17 of 26

Now that my domain was up and running, it was time to get WordPress installed so that I could create some actual content.  I feared that this step would be bit of a pain, but it really turned out to be very easy (thanks to a bit of guidance from my wife).  Near the bottom of the Host Gator Control Panel, there is a section called “Software / Services” and in that is an icon called “Fantasico De Luxe” which is a collection of scripts that it really easy to install various software packages (such as WordPress).

Fantastico!

Once I clicked on the Fantasico icon, I was brought to a page that listed a whole bunch of software packages available for installation.  Since I was only interested in WordPress for now, I clicked on “WordPress” under “Blogs” and then clicked on the “New Installation” link that appeared on the right hand side.

What can I install for you today?

After clicking on “New Installation”, I was prompted to enter a bunch of information:

WordPress Configuration Options

Here’s a rundown on what the options mean:

• Install in Directory:  This is where you want WordPress installed.  If you leave it blank then it will be installed in the root directory of your domain.  This means that when someone enters a URL of http://<yourdomain> they will see your blog.  This is almost always the desired behavior, so leave this field blank unless you specifically want different behavior.
• Admin access data:  This is a username and password that you will need to in order to administer your blog.
• Admin nickname:  This is what is shown when the blog software displays your name to users in things such as blog posts and comments.  You can change this later if you want to.
• Admin e-mail:  This is self-explanatory.
• Site name:  This is what appears on the header of your blog (in my case it’s “17 of 26″).
• Site description:  This is what appears just under the site name (”the world of programming and technology” for my blog).

I entered my information and hit “Install WordPress”.  The script prompted me a couple of times to verify information and then the installation was complete.  I typed “http://17of26.com” into my address bar and was greeted with the default WordPress theme and sample blog post.  I had a blog!  Pretty amazing considering that all I had to do was click the mouse a few times and type in a bit of information.

I have a blog!

The next step in the domain creation process was to log onto my web host and configure my domain.  With Host Gator, you do this by going to http://[your domain name]/cpanel.  This is pretty clearly explained in the registration email that they send you.

Upon logging in, I was greeted with a pleasant “Welcome New User” dialog box that asked me if I’d like help getting started.  Normally I’m one to skip this sort of hand holding in software applications, but in this case I was happy to let it help me since I had no idea what I needed to do.

Can I help you?  Sure, why not…

The wizard proceeded to walk me through a number of steps to do things such as choosing my language, setting up email accounts, and adjusting a number of important settings.  It did an excellent job of explaining everything that I needed to do.  It also gave a nice overview of the file and directory structure of the website and how to access your files.  I highly recommend going through the wizard to get started.  If you’re unsure of what you want to do with any steps then you can skip them for now and go back to them later.   You can run the wizard at any time from the Host Gator Control Panel.  Overall, I was very impressed with how user friendly the whole experience was (and I am not easily impressed when it comes user friendly experiences).

Next:  WordPress, Here I Come!

Thanks to my wife, I was off to DreamHost to register my domain name.  After using their tool to make sure that the domain name was available (phew!) I set up my account, gave them my credit card information, and created the domain.  I got a confirmation email that said “Your domain should be registered within 30 minutes, and you will receive another email confirmation when complete!”.  Sure enough, 10 minutes later I was notified of a successful registration.  Yay, I had my own domain!

Now the only thing left to do was to set the DNS information for the domain since I wasn’t also using DreamHost to host my domain.  However, before I could do that I needed to head over to Host Gator and set up my web hosting.  The process there was very simple as well.  I created an account, chose the hosting plan I wanted and gave them my credit card information.  Within a few minutes, I received a confirmation email telling me that my account was all set and they gave me the IP address and a temporary URL I could use to access my domain until DNS was properly resolving my domain name.  They also provided me with the DNS information that I needed to give to DreamHost.

Armed with the DNS information from Host Gator, I logged onto my DreamHost account and updated the information there.  DreamHost said it may take up to 24-48 hours for the DNS information to propagate.  Being the impatient person that I am, about an hour later I opened up my browser and typed in “17of26.com”.  It worked!  All I got was a blank HTML page because I hadn’t set anything up yet, but my domain was alive.

Next:  Configuring my Domain

The first step in creating this site was to decide on a domain name registrar and a web host.  Fortunately, my wife (who definitely does her research!)  has owned several domains for a while now so I just asked her who I should use.

For a domain name registrar, her answer was DreamHost.  Their registration fee is fairly standard ($9.95/year) and they offer a privacy service which hides your personal contact information from WHOIS queries.  This was definitely something I would want and is not offered by all registrars – I was (very easily) convinced.

When it came to the web host, my wife suggested Host Gator.  I did a quick comparison of their prices to DreamHost, and Host Gator was significantly cheaper.  A basic plan that hosts one domain is $4.95/month if you pre-pay for 3 years (per month costs are a bit higher for shorter terms).  They’re also currently having a 20% off summer sale if you sign up before August 1st.  I signed up for two years and with the 20% off I felt like I got a pretty darn good deal.

Next:  Creating 17of26.com

So even though I’ve been programming and playing with computers since the early 80s and have been using the Internet since late 1989, I have never had my own domain – until today.  Now I’m wondering why the heck I waited so long to do it.  It wound up being very easy to do and it’s a whole lot of fun.  I now have my own blog, can create email addresses for myself at will, and host files that people can download via HTTP or FTP.   For the benefit of anyone who has not been through this process I am going to use the first few posts in this blog to share the experience that I had with setting up a new domain.

The first thing to know is that there are two services that you need when setting up your own domain:  domain name registration and web hosting.   Domain name registration is the act of registering your domain name with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).  ICANN is responsible for managing and coordinating the Internet’s Domain Name System (DNS).  They control the distribution of all IP addresses and domain names.  They also make sure that domain names are unique and map to the correct IP addresses.  In order to get your domain name registered with ICANN you must go through an accredited domain name registrar.  Web hosting is the term used for getting disk space and internet connectivity provided for your domain.

Many companies offer both domain name registration and web hosting, but you do not have to use the same company for both services.  There is a fairly wide variety of pricing and features for both services.

Next:  Finding a Registrar and Web Host for 17of26.com