Web Hosting Tutorial and Guide
Learn how easy it is you get your own .com, .net, .org
Dave's Guide to Domain Names - Web Hosting Suggestions and Recommendations
The web hosting companies mentioned on this page are paying sponsors of this web site.
The steps to making your web site are pretty easy:
- You learn HTML here at davesite.com.
- You make your web site.
- You upload (copy) your web site files to your web host.
- Your web site is online for the whole world to see!
Chapters 1 to 9 cover HTML, and Chapter 10 covers getting your site up and running after you've ordered your hosting plan.
But you're going to need a place to put your site once it's done, as explained above.
So what do you get with a web host? You get a professionally-trained staff of computer experts running your web site 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, from a secure location somewhere in the world.
They pay the electric bill, the air conditioning bill, the bills for computer upgrades, yeah, you get the picture.
Can you say "discount?"
Hosting, even on a full-featured $10 a month package, is one of the best deals for anything you'll get in life, ever. You can barely get a pizza for $10. You can get a month of professional hosting for that, and your site will be online for the whole world to see.
Each domain is purchased separately, for example, example.info and example.com are two different websites!
If someone has your top choice in .com, register it with another ending!
Sign up for a host now so that you're ready to post your site once you've finished the course!
| Hosting Company | Special Features | Host Details | Disk Space/ Bandwidth | Domain Price | Price (Click for More) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
iPage Expert Web Hosting | "Best Control Panel Ever"/ Enhanced Security/100% Green | View Specials | Unlimited/Unlimited | Free (ever year) | |
| Globat Hosting | Free Blogging Software/ Easy Control Panel Setup |
View Specials | Unlimited/Unlimited | Free (first year) | |
| GreenGeeks Hosting | Enhanced Security (SSH)/ North American 24/7 Support |
View Specials | Unlimited/Unlimited | Free (every year) | |
|
FutureQuest
Expert Community Web Hosting |
FutureQuest is my official host offering round-the-clock support. SSH/IMAP/Monthly Payments (This site is hosted on FutureQuest for $8.95.) | View Specials | 1.2GB/40GB | Bring Your Own | $8.95/mo
(Special: At FutureQuest you pay one month at a time, not a full year.) |
| 1&1
Hosting |
Enhanced Security (SSH)/ Scripting, and IMAP Secure Email | View Specials | 250GB/Unlimited | 3 Free (every year) | $9.99/mo |
Launching your first web site, typing in your domain name, and having your site pop right up is an incredible experience. You also get customized e-mail addresses that you get to pick, loads of space, and many host have bonus software and credits.
Getting your own domain name and starting a web site is one of the best choices you might make in your life. It certainly was for me.
**Highly Recommended**
I signed up for iPage Web Hosting to test out the service because I heard loads of great reviews. The control panel is absolutely amazing (I am probably going to get very little web design done today just because I love looking around at all the features.) I've honestly never loved a host this much in my entire life. You NEED to order iPage as your host. Yeah, you can check out the others below, but trust me, iPage is your absolute best bet, and you can't beat $4.50 a month. Get Details.
If I could predict the winner of
best hosting for 2012, I'm sure it'd be iPage.
**Highly Recommended**
I've had a great experience being a Globat Web Hosting customer for over seven full years now!
I picked Globat Web Hosting as a host because I was looking for a reliable company with a great track record. It was a definite plus that they have plans under $10 a month.
Globat Web Hosting is an excellent choice for new web designers or new webmasters looking for a superb company. It's easy to order your package in minutes and set up is an absolute breeze. Your package hasa great web-mail feature (similar to Hotmail or Yahoo Mail), and it also has an easy-to-configure control panel that anyone can understand.
View hosting offers from Globat.
Make Globat one of your first choices.
**Highly Recommended**
Sale: Get three years of environmentally-friendly green hosting locked in at $4.95/mo!
I've never had a single problem with my sites on GreenGeeks.
GreenGeeks offers all of the basics of any package, then they add additional security features such as SSH (great for updating from coffee shops safely over wi-fi) and IMAP for advanced e-mailing.
You may not know what all of these feature mean yet, but GreenGeeks is a host you'll host with for years so you might need these features once you're up and running! Trust me, these are features that in a few years will be a must have for a web site.
Put more simply, whether you're a beginner or a pro, GreenGeeks has a package you'll love.
You're easily getting a $30 a month value (that's what you'd pay elsewhere for something this great) and it costs you less than $10 a month.
I can absolutely recommended GreekGeeks for your hosting needs. I can speak personally as a sastified GreenGeeks customer.
1&1 Hosting is also a top ranking hosting company. It's really easy to set up, speedy, and after all that, it's fun. The daily stats are great. The only thing I have to say negatively about them is that the webmail client is good, but can get better. When you visit their site, select Linux hosting (it's the most secure and it works with your computer even if its Windows or Mac)
For new designers in the UK, I recommend 1&1
Internet Ltd.
Getting a Web Host - Domain Name Basics
While you're learning to code HTML, you're able to test your new skills online in your web browser window.
When you start creating your own web site, you'll edit and save your HTML files on your own computer.
Once you've finished your web site, you save a copy of it online on the Internet for the world to see (we call this "uploading your web site.")
The place where you upload your web site files for the world to see is called a web host.
You may have seen hosting packages offer a free domain name. So what is a domain name? A domain name is a web address that ends in .com, .net, .org, or another ending. (There are lots of choices... it's no longer just .com!)
Your domain name will point to your web site on the host you choose.
Getting a domain name is really easy. When I wanted davesite.com, I made sure no one else had it, and just started paying my small yearly fee for it.
Now when someone types www.davesite.com in their web browser, my web site magically pops up.
The most important feature of a domain name is that you own it.
When you get a domain name, you own the worldwide name. As long as you've picked a legal name for it (not someone else's trademark) no one will be able to take it from you.
Domains names are important because:
- Your web address never changes. When you print a flyer, or include the address in a book, you don't have to worry about it.
- It looks very professional.
- Your e-mail address never has to change. If you own the domain name, you@yourdomain.com will always work.
- You have the freedom to move. You can move your site to a new host if you're not pleased with the one you're using.
When you purchase a domain name, you decide where the domain should go. How's that for control?
There are more choices than just .com. Some other popular extensions are .biz, .net, .org, .info, .name, and .us. (There are many, many more!)
If the name you want is taken in .com, try it with .biz or .info or one of the other extensions!
Even More Details on Hosting
Following Chapter 10 (which will show you how easy it is to use something called FTP to post your site online), you'll have a chance to read about my history with web hosting (it dates back 14 years, that's how long davesite.com has been running!)
I have a technical detail of of the domain name system (DNS) for those interested in how to manually register a domain name. Luckily, my recommended hosts above don't require you to do any of that work. It's automatic with my recommendations, a huge time saver!
Here are my four recommended hosts again:
Did you pick your host and order your package?
(Please support these hosts. They're the only reason this site can be kept free for you to learn! Thanks!)
Try It Out! -- This MiniChapter's Quick Exercise
This chapter's exercise is a short, simple three steps.
Read the reviews above.
Pick the two hosts that interest you most.
Click below to view the details of
the two hosts that you picked.
Once you've gotten a pretty solid idea of what you need in a host after reviewing two of the hosts in step 2:
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URL: http://www.davesite.com/webstation/html/hosting_tutorial.shtml
Dave's Guide to Domains - Web Hosting Tutorial and Hosting Reviews