Every computer connected to the Internet has its own unique address: a number whose format is defined by the Internet Protocol (IP), which is the standard that defines how messages are passed from one machine to another and how each connected computer is addressed on the Internet. Each item on a computer such as a web page has its own unique address as well, called the Uniform Resource Locator (URL). Think of it as a web address. Every web page on the Internet has a unique URL address that identifies the location of that page on a server. For example, a web page address may look like the following:

HTTP: The first part of the address (http) is the protocol. The protocol identifies a manner for interpreting transmitted computer information. Internet web pages use http (Hypertext Transfer Protocol). Web pages can be exchanged over the Internet because web browsers (which read the pages) and Web servers (which store and serve the pages) both understand HTTP. There are also other various types of protocols you need to be familiar with. These are:

• ftp (File Transfer Protocol) - used to transfer files to another computer via the Internet.
• news - used by Usenet newsgroups.
• telnet - used to login to other computers.
• mailto - used to send email.

WWW is the hostname. The hostname combined with the domain name specifies the computer your are connected to. Another example of a host name would be "libr" in the following URL address: http://libr.stedwards.edu

stedwards.edu is the domain name. Understanding the parts of the domain name is helpful in deciphering what type of web page you will be viewing. The domain in this example is stedwards.edu.
This can be broken down into smaller parts:

• stedwards - is the second-level domain.
• edu - is the top level domain.

The last part of the URL is the pathname. The pathname identifies the location of the web page on the server. This usually consists of one or more folder names followed by a file name with a file extension, such as html. In the existing example, the following is the pathname where the web page is located:
it_dept/competency/index.html

An URL is case sensitive, except for the host and domain name. This means that the pathname and filename of the URL address have to be typed in exactly the way it is shown. When a URL is spoken, unless the person specifies, then it is usually all in lower case.

Using Hyperlinks

The simplest way to navigate the web is to click on links, technically known as hyperlinks. Links are the connectors which one document automatically references other documents, located anywhere around the world. They are usually text or images that have a specific URL address associated with them, which makes them a connector to another web page. For example, on the St. Edward's home page, it has links to the Library, Site Index, and the Welcome statement. We can tell they are links because when you move your mouse pointer over the words, it is transformed from an arrow to a "pointing hand." Once you click on one of these links, say the Library link, the SEU library web page will appear on your screen.