What happens when you type a web address and press Enter
URL: the three parts of a web address, and why you type only two
A web address is a few letters, dots and slashes. Your browser finds three different answers in it. You only ever type two of them.
-
1
Your browser starts by adding what you never type: https:// at the front. Now the line is a full web address, a URL.
-
2
Then it cuts the URL in three, at the :// and at the next slash. Each piece answers one question your browser has before it can ask for anything.
-
3
The first piece says how to talk: the rules both sides follow, and a locked conversation that nobody on the way can read. This piece is the scheme.
-
4
The second piece says who to ask. It is the domain name, and your browser writes it on the request.
-
5
The third piece, the path, says what to ask for. Your browser copies it into the request, and the server decides which page goes with it.
-
6
The request is ready, and it stays in your phone. A domain name says who, never where, and the machines that carry a request across the internet only know where.
-
Quick check
Which piece of shop.example.com/shoes/red tells your browser who to ask?
Show the answer
shop.example.com, the domain name. /shoes/red is the path: what to ask that server for.
-
Go further
Two more pieces some web addresses carry, and the story of the two slashes.