What are URLs? Understanding the Types and Functions of URLs

For those of you who often use the internet, you must have often heard the term URL. However, maybe some people do not know in detail about it. To add insight, we will discuss about URLs, ranging from understanding, functions, types, and examples. Come on, see the article below!

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What are URLs?

URL (Uniform Resource Locator) is a series of web sites listed, containing folder names, language protocols and so on that lead to the World Wide Web (WWW). URL is not the same as a domain, while the domain is the name of the site, the URL will direct the user to one of the pages on the site. 

Each URL contains a domain name, as well as other components needed to find a specific page or content. URLs also have an important role on the internet because they allow internet users to search for things they want.

URL Function

URL is very vital role in the internet because it allows users to access the internet to search for various kinds of things they want. Here are some other URL functions:

• Give a name to a document that is on a website.
• Makes it easy for users to remember the address of the document they are looking for.
• Identify documents on the website.
• Make it easy for users to access and search for files on the internet with the right address, because there are so many addresses on the internet.

URL Sections

Broadly speaking, a URL consists of four parts which are then combined into a complete structure, including:

• Protocol

In general, the Protocol is part of the URL that describes how the communication process will be carried out. If interpreted simply, then the protocol is a set of rules that explain how the communication process occurs between two or more computers.

The network will follow these rules in order to transmit data correctly. The types of protocols that you generally find on the internet are https and http. In the browser itself, the Protocol is an optional part. This means that you can type the URL whether it is with Protocol or not in the address bar of the browser.

• Computer Host Name (Host)

After the protocol, part of the URL is the hostname of the computer commonly called the WWW (World Wide Web). But this part can be used or not.

When we visit sites on the internet, we will find that there are sites that use www but some do not.

• Domain Name

Domain is the name of the site or the name that indicates the address of the site. This indicates which Web server is being requested.

For example, Google.com, Twitter.com, Facebook.com, and so on. There are two types, namely paid for example (.com, .net, .info) or free ones, for example using a subdomain of blogger.com. Alternatively, it is possible to use IP addresses.

• Path

Path is the path to the resource on the Web server. In the early days of the Web, a path represented a physical file location on a Web server. Today, it is mostly an abstraction handled by a Web server without physical reality.

In addition to the four parts of the URL above, there are also two other parts of the URL that you often encounter on a website. The URL parts include Parameters and Anchor.

• Parameter

The parameter is a query on the URL. Generally, Parameters function to process data on a page dynamically. In the URL itself, the parameter definition is written with the prefix ? and its location is after the URL Path.

URLs that have a Parameters section are generally often found on online buying and selling sites.

• Anchor

Anchor is a query that functions as a page navigation interest. This part of the URL is used to create links that can point to certain parts of a web page. In a URL itself, the anchor definition is usually written with a # prefix and is located at the end of the URL.

URL Types

URLs actually have various types that you can use, including:

• Absolute URL

An Absolute URL is a complete address that includes the domain name. The address also directly determines the location of the document or director on the internet. The format for compiling an Absolute URL is domain-directory-documents. Which means the directory is in a domain, while the document is in a directory in the main domain.

Examples of directories that are in the domain and documents that are in the directory

<img src= http://www.sitename.com/images/image.jpg>

• Relative URL

Relative URL is a URL that specifies an address according to the current active URL. If the Absolute URL already has a standard format or structure, it is different from the Relative URL. This URL does not have a standard formatting because there is only a hint of the name of the document that we are currently opening on the internet page.

Example : <img src=”image.jpg”>

Well, that's a brief explanation about Uniform Resource Locator (URL), starting from its meaning, URL functions, URL types, along with examples of URL addresses and explanations. By knowing more about what a URL is, you don't need to be confused anymore when you want to identify a file on the internet. The reason is, from the URL character itself, it will be very easy for you as an internet user when looking for the required information.

The existence of the URL itself is very important for the development of the digital world. This is none other than because with our URL it will be easier to remember the domain name on a website. If there is no URL then you have to remember the IP number on the website. So how, do you have a deeper understanding of what a URL is?