Theo,

What kind of things do you need with your domain? I like godaddy, but I have another domain registered with namecheap.com - just to park it.

I'd like to have email capability, and PHP/MySQL, since I want to be able to develop and test stuff, at least in small quantities.

I like Godaddy's prices, but loathe their web interface. For domain + hosting, I've been very happy with Dreamhost.

Theo,

go with godaddy then. btw, you can use gmail for domains with godaddy. There are instructions on how to set it up and may happen automatically if this is something you want to do.

dreamhost is great, but I found it to be far more expensive than what I needed.

Godaddy really is a good choice for registering domains. Use someone else for hosting, and you won't have deal with their annoying interface very often. I use steadfast networks which has so far proven cheap and reliabile. Evil Jimi also uses them.

What's annoying about their interface? What makes a good interface for doing domain stuff?

Godaddy buries stuff really deep in separate menus. Not bad for registering domain names, cause you don't make changes often. But if you actually have to manage a web site through that kind of interface it becomes a pain to dig through all the menus, and scroll past all the options that are really attempts to upsell you. You don't want to have to do that every time change security settings on your web site, or enable a language or database option. It would be really annoying if made you changes to web content via the interface, but probably if you change your web site often you will use ftp.

I mean most interfaces are OK, but Godaddy is really an extreme PITA because of how badly organized the menus are, and the really high ratio of "menu options that are really just trying to sell you something" to options you actually use.

What Typo said.

They also make it next to impossible to unlock your domain if you ever want to transfer it to another registrar (as I did). Not through any explicit maliciousness, just by burying the option in such an obscure and confusing place that they hope you'll decide it's not worth the hassle.

Dreamhost is more expensive (it's a good value, but way more storage and bandwidth than I'll ever use) but I don't mind paying extra for a control panel that doesn't raise my blood pressure.

Thanks so much -- that gives me what I want to know, indeed!