Expert: Scottgem - 11/11/2006

Question
Hello Scottgem,

Can you tell me who I could talk to (that runs the internet) in order to get the programming changed so that if you type in blank spaces (like; find the truth.com  instead of  findthetruth.com)

That the url would still work.

I've experienced other places that automatically remove the spaces and cause the link to work.

But not general internet addresses.

Your help would cause me great joy.

Thanks so much.

Answer
This is not a function of the Internet but of your browser.

The Domain Name system (DNS) maintains URLs and matches them to the physical IP of the server. This system is managed by ICANN.

However, its the WEB browser that sends an inquiry to a DNS to match the Domain Name and retrieve the IP. So it would be a function of the browser to strip out the spaces before it sends the query to the DNS.

Why browsers don't do this, I'm not sure. But you would want to send such a comment to Microsoft or the authors of Foxfire or Opera.

HTH
Scott<>