Do You Know Why Some Websites Have "www" in Their Address While Some Don't?

If you frequently surf the Internet, you may have realized by now that certain URLs have the "www" prefix in front of them, while certain others don't. For example http://www.google.com has it, while http://phfoong.googlepages.com doesn't. Why is this so, you may ask?

The reason for this happening is due to the usual practice of naming the Internet hosts according to the services they provide. For example:

• The host name of a Web server usually has the "www" prefix.
  
• The host name of an FTP server usually has the "ftp" prefix.
• The host name of a News server usually has the "nntp" or "news" prefix.

The use of the prefixes is in fact NOT required. That is why we can see many website today not having the "www" prefix in their URLs. The "www" is simply a choice in name, nothing more.

You can find out more from these articles:

• Wikipedia - World Wide Web
• Ask Leo! - Why do some website addresses have "www", and some don't? And why do some work with or without the "www"?
• HowStuffWorks - Why do some Web sites include www in the URL while others don't?