Domainr Blog

We created Domainr in order to make the process of naming online things easier — projects, companies, products, apps — and are thrilled that people all around the world are still using it for this, five years after we launched it.

Thanks Scott!

Congratulations to the team at [Alpis Design](http://alpisdesign.com/) for shipping their iOS app, [dNominator](http://dnominator.com/) — it's a fun little utility for brainstorming project names, and it uses [Domainr's API](http://domai.nr/api) to show domain availability. Check it out [in the app store](http://bit.ly/dNominator).

We just added something incredibly useful to Domainr: TLD autocomplete. [](http://domai.nr/greetings.c) To try it out, add a `.` to the end of your search, then a letter, like `c` — the search results will show every TLD that starts with a `c`. It also works for second-level domains, like `.co.uk` — type `.co.` in your search to see all of them. This functionality also works in [Domainr's API](http://domai.nr/api). **Bonus feature:** Keyboard Shortcuts — Domainr's intern/hacker extraordinaire [@connor](http://twitter.com/connor/) added Up and Down arrow-key support, so you can use your keyboard to navigate up and down search results.

Our friend [Dan Martell][1] gave Domainr a shoutout in his [Quora post][2] about how he named his new venture, [Clarity][3]: [][3] ### "Why did Dan Martell choose a .fm domain name for Clarity's website?" > "Here's the reason behind the `Clarity.fm`… I was using [http://domai.nr/][4] to test different words that I felt were on topic, and I didn't expect anything Clarity `[dot]` would be available, but when I saw `Clarity.fm` - I realized that it could work. The `.fm` represents the broadcast nature of the first version of the app when I use to share my link [http://clarity.fm/danmartell][5] on Twitter and take calls from my followers." > "One thing I've seen over time is that domains - in the early days - don't matter. Evan Williams made that argument [here][6]… So yeah, I didn't want the `.fm` - I wanted a great word that would represent the essence of the product, and I couldn't believe `Clarity.fm` was available for $70 bucks." > "Now, the better question (which I won't cover) is, should you have the extension in the logo ex: Clarity.fm, or not: Clarity. We did both, for me - it came down to a personal audio esthetic and I hated hearing "Clarity dot fm". It's Clarity." [1]: http://www.danmartell.com/ [2]: http://www.quora.com/Why-did-Dan-Martell-choose-a-fm-domain-name-for-Claritys-website [3]: http://clarity.fm/ [4]: http://domai.nr/ [5]: http://clarity.fm/danmartell [6]: http://evhead.com/2011/06/five-reasons-domains-are-less-important.html

We just published a new page on Domainr: the [Registrar Directory][1]. [][1] Comprehensiveness is one of our core product goals, and this collection of Registrar-Domain coverage is what makes Domainr's search results both *useful* and *actionable*. The directory currently lists 228 Registrars and Registries, most of which support domain registration. We also show how many top (and second) level domains they support, as well as whether or not they support [IDN][2]. [1]: http://domai.nr/about/registrars [2]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internationalized_domain_name

If you're curious how profitable side projects work behind-the-scenes, be sure to check out this new eBook, [Side Projects][2]. We're excited that Domainr's story was included, from our humble HTML + JS beginnings in 2008 (which @[rr][3] prototyped on @[case][4]'s Mac Mini), to when @[ceedub][14] joined and we formed our LLC, to its current state as one of the web's premier domain search destinations.  (Domainr v0 screenshot) A few updates to the story told in the book: - re: the section about our team, "had two partners" = "[have two partners][5]," as the three of us still actively work on Domainr together. - re: the tech stack, we finished our Ruby port earlier this year, so Domainr is currently a Rails app (hosted on [Heroku][6]) that uses a [Node][7] backend for doing DNS checks (also on Heroku). And regarding Domainr's [API][8] ecosystem, a bunch has happened beyond our [iOS app][9], for example: - @[connor][10] got in touch with us about the [Domainr Chrome extension][11] he built, which led to his "nights and weekends" internship with us in San Francisco this summer — he's since made [API wrappers][5] for Objective-C, Node and Python, as well as a CLI and Twitter bot. - @[scottisafool][12] emailed us about the Domainr client for Windows Phone he built, which led us to [partner with him][13] and launch it officially. We thoroughly enjoy working on Domainr, and are thrilled that it's turned into such a popular and useful tool for entrepreneurs worldwide. [1]: https://twitter.com/laksman [2]: http://www.sideprojectbook.com/ [3]: https://twitter.com/rr [4]: https://twitter.com/case [5]: http://domai.nr/about [6]: http://www.heroku.com/ [7]: http://nodejs.org/ [8]: http://domai.nr/api [9]: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/domainr/id366250105 [10]: https://twitter.com/connor [11]: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/ckimnhkhhfcedianojdljjgpgachccpf [12]: https://twitter.com/scottisafool [13]: http://blog.domai.nr/post/22783548783/domainr-windows-phone [14]: https://twitter.com/ceedub

Domainr now supports searching [ICANN's 1,400+ new generic top-level domains][1], which were publicly revealed on June 13, 2012. Here are some example queries: - [mash.able][2] - [starfleet.academy][3] - [centralintelligence.agency][4] - [in.da.club][5] - [monkey.patch][6] - [ham.radio][7] - [srsly.wtf][8] - [bikram.yoga][9] ICANN intends to [evaluate][10] the new domains for the next 9-20 months before launching them, so it will be a while until they're live and registerable. In the meantime, have fun exploring them — the full list is on Domainr's [TLD page][11]. [1]: http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/program-status/application-results/strings-1200utc-13jun12-en [2]: http://domai.nr/mash.able [3]: http://domai.nr/starfleet.academy [4]: http://domai.nr/centralintelligence.agency [5]: http://domai.nr/in.da.club [6]: http://domai.nr/monkey.patch [7]: http://domai.nr/ham.radio [8]: http://domai.nr/srsly.wtf [9]: http://domai.nr/bikram.yoga [10]: http://archive.icann.org/en/topics/new-gtlds/gtld-facts-31jul11-en.pdf [11]: http://domai.nr/about/tlds

Domainr's official Chrome Extension is [now available in the Chrome Web Store][1]. Install it to search Domainr directly from Chrome, and use your Up and Down arrow keys to navigate search results — the Enter key will open a new tab with your search. According to Google Analytics, Chrome is currently used by 55% of Domainr's monthly visitors, so we're excited to make it even easier to use inside Chrome — huge props to [@connor][2] for his work on the extension. [Check it out][1], and let us know what you think [on Twitter][3] and in [our forum][4]. [1]: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/ckimnhkhhfcedianojdljjgpgachccpf [2]: https://twitter.com/connor [3]: https://twitter.com/domainr [4]: https://getsatisfaction.com/domainr

[Domainr is now available in the Windows Phone Marketplace][1], and its code is [open source on github][2] thanks to [Scott Lovegrove][3], a UK-based Domainr fan and Microsoft MVP.   Scott built the app on top of [Domainr's API][5] and contacted us with a few questions about it, and we asked if he'd be interested in open-sourcing it and publishing it as an official Domainr-branded app. Fortunately he was game — Thanks, Scott! Development of our [iOS app][4] several years ago happened similarly, and also prompted us to build the API in the first place — our hope was that developers would use the API to "[scratch their own itch][6]," which has happened for a [variety of different languages and apps][5]. Check it out and let us know what you think in [Domainr's forum][7]. [1]: http://windowsphone.com/s?appid=67806bb0-2461-40af-af03-ba6ac7b99b92 [2]: https://github.com/nbio/domainr-windows-phone [3]: http://www.scottisafool.co.uk/ [4]: http://blog.domai.nr/post/7465743669/domainr-for-iphone [5]: http://domai.nr/api [6]: http://gettingreal.37signals.com/ch02_Whats_Your_Problem.php [7]: https://getsatisfaction.com/domainr

If we missed any, or if you've built something you'd like listed in the Gallery, let us know on Twitter or by email at [email protected].

Here's a related post from Gary Chou.

Here's the gist:

If so, definitely give Kevin Cheng's thorough post about his quest a read. Domainr supports most of the registrars he investigated, but let us know if there are any you'd like us to add.

Via 101domain

We will be decommissioning Domainr's RSS feeds on Monday, November 14th, 2011 — email us at [email protected] if you need them for some reason.