How To Interpet URLs
URLs are the addresses of Web pages, blogs and other information online.
URLs are like building blocks. Different pieces reveal clues about ownership and the structure of the Web site.
1. The first block of the URL usually says something about the site owner.
http://21cif.com/tutorials/help/urls.html
is the URL for the page you are reading. The first segment contains information about the Web site where this page is kept:
21cif.com/
If you entered just that much of the URL you would open the home page of 21cif, the 21st Century Information Fluency Project. In this case, the first block of the URL points to the publisher.
Extensions (e.g., .com, .org, .edu, .gov) can be informative. Some extensions are controlled and not available to everyone who wants one. This is true of .edu, .gov, and .mil. Pages with these extensions have authority because they are regulated by higher education (colleges and universities), government or military. The more common extensions (.com, .org, and .info) don't have built-in authority since anyone can buy those extensions.
3. The next blocks or segments reveal structure or organization and may indicate something about the contents.
In the example, the second block is a folder called tutorials. If you were interested in seeing other tutorials, you may be able to truncate the URL to see the contents of that folder.
Within the tutorials folder is another folder called help. The page you are reading comes from the help folder. All the files in the menu in the right column are stored in the help folder.
The tilde (~) in a URL has a special meaning and should not be overlooked. It shows ownership. The following URL has both a site owner and a content owner:
http://www.actlab.utexas.edu/~mattdrenik/worm.html
The site owner is utexas.edu. This is the organization in control of the site. Actlab is a subdomain of the university. That being said, because utexas controls the site, they can do what they want with it. One thing they can do is provide space where students, faculty and staff can put Web content.
The content owner of the document 'worm.html' is matt drenik. Even though the university grants him space to put his content, the university doesn't control the author's content. The university doesn't have to agree with the author on the validity of his content. The university is not the publisher; Matt is.
Additional Help for URLs:
Truncate Effectively