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Notice how the default domain for stackoverflow is http://stackoverflow.com and if you try to goto http://www.stackoverflow.com it bounces you to http://stackoverflow.com ?
What is the reason for this? Not the tech reason (as in the http code, etc) but why would the site owners want to do this?
I know it's purely aesthetic and I always have host-headers for both www and not, but is there a reason to bounce a user to a single domain, subheaded or not?
Thanks for the answers so far - please note I understand that www.domain.com can point to domain.com. This is not a question about if i should offer both or either/or, it's asking why some sites default to a baredomain instead of www subdomains, or vice-versa. Cheers.
Jeff Atwood actually HAS explained why he's gone for bare domains here and here. (Nod to Jonas Pegerfalk for the post :) )
Jeff's post (and others in this thread) also talk about the problems of a bare domain with cookies and static images. Basically, if you have cookies on in a bare domain, then all subdomains are forced also. The solution is to purchase another domain, as posted by the Yahoo Perf Team here.
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If you have a large website or anticipate your website to grow, you should opt for a www domain. It does not add that much complexity to the name and has some inherent technical advantages. If you have a small website, using a www domain is unnecessary.
People tend to leave the www out when typing a website's address. It might not cause significant issues since visitors will reach the same page, but it's best to redirect site visitors to its www version. This is because your site's performance and SEO might be affected if you keep using non-www domains.
It's actually not necessary to use WWW in URLs. It exists for just one purpose—to identify the web address. This is not the case with other important URL signifiers, such as a File Transfer Protocol (FTP) server (ftp) or news server (news). As such, WWW may be classified as a subdomain of a larger website.
The Case For 'www'If you're using a less recognisable or ambiguous TLD, such as mysite. ninja, adding a 'www' will help avoid any doubt. Without the 'www', you must set your root (non-www) domain DNS A-record to point at your web server's IP address.
Jeff Atwood has written a great article about the The Great Dub-Dub-Dub Debate. There is also a blog entry in the Stackoverflow blog on why and how Stackoverflow has dropped the www prefix.
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