Windows 8 In Depth

Understanding Web Page Addresses

Let’s begin by examining that strange creature, the World Wide Web address, officially known as a Uniform Resource Locator (URL). A web page’s address usually takes the following form:

http://host.domain/directory/file.name

• host.domain—The domain name of the host computer where the page resides.

• directory—The host computer directory that contains the page.

• file.name—The page’s filename. Note that most web pages use the extensions .html and .htm.

Here are some notes about URLs:

• The http part of the URL signifies that HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) is the TCP/IP protocol to use for communication between the web browser and the web server. HTTP is the protocol for standard web pages. Other common protocols ...