[Web4lib] A very basic quesiont on library home page URL format

[Erik Adams]

> There was no reason to use "www"-prefixed domain names 
> in the early days of the web that does not also pertain today.

Yes, there is:  no one uses gopher any more.  Way back in the early days
of the web, one was more likely to find servers using gopher, ftp,
telnet, and so on, than http.  Having separate domain names helped users
identify one kind of resource from another - a user doesn't have to
guess what program to use when the domain name is
gopher.superresource.com or www.superresource.com.  

As you correctly state, there are technical reasons for having separate
domain names that are still valid.  But the social reason is no longer
valid - http is the norm, ftp is supported by web browsers, and gopher
is all but extinct (though still supported in Firefox).

Erik Y. Adams
Electronic Resources Librarian
Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton
eadams at sheppardmullin.com
(213)617-5429 / Fax: (213)620-1398 



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