A uniform (not universal) resource locator (URL) is an address, specified in a standard format, that locates a specific resource on the Internet or an intranet. In content for a general audience, use address rather than URL. In content for a technical audience, do not spell out URL on first mention.

The appropriate indefinite article for URL is a, not an.

A URL consists of an Internet protocol name; a domain name; and optionally other elements such as a port, directory, and file name. Use lowercase for each of these main elements, unless case is important.

In a typical URL, separate the protocol name (such as http:) from the rest of the destination with two slash marks, and separate the domain name and other main elements from each other with one slash mark, as in the following examples of URLs:

When you specify a web address, it is not usually necessary to include http://. Most browsers today automatically add this information to the URL if a protocol name is not specified. If the protocol is something other than HTTP, such as File Transfer Protocol (FTP) or Gopher, you must specify the protocol with the URL. When the URL does not specify a file name, a final closing slash mark is optional.

Microsoft style

www.microsoft.com/business

www.microsoft.com/business

ftp://www.example.com/downloads/myfile.txt

To refer to an entire website, as opposed to the home page of the site, it is all right to drop the www. the beginning of the site address. If you do so, capitalize only the initial letter of the address, even if the name associated with the site is capitalized differently.

Microsoft style

The Gotdotnet.com website is the home of the GotDotNet user community.

If you include www. in the site address, with or without the protocol name, the entire address is in lowercase.

Microsoft style

Visit the GotDotNet website at www.gotdotnet.com.

Visit the GotDotNet website at http://www.gotdotnet.com.

In conceptual information, use of in discussions of the URL of a resource. Use the preposition at with the location of an address.

Microsoft style

For each webpage found, the search results include the URL of the page.

You can find information about Microsoft products and services at www.microsoft.com.

URLs often appear at the end of a sentence. If there is a possibility that your users will interpret the ending period as part of the URL, rewrite the sentence or set the URL off.

Microsoft style

Visit www.microsoft.com to find information about Microsoft products and services.

To find information about Microsoft, visit our website:www.microsoft.com

When indicating hyperlinks in webpages, use the title or a description of the new webpage as the link, rather than an empty phrase such as click here. The Alt text for graphical links should make clear that the graphic is a link.

Microsoft style

Visit the Editorial Webpage for up-to-date style information.

<Image> Alt text: Link to picture of a woman talking on a phone

Not Microsoft style

Click here for up-to-date style information.

<Image> Alt text: Picture

Although email and newsgroup addresses are structured differently from website addresses, they are also considered URLs. Format the entire address in lowercase, as in the following examples:

See also Names and contact information (Chapter 3), link, HTTP in the Appendix A, Protocols (Chapter 6).