Geek Speak: Don’t Get “Networked”

2/27/2016

Remember the last time you launched a new website?  Your web hosting provider started talking about web browsers, domain names, DNS, and web servers…and maybe your eyes glazed over.  Getting “networked” happens to the best of us, but no more!  We’re here to help with a hosting terms guide that will make launching your next website feel like second nature. 

Web Browser

A web browser is a software application that retrieves and presents resources on the World Wide Web, which can be accessed via the Internet.  These resources could be web pages, images, videos, or other types of content.  A few popular web browsers are Firefox, Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Opera, and Safari.

Domain Name

A domain name is like a street address in the web world.  For example, www.in10sity.net is an identification string that will get you to the exact location of our website home page.   Much like home addresses follow a pre-determined scheme (Street Address, City, State, and Zip) so do domain names.  Which takes us to Domain Name System aka DNS.

Domain Name System (DNS)

The Domain Name System is a naming system for all resources connected to the Internet or a private network.  While domain names are alphanumeric (to make them easier to remember), the Internet is based on numerical IP addresses.  DNS services are basically a translator that converts the alphabetic or alphanumeric domain name to the numerical IP address that the Internet recognizes.  For example, www.example.com could translate into 198.103.623.4.

Web Server

A web server is the final component that delivers web pages in a format that can be viewed by website visitors.  A web browser (such as Internet Explorer or Safari) requests the specific website, and the server responds with the content found.  Web servers most commonly deliver HTML documents that include images, style sheets, scripts and content that make up our favorite websites. 

And there you have it!

The web browser requests the specific website by domain name.  The Domain Name System (DNS) converts the easy to remember domain name into an IP address that the Internet recognizes, and the web server delivers the web page in a format that is easier on the eyes!  Next time your network administrator starts talking web browsers, domain names, DNS, and web servers, you won’t skip a beat!

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