Terminology and Concepts to Understand Before Shopping for a Domain Name
A while back I attempted the research before making the plunge and claiming my piece of the internet with a domain name. It was a bit more complicated than I thought it would be because I didn’t understand the words, abbreviations and concepts being thrown around. Join me on this journey as I attempt to un-complicate the internet!
The order loosely follows the flow of how I came across them in my research.
Domain Name
Domain Name Provider/Domain Registrar
Domain Name System (DNS)
WHOIS/ICANN Lookup
Uniform Resource Locator (URL)
Scheme/Protocol
Top-Level Domain (TLD) Extensions/Domain Suffix
Sub-Domain
Internet Protocol/IP Address
Website
Cache
Domain Name
According to Wikipedia, it “serve(s) to identify Internet resources, such as computers, networks, and services, with a text-based label that is easier to memorize than the numerical addresses used in the Internet Protocols.”
It’s basically the main part of the ‘address’ used to access a website but, it’s not the whole Uniform Resource Locator (URL) that you’ll see in the address bar. A domain name is only the name and domain suffix (.com, .net, .org etc.)
“Without domain names, you’ll have to enter long strings of numbers called IP addresses to visit websites.” — wpbeginner.com
Domain Name Provider/Domain Registrar
These companies are accredited by ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), a non-profit organization that manages domain names. A domain name registrar is then “responsible for registering and managing domain names for all websites around the world.”
When somebody purchases/registers a domain name, they may have to pay a yearly (or longer) registration fee of around $15 USD. The domain name registrar then, has to pay a small fee to ICANN to register the domain.
Some Examples: godaddy.com, domain.com, bluehost.com, hostgator.com
- You can usually buy a domain name license through hosting provider. (I’ll discuss more on hosting providers in a following blog)
- When hosting providers advertise a “free domain” with their hosting service, make sure to read the fine print because it probably only means free for the first year before they charge you a yearly fee for registration.
- Domain names can be transferred from one domain registrar to another, just like they can also be transferred amongst hosting providers
- You have the flexibility to move around except during the first 60 days of registration (determined by ICANN)
- If you let the registration expire without renewing, the domain name is up for grabs by somebody else.
Domain Name System (DNS)
This is the whole system of translating the domain names we type into the browser into IP addresses so they can load Internet resources (website, file, image etc.).
WHOIS/ICANN Lookup
There is a centralized database where domain name records are stored. Domain Name Registrar’s are given permission by ICANN to make changes in this database on your behalf using the information you submit during registration.
“WHOIS isn’t an acronym, though it may look like one. In fact, it is the system that asks the question, who is responsible for a domain name or an IP address?”
Go ahead and type in a domain name (don’t forget that suffix like .com or .net after it) on lookup.icann.org to see all the domain info such as nameservers, registry expiration, contact info of the registrar and so on.
Uniform Resource Locator (URL)
This is the whole “address” typed into the browser to bring you to a particular resource such as an HTML page, image, document etc.
Scheme/Protocol
The scheme indicates what protocol (the set method for exchanging or transferring data on the internet) the browser must use to request the resource at the URL. Most times it is HTTP or HTTPS (secured version).
- secured version is good to protect against malware and is recommended if the user will be exchanging any sort of confidential data like account or payment info
Top-Level Domain (TLD) Extensions/Domain Suffix
ICANN has approved dozens of domain suffixes.
Generally identifies the type of website the domain name represents though, all but the .edu, .gov and .mil domain suffixes can be registered and used by anyone. So, not all websites necessarily match the definition of the domain suffixes they use.
Each domain registrar has the license to sell different varieties of domain name extensions so don’t expect everyone to offer the same set.
There are also country specific domain suffixes such as:
.jp = country code for Japan
If you’re going to have websites in multiple languages geared towards multiple countries you should consider registering a domain name in each domain suffix. Yes, you’ll have to pay for each one but you can host them together with the same provider/account
Another alternative for multiple versions of a site would be to use sub-domains which I’ll discuss soon.
Since .com was created decades ago for “commercial” websites, there is a need for new domain suffixes. Here are a few I think are of interest:
.tech = technology industry and startups
.dev = developers and technology — showcase projects!
.design = designers
.store = eCommerce and retail
.fun = fun and leisure
.game = anything gaming-related
.club = for clubs and organizations
Get Creative! There are so many new TLD’s. You can have a shorter domain name and/or play off of the suffix. Why do something like noelaniwebdesign.com when I could just do noelani.design ? It may take a little bit longer for these TLD’s to catch on but I recommend keeping it in mind so you can claim a spot before everything is taken like with .com.
Sub-Domain
Sub-domains can be created within the greater main domain to organize different sections of the website. Commonly used for online eCommerce stores or blogs. Can even be used for a mobile version of a website or location-specific sites.
Basically, the name of the sub-domain will precede the name of the main domain.
Like here on medium.com!
And my blog here is a sub-domain, “jonelle-noelani”.
Put it all together = https://jonelle-noelani.medium.com/
Internet Protocol/IP Address
IP addresses are “mathematically produced and allocated by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), a division of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).”
They are the groups of numbers and periods that look kind of like this:
192.158.1.38
This allows “information to be sent between devices on a network” and to “differentiate between different computers, routers, and websites.”
In a lot of cases, the IP address is ‘dynamic’ and will change automatically and regularly due to the Internet Service Provider. I won’t do a deep dive on this but one thing to note is that a “changing IP address makes it harder for criminals to hack into your network interface.”
Static IP address, on the other hand, are needed for websites and information to be found on the server.
As hinted at before when discussing domain names, you can go to a website if you know the IP address. The benefit of a domain name being linked to an IP address is that we don’t have to remember several odd sets of numbers just to get to our favorite websites everyday.
Website
“A set of related web pages located under a single domain” — Oxford Dictionary
Cache
It’s a “reserved storage location that collects temporary data to help websites, browsers, and apps load faster.”
Next blog, I’m going to do some research on the hosting provider side of things and tie it all together. Stay tuned!
