Remembering phone numbers is a skill we’re trying to leave in the past, so of course no one is going to memmorize IP addresses for all the websites one visits either (that’s not a challenge, be cool).

URLs (Universal Resource Locators), a.k.a. web addresses, are what we actually use on our human day-to-day activities.

 

Basic B of URLs

simple url

  • Scheme <https>:

    The scheme is the protocol, it sets the rules the requests must follow. Usually http (HyperText Transfer Protocol) or https (HyperText Transfer Protocol Secure), but there are others like mailto or ftp (File Transfer Protocol).

  • Domain name <website-name>:

    The name of the website 🕵️

  • TLD <.com>:

    The Top Level Domain is the “category” of the website, it groups websites facilitating the DNS job. .com usually indicates it’s a commercial website; other examples would be .org, indicating non-profit organization and .net, which was originally intended for the internet businesses.

 

But there might be some more information in it

bigger url

  • Subdomain <WWW>:

    World Wide Web, identifies the link as a website that communicates through HTTP.

    Fun Fact:

    The use of WWW has been around since the creation of the internet, and its widespread use as a subdomain was largely accidental. The first web server was nxoc01.cern.ch. When publishing the website, the creators fully intended for info.cern.ch to be their home page, and WWW, as such, was excluded. The Domain Name System records for the server were never switched, and the use of WWW became an unintentional standard practice. source

  • Port <80>:

    Usually omitted, because default values are used, the port indicates the technical “gate” through which the resources may be accessed. The combo of domain name, TDL and port is called Authority.

  • Path <path/to/file.html>:

    Not necessarily the exact path to a file in the server, but an abstraction of it.

  • Parameters <?key1=value1&key2=value2>:

    Information sent to the server through the request. It consists on a list of key and value, initiated with ? separated by &. The use of this data is custom and determined by the server.

  • Anchor <#specific>:

    Also known as fragment, the anchor bookmarks a specific part of the page. This never goes into the request.