What or whom do you picture when you hear the word geek? A 30ish year old, long hair, unshaven, perhaps overweight or ultra-skinny computer addict?
Well, it doesn’t surprise me after all the things we read and see around online video gaming, etc. However, rest assured that not everyone that is a so called “geek” runs around looking like your typical cliché.
Either way, today I figured I would give you a small update around Internet addresses and their meanings. Yes, somewhere deep down inside I am a geek. Ask Renata.
Internet addresses not only hold the path to which a website is saved, but also include numerous other variables such as search queries and other data. Generically speaking, web addresses consist not only of a so-called domain name (www.myname.com) which links to the path (server) to which the website is saved but also may contain numerous characters such as the hash symbol or question mark to name a few.
These extra characters are web address addons and are an extensions of the actual domain itself. These extensions act like a specific command and tell the server to display or search for something specific when you input the information into your browser.
Here an overview:
URL build:
The area between Scheme and URL Path defines which website should be opened. The Query String hands off data to the webserver. This then generates a dynamic website and displays it. The fragment tells the browser to scroll to a specified area within the content on the website.
Variables
The HTTP standard maintains a few fixed variables, which cannot be used within domain names or within the URL path. These special characters split the web address into several parts, say between path and query strings.
Here a few examples:
: – Separates the port number from the server address
/ – Seperates multiple subfolders on a server from one another
? – Begins query strings in a web address
= – Gives a parameter a value, such as country=de (country in this case is Germany)
& – connects multiple query strings, for example country=de&lang=de (country is Germany and the language for the website is German as well – given the site is available in German)
# – Tells the browser to jump to a specific point within the website.
As you see, web addresses are more complex than you may think and hold information that tells the browser to call up information from a specific webserver depending on the action you are carrying out. With this I wanted to spark some of your curiosity around what means what. There is a whole bunch of ways to connect things from query strings to session IDs to fragments.
Dig around, read up on a few things and understand more than you already do know when you Google something and see random characters in your browsers address bar.