The part of the URL before :// represents the protocol, scheme, or format used to retrieve the document. http://

1. http://=means the document is on the WWW (world wide web). Hyper Text Markup Language or html is the authoring language used to create documents.
2. ftp://=document can be accessed through file transfer protocol which allows a user to list files on, retrieve files from, and add files to another computer, an Internet protocol for the transfer of files.
3. news:// = means the document occurs on a Usenet newsgroup.
4. forum:// = users can post and respond to messages.
5. telnet://= access method in which the user logs on to a remote computer.
6. gopher:// = a menu-driven document delivery system for retrieving information.

The next section of the url is www.department.gov , or www.business.com or www.school.edu.au.

1. The "www", "www3", or "journal" or indicates the particular computer within the organisation. http://library.trinity.wa.edu.au
2. The next part "department", "business" or "school" indicates the name of the organisation where the computer is hosted. http://library.trinity.edu.au
3. The "gov" or "com" is the domain which indicates the kind of organisation the information comes from.
4. Sometimes an indicator for state is inserted before this eg wa as in http://library.trinity.wa.edu.au

Example Domains

1. asn= In Australia for incorporated associations, political parties, trade unions, sporting and special interest clubs.
2. gov = Government, any government related domains
3. edu= Education, any education related domains eg http://library.trinity.wa.edu.au
4. com = Commercial, any commercial related domains. This domain indicates a site which is aimed at making money and the information will be biassed in that direction. American com addresses can be purchased by almost anyone.In Australia commercial entities, such as companies (with ABN or ACN) and businesses (registered with state governments).
5. int=International
6. mil= Military, any military related domains
7. net=network
8. org = Organisation (in Aust charities and non-profit organisations)

The final part of the main url indicates country of origin, where none is indicated the domain is registered in the US, but does not mean the owner of the domain is there.

Example country divisions

au =Australia http://library.trinity.wa.edu.au/ uk=United Kingdom vn - Vietnam zw - Zimbabwe

Countries Domain - Whois Country Server Map

The next section of the url is the "/pathname/" For example "/menu/" or "subjects/ english/rowling.htm" or http://www.trinity.wa.edu.au/plduffyrc/issues/young.htm; which usually consists of the directory/subdirectory. This defines where on the server's hard disk to look for the information.

The very last section is "filename.file extension" indicates the particular file name and file format. http://www.trinity.wa.edu.au/plduffyrc/issues/young.htm.

If there is no filename the file is usually the main file, for example an default.htm or an index.html file http://www.trinity.wa.edu.au/plduffyrc/default.htm = http://www.trinity.wa.edu.au/plduffyrc/

Most pages you read will be htm or html the web readable format.

1. doc, rtf =word processing document
2. pdf = Adobe Acrobat file
3. ppt= PowerPoint
4. gif, jpg etc = Image or picture files
5. wav, au, aif = sound files
6. mov, avi, mov, mpg, qt = video clips
7. exe = executable program for DOS/Windows (might be a self extracting archive) ·
8. zip - A compressed archive based on pkzip (DOS/Windows) ·
9. hqx - A file that has been "Binhexed" (Macintosh archives) Note: You may not copy pictures, sounds, videos from the web for your own websites or PowerPoint productions unless 1. they are from copyright or royalty free sites (and then you have to reference these) 2. you have written permission from the website owner to use them