How HTTPS Works is a serialized comic that explains HTTPS: where the lock icon in your browser's address bar comes from and why it matters, told across five episodes by three characters — Certificat the cat, Browserbird and Compugter. It is a side project of DNSimple, the domain registrar and DNS provider, launched in 2018; the page notes it was last updated in August 2025.
At a Glance
| Item | Details (as of 2026-09-30) |
|---|---|
| URL | howhttps.works |
| Type | Educational comic (HTTPS/TLS) |
| Cost | Free |
| Account | None required |
| Languages | About 20 languages including Chinese, Japanese, Korean and French |
Background
DNSimple introduced the comic in a May 2018 blog post. It wasn't their first explainer — How DNS Works (2015) covered the DNS resolution process, and How HTTPS Works reuses the same cast and humor. As a registrar that sells SSL certificates, DNSimple had an obvious business motive, but the comic itself contains no sales pitch; it just explains the concepts.
The Five Episodes
- Why do we need HTTPS?: the risks of plain HTTP and the value of HTTPS;
- The keys: symmetric vs. asymmetric encryption;
- The handshake: how the TLS handshake combines the two;
- HTTPS, SSL, TLS differences: how the three terms relate and their history;
- Certificate Authorities: how CAs verify identity and issue certificates.
Good For
- Developers who need to explain "why HTTPS" to non-technical colleagues or clients;
- Learners entering web security who want quick TLS intuition;
- Multilingual teams — the same content is shareable in nearly 20 languages.
Limitations
- Entry-level by design: no coverage of TLS 1.3 specifics, QUIC or mTLS.
- The comic format keeps information density low — five episodes take about ten minutes; deeper study needs the specs or a textbook.
- Soft promotional links to DNSimple products appear at the bottom of pages.
- Not interactive — it is a comic, not a simulator, unlike most sites in this batch.
