public static function base()
	{

		//get the server name from global $_SERVER[] array()
		$base  = $_SERVER['SERVER_NAME']; 

		$url = Registry::getUrl();

		//check if there is a uri string
		if ( ! empty($url) ) 
		{
			//prepend installation folder to server name
			$base .= substr($_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'], 0,  strpos($_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'], Registry::getUrl()));

		}
		//there is no query string, 
		else
		{
			//prepend installation folder to server name
			$base .= substr($_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'], 0);

		}

    	//use https if its defined in the $_SERVER global variable
    	$protocol = (isset($_SERVER['HTTPS']) && $_SERVER['HTTPS'] != "off") ? "https" : "http";

		//compose the url string
		return $protocol . '://' . $base;

	}