However, if the hostname begins with ftp, e.g. ftp.javasoft.com, assume you should connect to an ftp server at that address, e.g. ftp://ftp.javasoft.com/. Similarly, if the hostname begins with gopher, assume you should connect to a gopher server at that address.
If a full host name is not provided, but only a single word, first check whether it is a server in the local domain. For example, entering duke on utopia.poly.edu should attempt to connect to duke.poly.edu. However if the word is not a hostname in the local domain, then assume it points to an http server at www.word.com. For example, if javasoft is entered on the command line, you should try to connect to http://www.javasoft.com/.
Provide reasonable error messages in the event that the host cannot be located or the connection attempt fails.
Note that this is more or less how Netscape Navigator behaves.