Build Your Own Website - 2

Using a template is a pretty good way to get your feet wet as far as building a website. But they're pretty arbitrary and may not let you put stuff exactly where you want to put it on the page. If you use the templates provided by your ISP (internet service provider) and store your site on their server, your site name is also provided by the ISP. You may be able to have your name as part of it, or maybe not. But it certainly will not be a top level domain name, mywebhome@myname.com.

Top level domain names (TLD) must be purchased/registered as part of the domain name service (DNS) through a Registrar. Registrars are companies accredited by ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Numbers Authority) to register your domain name. ICANN is the global, non-profit, private-sector coordinating body acting in the public interest. Among its other responsibilities, ICANN oversees the processes and systems that ensure that each domain name maps to the correct numeric IP address. For non-technical as well as technical explanations of the role of ICANN, go to - http://www.internic.net/faqs/authoritative-dns.html

That page and many others are provided by ICANN on the InterNIC website to provide probably more information than most want to know regarding Internet domain registration services!

The following link will take you to a long list of ICANN accredited registrars, worldwide. You may click on any of the names to go to more lists, since most Registrars have many companies licensed under them who can resell DNS services. However, the names are actually registered with ICANN under the top Registrar.

No two domain names may be the same and as long as I pay the annual or longer term registration fee for my domain, sylvianickels.com, (I also own sylvianickels.net) no one else may use it. Other domains are available, though some such as .biz are reserved for businesses, .aero reserved for the global aviation community, .travel for the travel industry, etc. Registrars for country domains, .uk, .de, and such, called ccTLD's, are not accredited by ICANN, but by a designated country code manager, presumably in that country.