How to read a domain suffix

Dot.com at the end of a internet address, which is also called the URL means the domain of a Web site. The sites are grouped together by their URL'S by the kind of organization the site is providing. Most of us know that .com stands for commercial, but do you know what the others stand for?

Here follows a list of the most common domain suffixes and the types of organizations that would use them.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Computer

1. 
    
   The web

   The most common is .com and it stands for a commercial site. Most people selling products use .com's but not always. Some people in the early days were able to grab up .coms with their names and parents were known to by .coms with their baby's name to reserve it for them when they get older.

2. 
    
   School

   .edu is for educational institutions. Schools from kindergarten to colleges use .edu. Also, educational departments and research centers will use .edu, too. Sometimes you will run across a .edu that belongs to a college students' personal web sites because it is on the school's server.

3. 
    
   Government

   .gov stands for Government. If you come across a site with this domain, then you are looking at a federal government site. This can be very helpful to differentiate from sites posing as government sites and the real government site. If you are looking for a government site, take a look at the URL when you get there and verify that it ends with .gov and then you will know you are on an official government site.

4. 
    

   .org stands for a non-profit organization. For example, the American Red Cross or any charity organization will use this domain suffix. There is no guarantee that the site is totally non profit, as anyone can buy the domain suffix.

5. 
    
   Military

   .mil stands for military. This domain suffix is used by the different branches of the Armed Forces in the United States.

6. 
    
   Internet

   .net stands for network. You might find any kind of site under this domain suffix. When people really want a particular name and it was already being used as a .com then they would use .net. Sometimes if you are looking for a specific website and it doesn't come up under .com, then try .net and you will probably find it. It was thought that .net would become as popular as .com, but it has never had the same clout.

7. 
    
   The World

   Here are Country domain suffixs for other countries:
   
   .au Australia
   .in India
   .br Brazil
   .it Italy
   .ca Canada
   .mx Mexico
   .fr France
   .tw Taiwan
   .il Israel
   .uk United Kingdom

[bmi57]

on 12/2/2007 Great information. Thanks.