domain forwarding question
 

I have a domain name reserved (won't be up for renewal for a couple years yet). Now I'm having a different company design and host my site.

Are they any pros and cons I should be aware of (in terms of functioning etc) concerning having one place continue to handle my domain registration, and a different company handle the hostiing of my site? -Aside from the fact that I probably could have saved a few dollars having it handled by one company because they often do the registration renewals free when you host with them.

If I end up not being satisfied with the design/hosting company, I'd feel better about having my domain handled independently. When I set up my domain to "forward" to my hosted site, is there any downside to this?

You aren't going to be "forwarding" your website, what you will be doing is telling your registrar that your domain abcdefg.com points to that webhosting company's IP addresses (name servers) xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx, it really doesn't matter. If you had both at the same company it is the same thing, a table entry in a DB saying abcdefg.com -> xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx so there is no real downside to what you are doing. "Forwarding" is actually having abcdefg.com -> 111.111.111.111 and having it THEN redirect from 111.111.111.111 -> 222.222.222.222 for instance.

The only thing is keeping up with registrations vs. web hosting billing.

From what I have read the way you are doing it now is the preferred way.(having it registed and hosted by different companies).
The reason is unclear to me but it was along the lines of what you touched on.
(making it hard to separate once there tied together).
I have my domain and hosting done by the same company because it just seemed easier to me.
However having design and hosting tied together would seem to me to be more of a worry. I dont know what deal they offer or if you can take your design with you if you choose to go with another hosting company in the future. But I would check that out!
I would maybe go with someone who just designs sites and just host it with a reliable company..
Having said all that I have no experience with design companies as my site is just a hobby site and my first attempt at making one..
Hope I make sense!
James

domain reg and hosting
 

James - With this design hosting company the contract is that I'd have to buy out my design if I left before one year. The design is equal to one year of hosting, and it made sense to pay a reasonable amount because of the design work (assuming a decent design). Because it seems reasonably priced I decided to try it. I guess I got weary after trying to get my site done for years, and finally settled for this - battle fatigue I guess.

I'm skeptical enough to want to keep my domain registration separate, so don't want to accidently use the wrong technical maneuvers while "directing" or pointing or whatever and find out after the fact that I accidently transferred it to the web hosting company.

Mark - when I used my account manager at the registry company it called it "forwarding" but only had me enter the web url, not the domain name server info. Then the other company - the web hosting company - said I did it wrong and said i had to enter their domain info. But that step gives me a warning that I might be discontinuing service with the domain register, so I didn't proceed. Actually I don't quite understand why it's wrong because it works when I type in the registered name - it immediately brings up my site that's under contruction at the design place.

I'm not sure I quite understand your explanation. Which method leaves it registered with the orig. registry? I don't want to accidently "transfer" the account (domain registration account). I'm waiting for a call back from the registry, so maybe they can clarify also.