HTTP stands for Hyper Text Transfer Protocol where as HTTPS stands for Hyper Text Transfer Protocol SECURE.
Bank sites and various shopping sites use HTTPS to make sure that it's really hard to steal your credit card information, for example. HTTPS greatly increases the security of a website.
But how does it work? Think of it this way: HTTP makes sure information gets from point A to point B. Simple as that. The bad thing is that it's very public. Think of it as going outside and walking to the store. You will most probably encounter people (users of the web page), and in some cases, you might actually get mugged on the way to the store. (Hacked)
HTTPS does the same thing, HOWEVER, since it has to be more secure, think of it as you're going to the store: but instead of walking along the public roads of your city, you instead take an underground tunnel that only YOU have the key to go into. No one else can't get in, except for you, and everyone who goes via the HTTPS tunnel has their own dedicated tunnel. This means that there is no way to get mugged (hacked), and you're more safe.
But why doesn't all websites use HTTPS?
The short answer is that it costs money.
The long answer is that every web site is hosted on a server computer. Having to "make a tunnel" for every visitor is going to increase the amount of power needed for the tunnels to be made. As I previously mentioned, HTTP's goal is to get the information from point A (from the server) to point B (your device). That's it's sole purpose. No extra security or anything, just get the information to your device.
HTTPS makes a safe connection between your device and the server computer, so they can communicate safely. It has to do this to everyone who wishes to access the web site. So, the more users simultaneously, the more power the computer is going to consume, and if the computer is under-powered or exceeds the amount of power it can use, or if the internet connection is slow or can't keep up, lag may occur to all affected users, or in the worst case, the entire website crashes. This could be for a few seconds, or it could last until the computer gets rebooted.
I hope this clarified some things for you, and if you have any questions, let me know!
AnnaMay I'm actually not! I haven't studied computers on a school/college level at all, I've used a computer since I was 2 and I love experimenting on my own and doing research and such.
I'd love to study more about it on a higher level though!
Ah okay, so basically it's more difficult for someone to DDOS (I think that's the right term?) the site or internally hack? Obviously people who share their passwords intentionally then get stolen is a different matter.
I guess this is an indication of Randomize wanting to invest in the site especially if it's costing him more
Minniemax I don't have an explanation for this, but if you see that one of your gif links only has "http://" instead of "https://", just add an S after the P and it should work!