The main domain name is also called the root url, as it is the tip of the pyramid and the entry point for your site. The first page is always called the index page indicating that it should always be displayed first. With a blog your last post is always the index page. Every folder should also have an index page in it.

A directory is the original pre-Windows name for a folder, same thing, just hosts use the word directory still. Placing a trailing slash or / after an url enables a browser to load sites more quickly by designating the end of the url . The point that says where you want to go to and no further.

The last thing you need to understand is an addon domain. This seems more complicated than it really is but it is just a way for people to have a different address for one designated area or directory.

Think of a block of flats. The normal address structure would be flat 2/450 My Street, World Wide Web. Mrs Bucket got divorced and now lives in flat 3 and she wants her address to say Faulty Towers – not 3/450 so she contacted the local council of addresses and nagged until the post man was told to recognise and deliver all mail addressed to Faulty Towers to Flat 3/450.

The reason behind add on domains is twofold. It’s so that a web address can benefit from having keywords in its title and have a root address that is easy to remember. It is also so that web hosts can sell a large space and don’t have to split it and make you sign in to multiple accounts if you want to have several different topic websites. The host sells you one space with a main domain name. This is your block of flats. Your addon domain names are the pretty addresses for each of the unique units inside it.

In the subdomain example you might have an address that looks something like www.faultytowers.blockofflats.com which really fails for bling. With the add on domain option however Mrs Bucket can buy the domain name www.faultytowers.com and have it redirected as an addon domain to the subdomain folder called faultytowers in the url above. The index page of that folder will be that domains first page.

And the words ‘block of flats’ will never be mentioned again! The mail goes to the same place, the place remains where it has always been but the name is everything anyone could desire it to be.

So an add on domain is really just a subdomain in disguise with its own unique url that displays an address like a top level domain. Because there is so much confusion about this addon domains have a bad reputation. When people first start with addons, installation is a problem for some programs that prefer to use a root domain. Until the concept clicks and sometimes way past then, installation to an addon domain can be a problem.

An add on domain cannot literally be a root domain anymore than a flat in a unitblock can literally be a stand alone house. It can however have a unique url to its subdomain folder that makes it appear that way. And appearances are everything, just ask Mrs Bucket, “…that’s pronounced Bouquet.”!

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