Dreamweaver MX 2004: Your Connection to the Internet

Any transfer of data over a client/server network (which is really what the Internet is) has basically four parts. The first and last of these steps are the connection and disconnection of the two communicating computers, which is handled by TCP/IP. Sandwiched in between is the work of the HTTP (see Figure 1-2).

Figure 1-2  The steps involved in client/server communication

You have probably noticed the “http” that begins most Web addresses. Actually, most browsers now assume the HTTP protocol is being used when you type in an address, so the http:// designation is not strictly necessary. But rest assured, that is exactly what the browser is generating when it makes a request.

Once a connection is made, a request for data is sent in the form of an address. This might be an IP address, or it could be a fully qualified domain name, such as http://www.dwteam.com/. That request is routed via TCP/IP to the host computer that can fulfill it, and the response is sent back as an HTTP response to the requesting computer. Once it arrives, the TCP/IP protocol again assists in putting the packets of information together so they can be used or displayed.

How that response is used when it gets back to the requesting computer depends on the content of the information sent. For these discussions, it is assumed that you are requesting the type of content that makes up most of the World Wide Web—HTML content.