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first part of a URL (before the two slashes) specifies how the file will be accessed. The
second part following the slashes typically represents the address of the computer upon
which the data or service is located. Further parts may specify the names of files, the
port to connect to, or the text to search for in a database separated by another slash. Here
are some examples of URLs:
file://pulua.hcc.hawaii.edu/sound.au
- Retrieves a sound file and plays it.
file://pulua.hcc.hawaii.edu/picture.gif
- Retrieves a picture and displays it, either in a separate program or within a hypermedia
document.
file://pulua.hcc.hawaii.edu/directory/
- Displays directory content.
http://pulua.hcc.hawaii.edu/directory/book.html
- Connects to an HTTP server and retrieves an HTML file.
ftp://pulua.hcc.hawaii.edu/pub/file.txt
- Opens an FTP connection to pulua.hcc.hawaii.edu and retrieves a text file.
gopher://pulua.hcc.hawaii.edu
- Connects to the Gopher at pulua.hcc.hawaii.edu.
telnet://pulua.hcc.hawaii.edu:1234
- Telnets to pulua.hcc.hawaii.edu at port 1234.
news:alt.hypertext
- Reads the latest Usenet news by connecting to a user-specified news (NNTP) host and
returns the articles in hypermedia format.
URLs obtained from http://www.hcc.hawaii.edu/guide/www.guide.html
By Kevin Hughes (Honolulu Community College -- October 1993)
Most Web browsers allow you to specify a URL and connect to
that document or service. When clicking a hyperlink on a Web page, you are actually
sending a request to open a URL. In this way, hyperlinks can open other network services
in addition to text and media
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