Tutorial: Anatomy of an Internet URL, Page 2

How a Web Address is Broken Down.

Part 2) A URL Spelling Lesson

Here are some simplified rules to start your URL habits right:

a. A URL is synonymous with "Internet address". Feel free to interchange those words in conversation, although URL makes you sound more high-tech!

b. A URL never has any spaces in it.
c. A URL, for the most part, is all lower case.
d. A URL is NOT the same as an email address.
e. A URL always starts with a protocol prefix like "http://", but most browsers will type those characters for you. Nerdy point to note: some other common Internet protocols are ftp://, gopher://, telnet://, and irc://. Explanations of these protocols follow later in another tutorial.
f. A URL uses forward slashes (/) and dots to separate its parts.
g. A URL is usually in some kind of English, but numbers are also allowed.

Some examples for you:

http://english.pravda.ru/
https://citizensbank.ca/login
ftp://211.14.19.101
telnet://hollis.harvard.edu

Part 3) Decrypted URL Samples

Graphic Example 1: the explanation of a commercial web site URL.

Graphic Example 2: the explanation of a country-specific web site URL, with dynamic content.

Graphic Example 3: the explanation of a "Secure-Sockets" URL with dynamic content.

Back to IE Browser Handbook

Related: "What is an 'IP Address'?"