Internet Navigation Simplified
Domain Names: Easy Memorization
When connecting to a specific website with a domain name, your Internet service provider initially needs to look up the IP address associated with the domain name. This information is stored in a DNS (Domain Name System).
Because memorizing specific number combinations is more difficult than memorizing names of web pages, domain names are used to make navigating the Internet, and visiting specific websites easier. The domain name is the word or phrase you type into your browsers address bar to visit a specific page. Specific domain names have certain suffixes on them to determine what kind of site they are. Government based pages use the suffix ".gov." Nonprofit organizations use the suffix ".org" and commercial based websites use the suffix ".com," which happens to be the most recognized suffix on all of the Internet.
In order to keep track of all the domain names and the servers that host the websites, registries called DNS (Domain Name System) contain lists of domain names and the IP address(es) associated with the website. When you type in a domain name into your browser, your Internet service provider connects to a DNS registry and extracts the IP address associated with that domain name and then displays the proper website in your browser. This procedure may sound like a lengthy and complex process, but the procedure of resolving a domain name and connecting to the website takes less than a second.
Further Navigation: Links
With links, multiple documents can be connected together to create a website. Similarly, multiple websites link to each other to create large portions of the dynamic Internet.
The process of visiting specific pages or navigating a website is simplified even further. Rather than typing in specific addresses to different pages in the address bar of the browser, people instead use "links" to traverse the majority of the Internet. Links allows people to simply click on a picture, string of text, or button to visit another page or even an entirely different website. Linking groups several pages together to make a single website or a vast network of websites, connecting large portions of the Internet together. The search engine Google uses this method of following links from one site to another to map out the Internet and determine the popularity and value of specific websites.