buying a domain name?

[thebecster]

I've just had a bad experience with trying to buy a domain name - the company in question firstly wouldn't unlock the domain & give me the EPP code so that I could transfer hosting, then said that they 'don't do refunds'. I really need to buy one for my business (I'm self-employed). I think I should have got some advice before I went into this, and am now a bit nervous that there's more out there I don't know which might cause me to get burned again... Can anyone recommend a good 'how to' book or website I could read up on the subject?? Or have any top tips for me to bear in mind? Would be very grateful!

i've always used ukreg.com or register.com and have never had any problems.

Thanks, I'll bear those in mind, and appreciate you replying so quickly!

If anyone has read a book or something that they'd recommend - I think I need to know a bit more about what I'm doing...

Are you doing your own? Would you consider a template like mrsite? I've used it and it's really easy.

That looks really interesting Ceolas - thank you so much for posting. I have a brand identity already designed including 'look & feel' for web pages, but the designer (DH!) isn't a web designer - do you know from your experience of using that, if I'd be able to incorporate his design into a MrSite template myself? Or is the design on the MrSite ones generic? Couldn't quite figure it out from looking at their site?

Thank you so much!

There are loads of templates to choose from, and you can change colours to suit yourself. Have you looked at any of the tutorials?

I had a logo designed for me and uploaded it. If you want to look at my site, feel free to CAT me

or try microsoft front page. if you are familiar with Word the basic controls are very similar. you can switch between the easier interface version or the html one.

how complicated is the site? i do basic web design/construction... i can send you some links to stuff i've done before.

Those are great tips, thank you! I'll get DH to sit with me and look at the tutorials on MrSite, and at Microsoft front page and see if we'll be able to get his ideas across that way. MrSite looks great otherwise. Will definitely get back to you if we decide we need outside help mankymummy - it shouldn't be a complex site, but if I can do it myself I'd love to so that I can keep updating it - ideally I'd like to update with new information all the time.
You're both very kind to give so much help, really appreciate it.