by Samuel

Created on: August 02, 2008

How an Internet URL or Web Address works

Uniform Resource Locator or Universal Resource Locator popularly known as URL is the address of a website or webpage on the Internet.

A typical URL looks like this: http://www.mywebpage.com. A long URL might look like this: http://www.mywebpage.com/myhouse/main

Well, such an address becomes a URL when you can conveniently type it on the Address Bar of your Internet Browser (Internet Explorer, Nescape, Mozilla, etc.) and view the information needed.

However, how does the URL work?

The URL is just like the address of a house or building in a city or street. It is not the building itself neither is it the city or street. The address is given to enable you locate the house in that city and get the stuff you want in that house.

So is the URL. The URL is the address that represents specific files of information stored in a web domain on the Internet. As soon as the URL is typed on the Address Bar, it immediately connects to that domain of files and information, which is then displayed by your Internet Browser.

So the URL is the address, the Internet is like the city, while the files and information are the house or building. Clear enough?

Due to the flexible nature of the Internet, a website or webpage can have multiple URLs. As stated above, the URL is just an address. A website or webpage can possibly have just one place (web domain or host) where its information files are hosted; although it is possible to host in different places. However, most websites are hosted in one place while they create multiple URLs which all link or connect to that place.

So it is clear that a URL cannot host a file. It only links up to a file. Does the URL display the information which you see on the computer screen? No. Your Internet browser displays the information through the connection established by the URL to the domain where the files are hosted.

You can get a URL by getting your domain registration from several companies on the Internet. Few companies do just a registration while many do both domain name registration, which gives you the URL, and web hosting (where the files are hosted).

Also, the URL is not just the website address like www.yahoo.com. Even though www.yahoo.com is a URL, something like www.yahoo.com/helium is also a URL. However, you can say it is a URL under the main URL www.yahoo.com.

Finally, an address like www.yahoo.com/helium can be a representation of a folder named "helium" in the www main folder of yahoo.com. However, recent security and SEO teachings have changed everything. www.yahoo.com/helium doesn't guarantee a folder named "helium" in the web host or domain.

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