www, domain names and DNS – what does it all mean?

One of our co-workers sent a question to us this morning about the “www” in front of a domain name.  Here is the question:

Hi Tom, wanted to get your opinion on something… J

http://m.ourweb.com directs to the “Our Web” Mobile site

and

http://www.ourweb.com/mobile directs to the same “Our Web” Mobile site

but

http://www.m.ourweb.com does not

Do you think it’s critical to address that referral?

This is a great question.  Here is my reply:

I would not say it is critical.  People who are trying to get to the mobile site are, by the nature of the site, on a mobile phone.  So they will more than likely just simply type in “m.”.

The “www” in front of every site name is kind of a throwback to the origins of the web.  So, with no offense intended, the only people who tend to get hung up on it are “older” people who just associate the “www” with the web and having to have it.

That all being said – the process of adding the extra DNS record takes less time than it did for me to write this email and you to read it.  So, I will drop a quick note to the network guy – he can add it and we’ll have it, just in case.

If you are interested in more information on how domain names work – check out this link.  It does a nice job of explaining them in greater detail.

http://www.recommendedwebtools.com/index.php/563/what-are-domain-names-and-how-they-work/

Have a great day,
tom

I hope this answer works for you too – DNS and sub domains are confusing, but a very integral part of how the web works.

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