Google is dedicating a new top-level domain (TLD) to the people who helped build the web: developers. With .dev, developers will be able to build communities, learn new technology and showcase their projects.
“Developers, designers, writers and architects: you built the web. You make it possible for the billions of people online today to do what they do. Have you ever tried to register your preferred domain name, only to find out it’s not available?” Ben Fried, CIO at Google, wrote in a post.
According to Google, the .dev TLD is secured by HTTPS by default, protecting site visitors from malware, being tracked by internet service providers, and being spied on when using open WiFi networks. “With every .dev website that’s launched, you help move the web to an HTTPS-everywhere future,”Fried wrote.
Developers can begin registering domains now through February 28 for an additional fee as part of Google’s Early Access Program. The fee will decrease daily, and on February 28, domains will be available for an annual fee through many different domain registrars.
Examples of some companies using the .dev TLD already include accessibility.dev for digital accessibility solutions, slack.dev for learning about Slack’s resources and libraries, Women Who Code’s women.dev, and workers.dev for building and deploying serverless applications.
Additionally, Google is using .dev for its own projects like web.dev for helping web developers and opensource.dev for how Google uses and supports the open-source community.
“.dev is a secure domain for developers and technology. From tools to platforms, programming languages to blogs, .dev is a home for all the interesting things that you build,” Google wrote in its website.
More information is available here.
