How Internet Addresses Work

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How Internet Addresses Work

• By Charles Kimball, EME2040

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What is a URL?

• The address of a webpage is called a URL (Uniform
  Resource Locator).
• It consists of the following parts

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• http//
• This means Hypertext Transfer Protocol.
• When a computer sees this, it knows you are
  giving it the location of a webpage.

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• http//www.
• www means World Wide Web.
• This isnt as common as it used to be many
  webpages dont have it anymore.

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• http//www.valenciacc.edu
• The part after the www is the domain name.
  This is the most important part of the address.
• Typing in this will get you to the main page or
  homepage of the website.

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• http//www.valenciacc.edu/aboutus/locations/
• Most websites are divided into several imaginary
  groups called folders. You can have folders
  inside other folders.
• When going to a specific page on a website, the
  URL must have a slash mark ( / ) every time you
  enter a new folder, as with the page above.

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• http//faculty.valenciacc.edu/ckimball/
• Sometimes part of a website is in a completely
  different place, like on another server. To show
  this a new name replaces the www.
• This name is called a subdomain.
• Now you know how the class website got its
  address!

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And Now About Suffixes

• Most domain names end in a suffix. This is the
  part after the period, like .com.
• There are six suffixes commonly used on American
  websites .com, .org, .gov, .edu, .mil, and
  .net.
• Other countries have different suffixes. The
  British, for example, use .co.uk instead of .com,
  so Amazon.com becomes Amazon.co.uk in the United
  Kingdom.
• Some countries dont use suffixes at all. Heres
  such a website from Uzbekistan
  http//www.uzdessert.uz .

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Heres what American suffixes mean.

• .com A commercial website. Either the websites
  owner, or the owner of the computer it is on,
  wishes to make money from the website.
• .org A non-profit organization. This includes
  charities, religious and political organizations.
• .gov A government website.

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• .edu The website of a grade school, high school,
  college or university.
• .mil Websites belonging to the armed forces.
• .net Websites having to do with computers and
  the Internet, or anything that doesnt fit into
  the other five categories.

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Other suffixes

• Sometimes you will run into websites with
  suffixes like .cc, .biz, .pro, and .info.
  Despite all the hype, theyre not very common
  yet.
• .tv is not a suffix, but a country code, for the
  Pacific island nation of Tuvalu!

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Country Codes

• Internet addresses are also supposed to have a
  two-letter code, to tell you what country the
  websites server is in.
• Only one country doesnt use its country code
  much, the United States (.us).
• Next you will see some common country codes.

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• .uk United Kingdom
• .ca Canada
• .jp Japan
• .mx Mexico
• .br Brazil

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• .fr France
• .it Italy
• .ru Russia
• .kr (South) Korea
• .au Australia

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And here are some country codes you probably
didnt know

• .za South Africa (.sa is Saudi Arabia)
• .es Spain
• .de Germany (Deutschland, get it?)
• .ch Switzerland (as in Confoederatio Helvetica.)

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Now you are ready to surf the World Wide Web.

• And this time you wont get lost!

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• Another PowerPoint presentation by Charles
  Kimball.
• To view more like it, visit the Technology For
  Educators HQ.