CHABOT LIBRARY

Home  ·  Hours  ·  Library Catalog  ·  Magazines, Journal Articles, Newspapers  ·  Contact Us

Reading Web Pages: Understanding The Structure of the Web Page

For information on how to read web pages well enough to evaluate the quality of a web site, go to the Evaluating Web Sites Handout  To look at the full website for the example listed below, go to the archived version of popenvironment.org, http://web.archive.org/web/20020123135841/http://popenvironment.org/  The page has since changed:  http://popenvironment.org/

 

The Title of the Web Page: The title of the web page is NOT the title stated within the web page itself.  In most browsers, the actual title of the web page appears in the upper left of your screen, ABOVE the pull-down menus.  Therefore, the title of this web page is "PopEnvironment.org", NOT "Population & Environment Linkages Service."

The URL:  The URL (Universal Resource Locator, also known as a "web address") appears on the right side of the main navigation bar.

The structure of the URL:  An address is usually divided into different parts.

The Protocol: Usually the beginning is the Protocol, where you are telling your browser what types of files you want to find.  In this case, you are accessing the protocol for web pages, or the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (http).  The protocol is followed by a colon, then two slashes.  http://

 The Main address:  After the protocol (which concludes with the double slash) and before the first slash on the right, is  the main part of the URL.  Usually, divided into three parts, the address states the name of the server (usually a  generic www is used instead), followed by the name of the institution that usually owns the server and allows space for  any pages that follows the first righthand slash (could be personal web page or another institution but this is the institution  providing the server, usually), followed by the domain of the server.

It would look like this: nameofserver.nameofinstitution.domain  OR www.berkeley.edu
(generic name, followed by UC Berkeley's abbreviated name (just berkeley) followed by the type of institution (the domain) it is, .edu (four year and above higher education institution).

Sometimes, there may be another part of an address.  For example the URL for the University of Arizona's Main Library Home page is: dizzy.library.arizona.edu
An additional component, highlighting the Library is included, folloqws by the name of the more major institution this institution actually belongs (arizona, abbreviated for the University of Arizona.  "Dizzy" is the name of the server).

If you notice, popenvironment.org has only TWO parts.  For this address, the name of the server is NOT INCLUDED.  More institutions nowadays, dispense with the introduction, www, and just use the name of the institution, followed by the domain.
 
 
 

What Follows the First Right Slash (if the URL continues): Can be other institutions, departments within an institution, a person's web page directory, names of directories within directories.  All would follow with another single slash to the right:  http://cnie.org/pop/ccmc/news.htm

POP and CCMC are likely acronyms to other divisions or departments within the main organization.  Eventually, most addresses will end with an HTML file or actual web page, which is simply the name of the file, followed by .htm or .html (unless it is a specialized web page such as .html or a special type of file such as .pdf).  If the address ends with a slash on the right, then you are at a directory's index page or home page.  A URL such as popenvironment.org/ is usually followed by the name of the index page which is usually index.html  The server is set up so that index.html does not appear.
 

A Frame is simply a web page applied onto another web page, allowing you to view more than one web page at once.  The Main frame of a web page is usually an indexing page or part of a main page that stays in place while you are looking at other pages.  Its main purpose is to provide you assistance when navigating through a site.  You can always depend on the Main Frame, rather than having to depend on your web browser to go back to a particular page to look at a different selection.

 

The Main Frame in this example is highlighted in green on the left side of the page (as well as the top).  Notice that the main frame is usually smaller and more slender.  It will stay in place, regardless of any of the links you select on the right.  If you wanted to save and print a page you are on, you can only save one individual frame (as each frame IS a separate web page).  The frame you most likely want to print or save would be in the larger portion, on the right.  To do so, you need to CLICK on the frame.  For printing, you may want to select Print Preview first.

The problems you will encounter while going through Frames, is that the URL stated on top will ALWAYS BE the URL of the main frame, and not the content of the main page!  You may find this problematical, as sometimes links listed below may take you to another site somewhere else on the World Wide Web and you would not clearly be able to realize this fact!

In the example stated below, you have selected the link, PopEnvironment News, however notice the URL still stays the same!  How can all pages seem to be the same page?  The answer is they're not!

 
To solve this problem, go to the frame you are interested in (for above, assume the larger, fatter portion on the right), RIGHT CLICK YOUR MOUSE, and select "Open Frame in New Window" or "Open Frame in New Tab" (example below is for saving the frame, but you notice towards the top the selections are available):

After opening the frame, you will get only the one individual web page that was embedded in the previous page, along with its actual URL.  If you ever want to record a page's URL, you will WANT TO DO THIS.  Notice, that the page listed below ACTUALLY BELONGS TO ANOTHER WEBSITE!

Bookmarking a Frame
 

To bookmark a frame, once again you MUST right click over the frame!  Otherwise, you will be bookmarking the MainFrame of the page you are on (whether you simply click on the frame you want or not).

These are the basics for understanding how to read web pages.  For the next step, which is to EVALUATE A Web Page, go to the Evaluating Web Sites Handout