[13of40]

HTTP 1.1 servers need the host name in the request, so that a single IP can host multiple domains that resolve to it. If you just go to the IP address, you get an error or a default host. It should work fine with most other protocols, though.

[e12e]

Adding to what others say here: if you have/know the ip address, you probably also know the host name. There's nothing magical about:

  # from memory, syntax might not quite work 
  telnet 1.2.3.4 80
  Http/1.1
  Host: example.com
  Get /

Which is indeed why you can put the ip and host name(s) in /etc/hosts - and without other network level blocks - browsers etc will just work.

With http 1.0 blocking/filtering ips was enough, with 1.1 you need a proxy. With tls/ssl you have the choice between (having the capability to) decrypt everything or filter nothing. (obviously ip level filtering works, but it's a little crude in a Http 1/1 world. Ditto for http2 etc).

[toomuchtodo]

Add entry to /etc/hosts (or the windows equivalent), navigate in browser.

Too high of a hurdle for your average user though, in which case blocking sites at the DNS resolver works.

[yetanother1980]

I'm pretty sure you can send a request to an IP address with the host name in the request.