I would appreciate any advice on how to complete some objectives. I am looking to expand my knowledge as I go along, and thought I'd try this forum as a first step. I've searched a lot of posts on here, and have not been able to find simple, english answers to the questions I'm processing... feel free to take a crack at providing the most simple possible answer to any one of these questions. These may seem simple, but I've found that simple questions are sometimes the hardest to answer properly.

Q#1.) Lets say I want to create something-clever-dot-com... Who has the ultimate right to sell it to me, so that it's mine?

Q#2.) What's keeping me from declaring that I ALREADY own it, provided that nobody else has ever thought of using it?

Q#3.) What is the BEST way to establish ownership of it?

Q#4.) Is the state of owning it, tied by necessity to the state of hosting or maintaining it?

Q#5.) What is the most somple definition of "web hosting" that you can conjure?

Q#6.) Does it take different "types" of hosts, to host different "types" of sites? Like, is there such a thing as a FLASH host, vs. an HTML host, or is a host a host?

Q#7.) what's the best way for an english speaking human being to acquire their first dose of knowledge on how to design and maintain an outstanding site?

extra cerdit - Q#8.) What is a path of study, or action, you would recommend to someone who wishes to have a website with the following characteristics:

a.) has a catchy name...

b.) is simple and intuitive, and doesn't force you to use flowery, feminine, doctor's-office-themed templates in order to set it up... In fact, it's so simple I need to learn more in order to sex it up a little, and make it look interesting. (I like the idea of starting with a plain, white background, and adding images and text and links, until it's functional and attractive enough to send people to)

c.) can host MP3's which people can actually listen to, instead of giving them messages about how they need to get the the megawave-123x nightcrawler/installer/hotpants driver.

THANK YOU! I know this stuff sounds basic, but I won't find basic answers, unless I ask for them,

Owen

1. ICANN and Internic have the ultimate authority on who can and cannot register domain names.

2. see answer to number one which involves a large database

3. register the domain through a domain name reseller such as enom.com dotster or ev1/rackshack

4. No you can own a domain name and never have it hosted with anything this is often referred to as squatting and strongly discouraged.

5. hmm well storing webpages on servers for internet browser to retrieve and display to users.

6. Yes php and mysql often used with linux hosts and asp is often used with windows hosts.

7. depends some people learn hands on ohers need someone else to give them detaile dinstructions.

8. get paid hosting with a reputable company and use dreamweaver to develop your site and use a host that allows the legal hosting of mp3 or other music type files.

Q 1-4

No-one 'owns' a domain name. By their nature all domains are 'leased' through a registration period. Whether you have a web site attached to that domain name doesn't matter a whole lot. (trademark names excluded)

Q 5

Web hosting is the simplest definition I can think of is that a domain name is your street address. Hosting a website is giving directions to that street address and moving your furniture in (the website) so when people visit, they have something to see, and sit on.

Q 6

In most cases it doesn't matter unless your website used 'specific' programming (as mentioned, .asp for Windows). For the most part, html, php, perl (.cgi)) will work fine on most platforms (Windows/Linux)

Q 7

Tutorials:
http://www.about.com
http://www.webmonkey.com
http://www.devshed.com

Learn all those sites and you're good to go (they're huge). Otherwise, you could look at Microsoft Frontpage as a good tool people learn to get a simple website online. Macromedia's Dreamweaver is excellent, but with a larger learning curve.

Extra Credit:

a)
http://www.deleteddomains.com - advanced search. A good place to check domain names that have been previously registered. Should give you some good ideas.

b)
As above.. Microsoft Frontpage, or Macromedia Dreamweaver... or pay a professional to design the web site for you (better option)

c)
MP3's will usually play fine through most people's browser's without any additional software (they buffer, then play).