What is....?

Before we start exploring these amazing websites, let's first get an understanding on what the internet actually is. What is a browser and what available browsers are out there?

According to the Oxford Learner's Dictionary the internet (noun) is:

(Available online here) 

The internet is also known as the 'world wide web' - this is the www that you will find preceding a website address e.g. www.google.com.

Again, according to the Oxford Learner's Dictionary a browser (noun) is:

(Available online here)

So to put it simply, a browser provides you with access to the internet.

Some popular web browsers include:

• Microsoft Edge
• Firefox
• Safari
• Google Chrome
  

Can you identify the above browsers with their logo below? Make your selections by accessing the 'Quick Quiz' tool below.

As we mentioned earlier, the internet is also known as the 'world wide web' - this is the www that you will find preceding a website address e.g. www.google.com. A website address is also known as the URL. URL stands for 'Uniform Resource Locator' and, as per Wikipedia, ' is a reference to a web resource that specifies its location on a computer network and a mechanism for retrieving it'. Watch the video below and then we'll provide you with some practical examples of URL's.

This is what the URL looks like for a video hosted on YouTube - it is pointing to the exact location on the YouTube platform where you can find this video. A URL consists of various components.

Sometimes the .com can vary per site. For example:

• gov.za is part of the domain name which would point to a South African government site
• https://www.who.int/: this is a secure website pointing to the World Health Organisation's international website
  
• https://www.ulb.be/en: this is a secure website pointing the University of Brussels in Belgium. Note the 'be' in the domain name, referring to the country 
  
• https://www.bath.ac.uk/: some academic institutions, in this example the University of Bath in the UK, use 'ac' (for academic) and then 'uk' for the country code. 
  

Can you think of some other examples?

Now that we have covered a bit of the theory regarding the internet, browsers and URL's, let's get into the fun stuff and see what array of resources are at your disposal on the internet! When you open the websites, start familiarising yourselves with the different types of URL's that the websites use.