For those not familiar with terminologies in a particular field or industry, it can be a bit disheartening when these terminologies are used by the experts, who assume their audiences understand.
We try to carry our readers along by communicating in the simplest of terms as we want all to understand the workings of the Domain Name System (DNS) Industry. We enlighten and educate our readers by using basic terms.
It provides some level of comfort to our readers to know the different technical components and how they work.
So in this article, we will discuss the differences in the terms: domain name, hosting service and website.
What Is a Website?
A website is a collection of related web pages on the Internet that live on a certain domain name. For example the collection of related web pages on nira.org.ng is a website.
A website should be a living entity, with current and accurate information and data. It is based on the relationship between the web site files, the web host, and the domain name. If any one of these three does not work in the right synergy, then the website won’t display its contents.
The bulk of a website is comprised of web pages, which are documents written in a variety of web languages, usually Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML), Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and some form of JavaScript. These act as instructions for the web browser on how the website will display its contents.
What Is a Domain Name?
For a website to be accessible, the domain name must be accurately typed. Computers communicate using Internet Protocol (IP) addresses. If the IP address that is associated with a domain name is typed, the display would be exactly the same as what is displayed when the associated domain name is typed.
As it is difficult to remember a random string of numbers (IP Addresses), domain names serve as a more user-friendly version of the IP address. The domain name, which is easier to remember, provides the access to a website.
There are two parts to a domain name: the Top Level Domain (TLD) and the actual domain name. The TLD is the part of the domain name that comes after the name of the domain. The Top Level Domain (TLD) is one of the domains at the highest level in the hierarchical Domain Name System of the Internet. The TLD are classified into two categories: generic TLDs and country specific TLDs.
For the domain name nira.org.ng, .ng is the TLD. For a Nigerian company or individual, there are more benefits associated with the choice and use a .ng domain name for your website as search engines like Google has optimized the search for Nigeria as a location.
Web Hosting Service
A web hosting service makes websites accessible on the Internet. A web hosting service provides the infrastructure to accommodate the web pages/files of individuals or organisations. In Nigeria, we have several web hosting companies that host locally. The Federal Government of Nigeria encourages local hosting of websites. This keeps our local contents local, grows our economy and reduces capital flight of our foreign reserves.
How They Work Together
From the above descriptions of a website, web hosting service and a domain name, these three entities are intricately tied. A domain name, a designed website along with a web host are required for a website to be accessible for any business or information.
The domain name points to the web server where all of the files are hosted and those files are generated when a user types in the domain name to display a website.
Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NiRA), is the registry for .ng domain names. The NiRA Accredited Registrars are charged with the responsibility of registering .ng domains for registrants. To register your .ng domain name, click on the link below for list of NiRA Accredited Registrars. Kindly contact any of them to register a .ng domain name.
