The URL (Uniform Resource Locator) is simply an address of a page on the on the Internet.  Each page has its own address.

The URL has several parts. First is the protocol. This is the part of the address which tells you how it will be sent. Some protocols are:

http:// tells you that it gets mailed on the World Wide Web (WWW) gopher:// tells you that you will see a list of items to choose from ftp:// means that you can send and receive files over the Internet

The second part of the URL (yahooligans) is the basic address. It looks like this:

www.yahooligans.com

The last part of the address (.com) tells you whether it is a commercial site (.com), a governmental site (.gov), an educational site (.edu), or an organization (.org).

 

Many URLs also have directories. These are like folders in a file cabinet, and they help people keep their files in order on the Internet. They are separated by forward slashes (/). The following is an example of a basic address with one directory:

www.westirondequoit.org/rogers

You may have directories inside other directories. It will look like this:

www.westirondequoit.org/rogers/library

Finally, list the file name. This identifies each page. For example, the filename of this page is url.htm. URL is its name (in lowercase letters) and htm is the extension, which tells us that it is a file that the Internet can read. Here is the full URL for this page:

http://www.westirondequoit.org/rogers/library/url.htm

 

URL's are very fussy about how they are read. You have to type them in exactly like they are. Most of the time, they are all in lower case letters, but if one uses an upper case letter, you must type it that way. Be careful not to mix up slashes and periods. The computer cannot figure out our mistakes!

 

Here are some to try: (be sure to click the BACK button to return to this page.)

 

http://www.pathfinder.com/TFK

 

http://www.family.go.com

 

http://www.sikids.com/