Domain name & Web site hosting

TerryH

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Happy New year to everyone

I am thinking that sometime in the future I would like to have my own web site. Is it best I register the domain name now? and if so, any suggestions on who I registar with? Also, what web host company do you suggest?
 
I am looking into this at the moment,

a key question, is your website going to be purely photos or one with other different content ie family/interests or business?

a lot of people use Pbase, smugmug or Zenfolio for Photosites. for other sites there are hundreds of companys offering domains with hosting. :help:

good luck and let us know what you find :thumbs:
 
Thank for the responses. I am not sure yet if I only want the site for photo's. My gut feeling is yes. At the moment I think I am concerned about getting the domain name.
 
You can buy domain name from any number of places and point it to wherever you want to host your files whenever you want to.

I used to use UKreg until that big balls up they had with security, now I use 123-reg.co.uk for domain registration.
 
If you're looking at a non-pro website then you might like the deal from Netfirms.com. Deal includes;

* $10 for one full year of Netfirms Advantage Hosting!
* 2 FREE domain names
* 250GB of disk space
* 2,000GB data transfer per month
* Host unlimited websites with a single account!
* Support for PHP, Perl, and MySQL
* 24-hour technical support

With this you get a .com (which i prefer to a .co.uk) and taking advantage of the current $-£ exchange rate its less than a £5 for the first year.

I set one up a month ago, it was up and running within the hour and has been a doddle to upload files to and use. Link is: Netfirms
 
I was thinking of using 123-reg.co.uk for domain registration. so thanks Matt.
 
Madferrit - I have just read your comments - worth a look I think - thanks
 
I host with ehosting.com... Support is pretty rapid and you can phone them as well. Not many places offer this anymore, its just a submit a ticket and we'll fix it asap...

You're probably looking for something along the lines of good fast uk hosting. I can vouch for ehosting.com...

Ed :)
 
I was thinking of using 123-reg.co.uk for domain registration. so thanks Matt.

DON'T DO IT!!!! :thumbsdown:

I've had a domain with them for years but since Pipex took them over the service has gone down hill. The nameservers have been down for an entire weekend twice in 2007 and i've had numerous e-mail problems.
 
i use newreg and they have been fine with me. They did get hacked a few months back but it's didn't affect me and the service has been great.
 
If you're looking at a non-pro website then you might like the deal from Netfirms.com. Deal includes;

* $10 for one full year of Netfirms Advantage Hosting!
* 2 FREE domain names
* 250GB of disk space
* 2,000GB data transfer per month
* Host unlimited websites with a single account!
* Support for PHP, Perl, and MySQL
* 24-hour technical support

With this you get a .com (which i prefer to a .co.uk) and taking advantage of the current $-£ exchange rate its less than a £5 for the first year.

I set one up a month ago, it was up and running within the hour and has been a doddle to upload files to and use. Link is: Netfirms

Have just checked this link, wow it's a bargain. Why do you say use this for non-pro websites?
 
If it's no pro you could do as I have done.

I set-up my web pages on the free hosting that comes from my ISP, and then get a domain name with web forwarding. I use www.netweaver.com

They charge me £7 a year for my domain www.adlington.info and £5 a year for web forwarding
 
May look at Whiteflyer's idea. Doe's the web pages remain on your ISP site and domain name is with netweaver and forwards to your ISP site? sorry if that sounds a stupid question.
 
I use 1and1.net excellent service and support.. in uk and great value for money !! I recommend it to all my small clients
 
I use 1and1.net excellent service and support.. in uk and great value for money !! I recommend it to all my small clients



I agree I have been with 1and1 for 3 years + now and have had no problems no outages that I am aware of.
 
I have my own webdesign and hosting business www.level200.com.

I'm thinking of doing a photographers package for members of this forum i.e.

1 .co.uk domain
50mb space
5 email addresses
FTP access
mysql database
php
asp/ asp.net

and many more features for only £40 per annum.

Please Pm me if you are interested

Cheers
John
 
Have just checked this link, wow it's a bargain. Why do you say use this for non-pro websites?

I reason I say non-pro is simply because if you are a serious business you need to ensure that your site can cope with traffic etc. Whilst the benefits of the offer I gave will work well, if I was serious about a business I'd ensure I had it hosted by something better.

The site I have with them is really to share photographs with family, I don't give the domain to anyone else. It also allows me to work on my web design, which is something I've wanted to do for a while.

I will have another site I'll be launching later this year, and for that I'll look at a decent package which will accommodate that.

The other deals mentioned by others are also very good, its all down to personal preference. If you're looking for something to simply host your photographs, I might suggest looking at smugmug or zenfolio. Again, with the dollar to pound exchange rate its in our favour. It really depends on your requirements and how much flexability you want over your site.

HTH
 
Out of interest what would the idea photographers hosting package be and how much would you pay?

Cheers
John
 
I have my own webdesign and hosting business www.level200.com.

I'm thinking of doing a photographers package for members of this forum i.e.

1 .co.uk domain
50mb space
5 email addresses
FTP access
mysql database
php
asp/ asp.net

and many more features for only £40 per annum.

Please Pm me if you are interested

Cheers
John

Sorry but I pay less than that for unlimited webspace (currently using 2Gb) and unlimited data transfer plus everything else you list and more on top (SSH access, 20 subdomains, CGI, perl etc etc).
 
DON'T DO IT!!!! :thumbsdown:

I've had a domain with them for years but since Pipex took them over the service has gone down hill. The nameservers have been down for an entire weekend twice in 2007 and i've had numerous e-mail problems.

I was waiting for that :S I used to work for 123-reg, and you're right, the service went WAY downhill once Pipex took over, and even further once they moved to new offices down south.

That said, they're worth using for domain registration, as they're pretty cheap, and give you reasonable enough free DNS management. Just change your nameservers over and you're set.

As for hosting, I should plug http://cymbiant.co.uk/, as Andy seems to be too lazy to do it himself. No, they haven't got a website yet, but they're run by one of the forumites, and they're who I host with :D
 
I was waiting for that :S I used to work for 123-reg, and you're right, the service went WAY downhill once Pipex took over, and even further once they moved to new offices down south.

That said, they're worth using for domain registration, as they're pretty cheap, and give you reasonable enough free DNS management. Just change your nameservers over and you're set.

As for hosting, I should plug http://cymbiant.co.uk/, as Andy seems to be too lazy to do it himself. No, they haven't got a website yet, but they're run by one of the forumites, and they're who I host with :D

123-reg are good for domain registrations and thats about it.
www.heartinternet.co.uk - Good domain prices and hosting. I know a few togs that have sites with them. (and I also work for them)

and as was said above http://cymbiant.co.uk/ which is a small hosting company run by myself and my flatmate who is a web designer and we work around custom projects rather then mass market hosting :)

If you want any info drop me a pm
 
here is another option for you. I got a free domain for my paranormal web page from http://www.freedomain.co.nr/ this gave me the web address and cost me nowt. I then hosted my website on http://www.bravenet.com/ i have used these for about 6 months and had no problems at all i also used there own free software to help design it.
 
Didn't take you too long then, Andy ;)

Remember with hosting, *you get what you pay for*. Don't be the guy that puts thousands of pounds worth of orders through their site every hour and pays twenty quid a year for their hosting (we got that a lot).
 
I use www.servage.net £76 per year

360 GB Web Space
360000 MB disc space at your disposal! [?]
3600 GB Transfer
Transfer more than 3 Terabyte per month! [?]
Unlimited FTP Accounts
Access to the account for multiple persons with an individual FTP login. [?]
1000 MySQL Databases
You can choose between v. 4 and 5, as well as remotely accesible or not. [?]
 
i used 123.reg just to get the domain name. and now for hosting i use

http://www.directhostinguk.com/

i get

400 MB Storage
4 GB Bandwidth
10 MySQL Databases
20 POP3 Mail Boxes
Advanced Control Panel
£24.99/Yr

thats £2.94 a month if you choose to pay monthly.

Service is great and ive had no issues at all.
 
I reason I say non-pro is simply because if you are a serious business you need to ensure that your site can cope with traffic etc. Whilst the benefits of the offer I gave will work well, if I was serious about a business I'd ensure I had it hosted by something better.

The site I have with them is really to share photographs with family, I don't give the domain to anyone else. It also allows me to work on my web design, which is something I've wanted to do for a while.

I will have another site I'll be launching later this year, and for that I'll look at a decent package which will accommodate that.

The other deals mentioned by others are also very good, its all down to personal preference. If you're looking for something to simply host your photographs, I might suggest looking at smugmug or zenfolio. Again, with the dollar to pound exchange rate its in our favour. It really depends on your requirements and how much flexability you want over your site.

HTH

Thanks for the reply, I have signed up to netfirms as the offer was too good to turn down. I do agree though if I was to host a pro site which required 100% reliability I'd pay for a good service from a well known host.
 
Has anyone used Microsofts Office Live - it offers several packages the most basic of which is free and supposedly helps you build the site from scratch? Any comments would be useful as I am thinking of using this system in the basic form.

Regards

Mark
 
Has anyone used Microsofts Office Live - it offers several packages the most basic of which is free and supposedly helps you build the site from scratch? Any comments would be useful as I am thinking of using this system in the basic form.

Regards

Mark

I signed up to it ages ago, it is a really, really basic template you can use. If that's all you want then it's a great choice, however the free domain is registered to MS and not you. It does seem to be rather basic though, not too sure if there is even ftp access.
 
I use Dreamwaever, costs a bit but I got it a few years ago at a very reduced rate from the company I worked for!!

You can import templates or make your own and its not too hard to use once you get used to it, and I am not the most techically advanced person around:lol:.
 
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