Industry jargon not your thing? Our glossary will enlighten you!
A URL (Uniform Resource Locator) is a string of characters used to locate and retrieve resources on the World Wide Web (WWW). It serves as an address that makes it possible to access websites, documents, images, videos and other types of online resources. The URL consists of various components that define the exact location of the resource on the Internet.
Schema (protocol): The scheme specifies which protocol is used to transfer the resource. Examples are "http", "https", "ftp" etc.
Host (host name): The host is the network address of the server on which the resource is hosted.
Path: The path specifies the exact location of the resource on the server.
Parameter: Parameters can optionally be used to transmit specific information to the resource.
Fragment: The fragment makes it possible to jump to a specific section within the resource, especially for longer documents.
Suppose the URL is:
https://www.beispielwebseite.com/blog/artikel?kategorie=technologie#abschnitt3
Schema: "https"
Host: "www.beispielwebseite.com"
Path: "/blog/article"
Parameter: "?category=technology"
Fragment: "#section3"
Web browser: URLs are mainly used in web browsers to call up websites. The user enters the URL or clicks on a hyperlink.
Linking: URLs serve as the basis for links on the Internet. Hyperlinks on web pages refer to other pages or resources via their URLs.
Bookmarks: Users can save URLs as bookmarks to easily access their favorite web pages.
Search engines: Search engines use URLs to index web pages and provide search results.
It is important to be careful with URLs to minimize security risks. Phishing attacks can try to trick users into opening fake URLs and revealing sensitive information. Users should make sure that they only follow trusted sources and ensure that URLs are encrypted (when using "https").
An absolute URL specifies the complete path to the resource, including the protocol and host name. A relative URL specifies the path relative to the current position.