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YOUR GUIDE to Web addresses
When you first start on the Internet, you need to
know how to navigate yourself around. Someone may have told you about
a great Web site such as www.seniorscard.nsw.gov.au, but what does that
mean and how do you get there?
Web addresses are what people use on the Internet
to mark their Web sites so people can find them, much like your postal
address marks your house. They are also known as URLs (Uniform Resource
Locators).
What is a Web browser?
Your Web browser is a program that is used to view
pages posted on the World Wide Web. If you look on your desktop you may
notice an icon (symbol) that looks like a blue "e" or a white
"N". Underneath you will notice that either "Internet Explorer"
or "Netscape Navigator" is written. If you cannot see any of
these icons, click on the Start button and have a look in the Programs
area. These are just two of the most popular browsers available today.
Double clicking on one of these icons will start your browser.
How do I get to a site?
Open your Web browser and look towards the top of the
screen. You will notice there is an "address bar", a long, thin
strip of white screen, with the word "Address" or "Location"
before it, located just above the main window at the top of the screen.
There will probably already be an address in there. Click your mouse at
the end of this address and press the Backspace key on your keyboard to
delete it. Then carefully type in the address of the site you want to
visit, such as www.seniorscard.nsw.gov.au, and press the Enter key on
your keyboard. (Internet Explorer usually has a Go button at the end of
this address line that you can click with your mouse after you type in
the address, but hitting the Enter key is faster and does the same job
of taking you to the site with the address you've just typed in).
If you look at the top right-hand corner of the browser
window, there should now be a moving image in the little square. It may
look like a world spinning around (in Internet Explorer) or stars shooting
past a capital N (in Netscape). Don't worry if you don't see exactly that,
as long as something in that top right hand corner is doing something
that either spins, jigs or falls over. This means your browser is communicating
on the Internet to find the site.
Once you have done this, our Web site should be displayed.
Nothing's happening!
If you get an error page saying that your page cannot
be found, first check that the spelling and grammar of what you've typed
in is correct. Make sure you have typed in the www (all three of them,
no more, no less) and have not accidentally entered any commas instead
of full stops, for example, www,seniorscard,nsw,gov,au won't work. If
this is not the case, then make sure there are no spaces in the address.
These are the most common problems you'd have with opening a Web site.
This error message could also mean that the site
you're trying to access no longer exists or has been temporarily closed
down. Try accessing another site, preferably a common one, such as Google
www.google.com
or Yahoo www.yahoo.com.
If they both load without any problems, then it's likely that the problem
you're having is that the site is currently unavailable. You'll have to
visit again later. If you're still having the same problem then, the site
probably no longer exists.
However, if no sites seem to be loading on your computer
at all, you should check your Internet connection. Disconnect and then
connect again. If you still can't access any sites, shut down your computer,
restart, reconnect to the Internet and try again.
If it's all correct and you are still not getting
the site, then try calling your Internet Service Provider (ISP) to check
their network is up and working, and that the settings on your computer
are correct.
What do the different parts of the address mean?
Let's take a look at http://www.seniorscard.nsw.gov.au.
http://
The http:// stands for Hyper Text Transfer Protocol
and starts all Web addresses. The Web pages you see on the Internet are
transferred to your screen in a format called hyper text. What the http
in the address does is tells your browser what format the page will be
in so you can view it.
You may see some variations on this, for example,
https://. This means you're surfing a "secure" site, such as
one you'd use when you're shopping online or others where you have to
submit personal details such as credit card numbers. This "secure"
mode means hackers and other nasties can't pry in and intercept your personal
details.
You don't need to worry about typing this part of
the address in. Your browser knows you need this so it automatically puts
it in.
www
All you need to start with when typing in the address
is the www. This tells your browser that the page you want to access is
posted on the World Wide Web, which is open for everyone to view.
Sometimes you may see a Web address that changes the
www to a word, such as store.yahoo.com.
This is called a sub domain. These are mainly used to create categories
or subjects as part of one whole Web site. The example we used is the
Web address for Yahoo's online store. The Yahoo site has sub sections
for many areas, ranging from mobile phones (mobile.yahoo.com)
to Australia itself (au.yahoo.com).
seniorscard.nsw.gov.au
Each Web site has its own unique set of four numbers
that identifies it, such as 216.239.53.99. This is called an IP (Internet
Protocol) address and all computers connected to the Internet, both yours
and the big machines that "host" or house entire Web sites,
have one. This allows the machines on the Internet to identify each other
and send information back and forth.
But it's not easy to remember a Web site's address when
it is a large collection of numbers, so to make life easier, we cover
those numbers with words.
"seniorscard.nsw.gov.au" is the part that actually
hides those numbers that indicate where the site is hosted. This is called
the domain name. Most major brands have this reflecting their products,
for instance if you want to visit the Coke Web site, you'd type in www.coke.com
and press Enter.
So when you type in www.seniorscard.nsw.gov.au, your
computer asks something called a Domain Name Server (DNS) for the Web
site www.seniorscard.nsw.gov.au. The DNS then looks up the NetGuideWeb
site's IP address and connects you to the site. This is much like a big
address book that matches the words with the numbers.
Fun idea
Open your Internet browser and type 216.239.53.99 into
the address bar. Press Enter and you will be taken to the Google www.google.com
search engine.
What's the difference between .com, .net and .org?
In the beginning there were three types of domains commercially
available; .com for commercial sites, .org for research and non-profit
organisations, Net for Internet Service Providers, network providers and
organisations running networks that are part of the Internet, and .edu
for educational institutions.
These days you can register any domain you choose with
whatever .org, .com or Net address you like, no matter what your business
or private needs are. You still have to be an educational institution
to register a .edu domain.
What about .com and .com.au?
Here in Australia, the organisation of domains is a little
more restricted. The .com.au on an address signifies that a site is .com
(commercial) and the .au at the end signifies that it is an Australian
site with a registered Australian Business Number (ABN) in Australia.
This Au is Australia's "tag" on the Internet.
What about sites from other countries?
Each country around the world has its own domain tag.
Just as Australia's is Au, New Zealand's is .nz, Italy's is .it, Germany's
is .de and so on. The original .com's, .net's and .org's have no tag as
they are American domains, and seeing as the Internet was largely developed
in the US, they got to choose what tags they used. These days, however,
anyone can register a .com., Net or .org, as long as someone hasn't already
registered it.
Countries are not always as strict as Australia is about
who uses their domain tag. While in Australia you need to have a registered
ABN before you are allowed to own an address ending with Au, some countries
open theirs for anyone to use.
You can check out what the rest of the world is labelled
with by visiting
www.iana.org/cctld/cctld-whois.htm
What happens if they run out of addresses?
Not so long ago, people began to realise that they were
limited by the possibilities of .com, .org and the rest. And so a new
set of domains were introduced - .cc, .tv, .fm and .biz, to name a few.
As with the other domains, anyone can register one of these.
Useful tip
If you are shopping on a site ending with Au, you know
they are a registered Australian business, so they have to obey the consumer
laws of Australia.
Useful site
Learn more about Web addresses at www.learnthenet.com/english/html/16addrss.htm
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