Web Design; Vocab for Aug. 31 Quiz

URLs hold the keys to the Web*
As you examine a Universal Resource Locater (URL) for a specific HTML file, it looks something like this:
http://www.boyer-valley.k12.ia.us/vnews/display.v/ART/2006/09/08/4501d2cb4aee2#M

This URL is composed of six parts that work as follows:
1. Protocol/data source: For network resources, this part is usually the name of the protocol used to access the data that resides on the other end of the link. The syntax for this part of the name is as follows:
· ftp:// points to a file accessible through the File Transfer Protocol.

· gopher:// points to a file system index accessible through the Gopher protocol.

· http://points to a hypertext document (typically, an HTML file) accessible through the HyperText Transfer Protocol.

· mailto: links to an application that allows you to compose a message to send through e-mail to a predefined address.

· news:// points to a Usenet news group and uses the Network News Transfer Protocol (NNTP) to access the information.

· telnet:// links to a remote log-in on another Internet computer, typically to select from a predefined menu.

· WAIS:// points to a Wide Area Information Server on the Internet and provides access to a system of indexed databases.

· file:// indicates that the file is local and is not a public Web page (that is, not available outside your directory or local network). Use this syntax for local data (typically, HTML files from your desktop machine's hard disks or other drives), but note that the syntax varies from browser to browser. If you're desperate for a more complete discussion of accessing local files, see the sidebar "URL syntax and punctuation for local file access" in this chapter.

2. Domain name: The domain name for the Web server where the desired Web page or other resource resides.

3. Directory path: The location of the Web page in the Web server's file system.

4. Object name: The actual name of the HTML file for the desired Web page or the name of any other resource that you require.

5. Spot: Sometimes, getting users to the HTML file isn't enough: You want to drop them at a particular location within the file. By preceding the name of an HTML anchor with a pound sign (#) and tacking it onto a URL, you direct the browser to jump right to a specific location. Using this structure is handy for large documents, where users might otherwise need to scroll a long way to get to the information they desire.

*These terms are taken from HTML For Dummies by Ed Tittel and Stephen James, 1997
www.idgbooks.com and www.dummies.com