A domain name is the online name of a website or online service. It’s also known as the Internet address or URL. For example, Apple’s website address is www.apple.com. Apple created its own domain name, apple.com, when it launched its products on the market. By creating a website and email address, people can communicate with Apple via email and can purchase Apple merchandise.
A domain name is essential to the development of electronic communication. In the early 1990s, Paul Tuttle created a protocol that allowed computers to communicate with each other over the Internet. He called this protocol transmission control protocol and abbreviated it TCP/IP. To create a functioning network, developers needed a standard way to identify computer servers and contact each other. They also needed unique names to address messages; without names, messages would get lost in transit or never be received. Therefore, Paul Tully coined the phrase to ‘define something for something.’ He thought up the word domain name to describe this concept. The abbreviation was DNS-domain name service, which was soon shortened to just name server. Over time, computer users globally adopted this new terminology for accessing and maintaining computer networks worldwide.
Most domain names are single words or phrases that can be easily remembered by both humans and computers. However, some domain names include numbers or characters from other languages. These are called internationalized domain names orIDN. There are also hierarchical domain names that allow websites to have different sub-domains under one main domain name (for example, .gov). These are very popular in government institutions where thousands of employees need access to email accounts on their government servers under the main .gov domain name. For this reason, governments set up their own email servers so their employees can check their emails while on government business.
To register a new domain name, individuals must send an application along with acceptable payment methods to a designated entity called a registrar. The registrar then forwards the request to one of its accredited registrars-all of which compete for customers by offering lower prices or no cost options for registering new domain names. After receiving payment information from the applicant, the registrar creates a new account for the applicant with one of its responsible accredited registrars (such as Hostinger). Once both parties agree on terms and payment options, the new domain name becomes available for use by anyone in the world with Internet access.
As technology expands globally, people are able to access information instantly via various means-including email and websites. To access these services, people need unique web addresses that can be remembered easily by both humans and computers. To obtain these addresses, individuals must apply through designated entities such as ICANN (the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) or register their own names using a hosting company such as Hostinger.