The URL (universe resource locator) makes a request:
http://user:password@www.thedomain.org:8080/folder/file.html?var=value#anchor
http – protocol (http, https, ftp, usenet, etc…)
user – user name for server (useful for viewing files via FTP in a browser window)
password – password for server
www – subdomain
thedomain – domain
org – top-level domain
8080 – port (default for http is 80. If there is no port declared and http is the protocol, port 80 is tried, alternative http port is 8080)
folder – folder/directory accessible on the server via http
file.html – text/html type file in folder/directory
var – GET variable named ‘var’. A way to pass variables to the server.
value – value of the GET variable.
anchor – identifier of location in the resource requested.
When the above url is entered, the browser would seperate the domain from the rest of the url and issue a request to a root domain server to see where org is. Then a request to see where thedomain is. Then a request to see where the www is located. After the www is resolved, a request to the server resolved with the following information:
http style of request is made to port 8080 on the server, requesting file.html in folder/directory folder with the var and it’s value under user with the password (password is sent in the clear *passwords and encryption will be discussed soon). The anchor is returned with file.html, the browser then interperates the anchor.