Not entirely sure I get the question but I think I know what you're asking. If you're talking about websites then generally for the good of everyone they use a URL [Universal Resource Locator] e.g. www.microsoft.com and basically that gets translated by your ISP or whoever to an IP address....easiest way of telling what the IP address is by going to a DOS box and typing ping www.microsoft.com and you will see that it gets resolved back to an IP address. If you're talking about an FTP site then the same can apply but generally a static IP address is used as they are generally run by an individual rather than a large corporate company. But people like Compaq will use ftp.compaq.com and the same principle applies as above. It just means that you can move servers and stuff around in the background without having to say to everyone "oh erm, that IP address you were using..well it's changed" which is a pain in the ass for all concerned.