and other information for a browser to obtain and display. An example URL is:

                 http://www.yahoo.com

The Web site at this particular URL enables you to search the Web for information using particular words or phrases. A URL contains several pieces of information. The first piece is a protocol, which determines the way the browser should communicate. The second piece is the Internet address of the machine on which the document is stored. The third piece of information is the file name of A browser is a software tool that loads and formats Web documents for viewing. These documents are often written using the HyperText Markup Language (HTML).

URL

A URL uniquely specifies documents and other information found on the Web for a browser to obtain and display.

 If no file name is given, as is the case with the Yahoo URL, browsers make a default selection (such as index.html). Let’s look at another example URL:

http://www.gestalt-llc.com/vision.html

In this URL, the protocol is http, which stands for HyperText Transfer Protocol. The machine referenced is www (a typical reference to a Web server), found at domain gestalt-llc.com. Finally, vision.html is a file to be transferred to the browser for viewing. Many other forms for URLs exist, but this form is the most common.