HTTP? HTTPS?
HTTP stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol. As we just learned, hypertext makes up the content of webpages and tells browsers how to display it. But your browser also needs a way to ask for a copy of all of that and a variety of other things. HTTP is the language browsers and servers use to communicate and send files.
HTTP lets your browser say “Hello, I am a browser, and I’m looking for this particular website.” The server responds with something like, “Hi browser, I’m a server. Here’s the website you wanted.” And because those files are written using a standardized system like HTML.
The problem with HTTP is it’s not encrypted, so a new secure protocol was developed and they slapped an “s” at the end, which stands for “secure.” HTTPS lets browsers and servers send encrypted information back and forth, so anyone who intercepts it in the middle won’t be able to see the content. Security fans have slowly forced the internet to adopt HTTPS, and today it’s used by around 80% of all websites.
