I want to buy and set up an SSL certificate on one of my domain names. However, since SSL Certs involve purchases, I would like to get other’s opinions before I actually go out and buy something.
I would like to know two things:
Can I purchase a simple SSL certificate (I’m looking at GoDaddy’s one-year offer on a Standard SSL Certificate — on sale for $12.99) which, as I understand it, once installed, provides “Domain-Only Validation”?
I think that means that if someone types in
https://example.com
, it will still show up with a “locked” symbol in IE and a blue bar in FF. Am I correct in this assessment? (I’m looking for someone who’s done exactly this before to give his/her opinion, please.)At the programming end, I need to form an HTTPS connection to a third-party server. In my PHP-based website, I have been forming connections to an HTTP server (both HTTP and HTTPS are available), but I want to connect to the HTTPS one to offer better security to my users. I have no clue whether an SSL Certificate from GoDaddy will allow that or not, and if so, how I should go about doing that. I would like someone's opinion if they’ve done something like this before (again, with the GoDaddy SSL Certificate, please).