Many of us sail through our lives blissfully ignorant of the reason our web addresses start with the code "http://". Increasingly we think it is superfluous because when we omit entering it into the address line of our browser, usually we arrive at our destination regardless.

I have seen people dropping the "www." part of the web address, and they sometimes connect anyway. What does it all mean?

Let's start with the http. It is an acronym for the tongue twister HyperText Transfer Protocol. When you type this into your browser, you are telling it that you intend to interact with the internet according to a specific set of rules (protocols), and the internet will respond in return.

When you search the internet or type a url into the address bar of your browser, you are in effect requesting to view files. When you navigate to a website, your browser looks for a file named index.html or index.htm. This file contains the basic structure of the overall site, and tells your browser what other files to look for and how to display them on your screen.

When you click on a link, your browser sends out another request, and either replaces the page you are viewing with a new page, or opens an entirely new page and displays the files. The huge portion of the internet which uses http:// to find websites which in turn uses the HTML language for displaying files is called the World Wide Web.

Thus the url http://www.yoursite.com is basically saying: Ms. Browser, please use the Hyper Text Transfer Protocol to access the World Wide Web and obtain files from website.com, then display them on my screen according to the rules written in file index.html or index.htm, which is written in HyperText Markup Language.

© November 2005 By Afromerica

Ms. Deborah Maisonet will be keeping the Black community updated on the most current in technology and Internet etiquette. Visit regularly for new information that could help you pursue a more positive technological lifestyle.

To subscribe to Deborah's column join the Afromerica email list to receive new information as it is updated. Or E-mail Deborah at: grvc@worldnet.att.net

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