Specifying the URL

URL stands for Uniform Resource Locator, and is a way to specify how to get to a particular document. The bad thing about this is that you have to specify this in a particular way, and it must be exact. If there is the slightest spelling mistake, you will get an error message. An example of this is BU's URL for it's home page which is: http://www.bu.edu.

The first word, http, specifies the access method you want to use to get to what you are looking for. In this case, http means that you want to access a web server. There are other access methods that are available including gopher servers, ftp servers, and news (for looking at a newsgroup).

 Here are some examples of these types of access methods:

 http://mistral.enst.fr 		 (The URL to tour at the Louvre in France!)

 file://ftp.bu.edu/hosts/00README 		 (This will display the 00README file in the
hosts directory of

		 BU's ftp site)

 gopher://gopher.mit.edu 		 (Gets you to the gopher located at MIT)

 news:rec.gardening 		 (Look at the gardening news group)