Ever typed a web address, hit Enter, and watched a website appear almost instantly?
It feels like magic — but under the hood, your browser is sprinting through a series of complex steps to make it happen.
Let’s break down what really happens in that blink of an eye, from the moment you press Enter to the moment the page is ready in front of you.
1. DNS Lookup – Finding the Real Address
You typed https://kristiyanvelkov.com
But browsers don’t understand names — they understand IP addresses.
So your browser asks the DNS (Domain Name System): “Where can I find this domain?”
The DNS server responds with something like 192.0.2.1 — the real address of the server hosting your site.
2. Making the Connection
With the IP in hand, your browser opens a TCP connection to that server.
If the site uses HTTPS (which it should), it also performs a TLS handshake — encrypting your data and securing the connection (that’s the little lock in your browser).
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