The first part of the address is called a protocol identifier
and it indicates what protocol to use, and the second part is called a
resource name and it specifies the IP
address or the domain name where
the resource is located. The protocol identifier and the resource name are
separated by a colon and two forward slashes.
For example, the two URLs below point to two different files at the
domain pcwebopedia.com. The first specifies an executable file
that should be fetched using the FTP protocol; the
second specifies a Web page that should be
fetched using the HTTP protocol:
Document addressing - uniform resource term information This World Wide Web Consortium page provides information on the uniform resource family of terms that deal with addressing documents on the Web. There is information on Uniform Resource Identifier (URI), Uniform Resource Locators (URL), Uniform Resource Names (URN), Uniform Resource Citations (URC), and how they all work together.
Internet Standards document on URLs This Internet standards document specifies a Uniform Resource Locator (URL), the syntax and semantics of formalized information for location and access of resources via the Internet.
Webopedia Quick Reference: Countries and Their Domain Extensions Ever see a Web address that doesn't end in .com, .org, or .edu? Most likely, the Web site is hosted on a server in another country, or, the origin of business is in another country. Here is a list of different country domain extensions and their corresponding countries sorted alphabetically according to the file extension.
Webopedia's "Did You Know...All About Web Site Hosting" So the time has come to finally get on the World Wide Web with a Web site of your own. Once the Web site and pages have been created, however, the question of where to put it still remains.
