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Domain Name
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Also called a "URL", this is the infamous
"www.something-or-other.com" after the "http://" which
identifies/locates/loads a website. The presence or absence of the
"www" part is determined by your hosting company - no decision
there. Of the "top-level domains" (endings), convention
dictates that ".com" sites are commercial, ".org" sites
are informational / non-profit, and ".net" sites are
internet-related (e.g. frontiernet.net). There are several other endings
available, but it's been my experience that ".biz" sites tend to
be avoided (think telemarketer, or multi-level marketing) and most of the
other top-level domains are reserved for certain uses. Be honest in your
selection of top-level domain... but more on that later.
As
you might have guessed, domain names must be unique and are allocated
by a (sort-of) central registry called InterNIC (http://www.internic.net/whois.html)
- so be prepared with several different
ideas for the middle part. There are a lot of free name-checking
tools available; use your favorite search engine to look for "whois"
or "domain name".
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- Hosting
- I usually refer to this as "where your site
lives", but perhaps a little background is in order. Originally a
tool to help our military and research communities communicate efficiently,
"The Internet" is basically a document-delivery service (similar
to a public library), and each website is a document. A computer
connected to the Internet which stores documents and delivers them on
demand is called a Host, and the
storage-and-delivery service provided is called Hosting.
Without going into detail, it's safe to say this is something you can't
really do (or at least do well) from home, and you will want to
pay for good web-hosting if you want to
participate in the Internet.
Beyond that, there are so many options available that it is wise to have
guidance and/or assistance if this is your first venture - or be
prepared to do a lot of reading, and to make at least a
few mistakes.
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- "Free"
- ...does not exist, except when used to
mean "unrestrained". In spite of the idealistic noises we like
to make, there are bills to be paid and mouths to feed, and the revenue
must come from someplace. Often that someplace is Advertising
Sales. Be especially wary of "free web
hosting"; if it is not an enticement to purchase (like
my Citlink webspace: part of the paid monthly service), chances are
you ultimately surrender the ownership rights to your website - your
site itself is modified, your ability to update it curtailed, and your
image as a "sponsor" lent to the highest bidder. (I
had exactly this happen to one of my earliest clients... Now I know
better than to agree to build a site on a "free" host!)
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