What is the name for a webpage address?
2017
What is the name for a webpage address?
Answer: D. URL — ConceptEvery resource on the web is reached through one standardised addressing string. That string is assembled from separate parts, and each part answers a…
- A.
Domain
- B.
Directory
- C.
Protocol
- D.
URL
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: D
Concept
Every resource on the web is reached through one standardised addressing string. That string is assembled from separate parts, and each part answers a different question: which rules govern the transfer, which host stores the resource, and where inside that host the resource sits. A term that names a single part of the string is therefore not the term that names the whole string.
Application
Split a typical webpage address, https://exam.example.com/papers/2017.html, into its parts:
Part of the address | What that part names |
|---|---|
https | the transfer rules used — the protocol, or scheme |
exam.example.com | the host that serves the page — the domain name |
/papers/ | the folder level that stores the file — the directory |
2017.html | the file that holds this particular page |
the entire string | the address of the webpage — its URL |
Cross-check
Domain names the host alone, so by itself it cannot separate two different pages stored on the same site.
Directory names a folder level alone, so by itself it says nothing about which host or which transfer rules are involved.
Protocol names the transfer rules alone, so by itself it does not indicate which page is being fetched.
URL, short for Uniform Resource Locator, is the full string that carries the scheme, the host and the path together, and so it reaches one specific webpage.
The name for a webpage address is therefore URL — Uniform Resource Locator, whose syntax is standardised by RFC 3986.