[RESOLVED] Is the use of www needed anymore?

[Duke Will]

I just want to make sure that EVERYone could hit my sites if I direct them to http://mysite.com (no "www," rather than http://www.mysite.com (with "www"). You still hear everybody describe domain names (even in radio, where seconds matter) as... "w w w mysite.com." Much easier and efficient to say "mysite.com." Just wondering if anyone knows anything for sure.

[LeeU]

It depends on your hosting company. You should be able to do it without the "www' but you will have to try it. If it doesn't work, ask your hosting company to set it up so it will.

[WebJoel]

Question should have a great big 'resolved' check-mark on it (LeeU answered perfectly & succintly, as usual) :) .
A few years ago I set-up a client's site on a paid-for host and this was one of the things that we checked, -by searching the newly-hosted site using the prefix "www", and again without "www". (Both worked, so we were okay).
A good host, yes, should provide both. If they do not, request it, or get another host. (this doesn't apply to 'subdomain hosting' I beleive, whereby YOUR sitename-dot is followed by the HOST's name-dot com, e.g., "http://joelburdick.awardspace.com", which is "my site" :) . Using "www" doesn't work, -you would get a 'server not found' error. I can live with this since the hosting is free and I don't have my own domain set-up yet).

[DARTHTAMPON]

I thought the www and lack of www were all associated with the dns. If your site does not allow you to navigate to a www less address you should be able to call up register and for a small fee get a wild card attached to your domain.

[LeeU]

You shouldn't have to pay a fee; if they ask for it, find another host.

[p_lea]

www or not is done via your DNS setup, if you dont have access, ask your hosting company.

If you setup *. then you wouldnt need www in your url

I have a couple of sites that point to other IP's when www or not is used.

[dugu]

I think you could do this with .htaccess, if your hosting suports it.