What critical step must precede the browser initiating the HTTP connection to a web server?

💡 Explanation:

To initiate an HTTP connection, a browser needs the web server's numerical IP address. The Domain Name System (DNS) resolves the human-readable domain name (e.g., example.com) into this necessary IP address. This DNS lookup (resolution) is the fundamental prerequisite step that must be completed before the browser can correctly direct the HTTP request to the target server's network location.