Recording the Project Name, Candidate Domain and Registration Result Separately for a Personal Portfolio

When starting a personal portfolio or small project site, it is common to mix up your internal project name with the actual domain you intend to register. This article explains why keeping these three elements—Project Name, Candidate Domain, and Registration Result—in distinct records helps maintain clarity. We will use a hypothetical scenario to demonstrate how to document these details effectively before and after the registration step.

Setting Up Separate Records for Your Portfolio Project

Suppose a first-time builder is preparing a portfolio for recent illustration work, and the name they use while sketching has not yet been separated from what a visitor will eventually type. The working title “Quiet Harbor Portfolio” describes the theme, but it is not a domain candidate. Two name candidates might sit beside it: “quiet-harbor-studio” and “qhp-drawings”, both written as second-level labels before any suffix is chosen. Neither is settled, and that is the point.

The practical record has three columns. The first holds the project name: a folder called “Quiet Harbor Portfolio”, chosen for the builder’s own reference. The second holds candidate domain labels, such as “quiet-harbor-studio” and “qhp-drawings”, marked pending rather than approved. The third records a registration result only after it exists; in this hypothetical draft, that cell stays blank because no lookup or purchase is described. Each column answers a different question: what the work is called internally, what might become a web address, and what was actually registered.

One unresolved choice matters for the explanation. “qhp-drawings” is short and unlikely to be confused with the project title, while “quiet-harbor-studio” is easier to say aloud but closer to a phrase others might also choose. The builder has not decided which to treat as the leading candidate, and the record should show that indecision rather than hide it. A separate note can explain that a domain label is only one part of a full address, which also includes a suffix and later a path; that distinction keeps a candidate label from being mistaken for the finished site address.

Defining Your Internal Project Name Clearly

Take your working title and write it on a line by itself, then add a second line that begins with “the visitor will type”. For a portfolio themed around recent illustration work, the first line might read “Quiet Harbor Portfolio — my own label for this collection” and the second might read “the visitor will type: quiet-harbor-studio or qhp-drawings, suffix not yet chosen”. Notice what changed: the theme words stay on the private line, and only the shorter label goes on the public line. You can do this with any draft name you already have.

The second line is where the real decision sits, and you can keep both candidates visible until you have a reason to drop one. Consider “qhp-drawings” if you want something short that is unlikely to be confused with the descriptive title; consider “quiet-harbor-studio” if you would rather the typed address echo the theme. Neither choice is settled by writing it down, and you might leave both in the record for a while. The value is that the private label and the typed label no longer occupy the same line, so a later edit to one does not quietly rewrite the other.

You might also note, beside each candidate, one sentence on why it is still there — “short, but initials may need explaining” or “reads clearly, but longer to type”. These are your own observations, not verdicts, and they give you something concrete to compare when you return to the file. If you later settle on one, keep the discarded candidate in the record rather than deleting it, so the choice remains visible as a choice.

Listing Candidate Domains Based on Label Rules

MDN's guidance on domain names states that a label is a case-insensitive sequence of one to sixty-three characters containing only the letters A through Z, the digits 0 through 9, and the hyphen character, which may not be the first or last character in the label. That range and character set are what the source applies to a label, and it gives “a”, “97”, and “hello-strange-person-16-how-are-you” as valid examples. The label positioned immediately before the TLD is also called the Secondary Level Domain, or SLD.¹

Applying those stated label rules to candidate names is a step you can take before choosing any suffix, but the rules above are the limit of what the cited page supports for this check; it does not set a preference between candidates. The same page also notes that a domain name can have many labels and that having three labels is not mandatory, a point worth keeping separate from label validity.¹

Take your project name and the visitor-facing name as two separate lines, then add a short note under each candidate about what the label communicates. For “Quiet Harbor Portfolio,” you might write “qhp-drawings — short, initials may need explaining” and “quiet-harbor-studio — reads clearly, longer to type.” Neither line is a registration decision yet; you can keep both visible and compare how each would look if a visitor said it aloud or copied it.

You might let your own preference decide which candidate stays beside the project name for now, then write one sentence on why. That sentence makes the choice revisitable instead of turning a working title into a settled address.

Understanding the Difference Between Domain and URL

A domain is only one part of a URL, and the URL source describes that relationship directly. In the authority portion that follows the scheme and ://, the domain indicates which web server is being requested; the source notes this is usually a domain name, though an IP address may also be used. The full URL also carries a scheme such as HTTPS or HTTP, and may include a port, a path to the resource, parameters, and an anchor.²

For the record, this means the domain goes in its own field, not in the field meant for a complete address. The source states that a URL is the address of a unique resource on the internet, while the domain merely identifies the requested server. It also notes that in theory each valid URL points to a unique resource, with exceptions such as resources that no longer exist or have moved.²

A second documented point concerns the path. The source says a path is mostly an abstraction handled by web servers today, rather than a physical file location, and that the part after the # is never sent to the server with the request. So the registration-result field should hold the candidate domain, while any address field reflects what the browser requests after a scheme is applied.²

Take your two written candidates and read each one aloud beside the working title, then note what a visitor would see in an address bar. You can compare “quiet-harbor-studio” and “qhp-drawings” as second-level labels only, before any suffix: one spells out the theme, the other is shorter and less descriptive. A useful next action is to mark one line as the candidate and one as the title, without treating either as chosen yet.

For the clearest test, you might write a full example address using the difference a browser shows: the domain is the registered name plus its suffix, while the URL is that address plus the path to a particular page, such as an about page or a gallery page. Keeping the project name, the candidate label and any later registration note on separate lines lets you revise one without disturbing the others.

Documenting the Registration Status Separately

For the registration-result line, record what is actually known about the name's status rather than a guess. ICANN notes that a new registration can prevent transfer for 60 days, and that a 60-day Change of Registrant lock can follow edits to the registrant name, organization or email address, or the administrative contact email where there is no registrant email; some registrars may offer an opt-out, but they do not have to. Keep the candidate and project name lines untouched while you write these dates or lock notes separately, so a later reader can tell a choice from a recorded condition.³

Next, you can give registration its own entry rather than mixing it into the notes beside the project name or the two candidates. Use a line that starts with a clear label such as “registration status,” then record only what you actually know: “not yet attempted,” “checked availability on a date,” or “registered through a provider.” You might keep this as a plain sentence in your notes, separate from the reasons for choosing either label.

You can also decide not to register yet. If you do, write “decision pending” and the one condition that would settle it, for example, “choose after the portfolio text is finished.” That keeps the record honest without implying an action you have not taken.

Reviewing DNS Record Types for Future Setup

For the future setup step, the Cloudflare DNS record types page lists record types you can manage on Cloudflare , including A and AAAA, CNAME, MX, TXT, CAA, SRV, and NS. It states that at least one IP address resolution record is required for each domain on Cloudflare , and that A and AAAA records are the only ones you can proxy through Cloudflare .⁴

The page describes A and AAAA records as mapping a domain name to one or multiple IPv4 or IPv6 addresses, with fields for name, IP address, TTL, and proxy status. For a portfolio site, record which type you would need only after choosing where the site is hosted; the page does not say which type fits a given host.⁴

For this section, you can compare documented record types against the three entries you have already written: project name, candidate label, and registration result. The source material describes record types such as A, AAAA, and CNAME without tying them to your choices, so you might write each type on its own line and add a question beside it about what you would eventually need to connect.

For example, an author demonstrating the exercise could write “A: points a name to an address — which name in my record?” and “CNAME: another name for the same place — would I use it for a subdomain?” You can keep these as open questions rather than decisions. Record the result as part of the future setup note only when you choose.

Frequently asked questions

How can I keep my own working title separate from the name a visitor will type when sketching?

Take your working title and write it on a line by itself, then add a second line that begins with “the visitor will type”. For a portfolio themed around recent illustration work, the first line might read “Quiet Harbor Portfolio — my own label for this collection” and the second might read “the visitor will type: quiet-harbor-studio or qhp-drawings, suffix not yet chosen”.

How can I note one reason beside each candidate when keeping both in my record?

You might also note, beside each candidate, one sentence on why it is still there — “short, but initials may need explaining” or “reads clearly, but longer to type”. These are your own observations, not verdicts, and they give you something concrete to compare when you return to the file.

How can I write a short note under each candidate about what the label communicates?

Take your project name and the visitor-facing name as two separate lines, then add a short note under each candidate about what the label communicates. For “Quiet Harbor Portfolio,” you might write “qhp-drawings — short, initials may need explaining” and “quiet-harbor-studio — reads clearly, longer to type.”