Don't be afraid of getting lost or overwhelmed on the mammoth Information Highway. There is an easy way to know where you are at all times. One way to keep track of where you are on the Web, especially if you have been moving around by links, is to check out the Address Box. This box gives you the location or address of the current page you are viewing.

URL (Uniform Resource Locator)
That unusual word at the top of the page is what is known as the locator box or address box of a Web page. Each Web page has a unique address called a Uniform Resource Locator or URL. The URL (pronounced U-R-L) is the specific address of a Web page.

There is a special system for addressing Internet sites. The URL or Web address is typically composed of four parts:

• A protocol name (a protocol is a set of rules and standards that enable computers to exchange information)
• The location of the site
• The name of the organization that maintains the site
• A suffix that identifies the kind of organization it is

For example, the address http:// www. basicsbee. com is made up of the following areas:

• http://
  This Web server uses Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP). This is the most common protocol on the Internet.
• www
  This site is on the World Wide Web.
• basicsbee
  The Web server is at basicsbee.
• com
  This is a common extension.

Some common extensions are:

• .com (commercial)
• .edu (educational institution)
• .gov (government)
• .mil (military)
• .net (network)
• .org (organization)

You might also see foreign addresses that add a country code as the last several digits of the address, such as:

• .au (Australia)
• .ca (Canada)
• .fr (France)
• .it (Italy)
• .us (United States of America)

Address Bar

The Address Bar is an excellent tool that can be used for navigating the Web. If you know the address of a page you want to visit, type the URL in the Address Bar. Then press Enter on the keyboard or click on the word Go on the right side of the Address Bar.

The power of the computer really shines through with a feature called AutoComplete which is built into Internet Explorer. If you start typing a Web address that you have previously used, a list of matching addresses appears. The addresses of all the Web sites that you have visited are kept in the computer memory. Your browser will locate an address that you have previously typed in the Address Bar by searching for similar addresses trying to find a match. As you type each letter, the list is refined to match your typing. You can choose one of these addresses by simply moving your mouse over the name and clicking.

Next Lesson: Navigating Web Pages & Web Sites