URL's - Universal Remote Locator

 

What IS a URL? URL stands for Uniform Resource Locator. Every page on the Internet has a unique URL which tells the browser where to locate it. It's like a telephone number.
There are 3 parts to every URL.
Let’s break it down a URL: http://www.netscape.com/browsers.html

1. http:// (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) -this is part of the Internet protocol that tells a browser what type of page it’s looking for - in this case a page.
2. The second portion is the domain name- www.netscape.com -many URL’s start with “www” but not all. WWW stands for World Wide Web. Don’t be alarmed if you see one without the www. The “netscape” tells you who or what the site is about (usually) and the “com” tells you it is a commercial site. You’ll also see endings like “net”, “org” and “edu”.
3. /browsers.html -this is the individual page within the whole site. Every / represents a sub-folder within the root directory.
• You can get to a website by typing the URL into the location box on the Netscape browser. You need to include the http://.

You must type an URL exactly right or you won’t get there. You can’t have spaces, commas, or semicolons in a URL.
You don’t have to put the http:// - the computer will assume this.

 

Some types of Domain Names used in URL's

.edu-educational institution
.gov-governmental agency
.com-commercial enterprise
.org-organization, nonprofit

 

 

Task

1) Find a few of these URL's on the World Wide Web(make sure your address box is on in your browser)

2) The address box is where you type your URL. Delete the current address and type in the new one. In the picture below the address starting with http is found in the address box.

Creighton Home Page
http://www.creighton.k12.az.us/

Technology Integration Page
http://www.creighton.k12.az.us/tiw/

Carlos' Internet Resources
http://10.1.1.9/bilint/

Government Statistics
http://childstats.gov/ac1999/toc.asp

Royalty Free Clip Art
http://www.sla.purdue.edu/fll/JapanProj/FLClipart/

 Virtual Field Trips
http://www.field-trips.org/trips.htm

Web Quest Matrix
http://webquest.sdsu.edu/matrix.html

Real Time Data
http://k12science.ati.stevens-tech.edu/realtimedatasites.html

Experts Online
http://www.askanexpert.com/

Grammar Reference
http://esl.about.com/blgrammar.htm?once=true&

 

Helpful Hint

The fastest way to open one of the URL addresses above is to. . .

• highlight it
• copy it
• go to your Internet Browser and paste it into the address box.

Hyperlinks

• A hyperlink is a link to another page. Usually it is a different color text and underlined. As you put your mouse over the hyperlinked text, it turns into a pointing finger. Click once. Then WAIT. You can tell a page is loading by looking in two areas.

1) After clicking on a hyperlink, look at the Explorer icon in the upper right hand corner of your browser. As long as it is moving, you know that a page is loading.
2) You can also look in the bottom right corner of your browser at the status bar. When the blue line goes all the way across, the page has fully loaded. This gives you an idea of how much time is left for loading.

• The new address appears in the address box.

How to find a site you previously visited.
You can always use the back button to go to previously visited sites but when you want to go back beyond 1 or 2 sites it's quicker to use the Go menu item. It will list all of the sites you have been to that day.(Internet Explorer)


hint- Sometimes you can find a site just by guessing the URL.
-Susan Kovalik has a website... it’s www.kovalik.com
-The Apple website is www.apple.com
Be careful to not do this with students as sometimes this technique can turn up inappropriate information unexpectedly.