Finding a Web Host - What to look for in a web hosting company

Welcome to the 1st part of our web design tutorial where we look at web hosting.

1 - Finding a host	2 - Programs	3 - Designing page layout
4 - Designing part 2	5 - Intro to HTML	6 - Intro to HTML Part 2
7 - Creating the page

This tutorial is designed to give new designers step by step instruction to produce their first basic website. This is not aimed to be a 'how to make the perfect website' tutorial it is solely to outline the basic principles and structure. There are many different ways to create a website, some better than others, there are also many different programs you can use to create a website faster and easier.

This short course will take you through the various steps to help you make your first website with ease.

This is what you will need to create your own website:

A domain name and webspace to store your website.
Text Editor / HTML Editor to create the pages.
FTP Program or a means of uploading your files to your web host.
Graphics program to create any images you may require.

The first thing on the list is somewhere to host your site and if needed get a domain name, if you already have a host then continue onto the next part Programs.

There are lots of different web hosting companies all offering different services. Some offer free hosting (which may suit your first site) but they may put adverts on your site, they are however very useful for practicing.

There are deals out there which make having your own hosting very cheap indeed, we will look at these now.

When looking for a host there are a few important things to keep in mind. For instance, as this is your first site then you may need help with basic things, which some hosts simply won't do.

Other things to consider are what you will need for your particular site. For example how much space you need to store your pages, how much bandwidth you need (explained below), and what if any special extras you need to create your site.

First, let's look at how much web space you might need. This is, as you may have guessed, how much physical space you need to store your web pages and images.

If the site is going to be less than say 200 pages then 50Mb will be ample as the average web page should be between 2Kb and 50Kb, so this would leave plenty of room for any images you may want to use (200 times 50Kb is around 10Mb).

Bandwidth is a measurement of how much data (information) can be transferred over a set period of time. For instance every time someone looks at a page/image on your website this increases your bandwidth use.

The average hosting company offers between 1Gb (1024 Mb) and 20Gb a month. So the calculation for the bandwidth would be the size of the pages/images viewed by each visitor times how many visitors per month.

An extra you may need is a CGI-BIN which will allow you to run special scripts that can make your website more interactive. CGI stands for Common Gateway Interface, to use CGI you will need access to a scripting language the two most popular of which are PHP and Perl.

Another extra you may need is a database to store and retrieve information, the 2 most common database systems are MySQL and Microsoft Access, which one you use will depend on your host. We will soon be putting up a course on PHP and MySQL which will get you started.

For more about the technologies and extras see our web hosting guide.

We have spent a lot of time (too much time) looking at different hosting packages for ourselves and some of our partners and we have come up with a couple of the best ones which we use and recommend.

Some hosts let you register a domain FREE when you buy web space. We have included the different specifications and the price for you to compare, along with a link to each host so you can find out more.

Host 1 - United States

Host 2 - United Kingdom

iPower, Inc

FREE Domain Name
1500 GB of Space for your Web Site
15000 GB of Bandwidth
Host Unlimited Domains
2500 E-Mail Accounts
Blogs, Forums, Galleries
Template-Based Site Building Tool
E-Commerce Software
FrontPage & Dreamweaver Compatible
CGI, Ruby, Perl, PHP, MySQL
FTP, FileManager Upload Tool
Customer Feedback Tools
$75 in Google and Yahoo Search Credits
24x7 Customer Support
Free Setup

$3.98 - per month*
* Paid annually

What a hosting package! Including everything most webmasters will ever need, this is a powerful package for any user! The 1500 GB of webspace, 15000 GB of Bandwidth and a price tag of just $3.98 a month* make this a great package for your first site and beyond.

Click here for more info or to buy now!

Fasthosts.co.uk

Linux or Windows
5 GB web space
Unlimited Bandwidth monthly
1000 free pop email boxes
FREE £50 Microsoft adCenter voucher
FREE £50 Google AdWords voucher
FREE FTP software + 10 FTP accounts
New & improved SiteBuilder
FrontPage Extensions 2002
MatrixStats - Advanced visitor statistics
Password protected website folders
SSL secure web space
200 sub-domains
Blogging - Free Starter blog included
FREE professional images from Fotolia
Many other packages available, including dedicated servers

£3.99 - per month

If you are looking for reliable hosting in the UK then look no further. Unlimited bandwidth giving you the freedom to publish multimedia content without worrying about bandwidth charges. 5 GB of webspace and all of the features you would expect from a top hosting company. Check out their website for other offers!

Click here for more info or to buy now!

For more hosting packages see our web hosting services guide.

Click here to continue the tutorial.