The Internet has become faster to access, but methods of locating and contacting Web sites are still extremely cumbersome.
Web site addresses are often long and full of symbols and character sequences whose meaning is not immediately apparent. The alternative of using a search engine can also be problematic. Unless the search strings are carefully defined, the result can be thousands of references, many of which are duplicated or bewilderingly obscure.
Each Web page on the Internet is identified by a Universal Resource Locator (URL). Each contains a domain name. Domain names are held on Domain Name System (DNS) servers that are scattered around the Web, and their hierarchical format allows them to have geographic and functional significance  as in .uk and .org. Each name must be unique and this is the first problem with URLs: many organisations and individuals find that the name they want for their domain has already been taken by someone else, so they have to settle for something less fitting and, in many cases, a name that does not effectively describe the service they offer.
The second problem with the URL is that it can easily turn into a typing nightmare. In its most basic form, a URL contains just a domain name and will provide access to a site's homepage, for example www.itweek.co.uk. If, however, direct access to a specific page located deep within the site is required, the URL will contain the DNS name followed by a directing path and file name.
