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The http:// that precedes the server name (www.niu.edu) is simply the name of the protocol that the browser is using to access the page (hyper text transport protocol). This protocol, http, simply means that this page that we are viewing is a web page. We can ignore that and focus only on the information that follows the http://.
Each word that follows the slash is a file folder that sits within the server, leading to a file (webtut2.html) on the far right of the address. This file is the actual page that you are looking at. The address shows us that we are looking at webtut2.html, a file that resides within the folder NWR, which in turn resides within another folder, english. Finally, the folder english sits on a server called www.niu.edu. Take a look at the page we are discussing by clicking on the following link and then click Back on your browser to return to this tutorial: webtut2.html.
The reason that this information is useful is that it provides a way
of navigating a website. If I was interested in finding the source
of this document for citation purposes. The easiest way to do so
would be to simply delete webtut2.html and press enter.
This procedure would move me back to the folder in which this file is kept. This folder is a directory that lists all the files kept in it. Click on this link: to see a directory page, take a look at the files kept there, and then click Back on your browser to return to the tutorial.
At this point we need to use a bit of reasoning. We need to find the page that is the source of the tutorial (webtut2.html) that we are examining. Typically, this initial page is called main.html or index.html, but, if you take a look at the directory page again, you will notice that there is no such file. Since the pages we are looking at are concerned with tutorials, our best bet is to click on the tutorials.html file. Return to the directory page, find tutorials.html and click on it, then click back on the browser twice to return to this tutorial: .
The entire page can be navigated in this manner--deleting sections of the address and pressing enter, which in turn moves you further and further along the tree branch file system of the server. Some file folders will even exist as pages instead of directories, making finding the root source of a document even easier. Such is the case in our example. If the NWR portion of the address is deleted you will move to the NIU English homepage. Click the link to see and then click Back twice rapidly to return to this tutorial: http://www.engl.niu.edu/.
Finally, you can simply cut off all folders and files from an address to return to the server on which the information is housed. This initial page will be a web page of some sort. In our example, it is, of course, the NIU homepage--http://www.niu.edu.
Play around with addresses until you get a sense of their structure. This skill is invalueable when attempting to cite websites (finding the source of a particular page) and when attempting to find other information, like the author of the page, or evaluating its credibility (where is the information stored--at a university, on a private website provider, etc.).
At this point, we will move on to other ways in which the web can be
navigated and sources that are helpful to find good, credible information.
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