The URL was invented in 1994 as a solution to the problem of identifying resources on a networked system. It merged some standards already in place, including the pre-existing path syntax still in use today. I never showed you what the structure of a URL is in general. Here it is: scheme:[//authority]path[?query][#fragment] The brackets are a common syntax to denote optional parts, which fits with what we said in the main post. Read more

This post is the first in a series on web fundamentals. The series was inspired by a perpetual amazement at the amateurish output of professionals working at large internet companies. In this post we will look at the URL, which we have all seen in our browsers’ address bars, and plastered all over social media. Hopefully, by the end of the article, you will understand the structure of the URL, and have enough of an understanding to be rightly appalled at some of the ones you see in the future. Read more