Contents
Website Basics
How to Register a Domain Name
How to Select a Web Host
How to Plan Your Website
How to Design Your Website
How to Build Web Pages with HTML
Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)
How to Add Images to Your
Web Pages
How to Publish Your Website
|
 |
 |
 |
|
How to Register a Domain Name
The first step in building your own website is to register your domain name through a domain name registrar. Once you’ve registered and paid for a domain name, you own it, which means you have the exclusive right to use that domain name for a specified period of time and renew it once that term expires. Domain name registration is usually effective for a year at a time.
Selecting a Registrar
There are many registrars to choose from. The factors to consider when choosing one are accreditation and cost:
- Accreditation: Only use a registrar listed on the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) website located at www.icann.org/registrars/accredited-list.html.
- Cost: Though some registrars charge up to $40, avoid paying more than $10 per year to register your domain name. Among the most reliable and cheapest accredited registrars is Go Daddy (www.godaddy.com).
Choosing a Domain Name
Before allowing you to register a domain name, registrars will check to make sure it‘s not already registered. To find out whether your domain is available, visit www.whois.net. When selecting a name:
- Choose as brief a name as possible.
- Avoid using hyphens, which users can forget easily.
- If the names you prefer are all taken, try pluralizing the name, adding “the” to the beginning of the name, or coining an original term.
Domain Extensions
Domain extensions, or top-level domains (TLDs), are the suffixes attached to domain names. You’re probably most familiar with .com and .net, the most popular TLDs for personal sites, and .org, a TLD used mainly by organizations. But many more exist, such as .info and .biz. View a complete selection of TLDs at ICANN’s accredited registrars page.
| Acknowledgments & Disclaimer |
