Personal Web Hosting Services
Like what the heck is PHP anyway?
MySQL?
ASP?
CGI?
Cpanel?
CRON JOBS?!? [sounds kind of kinky, doesn't it? heh heh...]
Like uhhhh... Do I need any of that stuff?
DO I EVEN CARE?
AAAAAARRRRRRGGGGHHHHHH!!!! .......... (help me... *whimper*...)
Actually, if you're learning up to become a total geekoid (like me) then you can read up on all of these things on my web hosting terminology page.
The rest of you, follow me...
Okay so it's clear you don't want to be wading around knee-deep in technobabble but you're looking to host a website on the internet anyway (and, of course, you don't want to pay a nickel doing it).
Basically then what you're looking for is one of the 'old school' personal web hosting services which are setups well suited to those who —instead of acting as hands-on power users— would prefer to have a menu of instant and easy solutions.
Be advised though these kinds of free web hosting providers (such as Geocities and Bravenet) have their advantages as well as their disadvantages.
The advantages are:
- You basically get held by the hand as you're walked through the entire process of hosting your website online. No technobabble, no learning curve, no muss, no fuss. Just a lot of easy-to-use site builder screens, free web editors, free templates plus easy-install feedback forms, guestbooks, web counters, etc. Essentially this is "free web hosting for dummies".
- Web hosting services like these are highly reliable, meaning they are commercially successful, which translates into accountability to their sponsors and ultimately little downtime for your website.
- Since everything is handed to you on a silver platter, you don't really learn anything about hosting a website. You never really get to pop the hood and tinker around or —better yet— customise the engine that really makes your website run. This could ultimately be to your detriment when further on down the line you want to do something more advanced with your site and you're stuck with their generic easy-bake-oven solutions.
- You will —and this is with all due respect as services like these helped me get my start in web development— but you will have to put up with the most BUTT UGLY advertisements displayed on all your web pages. (Remember the golden rule we learned from the previous page - WEB HOSTING COST$ MONEY. They gotta make it somehow, right?)
When I first started in web design seven years ago, I found that personal hosting services like these were just what I needed to help me quickly digest the whole concept of maintaining an actual web presence. It's one thing to say to yourself, "Hmmm... I think I'd like to have a website". It's a whole other thing to actually see your name up in lights on the internet and then suddenly realize, "Hey wow. This is really happening. People might actually see this. Uh oh... (gulp)..."
Next we'll get into why you shouldn't use free web hosting to set up a business website...
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