URLs – a closer look

23rd May 2025

We use them every day, there is probably one at the top of your screen right now, but how do URLs actually work?

URLs – Uniform Resource Locators – are the addresses used to access resources on the internet. Each element of them helps you to navigate to the right page: take a look at an example and how the different parts work.

https://www.example.com:8080/path/to/resource?query=example#fragment

1. “https://” - Scheme (protocol): this is the method used to access the resource on the internet. The most common versions are HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) and HTTPS, a secure version of the same thing that is encrypted.

2. “www.” – Subdomain: this is a prefix to the main domain, used to organise the parts of a website. Most pages will have “www,” but others have “blog” or “shop” before the rest of the URL.

3. “example.com” – Domain name: this is the human-readable address of the website. “example” is the second-level domain (SLD), the main part, while “.com” is the suffix, or the top-level domain (TLD).

4. “8080” – Port: this is the port number that specifies a particular communication channel to the server. If there is none, a default one is used.

5. “/path/to/resource” – Path: this shows where exactly the resource is on the server, helping to navigate within the website.

6. “?query=example” – Query string: this contains key-value pairs that provide additional parameters to the server. It is often used in data filtering, form submissions or searches.

7. “#fragment” – Fragment: this refers to a section within the resource, which can be helping in navigating to a certain section of a webpage i.e. part way down.

Hopefully this was helping to your understanding of URLs – now, next time you are sent one you know exactly what it means!

For more tips and guidance, contact Interfuture Systems HERE.