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AI Exercises
–points–day streak

How the web works: what happens when you type a web address

When you type a web address, your browser asks the internet's address book (DNS) where that site lives, sends a request to the server there, and draws the page it gets back. It all takes less than a second. Type an address below and watch each step in slow motion.

Follow a web address to the server and back

  1. Your browser

    on your device

  2. DNS

    the address book

  3. Server

    where the site lives

Press Go, then follow the request one step at a time.

The 8 words in this module

Each one has its own page with a demo and three quick questions. Work through them in order.

  1. What is a website?

    A website is a set of pages, pictures and files that live together at one address on the internet, so anyone with a browser can open them.

  2. What is a web browser?

    A browser is the app you use to open websites. It fetches pages from the internet and draws them on your screen.

  3. What is a URL?

    A URL is a web address: the full text you type or click to reach one specific page, like https://example.com/menu.

  4. What is a domain name?

    A domain name is the easy-to-remember name of a website, like example.com, that you rent each year so people can find you.

  5. What is DNS?

    DNS is the internet's address book. It turns a name like example.com into the number address of the computer that holds the website.

  6. What is web hosting?

    Hosting is renting space on a computer that's always online, so your website is available to everyone, day and night.

  7. What is a server?

    A server is a computer that waits for requests and sends back answers, like web pages, files or data, to anyone who asks.

  8. What are HTTP and HTTPS?

    HTTP is the set of rules browsers and servers use to talk. HTTPS is the secure version: it scrambles the conversation so nobody in between can read it.

Put the steps of opening a website in order, then match each part to its job. Points count toward your score and today's streak.

Module check: from address to page

Question 1 of 3

Put the 6 steps of opening a website in order.

Use the arrows to move each step up or down.

  1. The browser asks DNS where that name lives
  2. DNS replies with the server's number address
  3. The browser sends a request to that server
  4. The browser draws the page on your screen
  5. The server sends back the page
  6. You type an address into the browser