The Domain.com Blog

If you’ve spent much time online looking to build a blog, create a personal website, or find a content management system, you’ve undoubtedly heard of WordPress.  While WordPress has been around for a while, its popularity as a website and blogging platform has grown immensely in the last year thanks to new versions 2.7 and 2.8.  These latest releases added a great deal of new functionality and truly developed WordPress into a state-of-the-art blogging platform and content management system.

It doesn’t hurt that WordPress is free, either.  It is an open source publishing platform, which means that developers have full access to creating their own customizations and additions to the platform’s functionality.  This results in benefits for you, the end user, because there is a great deal of customization available for your WordPress site for free or a low cost.

WordPress is a great choice if you’re looking to start a blog or if you want to create an attractive website without having much knowledge of html or other web languages.  There is a wealth of information available about installing WordPress on your own domain to be found, and many companies (Domain.com included) provide an automatic installation option.  With Domain.com, you’ve got two options for installation.  You can use our application vault to do an auto-install of WordPress (recommended for novice users) or you can do the famous 5 minute WordPress Manual Installation (the best choice for experience users).

The installation is usually fairly straightforward, even when done manually.  What to do once you’ve got WordPress installed may not immediately be quite as apparent.  The rest of this post will explore the best ways to make WordPress work for you as a complete content management system.

Why WordPress?

WordPress is most commonly known as a blogging platform, and that’s still its primary function for most users.  However, WordPress can be used as a complete content management system – that is, a database-driven website that uses the coding language PHP to produce dynamic web pages (as opposed to static un-changing pages written using html).  A great example of the ability to use WordPress for a complete website can be found being used by our friends over at Sprout.

Sproutinc.com – 100% WordPress-driven

By using PHP, WordPress serves dynamic content that is created from information stored in databases.  This allows things such as blog posts, pages, and sidebar elements to be pulled into a template that is specified by basic files utilized by all the pages it creates.   WordPress has become a popular CMS primarily because of its straightforward, easy-to-learn user interface combined with the flexibility to customize your sites using it.

Using WordPress

The WordPress Dashboard is your control interface for editing all aspects of your blog.  You access your dashboard directly through your web browser just like a website.  It’s arranged with links on the left to all the important sections of content control, a quick-post box on the right, and an overview of posts, comments, and other pertinent information.

The Basic WordPress Dashboard

When editing a post or a page, it’s as simple as using a document editor similar to Microsoft Word.  You can write in various styles of text, import images and media, and align everything as you please.

Writing a Post in WordPress couldn’t be easier

The basic settings for WordPress are vast and let you control every aspect of your site, but for the most part are simple to understand.

Ample settings to control all the functionality of your Wordpress-driven site

Where to Start

You’ll find that your fresh installation of WordPress comes with a default theme.  You can start writing and add content to your site using this theme, but you’ll quickly find yourself wanting something more interesting.

The default theme is rather… default

Luckily, customized WordPress themes abound, and many (if not most) are free!  Head over to the WordPress Themes Directory or search for themes under the “Appearance” tab in your dashboard and find one you like.  Installation is simple either by direct installation through your dashboard or by uploading a .zip file to your server.

There are WordPress themes for every style and layout you could possibly want

If you can’t find something that meets your needs at WordPress.org, there are plenty of other places to find excellent themes as well.  A few of the best include Smashing Magazine, WPThemes360.com, and Natty WP.

If you find a theme you like for your blog or website and later change it, you’re completely in luck.  Because WordPress is a content management system, themes are mostly interchangeable and you can change themes without having to significantly modify any content.

Once you’re familiar with WordPress, you can even jump into the Theme Editor in the WordPress interface and try your hand at editing your theme using basic PHP and CSS if you’re feeling adventurous.

Adding sidebar elements is just one of the many things you can customize with a little knowledge of PHP

You can go as far as creating an entire theme from scratch if you take the time to learn PHP and CSS.  Don’t worry though, you don’t need any coding knowledge to create a WordPress site that looks great straight out of the box.

Customize and Widgetize

Just like there are numerous custom themes available for WordPress, there are also thousands of add-ons and plugins available to add functionality to your site.  There are plugins for everything from weather sidebar widgets to post popularity ranking to poll functionality to post feature galleries like the one we use on the main page of this blog.  Check out the WordPress Plugin Directory to get a sense for all the different plugins that exist to make WordPress even more useful.

Here are a few of the best WordPress Plugins that we’d recommend for every WordPress blog:

Akismet – Akismet comes with every WordPress installation, and once you’ve gone through the simple set-up process, it blocks the majority of spam comments your blog would otherwise receive.

All-In-One SEO Pack – Improve your site’s search engine rankings by customizing your titles, meta content, and more for your posts and pages.

Google Analyticator – Integrate your site with Google Analytics to learn more about who your visitors are.

Sociable – Add links to all the major social media and social bookmarking sites such as Twitter, Facebook, and Digg  to your posts.

See Results

There are unlimited options to what you can do using WordPress.  It’s a great option if you’re looking to create a website without knowledge of coding, and can get you started with a great-looking blog or website quickly.  If you’ve never tried WordPress before, give it a shot.  You’ll be surprised how easy and intuitive it is to use.  Here are a few examples of great uses for WordPress:

Create a Social Media News blog that receives millions of monthly visitors

Start a photo blog

Build a personal portfolio site

Blog about your family

Build a business blog, like us!

You may have heard of the term top-level domain, often referred to as TLD, when talking about domain registration.  The top-level domain is the .com or other extension that follows your individual domain.  They fall into two categories – generic TLDs and country-specific TLDs.  Currently there are just over 20 generic top-level domains (the most notable being .com, .net, .org, .gov, .edu, .biz) plus top-level domains for most countries.

What’s in a Domain Name?

A domain is broken into several parts, but it can be simplified to a great degree.  Historically when talking about a website, you’d specify www.domain.com when telling someone your web address.  However, with most web browsers are now improved to the point where if you simply type “domain.com” the website will resolve without a problem.  Everything to the left of the TLD in a domain name is technically a subdomain.  The “domain” in www.domain.com is a subdomain of the .com TLD, and the “www” is a subdomain of domain.com.

The domain name system in general can be a little confusing, but it’s much better than having to type in the IP address that the domain name represents.  You’d end up typing 216.34.94.184 into your address bar to get to Domain.com without the domain name system. If you’re curious about more domain name system details, the Wikipedia page is a good place to start.

About Those TLDS…

TLDs are one of the primary measures used to structure the internet.  ICANN, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, is the entity that coordinates domains and IP adresses for the internet.  This includes managing the creation of TLDs.  Each TLD is operated by a registry, and that registry pays fees to ICANN to be able to operate the TLD.  Domain Registrars such as Domain.com then pay registries to register domains for end users.

ICANN has historically been very strict about allowing the creation of new TLDs.  To this point, new generic TLDs have been rare, with .tel being the newest.  Each registry for specific countries controls the use of their country specific TLD.  Originally, the country TLDs were intended to help divide the internet geographically, but .com has become the dominant worldwide TLD instead.  Some country TLDs are still fairly restricted, while others have been opened to be registered by all.  For instance, to register a .ca domain, you have to live in Canada, but .me (Montenegro’s TLD) is open to everyone, and is generally presented as a good TLD to use for a personal website.

The king of TLDs continues to be .com, and part of the shortcomings of the country TLDs was that they were introduced after the .com standard already existed.  The intended use of .com for commercial purposes has never been fully followed.  Instead, businesses, individuals, and nearly everyone else choose a .com address.  The result has been that .net has become a backup if the .com you want to register is taken, while .org is generally used by most non-profits.  However, country codes have somewhat fallen by the wayside, particularly in the US.  This is beginning to change with new TLDs for specific purposes, such as .me for personal websites, and .tel for contact information.

See a full list of existing TLDs

The Future of the TLD

The stage is set for a dramatic change in TLDs in 2010.  ICANN has decided to allow the creation of numerous new generic TLDs as well as TLDs to companies for specific trademarks.  The details of the new TLDs and how many new TLDs there will be are still somewhat unclear, but ICANN has indicated that registry creation for new TLDs will be opened for many more generic TLDs than currently exist.  Many have suggested that new registries for TLDs such as .blog, .food, and others will spring up.  Businesses will also be able to become their own registry as well, resulting in closed registries such as .apple or .nike.

The ongoing debate about this issue is the intent behind creating new TLDs.  ICANN is looking at the issue from the perspective that the good .com domains are all taken and they want to reorganize the internet based upon TLDs having more meaning to the domain.  From a business standpoint, the new TLDs will allow businesses to fight cyberquatting more effectively.  Opponents to the new TLD plan generally argue that ICANN is simply looking for more funding and the changes won’t effectively make the needed changes to the domain name system.

Regardless of the ongoing debate, it appears that new TLDs are definitely coming.  When they’re available, be sure to check out Domain.com for more details.  Tell us your thoughts on the new TLDs in the comments or vote in our new TLD poll.

Find domains at Domain.com:

.COM | .ORG | .NET | .ME | .TEL | .US | .TV | OTHERS

A common topic that is confusing to many people looking to buy web hosting is Windows and Linux hosting options.  What’s the difference?  Is there even a difference?  After reading this post, you should have a clearer understanding of what it’s all about.

First Up: A Common Misconception

Don’t let the operating system you’re using on your computer confuse you.  Whether you have a PC with Windows or Linux or a Mac running OS X won’t matter when it comes to choosing your web hosting.   Windows or Linux hosting specifically refers to the server that your site will be hosted on by your web hosting provider.  Both types of servers can interact with any computer via web interface or file transfer protocol programs.

So What’s Different?

The big difference is obviously the operating system.  A Windows server runs on the windows operating system, while Linux servers run various versions of the open source Linux operating system.  If you plan on building a website using Microsoft proprietary software (such as ASP.net, or Access databases), Windows hosting is the way to go.  However, Linux has matching solutions for every type of Microsoft server-side software, so don’t think you’re selling yourself short by choosing Linux.  In fact, due to the open source nature of Linux, there is often more software available for Linux hosting than for Windows.

Security, Costs, and Performance

Some argue that Windows is more vulnerable to attacks since its the largest operating system and hackers spend the most time on Windows looking for vulnerabilities.  Others make the counter-argument that Linux is less secure because it’s the most common server operating system.  Both opinions are equal parts right and wrong.  In reality, both Windows and Linux servers are regularly updated to prevent vulnerabilities and protect your website.  Good web hosts are constantly updating software to keep servers secure.

As far as costs go,  once again the open source factor comes into play.  Many sites (including Domain.com) offer Linux hosting at a slightly cheaper price than Windows hosting simply because Windows is more expensive to implement.  Windows is proprietary software and as such they charge higher prices for web solutions and server software.  Paying less as a hosting customer for Linux doesn’t mean you’re getting less.

Performance-wise, Linux often has a slight edge because Windows is billed as an “all in one” solution, whereas Linux is very minimal and flexible with the ability to build onto the operating system.

It’s all About Your Needs

When it comes down to it, the differences between Windows and Linux hosting are relatively minor, but those small differences can be important depending on what you plan to do with your web hosting.  From a customer usage standpoint, the software that comes with a hosting plan is one of the most important things to look at.  Each hosting provider packages different software and services with their hosting, so look carefully at the details of your hosting package.

For instance:

Here’s a side by side comparison of the Domain.com Linux and Windows packages.  Our hosting is very similar for both types, but one difference you can see is that each uses a different Perl Distribution.  If you’re not familiar with Perl, then there’s almost zero chance this difference will matter to you.  However, if it does, you’ll want to know about the difference before you make your choice.

Other hosting providers may have bigger differences between their Windows and Linux offerings, so make sure to spend some time looking at the detailed breakdown rather than simply comparing cost, disk space, and bandwidth.  Yes, the details can be a little confusing, but in the end doing a little research will be worth it to make sure you have a hosting plan that meets your needs.

We’ve made our Linux and Windows hosting plans very similar to each other and highly compatible with all the common website needs specifically to make life easier for you.  All of our plans offer PHP and MySQL databases which are required by many open source applications.  We’ve taken things a step further by providing you a complete application vault of software to automatically install on your hosting that includes Wordpress, Joomla, and Drupal, plus much more.

And the Winner is:

As you can probably see, one option doesn’t have a clear advantage over the other.  Both options provide stable, reliable web hosting, and the differences are primarily in software.  Linux is touted by many as being the more flexible option of the two, which is often the case but depends on the individual hosting provider.   Overall, Linux has a slight edge as the default web hosting option.  The good news is that if you end up needing to switch between server types, most web hosting companies will help you do so.  As a whole, worry more about who you’re choosing as a web host and the software options they provide than about whether you’re picking Linux or Windows hosting.

Find out more:

Domain.com Linux Hosting Plans

Domain.com Windows Hosting Plans

Some topics referenced in this post:

Web Server | File Transfer Protocol | ASP.net | Perl | PHP/MySQL | Wordpress | Joomla | Drupal