That is the full site address, but often you will hear it abbreviated to leave out the http:// since that is often implied, or even to leave off the http://www. a portion of the web address and to only give what follows, such as lifewire.com. Many browsers do not require typing in the http://www. portions of site addresses. Also Known As: Website address, web address, URL Examples:
What’s your site address? I want to see your new site.The site address for Google is http://www.google.com
The Basics of a Site Address for Webpages
Let’s dissect a website address, using http://www.lifewire.com/user.htm for an example. http:// This stands for hypertext transfer protocol. You will also see https:// which is the secure form of the protocol. The :// is a separator before you enter the domain name and the rest of the address of the site and page you want to reach. Often you don’t need to include these, as many browsers are smart enough to add them if you forget. www. These three letters often proceed the domain name. As with the http:// you often can leave them off and the browser won’t mind. Sometimes you are visiting a subdomain and that precedes the domain name, such as http://personalweb.lifewire.com where personalweb is a subdomain of lifewire.com. example.com This is the domain name. It is an essential part of the address and directs the user to the website. If you add nothing else, you will end up at the homepage for the domain. /user.htm This is the filename of a page on the website you want to visit. If you include it in the site address, you will go directly to that page rather than the homepage of the domain.
What Site Address Should I Tell People for Webpages?
You can keep it simple and list the shortest site address that brings people to your webpage or to the website you want them to visit. You can generally leave off the http:// and even eliminate the www. If your domain is lifewire.com and you want people to come to your homepage, simply tell them lifewire.com. They should be able to enter that into most browsers and arrive at your webpage. If the domain is unusual and uses an extension other than .com or .org you may want to include the http://www so people recognize it is a website address rather than a social media handle or something different. If you are writing a site address in a document or email and want it to be clickable, you may have to include the full site address including http://www. Different email programs, online forms, and word processors may or may not automatically make these clickable. But they are more likely to do so if you use the full site address.
The Address Window of a Web Browser?
At times, you may not be able to find an address window in a web browser. They can be hidden. Also, you may access the web by giving a command to Siri or another computer assistant. In these cases, you can probably leave off the http://www portion of the web address when asking the assistant to open the page for you. For example, you might say, “Siri, open lifewire.com.”
