| Every Web Hosting Provider offers you a multitude | | | | creating full member areas. If you want a website |
| of options, and if you're new to the game of Hosting | | | | that allows people to interact with your website, |
| a Website, this can be a daunting task in knowing | | | | then you most probably will need some form of |
| which options to choose from. I have often come | | | | Scripting. There are alot of free scripts out there, |
| accross people that are paying too much for what | | | | with PHP being the most popular. It's important to |
| they're actually doing with their website. If you don't | | | | first know what scripts your website's going to be |
| use a database, why pay for it? | | | | running, before going for a webhost - as not all |
| Knowing what each option is for, can really save you | | | | webhosts offer every type of scripting solution out |
| from paying more than what you really need to pay. | | | | there. |
| HTML: Websites are written in a language called | | | | DATABASES: If you want to store hugh amounts of |
| HTML, and this is the basic function that every Web | | | | data to make available to your visitors, or run a |
| Host offers you - without HTML, there is no web | | | | content management system like Joomla, then you'll |
| site. | | | | need a database for this. You also need a way to |
| HTML code tells the web server what the website | | | | get the data in and out of the Database, so you'll |
| should look like, where to load the images, and the | | | | need PHP as well - But, most web hosting companies |
| links to other pages. HTML isn't really difficult, and is | | | | will give youboth options bundled together. |
| fairly easy to pick-up. To learn more about HTML you | | | | CONTROL PANEL: There are various control panels |
| can go to which has some great tutorials on HTML. | | | | that web hosting providers use, and they all perform |
| You can also use tools like Front Page and | | | | the same function - allowing you to control your |
| Dreamweaver to build pages,but having a basic | | | | website. I have no real preferance for any specific |
| knowledge of HTML can only help. | | | | control panel, as they pretty much all do the same |
| DISK SPACE: The size of the disk space is important | | | | thing. |
| if you're going to have a big website with lots of | | | | DOMAINS: Most Webhost providers will register a |
| pages. This is where your pages get stored, and you | | | | domain for you at a extra cost. Be sure to check out |
| need space for them. I always like to start small, and | | | | registrars of domains, to see if you cannot buy it for |
| then upgrade as my requirements grow. | | | | cheaper. Registering a domain at something like is |
| BANDWIDTH: When ever somebody visits your | | | | pretty cheap, and pretty easy to do. What makes it |
| website, information is being transferred from your | | | | sometimes better to go via the hosting company is |
| website to their web browser. This transfer creates | | | | that they will manage the whole aspect of the |
| traffic that is and this traffic is measured as | | | | domain for you, where with a service like Go-Daddy |
| Bandwidth. As with diskspace you can usually | | | | it's up to you to manage the whole domain - So, it's |
| upgrade this as needed. I have found that it's better | | | | sometime a cost saving option to go with the Web |
| to go with a webhost that charges you extra | | | | Host. |
| whenever you go over the allocated amount as this | | | | A lot of these options you can add to your website |
| usually ensures that your website stays up and | | | | as you need them. It's not always best to go for the |
| running even if it costs you a bit extra. | | | | most expensive package out there. Find out what |
| PHP/ASP/CGI: Allows you to write various scripts into | | | | you need, and then only purchase those options you |
| your website that does little extras that HTML | | | | need. You can save yourself some real money at the |
| cannot do on it's own - Anything from allowing | | | | end of the day. |
| people to make comments on your website to | | | | |