Internet Business Tutorial 8

by Robert H. Fraass on Friday, March 11, 2005
HTTP-Hypertext Transfer Protocol
You can think of Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) as the set of rules that gave life to the World Wide Web. You see HTTP in action wherever you go on the Web; it's the acronym (http://) at the front of the nearly every web address you see.
HTTP governs the exchange of files on the Web. Your web browser uses HTTP to send requests to servers requesting the information they have stored. This is what happens, for example, when you type a web address (also called a URL [universal resource locator]) into your web browser's Address Bar and press Enter. The server then uses HTTP to receive the request and deliver the requested file(s) back to the sender.
In short, HTTP is the mechanism that allows the exchange of data over the World Wide Web to take place.
SSL-Secure Sockets Layer
Secure, encrypted communications over the Internet are handled by the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocol that's used by web browsers and web servers. SSL is the industry standard for e-commerce websites to ensure the safe delivery of customers' sensitive information over the Internet. SSL works as an additional layer of Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), and a web page secured with SSL displays "https" in the Address Bar of the web browser rather than "http". HTTPS stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure