iWeb '08--Using a Personal Domain Name can be Easy

One of the best new features of iWeb '08 is the ability to use a personal domain name for a .Mac-hosted Web site produced by iWeb. It seems simple to do but we found out that it's not as simple as it could and should be.

iWeb '08 is, of course, the iLife '08 application that allows you to easily produce simple and very attractive Web pages. If one also has a .Mac account, then iWeb can very easily publish the pages on the Web by clicking a button to create a Web site hosted by .Mac for the world to see.

However, the URL for the Web site in previous versions of iWeb has been limited to the lengthy:

http://web.mac.com/YourDotmacID/

Wouldn't it be cool if you could be creative and choose the Domain Name for your .Mac Web site instead of using web.mac.com with the necessary addition of your .Mac ID? Something like www.MyBlog.com which would look like:

http://www.myblog.com

iWeb '08 allows you to do this. All three steps are easy but the third can be a bit problematic.

The first step is to choose and register a domain name with a so-called registrar. In the beginning of the Web, the only U.S. registrar was Network Solutions and they charge $34.99 for a one-year registration of a .com domain name. Now there are many registrars with some charging less that $10 per year and many other domain names that don't end in .com for less than $5 so you have a lot of choices.

All of our domain names, including macsonly.com, were originally registered by Network Solutions and still are. Some of the domain names have never be used, one being wwfox.com so we decided to use it to test iWeb '08's new personal domain name feature.

The second step is to tell .Mac via iWeb '08 that you will be using a personal domain name for your .Mac-hosted Web site and what that name is.

1. Launch iWeb '08

2. Under the "File" menu select "Setup Personal Domain"

3. Safari opens and you have to login to your .Mac account

4. Click the "Personal Domain" button in the buttons on the right

5. Add the Personal Domain Name and click "Continue"

Step three is the only potentially difficult step, i.e. creating a so-called alias for your registered domain name so that when someone enters www.myblog.com in their Web browser they go to your .Mac Web site which is really web.mac.com/YourDotMacID. We wrote "potentially" difficult because the best way to do this is to not do it yourself. Call your registrar and ask them to do it for you. And don't use Apple's words but simply ask:

"I want it set up so that when someone types www.myblog.com into their Web browser, it actually goes to web.mac.com."

The problem that we initially found is that the tech's at Network Solutions did not know what we were talking about and did it wrong. We even read slowly the exact words Apple uses in the screen after sub-step 5 above. After unsuccessfully trying ourselves with the online Account Manager and calling Network Solutions again, the tech we reached said that an internal bulletin about iWeb and .Mac had been circulated, she knew exactly what I was talking about and she did it right. Two hours later, our .Mac Web site popped up when we typed www.wwfox.com in Safari. Note that it must include the "www."

Apple gives very arcane and general instructions on how to do this in the window appearing after sub-step 5 of step two above. But it is really not completely Apple's fault if you have problems calling your registrar or doing it yourself. First, it seems that every registrar has different jargon on their Web site form (CNAME record) for creating the alias. This stuff is really for the knowledgeable and not for average Mom, Pop, Kid and Grandparent trying to setup a simple Web site. Second (and what tripped us up trying to do it ourselves), the registrar enters their own IP addresses (so-called "A" records) for "www", "@" and "*" when you first register your own domain name. They do this basically to advertise their company at your "expense" until you actually set up a Web site that uses your domain name. So, first you have to delete these IP addresses from the "A" records or you can't alias "www" as "web.mac.com" in the "CNAME" records.

Our .Mac Web site (www.wwfox.com) explains, with images, how to make web.mac.com an alias of your own domain name using Network Solutions' online Account Manager. It is actually quite simple when you know what you are doing. But we recommend that you do yourself a favor and ask your registrar to do it for you. [Bill Fox]