Tag Archive: Web

Domain Names and Web Hosting: Making the Distinction

Ever try to explain something and people’s eyes just glaze over? On the subject of websites, it can be trying to describe the difference between domain names and web hosting. If you’re going to have a website, you might as well understand the distinction between the two.

What’s In A Name

A domain name (more on choosing one here) is a virtual address. You can purchase a domain name through any one of many domain registrars. Once you’ve done this, you have an online address, but at this point it’s just a P.O. box.

Get Some Space

To associate your new web address with an actual location on the web, you need a hosting account. This means paying an annual or monthly fee to a web hosting service to “rent” space on their server network.

A Name Needs Home

Until a domain name is associated with a server, it’s just an address. Once you set up your web hosting account, you point your domain name to your server space using something called the Domain Name System (DNS).

You have have an address, you just leased some real estate, and now you have an online location for your website or blog.

Have more questions? Need help registering a domain name or setting up a hosting account? Contact us.

Building with Extensibility

Basket Maker by Marilyn Anderson

Basket Maker by Marilyn Anderson

Extensibility is a term used for software, but it can also be used to describe building a house, a road or a website. It means starting off with something that meets your needs and planning for future additions.

Wikipedia describes extensibility as “Architecture that provides the design principles to ensure a roadmap for that portion of the road yet to be built.”

This concept of extensibility was applied to the website of artist Marilyn Anderson and the Pro Arte Maya Children’s Educational project, ProArteMaya.org, where we recently added updates and additions to an older website and a blog originally launched in 2007.  And there’s still more to do, but at this time a link seems appropriate. Please visit www.proartemaya.org.

Wordle: Word Cloud Pictures

Want to practice some alternative copy editing? To see which words predominate in a website or a piece of writing, go to wordle.net with clipboard loaded with the block of text in question. Follow the directions for creating your own beautiful wordle “word cloud.”

Word picture graphic