URL

URL is an acronym of "Uniform Resource Locator", and is synonymous with "web address" or other similar terms. A URL is the "address" of a unique resource on the internet, and is used to access things such as HTML webpages, CSS documents, images, and so on.

A URL is a subtype of a URI (Uniform Resource Identifier). While the terms URL & URI are often used interchangeably, they are not technically the same. While a URL is a type of URI, a URI can be used to identify any type of resource while a URL is specific to resources on the internet.

A simple example of a URL is: 'https://www.websitesthatsell.com.au/glossary/url/' (the URL or 'address' of this page!). There are many parts to a URL, but the primary parts of this URL are:

• the 'scheme' (https://)
• the 'hostname' (www.websitesthatsell.com.au)
• and the 'path' (/glossary/url/)

The 'scheme' (or 'protocol') indicates the rules by which the transmission and exchange of data will be governed by. In the context of websites or website resources on the internet, this is typically 'http' or 'https' (where https is the same as http but with the addition of encryption and varification).

The 'hostname' (sometimes refered to as 'domain' as it encompasses the 'subdomain' (www.), the 'domain name' (websitesthatsell.), and the 'top-level domain' (com.au)) identifies the specific website or server on the internet.

The 'path' identifies the exact location of the resource on the website or server identified by the 'hostname'.