Final answer:
DNS, or Domain Name System, is the protocol that translates domain names into IP addresses, allowing users to access web servers by typing website names instead of numeric IP addresses.
Step-by-step explanation:
The protocol that allows a user to type in a domain name instead of an IP address to access a web server is DNS (Domain Name System). When you type a website's name, like 'www.example.com', into your web browser, the DNS protocol translates that domain name into an IP address that computers use to locate the web server and deliver the web content to your browser. The DNS is essentially the internet's phone book, mapping human-friendly domain names to their corresponding machine-friendly IP addresses.