What exactly is a URL?

A reader had a question about what to put when a form asks for a specific bit of information. She writes:

“Not being very literate when it comes to computers, I thought I better write to you to ask probably a dumb question. I typed a comment on a web post and it asked for the URL my website. I don’t know what’s supposed to go in there. I even Googled what URL is. Got a good definition but I still didn’t know what I was supposed to type there.”

First, I want to thank you!  Then I want to remind you that there are no dumb questions!  Sometimes when you go to make a comment or to contact someone you’ll see a space to put your website.

You don’t have to put anything in the website box. This is just there for people who do have websites and blogs, so they can identify themselves. If you don’t have one, you don’t need to fill it in. Notice it’s the only line above without ‘required’ beside it. If you did want to put in a website, you’d put the URL for your website there.

The URL is simply the address of a website. It’s what you see at the top of the address bar in a browser. For example, this website’s URL is www. cynmackley.com.

I hope this helps.