Owning Your Own Web Site

Well here we are almost a decade into the new millennium and you still do not have your own website! Don't fret. I am here to help.

We can make it through this!

Yes, there is a myriad of options, terms and dangers involved in setting up your own website but there are really only three concepts you need to understand:

What is a Domain Name?

What is Hosting?

What is Content?

What's in a name?

A domain in the "real" world is simply land or territory that is controlled by an entity.

On the web, a domain is "virtual" space or territory that someone (a company, organization or you) controls.

To make your domain recognizable from all the rest you need to give it a unique domain name.

Believe it or not, when the internet was in its younger days, numbers were used instead of easy to remember names. Why? Well the numbers or

IP addresses, as they are called, were mainly for computers to read and keep track of not for humans.

Later, as the web became more user-friendly we started associating names with the IP addresses.

One problem faced early on with this practice is that there are unlimited names but not unlimited numbers. Well, mathematically, numbers are infinite but "The powers that be" only set aside a certain amount of addresses in the beginning, thinking they would never even need a fraction of this amount. Ha!

To resolve this issue, IP addresses are repeated or reused in separate sections of the internet. No one section can assign the same IP address. There are special organizations that keep track of which name belongs to which IP address. These organizations are called registrars. They are the ones who also sell you the domain name.

Example:

Where's Waldo..uh..compuwise?

My name is Compuwise and I live at 335 Winchester (not really).

A name and an address are pretty much all you need in today's world to find me and pay me a visit. But what if I move and I don't give you my new address? Easy! You check the phone book for my name and match it to my new address. Sure there are millions of names in ALL the phone books all over the world but you start searching in the last area I lived and keep on until you find the right Compuwise.

Ah, but what if you do not know my name?

You only knew me as 'that guy at 335 something'. Well that is a little more difficult. There are probably many more 335's than there are Compuwise's. You will probably never find me again!!

But since it never changes, as long as you know my name you can find me. Likewise, in the internet world, if you have a domain name, people should always be able to find you on the web.

Is it your job to notify everyone in the entire world when you move to a new IP address? No. You simply notify your Host or Registrar and they will

make the changes on their DNS (Domain Name System) servers which are massively strong, number crunching computers that keep track of

which name goes to which IP address. There is a fee involved for the DNS service. Usually this fee is included in the payment for hosting. Sometimes, though, it may be cheaper to go with one company for name registration, another for hosting and another for DNS.

But that is beyond the basics. :)

Whois using your name?

On the websites of almost every Registrar / Host, there is a link or button taking you to a well established service called "whois". If you have a domain name in mind it is not enough to just try to go to that site with your web browser. The site could just happen to be down for

maintenance or some other reason. You need to do a Whois lookup. In essence this is a search of all the major registrars and DNS servers to

see if a domain name is available for purchase.

The .com extension originally stood for COMpany, .net stood for small networks, .org stood for non-profit organizations but now these three are

open to anyone. You still have to be a government entity to use .gov and a school to use .edu. These extensions I just mentioned are the most

common domain extensions but there are many quickly rising in popularity like .us for United States.

Hosting

Ok, now you have a name but what about the address? No, sorry, the address does not always automatically come with a home. You and your

name have been kicked out into the world wild web. Not really. Unless you just have a preference to split up your hosting, DNS, domain name

purchase, etc. like mentioned previously then you would just purchase a hosting package from your Registrar.

What comes with hosting besides a space to call your own? What type of space am I talking about? Quite literally you are renting hard drive

space on a computer that your Registrar/Host set aside specifically for this purpose. There are probably thousands of other people just like you

with there own little space set aside on this same server. The host incurs a fee for the initial purchase of this hardware, overhead, electricity, and

the salary of the geek that sits there and makes sure the computer runs properly. They pass this cost on to you, usually with a little mark up to

make a profit. You also have to pay separately for email @yourdomain.com, ftp service into you domain space, extra hard-drive space, extra

security, the list goes on and those are topics for future articles.

I will mention that there are two "flavors" of hosting servers: Linux based and Windows based. Linux is an operating system as is Microsoft

Windows.

The main thing you need to know about these two is that with Linux you are supposed to get more stability or "uptime" and with Windows you are

supposed to get more functionality. You pick which one is best for you based on your type of web site. For example, if you are hosting a site

with photos or information that is in "real-time" you would want more stability. With the Windows server you get all the features that come with

Front Page which is a web publishing software created by none other than Microsoft. Sorry, there are way too many variables to go over here but

you have the basics to build upon.

Finally you need CONTENT

This is the wealth of information, information and creativity that comes only from you! Of course there are companies out there that will build a

site for you but for it to really be your own you have to have the final say so in design. There are also website that sell or even give freely, web

site templates to get you started or take you all the way through the design process. Keep in mind that the same templates are available to

millions of other people just like you. So instead of waiting another decade to be original, take the plunge now and start scratch. There are

many free resources on the web to give you ideas and help you accomplish the look and feel you desire. The choices are infinite but the center

of the web site should ultimately you unique ideas!

If this helps at all, please come back and post a link to your site!!