Why isn “http://” needed in the address (URL) like it used to be?
The protocols (e.g. “http://”, “ftp://”, “gopher://”) used to be necessary at the beginning of a URL (Uniform Resource Locator) to get you connected to the correct service at the remote (server) end of a connection. As use of the hypertext transfer protocol or “HTTP” became more widespread, web browsers were designed to default to this protocol if none is specified. So, if your browser software is recent enough, and you don’t specify the protocol, HTTP is assumed. In fact, if you look in the Location: box in recent versions of Netscape Navigator or the Address: box in MS Internet Explorer, you will see that “http://” is inserted for you if you don’t provide it.
