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URLs are the addresses that identify places in the Internet.
They do not all work the same way.
Identifying parts of URLs
This table explains what some of the more common URL prefixes do:
| This
indicates that the file is being downloaded using the HyperText
Transfer Protocol |
| This
indicates that the HyperText Transfer
Protocol is being used to download a file from
a Secure site. Secure sites are often used for
collecting confidential details, such as customer's
credit card details. |
| This
indicates that a file is being downloaded from an ftp
site. FTP servers use the File Transfer Protocol
which is a more efficient way of transferring files
across the Internet. |
| The
mailto: URL is used to launch a user's default
email application. The email address that follows the
'mailto:' is automatically placed in the 'To' box of
the new email message. |
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This table explains what some of the more common URL suffixes
mean:
| Indicates
a company web site within the U.S. |
| All
countries outside of the U.S. use .co.,
followed by initials that represent that country,
instead of .com. In this example the suffix
relates to a company web site in the United Kingdom. |
| Organizations
and charities' web sites usually end in .org. |
| Government
related web sites usually end in .gov. |
| URLs
for educational
institutions' web sites, such as Universities,
Colleges and Schools usually end in .edu. |
| URLs
for military sites usually end in .mil. |
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There are more recent developments in URL naming that have enabled
many re-direction services to operate on the web. Once a redirection
name has been set-up the lengthy URL for a web site can be replaced with a short
(and often easy-to-remember) name. An example of this is given
below:
| http://www.ns3-net.com |
| http://go.to/st620 |
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Below are 5 example URLs.
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Test out each link in turn.
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Use your browser to obtain the address of each link.
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Can you determine what type of server each URL is
requesting information from?
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Which of the links is a 'redirect' URL?
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