This Web site allows users to search for and register WWW domain names. Once registered these names can be parked and managed through the site’s DNS (Domain Name System) service. The search service is the most likely facility to be used in the reference setting, for example to investigate a possible new business name or new product name. The search feature is complex but not complicated, and indeed the site generally is easy to use.
A form‐based page outlines a series of steps to follow for a full registration. The first of these steps involves the input of the desired domain name. The name is checked for availability using the advanced Domain Name Search Engine. The clever bit is that all valid top level domains, for example .com, are searched for at once. This means that if you input the words “reference” and “reviews” the system will check for “referencereviews” and reference‐reviews. It will do this with all the following suffixes:
.net;
.com;
.co.uk;
.org;
.org.uk;
.uk.com;
.gb.net;
.gb.com;
.uk.net;
.us.com; and
.eu.com.
For each returned entry an availability indicator shows whether it can be registered, the price is also given in GB pounds and also the number of years the registration remains valid.
Where a name is not available it means that it has been registered by another agency. It is possible to find out details of that registration although this information is quite technical and its meaning not obvious. Incidentally all forms of the term referencereviews are available at a cost of £35.98.
This site’s main use will be to see if a particular name has been registered. Its ease of use and its speed make it one of the best tools of its type on the Web.
