# What Happens When You Visit a Website

> Follow one page load from the address bar to the finished page: DNS, TCP, TLS, the first HTTP exchange and the files the page pulls in.

Canonical: https://codelivly.com/rooms/what-happens-when-you-visit-a-website
Last updated: 2026-11-15

| | |
|---|---|
| Level | Beginner |
| Category | Web |
| Lessons | 6 |
| Estimated time | 3 h 15 min |
| XP | 150 |

A customer types https://shop.fernhill.lab/products/101 and a product page appears. This room follows that one page load from start to finish. You look up the name with dig, watch the TCP connection and the TLS summary in curl, read the first HTTP request and response, and list the files the HTML asks for from the CDN and the API. Each lesson has a diagram and a terminal exercise against the Fernhill lab shop. The room ends with a guided lab in which you trace the whole load and write it up as a trace file.

## Lessons

1. From Address Bar to Page: The Whole Trip (30 min)
2. Finding the Server: DNS Lookups (30 min)
3. Opening the Connection: IP Addresses, Ports and TCP (30 min)
4. Making It Private: The TLS Handshake in Brief (25 min)
5. Asking and Answering: The First HTTP Exchange and the Page Build (35 min)
6. Guided Lab: Trace One Page Load End to End (45 min)

## Related

- [Learning path: Web Fundamentals](https://codelivly.com/learning-paths/web-fundamentals)
- [All rooms](https://codelivly.com/rooms)