LT7_Act1

• What type of forethought should be put into selecting a domain name? What right or wrong choices are there as far as name selections go?
o A domain name needs to relate to the site you are publishing. My domain name should not be coolcars.com if I am trying to sell football apparel.
o The domain name needs to be something that people will remember, not seemingly random numbers or letters.
o The domain name should not be something that is often misspelled like areyouthere.com vs. areyoutheir.com.
o Lastly, a domain name should be short and to the point.
• How would you explain in plain English how to go about purchasing and registering a domain name? How long does this typically take? What should a potential user be wary of?
Register domain name. Click on a few sites to check out. Pick one and register you domain name. It will cost about $15 and last for 10 years. Make sure you do not pick a name that can be easily confused with another domain name.
• What type of web hosting would be the most beneficial for the typical educator wanting to create a classroom website for students and their parents? What types of hosting should educators recognize as “overkill”?
Educators should not register a domain name. They should us one of the free, easy to use classroom website hosts available. As teachers, we do not have a lot of “free time” and we should use it wisely. Pick the site that fits your needs and is the easiest to use.
• What are some ways an educator could research a particular web hosting service (beyond what the service says about itself on its own site)?
I went to my district website and checked out all of the different elementary schools. I saw which teachers had webpages and which hosts they used. I noted what I liked and disliked about each host and picked a site from there.
• Are promises of “Unlimited site traffic” or “Unlimited hosting space” really viable offers by hosting providers? Why or why not?
Unlimited site traffic is not real; sites get bogged down with too many guests. A host can offer the ability to have more traffic on a site than another host, but ultimately there is always a limit.
Unlimited hosting space is not real either. I webserver can only hold so much data-period. One site can hold more than another, but ultimately there is an amount that the host will not hold.