How To: Get Started with Davidson Domains

Davidson Domains is a College-sponsored web hosting service. Domains provides all Davidson students and faculty with a personally-owned and managed internet presence. This gives faculty and students a way to build a website where they control everything. 

If we picture the internet as a house with an infinite number of rooms, Domains provides you with your own room, to be decorated to your taste and shared at your discretion. It's designed to encourage ownership and engagement in digital spaces, both private and public. During your time at Davidson, you may use your domain for class projects, portfolios, clubs, or other digital endeavors. Once you graduate, you can take your domain with you.

To begin, you'll need to pick a name and sign up.
 
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IMPORTANT BACKGROUND: BEFORE YOU CHOOSE YOUR NAME

Think of your domain name as the big, brightly-lit sign pointing the way to your space on the internet -- it's your primary identifier. It should be memorable, personal, and available. Also, changing names is difficult, so take the process of selecting the name seriously. Davidson Domains names follow the form myname.dcreate.domains -- the "myname" bit is the part you'll select (the technical name for this is the "subdomain name").

Your subdomain name must be unique, and should be something particular to you. If you do not have a common name we suggest you use your full name as your SLD. For example, if your name is Emma Davidson, you might choose emmadavidson.dcreate.domains.

If, on the other hand, you have a common name, think about ways to make it stand out. For example, if your name is Jane Doe, you could use janepenelopedoe.dcreate.domains or name it after how you may want to be remembered/searched on the internet (for example, janedoethepainter.dcreate.domains). Your chosen name need only be unique to Davidson, not across the entire Internet.

Within your space, you may also elect to create sub-subdomains. These can be thought of as walled-off parts of your subdomain, created at your discretion for specific classes, projects, software, etc. Sub-subdomain names need not be unique, and do not require registration. For example, Emma Davidson might want sub-subdomains for her writing class, her blog, and her favorite game, so she'd create wri101.emmadavidson.dcreate.domains, blog.emmadavidson.dcreate.domains, and flickerball.emmadavidson.dcreate.domains. I

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Once you've selected the name you want:

  1. Go to domains.davidson.edu and click on the Get Started link.
  2. To log in, use your @davidson.edu credentials.
  3. Enter your preferred subdomain name, and check its availability. If it’s available, click on register.
  4. You will be asked to agree to terms and then to create your domain.

You're good to go! Next, check out our Domains section for following steps.

If you have any other questions please contact ti@davidson.edu, and use subject Davidson Domains.

 

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