Web Hosting

[mathare]

I'm thinking of starting a web site. I'm sure it is very simple and I am computer literate but I don't know where to start.

I need to register a domain name and get someone to host the site yeah?

I get some free webspace with Blueyonder I think. Should I start with the site hosted there before branching out? Work out what I need in terms of scripting etc. before I splash the cash on proper web space?

Can anyone recommend good places to register domain names and also web hosting services?

Thanks in advance
Mat

[markwales]

Free web hotsing www.geocities.com and an easy way to start.

Domain names, I use www.freeparking.co.uk they offer all you need to start up and for a .co.uk domain it's 9.99 for 2 years.

Loads of options out there.

Mark.

[GlosRFC]

It depends what you want to do - using BY's PWP space is perfectly acceptable for a non-business website. After all it's not free as you've already paid for it in your monthly subscription so you might as well use it. I use mine and there's more than enough space to create a largish site - I must have close to 100 pages with accompanying flash files. Feel free to check out my profile for a link to the site.

No need to learn anything fancy in terms of scripting either - BY provide a set of logs automatically through their self-care pages that allow you to check visitors, etc. However, you will need to upgrade to their more expensive PWP options if you want to use Perl or CGI. The other limitation is the URL that you have to use, it's quite long-winded in the format of www.yourPWPalias.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk but you should be able to find a service that forwards referrals to the correct site should you decide to purchase your own snazzy domain name. PWP is also geared up to using Frontpage if that's your choice of editor but there's nothing to stop you using your own and FTPing the results to the server.

In summary then, I'd suggest you use your BY space initially so that you can really familiarise yourself with HTML, DHTML, CSS, and maybe experiment with Javascript or VBscript too. Only then, once you've mastered these vital skills, should you consider shelling out additional cash to host your site elsewhere.

[mathare]

Cheers Glos and Mark.

FreeParking offer URL masking which means that my chose domain name will still appear in the address bar even though the site will be hosted on my PWP on Blueyonder so I will probably go with them.

Thanks for the help guys

[GlosRFC]

No problem Mathare. Let us have a look when you're all done.

[vegyjones]

Is it ready yet? :D

[Fadetoblack]

I've heard of kids in Asia who've had their hands chopped off for dragging up old threads....

[vegyjones]

This thread was 7 minutes old when you dragged it out of the gutter my friend! :wink :D

[mathare]

Is it ready yet? :DHave you nothing better to do?

I found numerous better things to do so let my claim on the domain expire without ever really bothering to put anything up on the web. Oh well.

[vegyjones]

Have you nothing better to do?

Well, err. No actually! :D

[TheOldhamWhisper]

I use webwizhost - the cost of around £40 a year includes domain name registration and lots of useful little tools - it can also be upgraded to more expesive packages (but the base one is more than enough for everyday use). As you 'own' the domain, you also have all the email addresses associated with it (you can send all to just one account for ease of use or set up several different ones). The emails can be accessed via webmail or through the email client of your choice.

All in all it's a pretty good package but (because of the costs) you really need to be sure that is what you need. There is plenty of free space out there and .co.uk domain names start as low as around a fiver for 2 years (through 123-reg dot co dot uk) with web forwarding and email forwarding as standard, so shop around and decide on the best package for your purpose.

[presto]

i use bluehost - you can host 6 www's on 1 domain, price is reasnoble - i got the www's from 1-2-3 reg. only problem is my design skills are crap :laugh