EmmEEdu
Deep-Dive Visual Explainers

What happens when you type google.com into your browser?

A complete step-by-step visual dissection of networking, protocols, and browser rendering.

Step 1 of 7:URL Parsing & HSTS Cache Lookup
1
URL Parsing & HSTS Cache Lookup
2
DNS Resolution Cascade
3
TCP 3-Way Handshake
4
TLS 1.3 Cryptographic Handshake
5
HTTP/2 or HTTP/3 Multiplexed Request
6
Server Processing & Response Generation
7
Browser Parsing, DOM, CSSOM & Paint
HSTS & URL Normalization

URL Parsing & HSTS Cache Lookup

Actor: Browser Engine

The browser checks its internal cache, parses the protocol (https://) and domain, and checks the preloaded HSTS list.

Before touching the network, the browser confirms whether the domain requires forced HTTPS via HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS) to prevent SSL stripping attacks.

Wire Trace / State Snapshot:
Input: google.com -> Normalized: https://www.google.com/
Summary: In less than 150 milliseconds, millions of transistors, transatlantic fiber optic cables, cryptographic algorithms, and GPU shaders executed seamlessly to display a single web page.