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About the Internet
What is a URL? Geographic Indicators Finding the Home Page
Domain Names Tilde ~ sign Search Engines

URL (Uniform Resource Locator) = web address
 http://www.sac.sa.edu.au
(protocol://world wide web.server name.domain name.country)

http hypertext transfer protocol
 
  • data can be made available in a number of different protocols or rules
  • ftp:// (File Transfer Protocol), mailto: (email)
www. world wide web
sac.sa server name
 
  • St Aloysius College, South Australia
  • most organisations use their name in their server name
edu. domain name
 
  • identifies the type of organisation - educational
  • have to apply for a domain name to ensure each Internet address is unique
  • domain names can offer clues as the type of organization
au geographic indicator
 
  • clues as the country of origin of the server can be gained from the country code - australia
  • as the Internet originated in the United States, this is assumed to be the point of origin, unless specified by a country code.
/Library/library.htm

directory and file names
 
  • Internet resources are organized into directories and file structures - Library folder contains file called library
  • this can give you a clue into the structure of the site
  • the more directories, then the deeper into the site the file is embedded



 

 

 

 

 

 

Domain
 
 
 
 
 
Domain names and codes - most common
.edu educational servers
.com commercial server
.gov government server
.org non-government, non-profit organisations
.net For networks. Usually reserved for organisations such as network providers

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

Geographic
 
 
 
 
 
Geographic Indicators - some examples
.au Australia
.uk United Kingdom
.ca Canada
.de Germany
.fr France

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tilde
 
 
 
 
 
The tilde ~ sign
  • often indicates a personal page within an official site
  • http://www.unisa.edu.au/~dbrown/
    can indicate a personal page of a member of staff, but it is not an official page of the University.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Home
 
 
 
 
 
Finding the Home Page
  • a URL can often lead to a file deep within a website
  • the Home Page is like the cover of a book – it can give useful information such as the author, their qualifications, last update and the purpose of the site
  • you can often find the Home Page by deleting everything after the geographic indicator and pressing return
  • URLs ending in /welcome.html or /index.html or /default.html are often home pages