URL

Overview

A URL (Uniform Resource Locator) is a string of characters that shows where a resource on the internet (a web page, an image, a video, and so on) is located. It's compared to "an address on the web." A string like https://example.com/page shown in the browser's address bar is a URL. Its specification was put together in 1994 as RFC 1738 (edited by Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the web, and others).

The structure of a URL

A URL is made up of several parts. Taking https://www.example.com:443/path/page?key=value#section as an example, https is the protocol (the way of communicating), www.example.com is the domain name (the name of the server), 443 is the port number (usually left out), /path/page is the path (the location on the server), ?key=value is the query parameter (extra information), and #section is the fragment (a position within the page).

The parts to pay attention to day to day are the protocol and the domain name. https shows that the connection is encrypted, while http (without the s) is not encrypted. If a page where you enter login details or personal information uses http, your information is at risk of being intercepted, so it's safer not to enter it.

Sharing your question box URL effectively

Your question box URL is the main path for collecting questions. If the URL is long and complicated, it's hard to tell people out loud, and it looks messy in social media posts too. A short, easy-to-remember URL cuts down the effort of getting to your question box.

Make active use of places where you can paste a URL, like your social media profile or the text of your posts. You can also generate a QR code and hand it out at offline events. When sharing a URL, a URL shortening service makes it look cleaner, but because a shortened URL hides where the link goes, there's also a risk of it being misused for phishing. It's safer to choose a trustworthy URL shortening service or use the official URL as it is.

Spotting phishing by the URL

The basic way to spot a phishing scam is to check the domain name in the URL. If it differs from the official service's domain by even 1 character, it's likely a fake site. There are tricks that use similar-looking characters, like amazon.co.jp versus amaz0n.co.jp (the o is a zero) or google.com versus g00gle.com.

The tip for checking a URL is to see whether the real service's domain sits unchanged at the end of the domain name. login.amazon.co.jp is legitimate, but amazon.co.jp.evil.com is a subdomain of evil.com and a fake site. Read the domain from right to left to check it. It's a good habit to do this check before clicking a link sent to you by email or DM.