Domain names

[Jezza]

I need to get myself a website, and am looking into purchasing a domain name. A quick Google reveals there seem to be quite a range of sites offering this. Is there anyone people on here would recommend?

It's for a site which is not yet created but which would probably take the form of a blog. The idea is that it would be a location hosting different articles and some photos. I'm not much good at web design, and am not sure what the best way to do this is. I've looked at free blogging software such as blogger.com but it appears rather dull. Any suggestions for an easy template that would fit the bill? 

[Woofage]

My recommendation would be to go for an all-in hosting package that comes with a domain name. Check Fasthosts, Supernames, 123-reg etc.

If you just want domain registration then I recommend 123-reg. You put the appropriate DNS servers in the settings for your domain and you're away .

[Valiant]

I have been using UKreg for domain name for years. Fast, cheap and painless.

[pcolbeck]

The Domain name and the site do not have to be from the same company. All a Domain name service is is a company that lets host your DNS records on their equipment and manage them. So when someone types www.jezzazfunkyblog.com it gets resolved to an IP address.  I use 123reg.co.uk to host my domain records but they were a bit flaky six months ago. Seem fine now. You get a nice web interface where you can add and change your DNS records as required (for example I have my MX or mail records pointing at Fastmail.fm). There are lots of companies that do this and others will I'm sure suggest different ones, all of teh big ones tend to work OK though.

A more difficult choice for you will be picking someone to host your web site. Here you get a choice of operating system (Windows or Linux usually) depending on who you pick and also different software installed on the server eg Perl, MySQL, PHP.  What you need to do is decide what blogging software you intend to use then pick a hosting service that has the required software installed to run the blogging software.

There are several blogging backends you can use. Wordpress is very popular and free with lots of templates you can get of the internet to tweak to your liking.

[Slim]

I've been using ICUK Hosting for a few years now without any prob's at all.

They were very helpful  when I was setting things up - just domain name and a few EMail boxes.

[woollypigs]

One.com Web hosting  -  Domain • Hosting • E-mail   for simple website and easy set up and great support and cheap.

[bobajobrob]

I used to use UKReg, but fasthosts suck (they own UKReg). UKReg lacks some nice features, the billing system is retarded and the management interface is a ball-ache in general. I use Yahoo! small business domains now. They let you manage your A records, subdomains, MX records, etc. I would always choose a reliable DNS provider that lets you manage these things rather than going for some budget package included with hosting. It makes things much, much easier if you want to change web hosts, email providers, etc. Another advantage of Yahoo! is that they let you delegate subdomains. This means that I can have a subdomain set up that resolves to a dyndns domain, combined with the dyndns feature on my home router means that I have a subdomain of my own domain name pointing to my home IP that auto updates itself...

A word of warning about registering domains, don't go typing your desired domain name into random availability checking websites or you may find that it gets conveniently registered on your behalf, then sold back to you at a premium.

[MattH]

A bit of thread necromancy. Can anyone recommend a registrar who will port in .es domains (rules out 123-reg)? No hosting is needed, but ability for the registrar to control DNS would be a plus.

I'm a bit out of the loop on domain registration as I've been a reseller for OpenSRS pretty much since they started and run my own servers so don't usually need anyone else but for various reasons want to pass this one on to another company.

[Valiant]

I've moved to Justhost. Cheap and seem to do the job.