What They Are
The Uniform Resource Locator (URL) is the web address for a website
or web page. URLs are typed into the browser's location field to access
web pages. Whenever or wherever you see a hyperlink or web address,
that is a URL. For example, in http://www.seniorcorps.org, http:// is the web protocol prefix and www.seniorcorps.org is the URL.
If a page other than the site's home page is desired, slashes are used to separate the names. For example, http://www.seniorcorps.org/resources/index.html points to the resources page. In this case, the URL is www.seniorcorps.org/resources/index.html.
Domain Names
The domain name and its parts:
- The domain name is the unique name for a website.
- Domain names are composed of two parts separated by dots. For example, seniortechcenter.org is the domain name for the Senior Corps Tech Center website.
The letters following the last dot, also known as the extension (for
example ".org"), indicate the top level domain. There is much
significance in the top level domains. The .com, .org, .edu, and .gov
domains are the most common U.S. domains.
Listed here are the top level domains and their significance:
Outside of the U.S., top level domains typically end with two
letters that are the country code; for example, .uk for United Kingdom.
How to Use
You navigate around the web by clicking on hyperlinks, nicknamed
"links." You can tell if a word or image is a link by passing your
cursor over it, if the cursor turns into a hand with a pointing finger,
then it is a link. Hyperlinks often appear as underlined words on a web
page. They may also appear in a different color than the rest of the
text. Links are usually "pointers" to another web page*. Clicking on
the hyperlink brings up the web page the link is pointing to.
Information on the web can come in many forms. Text files, charts,
images, graphics files, digitized video, and sound files are all
available on the web.
To view a website, type the website's full domain name (including the www) into the browser's Location field following the http:// then hit the return key. The website will then appear on your screen.
For example, typing www.seniortechcenter.org in
the location field will take you to the Senior Corps Tech Center's home
page. A home page is the entry page to a website, i.e., the homebase to
all other pages making up that site.
*They can also link to a person's e-mail address, or to a downloadable file. |
