QandAs: Tech

What is a URL?

Answer:
A URL is an acronym for Uniform Resource Locator

and is usually used as a synonym for a Uniform Resource Identifier or “web address". URLs describe where a resource is located on a network. In practical terms, this means that URLs are the web address that an internet user visits in order to view a particular web page.

URLs can either describe a page or resource in “global terms” http://www.QandAs.com or in relative terms /home/index.html. Relative URLs (sometimes referred to as folders) use a network’s hierarchical structure and can be used to link different pages of a website together. Global URL’s start with a scheme.

In most cases, this is HTTP which instructs your web browser to run a HTTP request on the World Wide Web at the name you specify. For example, our previous example requests the web browser to do a HTTP request on the WWW for the domain google.com. If the requested resource is available, your web browser will download and display the web page for you.