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michaelmeyer · Apr 28, 2004, 01:36 AM

what is the best service for registering (or buying) a domain name? I'm not looking for the cheapest, but the best. Or maybe the most bang for my buck. I don't know much about the whole process.

however, I know that mac people are the right (smartest?) people to ask.

five percenters forever

thePurpleGiant · Apr 28, 2004, 02:04 AM

Hi Mike,

Although the registrar is important, your internet host is actually the most important part of the equation. They are the ones that will provide you with your features, uptime, email etc. As for domain registrars, godaddy is generally regarded as one of the best and cheapest registrars, although there are thousands out there.

Remember though, once you purchase a domain, you will still need an internet host to actually use it!

xylon · Apr 28, 2004, 04:29 PM

Originally posted by thePurpleGiant:
Hi Mike,

Although the registrar is important, your internet host is actually the most important part of the equation. They are the ones that will provide you with your features, uptime, email etc. As for domain registrars, godaddy is generally regarded as one of the best and cheapest registrars, although there are thousands out there.

Remember though, once you purchase a domain, you will still need an internet host to actually use it!

Bingo, PG hit it on the nose. Just thought I'd chime in though and give you a good hoster in case you were looking for one. I use DreamHost and have been very satisfied. Clean layout for the control panel and a lot of goodies are added in free of charge.

I used godaddy to register one of my domain names and it was pain free. The other was registered free of charge when I signed up with DreamHost. I made off pretty well.

Lucidwray · Apr 29, 2004, 05:03 PM

Ill third that ( can you do that ?) Godaddy is the best. I have over 40 domains with them and they are awsome. Great customer service when you need it. Cheap. Nice control panel. Godaddy all the way!

jon31 · Apr 30, 2004, 12:08 AM

I was perfectly happy with Godaddy, until Safari started giving me sheets saying that Godaddy's certificate has expired. Then, I can continue, but most of the images don't load. And godaddy uses a lot of images for their buttons. Luckly, I know the website pretty well now, and can continue through the pages by simply clicking where the images should be. Anyone know if I can fix this? No problems with IE, but no one wants to use that.

jon

xylon · Apr 30, 2004, 02:51 PM

Originally posted by jon31:
I was perfectly happy with Godaddy, until Safari started giving me sheets saying that Godaddy's certificate has expired. Then, I can continue, but most of the images don't load. And godaddy uses a lot of images for their buttons. Luckly, I know the website pretty well now, and can continue through the pages by simply clicking where the images should be. Anyone know if I can fix this? No problems with IE, but no one wants to use that.

jon

Godaddy creates a secure connection for you to browse their site. Kind of a pain if you don't have the certificates that your browser needs to prove to itself that Godaddy is an a-okay secure server. You have to download and install godaddy's web certificates. Honestly, I'm not exactly sure where you have to put the certificates for Safari to recognize them and honestly, I don't know where to get them from Godaddy's site. So the problem is two-fold.

I struggle through their site with IE, but since I don't host with them, I rarely need to hop over to Godaddy.com. Maybe you could shoot the tech support there an email and see what they have to say.

Arclite · Apr 30, 2004, 10:55 PM

I've been using MMI Hosting, and they provide both domain and hosting (50 MB, 3 MySQL at 5 MB each, 3 e-mail, etc. for $25 a year.) They give a LOT of bang for the buck, but their domains have been having problems lately, and I've had to resort to an mmi-hosting.com/~username for now, but this should be fixed soon. The best thing about MMI is their customer service, which is superb.

michaelmeyer · May 2, 2004, 05:12 AM

Thanks Everyone.

you've all helped immensely. now can anyone recommend some books to get me moving in the right direction? I want control. TOTAL CONTROL! no, just kidding, but I do figure I�ll have to learn HTML and the "website game."

BBEdit seems benevolent, but the whole Moveable Type thing may be a little too revolutionary for me. John Gruber's DARING FIREBALL is awesome; it's intimidating to say the least, but it's smart and it looks good, so it�s got me a little mesmerized.

Or should I head toward Macromedia?

I just want to build a website the best that I can. isn�t that what most people want (figuratively?)?

the sad part is that I feel like I don't really know what I'm talking about.

so let me begin anew:

anyone want to recommend to me some books, A book, a documentary, a movie (just kidding), vis-�-vis my original post? I'd appreciate it.

Thanks,
Mike

Love Calm Quiet · May 2, 2004, 08:07 AM

Hmmmm.... I'm wondering what "cheap" means. I've registered a couple with Register.com (believe it was $35/year reg.). How much cheaper can one get?

I didn't explore their hosting since I quickly moved them from there because I like the complete php-orientation and support of phphosting.com, -- the switch over to phphosting.com after registration was painless.

skalie · May 2, 2004, 08:25 AM

Originally posted by Love Calm Quiet:
Hmmmm.... I'm wondering what "cheap" means. I've registered a couple with Register.com (believe it was $35/year reg.). How much cheaper can one get?

About a third of that price, I use http://www.computools.be/ for a .com.

macwon · May 2, 2004, 09:09 AM

Hi everyone,

I hate to throw a wrench into everything but I used Go Daddy for a while, I then started to use the Gallery script and PHP Nuke on my web site. After a while some of my PHP scripts stoped working. After a few upgrades of the software I came to the conclusion that it wasn't the software. If it was the software then godaddy wasn't applying the updates that were needed for this software to run. I then switched to Servers Under the Sun and have had no problems. I am getting 500 megs of space a month for just 9.95. Go daddy is offering 9.95 a month with 150 megs of space. I also found that my PHP scripts are responding a lot faster, and my connection to the server is incredible. I am actually maxing out my cable modem connection when I download from them. The finnal key selling point was that I now have a WebDAV folder which means I am able to upload my iCal calendars up to my site. Check out the site: www.serversunderthesun.com

I personaly go for the quality in a product, not the cheapest.

Charles

Love Calm Quiet · May 2, 2004, 10:46 PM

While we are evaluating hosting performance, what about if I want to have a few minutes of QuickTime audio? I tried a few seconds, and the download is SLOW on my current site.

To get satisfactory support for streaming audio will it be necessary to find (and pay for) another CLASS of host?

genevish · May 3, 2004, 02:57 PM

Since I started hosting my site on my home computer, I've used DydnDNS. Good service and prices and I've never had a problem. They can do it all (not just Dynamic DNS hosting)...

DUNSEL · May 3, 2004, 03:18 PM

godaddy here. No problems, and if you DO have one, they have actual live human support that you can call and talk to without waiting half a day. It's rare to find the combo of that + low pricing.

macwon · May 5, 2004, 11:09 AM

This all may be true, however I was paying 10 bucks a month for 150 megs of space. Now I am paying 10 bucks a month and I am getting 500 megs of disk space and I am able to keep my family photos online. Plus I can put my video files online and they come in really fast. So far I have been very happy with Servers Under the Sun and if anyone wants a recomendation, here it is.

E-mail them if you want, [email protected]

Charles

NYCFarmboy · May 6, 2004, 12:15 AM

have started using godaddy for my new accounts I set up.

The site for me is very iffy in terms of loading on Safari....I use Internet Explorer to register my sites there as the webpages just don't load on Safari for me correctly.

But the prices make it worth it!

bens1901 · May 6, 2004, 05:05 AM

Here's what I do:

I register my domain with Register.com

Then I have my site hosted at Powweb.com

Here's why I do all of that....
1) I trust Register.com's ability to maintain my domain registration, and they are very prompt at notifying me if a domain is going to expire. This way I don't risk losing the domain to UltimateSearch (go here
to learn about how they hold your domain for ransom...very unethical in my opinion)

2) I use a different company to host my site (for me it's Powweb). This way, if anything goes wrong with the hosting company and I want to switch, then I'm in complete control over where the domain points to (this is done by Register.com control menu)

By the way, I have 4 sites hosted on Powweb, for nearly 2 years now, and I've been extremely happy with their service. I emailed them a support question just yesterday and I had a reply within 1 hour....they have always gotten back to me within 2 hours.
If you do use Powweb, please tell them "benandkelley" sent you.

But my biggest suggestion is to find any good hosting company to host the site, and another company to maintain the registration of the domain. This way, YOU are in complete control.

Hope this helps.

-Ben

bens1901 · May 6, 2004, 05:10 AM

one more thing....

If you do consider using a Tool for web site development, I would recommend NOT using their FTP service.

My sites get requests about once every 5 days for special files that FrontPage and Dreamweaver use to ftp content. These special files could be used to hijack your site.

I'd suggest using a simple FTP program to upload content.
Just my 2 cents.

-Ben