How to use the URL Normalizer

The URL normalizer could be found under the Rule Url in your rules editing or creation screen.

Its main function is to normalize or adapt the URL that you put in with a click of a button. 

To exemplify this, I will pick on a certain example. Let's say that you had the following URL.

https://www.cnn.com/finances/latest-news/money-is-falling-from-the-sky.html

The system could normalize this URL for you into the following levels

•  Domain level: *cnn.com*
• 1 Directory Deep: *cnn.com/finances/*
• 2 Directories Deep: *cnn.com/finances/latest-news/*

Technical Note: Each level is determined by a "/". Do not worry about this, if it does not make sense to you.

With the URL normalize, you can then choose to allow or deny access to the URL in this rule.

For our example, let's say that I only wanted our users to have access to finances in CNN but not anything else. Using our fictitious example above, I would follow the steps below.

1. Create a new rule at the level that you want. In our case, let's do it at the account level.
   1. Login to WebFilterNow.com Control Panel at http://prod.webfilternow.com
   2. Click on Rules in your top menu
   3. Click on the Create Rules button. If you do not see this button this means that you are not an accountability partner (AP)
2. Enter the following URL into the Rule URL
   1. https://www.cnn.com/finances/latest-news/money-is-falling-from-the-sky.html
3. Click on the 1 Directory Deep button
4. Click on the Allow dropdown and select Yes
5.  Scroll down and click on the Save button.

Now you have allowed only the finances part of CNN and not the rest. This is assuming that you have a rule that denies everything else. If you are unsure, you can always check with the Rule URL Checker to make sure that things are working OK.