What is HTTP?
The protocol browsers and servers use to talk.
Every web page you've ever loaded arrived the same way: a request, and a response, spoken in HTTP.
What it is
HTTP is the protocol browsers and servers use to talk. It defines what a request looks like, and what a response looks like.
How it works
A request has a method, like GET to fetch something or POST to send something, plus an address and some headers. The response comes back with a status code: 200 means OK, 404 means not found, 500 means the server broke. Then comes the content, like the page itself.
Why it matters
HTTPS is the same thing, encrypted, so nobody in the middle can read it or change it. That's the padlock in your browser.
