Becoming master of your own domain

BY LARRY MAGID
First appeared in San Jose Mercury News on March 11, 2001

When I was growing up, everyone was known by their first name or nickname followed by their last name. But now, we all have new identities.

My sister Carol has both a first and last name, of course. But many people who write to her know her by her AOL screen name followed by @aol.com. For now, that's a good way to reach her but, one of these days, she may wind up switching Internet service providers, which would cause her to lose her identity at AOL. But that's no longer a problem because she has a new identity: Now she's carol@carolmagid.com.

I bought Carol a domain name as a gift. I also registered a unique domain for myself at larrymagid.com and one for my entire extended family at magidfamily.org. I'm seriously thinking about getting domains for both my kids. My wife, on the other hand, is happily domain-less. She doesn't suffer from URL envy.

I thought about doing this a couple of years ago but, until very recently, it was a bit expensive. Network Solutions had a monopoly on domain name registration and charged $35 a year per domain. The company still charges that amount as do several other domain registrars but, thanks to competition, there are now cheaper places to register names. All domain registrars must be sanctioned by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) which posts a complete list of accredited registrars.. If you shop around you'll find prices as low as $8.95 a year from Go Daddy Software  but the one that I found most attractive is GKG.Net because, for $9.95 a year, the College Station, Texas, company will not only register your site but give you the ability to forward one e-mail address and give you either a one-page Web site or a pointer to another Web page. For an extra $14.95 a year GKG's ``Deluxe Parking'' service gives you up to 10 e-mail addresses.

I've talked with both of my kids about getting their own unique domain and, frankly, neither of them is excited about the idea. But I might register them anyway because, when they're older, they might want a URL based on their own name. If I don't grab them soon, someone else might. At $35 a year, I wasn't about to bother, but for $10 a year it's a reasonable investment.

Used in conjunction with a free Web site hosting service such as Geocities, Tripod  or AOL Hometown , the service will allow you to create a free home page that visitors get to by typing in a Web address of your choice rather than one of those convoluted addresses offered by the free sites. Or, if you know someone who has a Web site, you can create your own site in a sub-directory of that person's site and still have your own identify. These free Web hosting services make their money by posting advertisements on member pages.

I used both strategies. For my sister, I created a free Web site at AOL Hometown and used GKG's parking service to point www.carolmagid.com to her free AOL page. For magidfamily.org I created a sub-directory on one of my own sites and aimed the domain to that subdirectory. The actual address of my family Web site is www.wiredfamilies.com/magidfamily, but the world doesn't need to know that -- www.magidfamily.org does the job. And, by piggy-backing on a Web site I already have, I don't have to pay an ISP to host an extra Web site for my family.

GKG's deluxe parking service automates the process of pointing your domain to a URL of your choice. If you use the company's free parking service, you'll have to enter in a few lines of HTML code but it's not difficult. You'll find detailed instructions at www.larrysworld.com/redirect.htm. What I've described so far are the least expensive ways for families to set up a Web site. There also are hosting services that you can use for sites that are advertising-free. Also, most ISPs that host domains will provide you with multiple e-mail addresses so that each member of your family can be firstname@yourdomain.org (or .com or .net).

Prices for commercial hosting services are all over the map. I've used Valueweb.com, which charges $19.95 a month and offers excellent customer service. I've also had good experiences with CompWebTech that charges $99 a year for a full Web site along with five e-mail addresses. For $25 a year the company will provide you with up to five e-mail addresses and the ability to forward your domain name to another Web site. At only $1 a month, 1dollarhosting.com has the best prices around, but there are a couple of gotchas. There is a $49 one-time membership fee, and the company's free tech support is by e-mail only. I've sent them a couple of e-mails and, so far, have never gotten a response, even after several days.

If you do set up a family Web site there are some privacy issues to consider. First, when you register a site you're asked to provide contact information including an address and phone number. Whatever you enter is listed in the ``whois'' database that's available to anyone on the net. Unless you want your home address and phone number listed, consider using an office address, a post office box or some other address and phone number.

And, if you do create a Web site, think about what you post. I would avoid posting a home address on the site and would be cautious about what information you post about your kids. Some parents are uncomfortable putting up photos or information about their children. Others feel OK about posting a child's first name and photo.

Some ISPs will allow you to create files or directories that are password-protected. If you visit my family Web site, pictures of adults and deceased relatives are on the main page but to view the kids' pictures you need a password that's available only to friends and relatives.