What Happens When You Type a URL in a Browser and Press Enter?
There is just so much to unpack if you really get into the details. Others online have already done a great job answering this question with minute details I wouldn't have even thought to include in this post had I not discovered their work (see the explanation of keystrokes being entered on a USB keyboard and the related circuitry vs a capacitive touchscreen) so I'm not going to try to out-detail a 70+ person collaborative effort. Instead here are some of the things I like to highlight when answering this question along with parts I've had to educate myself on (browser rendering steps, parsing JS and CSS, various trees, and that end of the flow were really interesting to read about as I don't usually have exposure to them). Credit: @manekinekko This graphic does a fantastic job detailing the flow of information that occurs when someone enters a URL in a browser and presses enter. For more information click on each of the steps below: URL is entered . DNS lookup occurs