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Web Addresses - URL

© Cheryl Lewis

When teaching your children how to use the Internet one of the fist things that they will need to know is how to find web sites. A web site's address is commonly referred to as the URL. The URL stands for uniform resource locator. The URL is the address of a web site on the World Wide Web just like your house address in your city, state and country.

To get to a particular web site you enter the URL into the browser address bar and click go or hit enter on the keyboard. This will take you to the web site that you entered so long as it is agreeable with any parental settings that have been made. You'll notice that URL's start with http:// which stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol. This identifies the type of address it is. The http:// is then followed by the domain name which identifies the exact address, like your exact house number. For example, in http://www.suite101.com the http:// identifies it is a web site and the www.suite101.com identifies the site.

With some browsers you will have to type in the exact entire address and then click go or hit enter. I have found with most you don't have to do that. For example, I use Internet Explorer 5.5 and to get to Suite101 I can simply type in suite101.com and hit enter and it then takes me to Suite's front page.

Another way to get to recently visited web sites is to open the pull down menu on the browser. You will find this in the little arrow at the end of the address bar. Click on the arrow and it will show a list of the recent sites visited. Scroll down the list using the mouse and then click on the one you want to go too.

If you find that a web site is taking a really long time to load use the Stop button on your browser to tell it to stop loading and you can try again by hitting enter or clicking go. Some sites with a lot of graphics can take a while to load and cause frustration for those of us who are used to flipping through the Net pretty quickly.

You can also use the Back and Forward buttons on your browser to get around to sites that you have recently visited. I use the comparison of backing in and out of the driveway for my kids. When I pull in if I decide I want to go somewhere else, I back up. Same thing on the web. If I back out of the driveway and then realize I forgot something I need to move forward to get back to where I was. It sounds strange but I found it to be an effective way to explain it so that they understood what those buttons meant.