Curse you! Curse you, Domain Lookup!

I was doing so well this week being a good boy on the finances and then I found this Domain Lookup extension for Firefox. Well, of course, I had to test it out and see if it worked, right? Well, I purchased more domains than I cared to this week.

Let me tell you a little bit about the Domain Lookup extension.

Overview

The Domain Lookup extension takes a highlighted text selection and sends it to your favorite domain registrar to see if it's available.

For domainers, this is an excellent tool to have around. I've seen GoDaddy's Firefox extension which, essentially, does the same thing, but the Domain Lookup extension provides a wide variety of registrars to choose from instead of just GoDaddy.com.

Installation

The Domain Lookup extension isn't large at all. The extension is 23k and considered a transparent extension, meaning it's not activated until you highlight text on the web page and use the context menu.

Features

Domain Lookup isn't feature-packed, but it does a great job going to each registrar and checking the domain names.

Highlight text in the browser, press the shortcut key (Shift+Ctrl+L is the default) and you will be taken to the registrar you selected in your configuration screen.

Another way to activate the Domain Lookup is right-click on the web page and select "domain lookup for <name>." My problem was I could find a shortcut key that wasn't being used so I used this method instead.

The registrars currently supported in Domain Lookup are:

• 1&1
• DirectNic
• DomainDiscover
• Dotster
• eNom
• Fabulous
• GoDaddy
• Melbourne IT
• Moniker
• Register.com
• NameCheap
• NameScout
• Network Solutions
• UKReg
• UK2

The nice thing about the Domain Lookup extension is you can even search for specific TLD (Top Level Domains). All are supported and the author even mentioned if you want other TLD's, contact him and he'll see what he can do.

Configuration

The configuration screen is very simple and contains no tabbed interface or tree views. Just a simple dialog screen for quick and immediate action.

To access the configuration screen, there is an option under the Tools pulldown called "Domain Lookup Options..." Select that menu item to display the configuration screen.

The Domain Registrar option, as I said above, lists all of the supported domain registrars. Moniker is the default registrar.

Select the TLDs you want to include in your domain hunt in the TLD section.

Do you want a shortcut key to activate the Domain Lookup instead of using the context menu by right-clicking? It's worth it, but I couldn't find an available shortcut key to apply it to (I've got so many extensions...sheesh).

The updates section allows you to connect and update the supported domain registrars in the configuration.

Conclusion

The Domain Lookup extension is great to have around and performs a helpful service. Maybe even a little too helpful. I've been buying domains left and right using this extension.

As I said above: Curse you, Domain Lookup! (in a good way).

With that said, I am wondering why an "Update Now" button exists on the config screen when an update of the extension would work just as well.

Would a domain registrar's URL change that often to require an update button? I would think issuing a new update of the extension would be good enough unless there is another reason to place it there.

The Domain Lookup extension receives a rating of 4 out of 5.

See ya next week.

If you want your Firefox add-on reviewed, please contact me with the URL and we'll let you know when it's reviewed.