Web Address

[anotheoldgit]

What is the http// for before a web address, when all you need to do is type www. ?

[OBonio]

HTTP stands for HyperText Transfer Protocol. It tells the browser what protocol to use to communicate with the host. Just typing www...., the browser will assume to use HTTP as this is the most common. Other protocols that browsers support include FTP (File Transfer Protocol) and GOPHER.

[fo3nix]

Also many servers don't require the www. bit either.

[vehelpfulguy]

For example here is an address of an FTP site, where you can download files.

ftp://ftp.gnu.org/

As you can see it has ftp:// in front

If you tried to put http:// in front it would behave differently (or in some cases not work).

[anotheoldgit]

Thanks very much for your replies,now understand it more fully.
A.O.G.