What is a URL

A Uniform Resource Locator (URL) is a globally recognized address for documents and resources across the World Wide Web, such as web pages, text files, graphics files, a particular program, application, or other types of resources available on the Internet, A URL is referred to as a web address, and this address is used by Internet users by typing it directly into the address bar of any of their web browsers, by clicking on a hyperlink on a web page, or within e-mail messages, or Even from an app.

The URL is always visible at the top of the browser window, specifically in the address bar, as it is visible in most browsers of smartphones and tablets, but it disappears in these devices when you go down the open web page through the browser, and if the URL is not completely visible For the user, it can be fully shown by clicking on the domain name that appears in the address bar.

URL parts

The URL consists of several parts, each of which expresses a specific piece of information, as follows:

Chart

The Scheme is the first part of a URL that the address begins with. This part is also known as a protocol. The schema or protocol indicates the type of address that the browser must connect to correctly and thus enable it to access the page or resource it is expressing. There are many types of protocols or schemes through which web pages can be accessed, but for normal browsing, both the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) and the Secure Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) are usually used. (HTTPS).

The web browser usually hides the type of protocol used in the URL, and there is no need to type the name of the protocol or schema when typing the URL because modern web browsers fill in this box on their own when typing the URL, and it should be noted that the following is followed The name of the protocol used in the URL with a colon and a forward slash before typing the second part of the address.

Domain name

 The domain name or domain name is the most visible part of URLs, as this part refers to the name of the website to which the URL refers, and all web pages on one website share a unified domain name for all of them, and it includes A domain name has three main parts as follows:

Sub-domain

The sub-domain is a generic symbol for all resources on the World Wide Web and is referred to by the (www) symbol. However, this symbol can be specified to be specific to fetching a specific type of resource, such as videos.

Domain name

 It is the actual name of the site to be visited through the URL, and this part of the address is unique and distinctive; Every website has a different domain name than any other website on the web.

Top-Level Domain

 It is referred to by the abbreviation (TLD), and this part is concerned with specifying the type of content contained in the website that you want to go to through the URL. Top-Level Domain (.org). It is worth noting that the three parts of the domain name mentioned with the symbol (.) are separated as follows: 

Port

A port is defined as a reserved channel across the Internet for specific purposes, where the port is associated with the type of protocol used in the URL; Port 80 is used in Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), while port 443 is used in HTTPS, each web browser must connect to a specific port in order to access the resources on a particular website.

Path

The path is defined as the resource to be accessed within the website associated with the URL, as the path tells the browser used to load a specific page, such as a video, image, text, or other resources available on the site, and the term (Edit) indicates if Its appearance in the pathname indicates that the URL leads to a page that can be written and edited, while the term (Videoplay) indicates that this page is related to playing a particular video.

URL Validity

 When writing the URL, it is required that it consist only of a set of: Alphabet letters, numbers, in addition to a set of symbols, which are as follows:

• Exclamation mark !
• dollar symbol $
• police symbol -
• underscore _
• plus sign +
• apostrophe symbol '
• star symbol *
• left and right bracket symbol ( )

Types of URL

  URLs used by Internet browsers can be classified into two main types, which are as follows:

• Absolute URLs : URLs that contain all the information needed to locate a particular web page or resource on the website.
• Relative URLs : This type of URL contains less information about the page to be accessed.

URL shortener

 URL shorteners is a technique through which a URL can be shortened and made shorter while keeping it directed to the same requested page across the web. : Rebrandly, Budurl.com, and many other services, some of which are freely available online.