What's a domain?
A domain is:
.com
.org
.org
.co.uk
The first domain was registered in July 1985
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the organization charged with overseeing the name and number systems of the Internet.
ICANN established and oversees the hierarchy for entities operating on the World Wide Web.
In the 80's domain names were divided up into two groups.
The first group consists of domains reserved for countries. Also know as country codes. These domains let you know from which country a business online is operating from.
Australia=.au
England=.co.uk
Switzerland=.ch
Find more country code domains here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_3166-1_alpha-2
A second group was created for what's called generic top-level domains. These are basically domains open to everyone:
A .edu is reserved for educational institutions. AAU's domain is academyart.edu
A You will be using either .com or .net for your portfolio domain name.
So what's a domain name?
A domain name in the name that precedes the domain. For example Nike's domain name is Nike.com.
How so i get a domain name?
1. You must first create a list of desired domain names such as your first and last name.
Example: elenshakespeare.com or rodedyer.com
2. Go to http://www.whois.net/ and see if the domain names you want to use are available.
Domaine names cost $10-$20 dollars for one to two years depending upon the plan.
There are numerous companies who sell domain names. The most well-known one is Go Daddy. Stay away from Go Daddy. Students have had bad customer service experiences with them. Go through whois.net to register your name.
For next week:
Bring a list of 5 desired domain names to class. Make sure that they are available. Then Rod, Ellen and myself will help you choose the most appropriate domain for your portfolio.
-Jon
