The URL

The uniform resource locator tells the browser where to find the document and how to retrieve it:

The exact location of the document
The method or protocol by which to retreive and display the document

http://www.saintanns.k12.ny.us/home.html

http://	specifies the protocol
www.saintanns.k12.ny.us	domain name
home.html	pathname of the document

Client-server model

Think of your computer as the client and the computer on which the web page document resides as the server (it is afterall serving documents to other computers on the network)

Sometimes the term client and server refer to the software running on the computers, rather than to the computers themselves. A web browser is sometimes called a web client. E-mail applications like Outlook or Eudora are called e-mail clients.

When your browser is given the URL for a web page stored on a computer it :

Sends a request to the web server software on that computer, asking that the document be sent
If the document exists and it is where the address specified, the server responds to the request by sending it.
When the document arrives at the client, the browser software interprets the HTML instructions and displays the document.

Keep in mind— when you go to a web page, you are not going anywhere. After the HTML document arrives, the connection between your computer and the server is broken.

The codes for the major types are:
.edu—education
.com—commercial
.gov—government
.mil—military
.org—non-profit organizations
.net—networking companies and organizations

URLs