Anatomy of a URL
URLs are the most important part about the internet. Without them, we’d be lost navigating to sites and understanding how we got to certain pages and information. It is important to know all of the symbols, letters, and words that make up a URL so that one can understand all of its components and navigate the internet better.
What is a URL?
URL Stands for Uniform Resource Locator. Simply put, a URL is an address of a unique resource on the internet.
Examples of URLs:
https://www.thetechnicole.com/
https://www.thetechnicole.com/blog
https://www.thetechnicole.com/blog/coolest-hidden-iphone-tricks-part-3
https://www.thetechnicole.com/blog?category=Tech%20Questions
Now, you may notice that some can be very short and others are more complex. Let’s break up the components of URL.
The Anatomy of a URL
Example URL: https://www.domain.com:443/path/key=Value1&sort=Value2#Fragment
1.Protocol
A protocol lets you know how the web browser is communicating with a web server when sending or receiving a web page.
The two most common options for a protocol are:
HTTP ( Hypertext Transfer Protocol)
This is the protocol that lets users interact with data on the internet. It is not secure like HTTPS is.
OR
HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure)
HTTPS means that the page is secure since the session between the web server and the browser is encrypted. This is ideal for websites where you need to enter in personal information like bank websites.
2. Subdomain
Subdomains help organize and navigate different sections of a website.
A great example is Google since it has many subdomains https://docs.google.com, https://drive.google.com, https://shopping.google.com, and more!
3. Domain
Domain names are a location of a website that is labelled as a unique name of an organization rather than the IP address of it. For example, an IP address for Google is 172.217.11.36. If you type that in the url bar, it will bring you to google, but isn’t simply typing out www.google.com a lot easier to remember?
4. Top- level domain
Top-level domains are the highest level domains in the Domain Name System of the internet.
Examples of top levels domains are:
.com
.gov
.edu
.net
5. Port
Ports are the most uncommon feature that you will see in a url. The port number will always come after the top-level domain and separated by a colon (:). When you don’t see a port number in the URL then port 80 is always used for HTTP and port 443 is used for HTTPS.
6. Path
The path refers to a directory on the web server. It is a specific way of seeing where you are within a web page.
For example, if you went to https://www.thetechnicole.com/blog/what-is-the-difference-between-shutting-down-and-restarting, You can tell that you are in that specific blog post in the blog page of the website theTechNicole.
7. Parameters
Parameters are also known as query strings since they are specific content on a web page that is the result of a search or filter. Parameters begin with a question mark, contains keys and values, and are separated by an ampersand (&).
Example: https://www.thetechnicole.com/blog?category=Tech%20Questions
In this URL, the key is ‘category’
The value is ‘Tech%20 Questions’
8. Fragment
A fragment section is usually at the end of a URL, begins with a hash (#) and is a specific location within a page.
For example, if you are at a brochure site for a website and the url looks like https://www.domain.com/#OurMission, it will bring you to the specific part of the page that starts with Our Mission.
Now that you know the anatomy of a URL, the next time you surf the web pay, you can pay close attention to the sites you are going to and understand how much URLs help our web experiences.
Thank you for reading! Share this with your friends and family!