If you (somehow) redesigned all browsers including already released legacy ones that people are already running, such that they default to a www. prefix, it would fail on my site, which doesn't use a www. prefix at all. Mine just has the domain name and the rest, because I don't see why the www. prefix is required to be there - you're using a browser, it's obvious that you want to sent http requests and make sense of the responses. If I were offering other protocols, the browser would just as likely be able to make sense of those. The need to place the 'www.' portion into a url seems pointless to me.

In essence this has already been done. Most web sites today will work with or without the WWW. It began to happen sort of slowly. The transition occurred when web site providers began to use Linux for the email and FTP servers on an account. At this time Windows was still the primary HTTP server on these accounts. Now the vast majority of web site providers use entirely Linux and all three functions are now contained on one server, either virtual or sole server.You can try it both ways here to see what I mean: scottserver.net

i know. hitting all three keyboard strokes is a real hassle. the force you must exert is unbearable.

makefatpay said:

i know. hitting all three keyboard strokes is a real hassle. the force you must exert is unbearable.

Apparently, using the shift key is pretty exhausting, too!

this is a matter of server operators, dns records (c names), and virtualhosts (for apache=ServerAlias).

also, in I.E. and Firebird,

typing "yahoo" into the address bar, control + enter, will immediately resolve (www.yahoo.com).

Let's go further than that..Is there a way to simplify a link we see on newspaper, magazine or hear from radios? I frequently saw some link such as http://www.newsweek.com/news/select/auto/b*&&^%*&%/^%%&^%&^.%^&*%*^%./...It is incredible. There must be a better way to convey this link without exhausting all the keys on the keyboard.

maxwell, check out tinyurl.com

maxwell should look into understanding his host file, or add the URL into his browsers bookmarks.

this is one solution; another, as mentioned above, is just forgetting the stupid alias altogether. With domain bloat pushing names longer than anything even mary poppins wants to touch, I wouldn't complain if I never had to put in another worldwideweb again. Of course, I rarely do anyway, and always brand all my sites without the nuisance.

Let's just take a look at why the 'www' is there in the first place. You register a domain, say, 'mydomain.com'. You can create an address record for this domain, so that anyone connecting to mydomain.com will be pointed to whichever internet address you choose. You can also add extra machines into this domain. Supposing you have three computers which you want to give an address in this domain. You might call them 'tom', 'dick' and 'harry', so connecting to tom.mydomain.com will take you to a different machine than 'dick.mydomain.com'. Alternatively, you might want to call them 'www', 'mail' and 'news', so you end up with 'www.mydomain.com', etc, etc. It's entirely up to the owners of each individual domain. Some don't even create a record for 'www' at all. So going to thingysite.com will work, but going to www.thingysite.com won't. Most people who run their own domains will want the WWW part to work, as this is what most people expect websites to start with nowadays. Also, typing in anything beginning with 'www.' will automatically cause many programs to start turning the text into a link. Mind you, so will typing .http://'. Microsoft have been doing this since Office 97.

This problem would be addressed by the proposal called "Intuitive Domain Name System" http://www.whynot.net/view_idea?id=2042

The www prefix is totally up to the person setting up the server. my webserver doesn't use it. To default to it would not actually be removing it, but forcing it to continue to exist.

Not much to add to the other comments, but just want to chime in here. You're an idiot! Yay!

Use a superior browser that isn't IE. Something like Firefox or Opera. They have them built in. Learn to use a search engine, dipshit.