Subdomains

[djmac]

I tried a search and couldn't find anything on this.

What are subdomains? I understand the meaning of the word but I am at a loss as to what they can do for me.

I'm thinking that one way this feature can be used is to allow members of a site to have their own small website. That is about as far as my brain will take me on this one. Can anybody educate me on what they will do for me?

I run http://www.wildfleckenveterans.com and I thought subdomains could possibly be of some use here.

Thanks in advance.

Regards
Don

[mattsiegman]

subdomain.domain.tld

hope that helps a little

[Galen]

Well... A lot of sites like to divide the various sections into subdomains. For example, a message board would go at forum.domain.tld, a support section could go at support.domain.tld, etc. It's just an asthetic thing mostly, although there are some advantages to doing things that way. A subdomain can act as its own independant website, which brings up a multitude of possibilites. It just all depends on what you want out of your website. You don't *need* subdomains at all, but some people find them useful.

Your point about hosting other sites is absolutely correct. I've use subdomains several times to host sites for friends temporarily and I currently multihost 3 domain names under my primary domain (which requires a subdomain).

[djmac]

Well... A lot of sites like to divide the various sections into subdomains. For example, a message board would go at forum.domain.tld, a support section could go at support.domain.tld, etc. It's just an asthetic thing mostly, although there are some advantages to doing things that way. A subdomain can act as its own independant website, which brings up a multitude of possibilites. It just all depends on what you want out of your website. You don't *need* subdomains at all, but some people find them useful.

Your point about hosting other sites is absolutely correct. I've use subdomains several times to host sites for friends temporarily and I currently multihost 3 domain names under my primary domain (which requires a subdomain).

Galen

Now that's what I call an answer. Thank you very much for taking the time to explain it.

Regards
Don

[Connie]

If the subdomain is for personal use no problem. If it relates to the main domain it is OK but unnecessary. If you think these subdomains will ever want SE popularity you better do a multihosted domain. A subdomain is not a real site. It is your site. a multihosted domain is a real site.

[djmac]

If the subdomain is for personal use no problem. If it relates to the main domain it is OK but unnecessary. If you think these subdomains will ever want SE popularity you better do a multihosted domain. A subdomain is not a real site. It is your site. a multihosted domain is a real site.

Actually my thought here was to provide a feature in which a member could setup their own personal unit site to share their military history with other veterans from the unit they may have served with. Something like what Military.com or yahoo offers, but not on the same scale. In any case I do appreciate all the help. You guys are great.

Regards
Don

[Connie]

Don if they are not worried about SE ranking no problem. If they ever think they want their personal site to rank there could be a problem.

[Jaded]

You could setup folders under your public html folder that would address as....domain/unit1name, domain/unit2name etc. and add ftp permission for each person to access only their folder where they could buiild their own pages (no forums etc.) You could then link to the unit folders from your main site. In effect they would be editors for their section of "your" website.

This would require a little effort on your part. Also, you would have little or no control over what people do or try to do on "your" part of the server and that could cause problems for you and others on the machine.

Unless your members want to pay (you could set up a reseller account and sell cheap) another option would be for them to build their site on a free ad-based server like yahoo or bravenet and then you could link to them. That way you don't have any headaches.

Any other non-intrusive ideas out there?