When you have information you would like to share with clients, and potential clients, consider having us create an infographic for you. It’s an easy way to convey facts or statistics that can be dense to read in text or chart form. The style can be coordinated with your established branding identity. And, images get great traction in social media.

Here is a sample of a pretty simple infographic, so you can get some ideas. We are always ready to help you figure out ways to visually present your information.

How Web Browsers Work

History

A web browser is an application that displays web sites in a graphical interface. Prior to modern web browsers, computer to computer communication was text based and pretty tedious to use. With the advent of the modern browser it became possible to include images and styling for text information.

What Happens

What is happening when you open a web browser (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, etc.) and type in a domain name or URL (Uniform Resource Locator)? The browser sends a request to your service provider to look up the website associated with the URL. The service provider’s server uses a Domain Name System (DNS) to search for the actual location of the website by using a database that tells the server which domain name corresponds with what IP address. Then a request is sent to the server for that IP address and the page content is loaded into the browser. The associated files, images, media, etc. are stored separately and only included in the page as called for.

All of this happens in seconds (usually) and you see the page content and can click on links as desired. It really is pretty amazing.

Now for the Infographic

Here is a detailed breakdown of the parts of a domain name. I’ve included it as basic text, then below you will see the same information in the infographic. It’s much quicker and more fun to see the details visually than it is to read it in blocks of text. Most people find information more engaging when offered in this way.

Domain name vs. URL (Uniform Resource Locator) – you just need to use the actual domain name to find a website, but every site has a full URL. URL’s consist of several parts. Using this example I will break down what each means:

• http://www.myexample.com/resources/example.html
  http; https; ftp; etc. Protocols are simply the way that servers agree on how they will share information. It’s like the difference between a voice call, a video call, or a text message.
• www – this is considered a subdomain of the domain name. It isn’t really necessary anymore and is a holdover from the early web days. It was originally used to tell the server that I want you to find the website portion of the server for that domain name.
• myexample.com – this is the actual domain name that you purchase the rights to use for a specified period of time. You don’t actually own a domain name. The .com portion of the domain is the Top Level Domain indicator. Other TLD’s include: .org., edu, and .net among others.
• /resources/example.html  Path – anytime you see a slash after the main part of the URL, that is telling the server to look in specific directory (folder) named resources, then for the last part look for the file named example.html.
  • You don’t always see the page name these days because so many sites are no longer based in html (HyperText Markup Language). But, if you do, this is just telling the server which file you want to view.

Check out our post about domain name tips at our parent site Resource Connection – 8 Things Small Business Owners Need to Know about Domain Names.

If you would like to explore options for using infographics please get in touch and we can brainstorm ideas.