www.AppStyler.com

I admit that for most of my domain registrations I use GoDaddy. While many don’t like the user interface because it is too ‘noisy’ and full of bright colors and images of women in tank tops, I don’t really care that much either way. In a sense, it is a bit like the old Charlie’s Angels TV show. It was too full of jiggling, but on the other hand it was one of the first television shows which focused on women as the lead characters. So for me, as a young feminist, I liked the show.

GoDaddy is like the 800 lb gorilla in the room. It does domain registrations quickly and inexpensively. I buy a lot of registrations so I pay for their discount plan, and I am able to manage a large number of domains well through their interface.

However, if you want to send bulk email you can get shut down by GoDaddy in a heartbeat. They then keep your domain name and won’t let you get it back without a huge fight. Some would find that to be a good thing, but others find their policies draconian and difficult to follow reliably.

If you’re looking for other domain registrars, here are two more you can consider that are recommended by programmer friends of mine:

• Yahoo Small Business - http://www.dyndns.org
• NameCheap - http://www.namecheap.com

These services are also reasonably priced. Their interfaces are very different from GoDaddy, and you can get special prices from time to time.

Sometimes it is difficult to not be just a teensy bit paranoid when a site is down and I just can’t get to it. For times like that, I like to be able to check http://downforeveryoneorjustme.com/.

The internet is aptly described as a web. The reason we have things called ‘routers’ and ‘gateways’ is that our electronic bits get routed through various connections to make it to their final destination. When there’s a blockage on the internet — a little like a washed out highway or an accident — these devices re-route traffic through a different pathway.

Sometimes it takes a little time before the blockage is noticed. That’s how we wind up with the need to check to see if a site is still working or if there’s just a break in the path between us and the site we want to visit. Try the tool. It is stupidly simple, but it does work.