Do you type in "www." before a web address?
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  Do you type in "www." before a web address?
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Question: Do you type in "www." before a web address?
#1
Yes
 
#2
No
 
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Total Voters: 46

Author Topic: Do you type in "www." before a web address?  (Read 3049 times)
minionofmidas
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« Reply #25 on: October 18, 2013, 10:00:59 AM »

No of course not. This is not only incredibly pointless with modern browsers and how almost all URLs work (like seriously, why would anyone bother to take the time to type out www.uselectionatlas.org to reach this site?), it's actually a really awful habit since non-tech people will often type in "www." before every URL they're given even if not stated, and if it has a subdomain before the main domain (such as accounts.google.com) it won't work if the www. is added before. And as anyone who's worked a tech support job that involves directing people to subdomained websites can tell you, this is not just a small minority of really technically incompetent people who do this, but actually most people who are over the age of 40 and not tech geeks.

Be glad many of them have learned to avoid typing "http://" by now.
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Hashemite
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« Reply #26 on: October 18, 2013, 10:16:37 AM »

Almost every website I go to is in my favourites (so I have way too much favourites) and Chrome usually remembers those which aren't and which I go back to later. And for the rest, I google, and Chrome's address bar is used for that.
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minionofmidas
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« Reply #27 on: October 18, 2013, 10:23:36 AM »

Same here. W/o ctrl it takes me to a google page where the first result is com-magazin.de.
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BRTD
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« Reply #28 on: October 18, 2013, 10:36:46 AM »

Not usually, no.

I heard about this once for a company that did a test before job interviews. The applicant was given a sheet with a list of instructions to follow on the company's web site. The first step listed was "Type in companyname.com on the browser's URL bar". If the applicant typed in "www.companyname.com" instead of "companyname.com" the interview ended there and they were not hired.

That is absurdly draconian.

Anyone who's ever worked in any IT or tech job will tell you it makes sense. Technical instructions need to be followed verbatim. Throwing in things or leaving them out because of habit or because you feel that's how it normally should be done results in things not working. For an example, check this out, which is probably one of the most browsed pages on the web:

https://maps.google.com

And now click on this:

https://www.maps.google.com

And now you see why adding www. before a URL if not specifically specified is not an acceptable web browsing habit.

Your test is dumb. If you asked me to visit google.com, I would have typed http://www.google.com. If you asked me to visit maps.google.com, I would have typed http://maps.google.com because I know better. But I still will type www when it can be there because that's.. not implicitly the wrong thing to do. I know it's wrong when a subdomain is present. It also takes me three hundredths of a second to type.

Unfortunately most people don't think this way. Trust me I deal with such a case almost every day. Either they don't type in the www. at all, or if you direct them to appleid.apple.com they will type in www.appleid.apple.com
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shua
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« Reply #29 on: October 18, 2013, 10:48:18 AM »

The library website at ODU is actually www.lib.odu.edu   It used to be that if I just typed in lib.odu.edu there'd be an error, but they've fixed that now. So there's no hard and fast rule about when to put it in and when not to.
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BRTD
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« Reply #30 on: October 18, 2013, 10:55:10 AM »

The library website at ODU is actually www.lib.odu.edu   It used to be that if I just typed in lib.odu.edu there'd be an error, but they've fixed that now. So there's no hard and fast rule about when to put it in and when not to.

However if I was referring someone to that website I would actually tell them to type in "www.lib.odu.edu". In the www. is required, then it'll be included in tech instructions. Not too difficult of a concept.
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opebo
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« Reply #31 on: October 18, 2013, 11:48:29 AM »

Well, not the first attempt, but actually sometimes you have to apparently.
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Oakvale
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« Reply #32 on: October 18, 2013, 12:31:59 PM »

No (normal). For something I visit a lot I usually have a bookmark icon though.
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The Mikado
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« Reply #33 on: October 18, 2013, 03:18:50 PM »

I use Chrome.  I don't even worry about typing in addresses, I just type in some words and let Google take me to the site.
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badgate
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« Reply #34 on: October 18, 2013, 04:09:39 PM »

I'm old fashioned.
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Hifly
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« Reply #35 on: October 18, 2013, 04:15:07 PM »

One thing that particularly irks me is when people type "www.wikipedia.org" rather than "en.wikipedia.org" which is so much more efficient to do.
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Joe Republic
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« Reply #36 on: October 18, 2013, 04:29:54 PM »

Sometimes; especially if I know the website needs the "www."

Examples?
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Leftbehind
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« Reply #37 on: October 18, 2013, 06:04:59 PM »

One thing that particularly irks me is when people type "www.wikipedia.org" rather than "en.wikipedia.org" which is so much more efficient to do.

There are multiple versions of wikipedia though, with all languages having their own prefixes.

I tend to Google most websites I don't know, simply because I don't know their TLDs (.com/.co.uk/.org/etc).

But generally - if I know them - no (normal).
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Joe Republic
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« Reply #38 on: October 18, 2013, 07:16:03 PM »

One thing that particularly irks me is when people type "www.wikipedia.org" rather than "en.wikipedia.org" which is so much more efficient to do.

There are multiple versions of wikipedia though, with all languages having their own prefixes.

Do you typically switch between different language versions of Wikipedia?
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Tetro Kornbluth
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« Reply #39 on: October 18, 2013, 07:18:55 PM »

Still do. Habit. Have most of my main sites bookmarked though.
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True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)
Ernest
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« Reply #40 on: October 18, 2013, 07:51:57 PM »

Do you typically switch between different language versions of Wikipedia?

I do.  If a historical or geographic topic has greater relevance to those whose main tongue is not English, often the best coverage (or even the only coverage) will be on a foreign language Wikipedia.  Of course it may be a little garbled by the time it passed thru Google Translate or the like.  I do it often enough that my preferences page on the Wikimedia wikis cheerfully informs me that "Your account is active on 129 project sites." because many of those wikis will set up an account on that wiki if you are logged in and visit any page on the site, even if you make no edits.  Still, I probably have edits on around twenty of them, tho many of those were for interwiki links that no longer have to be set up by logging into foreign language wikis.  If I'm really interested in the topic I may make or improve the English language article using the info from the foreign language wiki.
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The Mikado
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« Reply #41 on: October 19, 2013, 12:06:51 AM »

One thing that particularly irks me is when people type "www.wikipedia.org" rather than "en.wikipedia.org" which is so much more efficient to do.

There are multiple versions of wikipedia though, with all languages having their own prefixes.

Do you typically switch between different language versions of Wikipedia?

Today, the feminine form of the title Kaiser slipped my mind, and I came up with the brilliant idea of finding Maria Theresa's Wiki page and checking her titles, but the titles were translated.  I immediately went up the page and clicked on the German language version and sure enough, there was "Kaiserin" right there in her title.
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Goldwater
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« Reply #42 on: October 19, 2013, 12:49:47 AM »

Nope.
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Leftbehind
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« Reply #43 on: October 19, 2013, 06:18:31 AM »

One thing that particularly irks me is when people type "www.wikipedia.org" rather than "en.wikipedia.org" which is so much more efficient to do.

There are multiple versions of wikipedia though, with all languages having their own prefixes.

Do you typically switch between different language versions of Wikipedia?

Yep, usually for in-depth European local elections results that aren't on the English wiki. Would it matter if I didn't?
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minionofmidas
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« Reply #44 on: October 19, 2013, 06:40:42 AM »

One thing that particularly irks me is when people type "www.wikipedia.org" rather than "en.wikipedia.org" which is so much more efficient to do.

There are multiple versions of wikipedia though, with all languages having their own prefixes.

Do you typically switch between different language versions of Wikipedia?
How could anybody with half a braincell to jiggle and a good working command of more than one language avoid doing that?
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Joe Republic
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« Reply #45 on: October 19, 2013, 08:45:40 AM »

Okay, okay.  Sometimes the nerdery of the typical Atlas forum poster tends to slip my memory.
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minionofmidas
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« Reply #46 on: October 19, 2013, 08:49:24 AM »

Okay, okay.  Sometimes the nerdery of the typical Atlas forum poster tends to slip my memory.
It's not just that (though it's a factor, see Ernest's post); mostly you have the disadvantage of being from a country that can afford insular provinciality. Smiley
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