Why “www” showed up in front
Back in the day, “www.example.com” was the default look. “www” was a simple subdomain saying “this is the web server.” Not mandatory, but there were practical reasons it spread.
How “www” became a thing ⏳
Admins used to split services by subdomain: www for web, mail for mail, ftp for FTP—one host, one role.
Early habits
- Servers often handled a single service; hostnames mapped almost 1:1 to boxes.
- DNS labels made roles obvious: www=web server, ftp=file transfer, mail=SMTP/IMAP.
- Virtual hosting wasn’t widespread yet, so splitting by hostname was natural.
DNS reasons and perks 🧭
Adding “www” sometimes simplified DNS and hosting setups.
Apex vs. CNAME
- The apex (example.com) can’t be a CNAME; pointing www to a CDN via CNAME was a common workaround.
- www could be CNAME to CDN, while the apex used A/AAAA for on-prem or another role.
Cookies and subdomains
- Limit cookies to www and keep static.example.com cookie-free to save bandwidth.
- Subdomains help separate scopes with same-origin in mind.
Use it—or not—today 📌
Both approaches are fine; pick based on simplicity or operational needs.
Why skip it
- Short, clean URLs (serve from the apex).
- ALIAS/ANAME and modern DNS make apex + CDN easier than before.
Why keep it
- Flexibility: CNAME www to CDN while apex does something else.
- Cookie/CORS scope separation by subdomain.
- Preserve existing URLs and SEO/bookmarks.
Practical tips
Whatever you choose, make it canonical.
Recommendations
- Pick www or apex as canonical and 301-redirect the other.
- If using HSTS preload, choose carefully which host you preload.
- Check cookie domain settings and CORS origins match your choice.