Objectives for Week 2

By the end of week 2, the student should be able to:
  • Describe, in general, how the web works
  • Describe the role of the web browser
  • Identify parts of URLs including domain name, path, and page name
  • Identify important points in the process of planning a website

Week 2: Sample Assignment

A URL is a "Uniform Resource Locator" that makes it easy to find pages on the WWW without having to remember a complicated series of numbers in an IP address. Domain names associated with these IP addresses are stored on Domain name servers. URLs can be broken down into several parts:

http://www.hpu.edu
In the above, the http:// part tells your browser that it will be using Hypertext Transfer Protocol. This gets your browser ready to understand HTML or Hypertext Markup Language, the language most web pages are written in.
Next you have www.hpu.edu which is the "domain name" for our university homepage. Most domain names will start with WWW for World Wide Web, but this is not an absolute requirement. The .edu extension identifies the page as an Educational institution. The basic types of extensions are:
  .com = commercial
  .edu = educational
  .org = organization
  .mil = military
  .gov = government
  .net = a play on the word InterNET
Recently 7 additional domain names have been approved and should be available later this year.
Please Click Here to read more about them.

Some URLs outside of the US have a country code after the domain name extension. Common country codes include .mx for Mexico, or .uk for the United Kingdom.

Your Three-part Assignment:
PART 1. Domain Registration
Locate the least expensive domain name registration service you can find. Search for an available name for...
a) A business website (real or imaginary)
b) A personal website, club or organization
Please post back with cost of registration and the two domain names you found. Did you have to try several names before finding one not in use?

PART 2. Trace Route
Read Webopedia's definition of "Trace Route" at:
http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/t/traceroute.html
From Windows, go to your START menu then select RUN. Enter
tracert www.hpu.edu
A DOS window will open. Count the # of 'hops' between your computer and UMUC. When done, the window may close abruptly. Post back with the number.

PART 3. Whois
Webopedia defines 'Whois' as follows:
"An Internet utility that returns information about a domain name or IP address." For example, if you enter a domain name such as microsoft.com, whois will return the name and address of the domain's owner (in this case, Microsoft Corporation)."

Using a "whois" utility such as
http://www.webreference.com/services/dns/whois.html
look up any high-tech company. List one Domain name server and the IP address associated with it.

Students will turn in this assignment via the Assignments folder in WebCT.

Week 2: Sample Discussion Topic

By now, you've read the Project Description in the Syllabus outlining the requirements for the Website you'll create during this class.

What will you do to plan your site?
Let's start off with a topic for your site and a description of your purpose and intended audience. What other elements must be considered? Please post a response covering the following:
  1. Topic for my site
  2. Purpose and audience
You notice that there are 3 blank spaces. Please fill these in with items you feel are important in your planning process.

Note: Many guides to website planning discuss registering a domain name. You are NOT required to register a domain name for the site you'll be creating during this class.

Responses will be posted to the WebCT "Week 2: Discussion" topic on our bulletin board.

Return to class schedule