When we talk about the internet there are some related concepts which can cause confusion between them. While plenty of people know what a domain is, some might not realise that registering one does not give you a website. People may also confuse a URL address with an email address.

What is a domain?

A domain name is simply the name we choose for our website. Technically, it is a ‘translation’ using words that are easy to remember and which correspond to an IP address where all the information on our website is hosted. This IP address is a very long unique number, which we essentially substitute with the domain name. Consequently, the domain name must also be the only one of its kind in the world. An example of a domain would be mercat.barcelona.

Does registering a domain mean we have a website?

No. If we register a domain, we have only registered what we want to call ourselves on the network (domain name). If we want a website, we must rent space where it will be housed. To do this we need to acquire space on the server where we will save all the files that make up our website. We do this through a web hosting company.

So, what is the difference between a domain and a website?

The domain is the name we write in the browser, while the website is the page itself. In other words, all the information it contains: files, texts and images.

And email?

An email address is the address we use to send and receive emails, from a webmail or an email management programme such as Outlook. This service is provided from an email server. The email address very often includes the domain name, as most web servers offer the option of registering email addresses too. This way we can manage everything from the same domain management panel.

An email address differs from a website address as it has the symbol @ in the middle. This separates the name of the recipient from the email domain. For instance, if our domain is mercat.barcelona, the email address could be info@mercat.barcelona. We can register as many email addresses as we wish or as many as our server allows.