Understanding the composition of web addresses
Understanding the composition of web addresses
Every website on the internet has an address. The technical name for a web address
is the URL. URL stands for ‘Uniform Resource Locator’. Most people just call them
web addresses. When a website is created the author has to choose the address
(URL) that they think is the most suitable.
A particularly useful part of the web address is the ending. This can give information
about which country the website comes from and what kind of organisation runs the
site.
Here are some examples of web address endings and what they mean:
URL
ending
What it
means
Type of website
Example address
.gov
US
government
Local or national government
www.brent.gov.uk
Can only be used by the
government
www.ceop.gov.uk
.gov.uk
UK
government
Most governments have their
own specific ending
.com
.co.uk
company
company
Profit making company
www.chelseafc.com
May belong to companies that
want to advertise their products
or services. May be based
anywhere worldwide.
http://www.tesco.com
UK based company or
organisation
www.thinkuknow.co.uk
May belong to UK based
companies that want to advertise
their products or services.
.uk
UK
.in
India
The end part of the address can
tell you which country the
website is in. For example, web
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www.parliament.uk
www.food.in
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Becta | Understanding the composition of web addresses
addresses ending in .uk are from
the United Kingdom; those
ending in .nz are from New
Zealand; those ending in .cl
from Chile, and so on.
.net
network
A company or organisation
www.antibullying.net
May or may not be a not-forprofit organisation. May be
based anywhere worldwide.
.sch.uk
school
School establishment in the UK
www.woodlandsjunior.kent.sch.uk
Can only be used by schools
.org
organisation
Company or organisation,
usually non-profit making.
www.oxfam.org.uk
www.becta.org.uk
However it is possible for anyone
to buy a .org ending for their
website
.ac
academic
Universities, colleges and
educational sites.
www.scotlandscolleges.a
c.uk
However, space is often given to
students, so not all information is
written by experts.
www.harvard.edu
Informative sites
www.pepys.info
Anyone can register an .info
ending, even if they have made
up all the facts and figures on the
website.
www.catapults.info
.edu
.info
information
Remember:
The address of a website can help you judge its reliability even before you have
visited the site. However, some web addresses can also be designed to mislead you.
For example, it is possible for anyone to buy an .org ending for their website even if
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Becta | Understanding the composition of web addresses
they are a commercial company. Also, some companies or organisations based
outside of the UK use .co.uk endings as a way to trick people.
Anyone can set up a website and put up information that looks official and reliable
and it is your responsibility to confirm the accuracy of the information you find online.
To do this properly you need to use more than one source of information. This might
mean using other websites but you could also use books, newspapers or interviews
to confirm your facts.
External websites
Although all references to external sources (including any sites linked to Becta sites)
are checked both at the time of compilation and on a regular basis, Becta does not
accept any responsibility for or otherwise endorse any information contained in these
pages, including any sources cited.
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