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Web Hosting Considerations

If you thought that web sites were either: the free personal homepage or the expensive business sites, it doesn't have to be. You can have free or low cost web hosting. Now, what do you really need and what are you willing to give up?

You can find numerous web hosting companies using the search engines, but how do you rate them to decide? I came across rated lists on:

• The GO network
• Top Hosts
• HostReview.com
• Ultimate Web Host List

Decisions, decisions, decisions

It's decision time. Here are some points to consider when selecting a web host.

• Do you want "one-stop-shopping" by having your Internet Service Provider (ISP) also host your site? This is a convenient solution. Many ISPs offer free web space to members. Take advantage of it if you can, but there may be limitations on what is supported.
  
  Did you realize that you can get free, yes, free internet access? Freewwweb is a free ISP with access numbers across the United States. If you already have a browser, you simply set up a User Name and Password, and follow their Quick Load instructions. It takes only a few minutes to set up. They also provide one POP3 e-mail account, FTP, and news server. For more answers, see their FAQ page. I use this service. It has been reliable and relatively advertising free.
  
  Other free internet service providers are Freei.net and NetZero.
  
  
• How much do you want to spend a month?
  
  
• Does it matter how long your URL is?
  • Directory hosting, ex: http://www.webhost.com/yourname. For a business, this might not be the best solution. You really don't create an identity, you can't easily move your site elsewhere, and what if the host goes out of business? Be sure you are confident about the web host and the services it provides.
  • Vanity hosting, ex: http://yourname.webhost.com. This is a little better, your company name is more prominent, but you are still tied to the web host.
  • Domain name, ex: http://www.yourname.com. This is the most flexible solution. You own the name and you can have your site hosted almost anywhere.
    
    
• Do you want a company identity with a domain name? If so, you need to register with InterNIC. It's very affordable at $70 for the first 2 years and $35/yr administration fee thereafter. These charges are in addition to web hosting charges.
  

• Do you have a domain name that you want to reserve, but aren't ready to set up a site yet? Registration of a domain requires domain name servers. You can park your domain until you are ready. There are many places that will do it free, so there's no need to pay for it.
  
  
• Do you want to be part of a community? Some of the free, web host sites have the highest traffic on the Internet. If you decide to have your own domain name, you can still take advantage of this traffic by setting up mirror sites and be listed in their directories.
  
  
• Do you want e-mail? How many? What kind? There are: POP, web-based, forwarding/alias, autoresponder, and catch-all accounts. Most web hosts will provide at least one. Some will assign the e-mail address, while others will let you customize.

• How much technical support do you want or need? Are you okay with purely e-mail communications, or do you need an 800-number, with 24-hour support?
  • E-mail support only. This is not the best type if you are a beginner and need a lot of hand-holding, but okay if you are comfortable getting answers from other sources such as discussion forums.
  • E-mail and telephone support. This is a much better solution. If you don't get resolution through e-mail communications, you can still talk to a person and get help.
  • Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ). Search the site for these resources. If the host has a collection of them, then they may be enough to answer your more important questions.
    
    
• Do you want interactivity with CGI (common gateway interface) or FrontPage extensions? Two popular features that require this capability are form and counters. Forms are a great way of obtaining structured information and feedback from your visitors while counters help you keep track of the number of visitors. What if your web host doesn't support CGI or FrontPage extensions?

• Form to e-mail processor FormMailer, http://www.formmailer.net
• Guestbook (can substitute for a form): MyComputer.com.
• Counter: 123Counter and FastCounter by MSN LinkExchange. Note: counters are images and therefore do not operate if the browser is text only. I prefer the 123Counter version because it seems less browser dependent.
  
• Note: The form to e-mail processor Response-O-Matic featured in an earlier version of this article, suspended its service on 31-May-2000.
  
  
• Do you expect a lot of traffic? Do you want unlimited traffic capability?
  
  
• Do you want server side includes (SSI)? One use for SSI is for repeating elements in a web site such as navigation bars. The server builds a requested page by inserting these snippets of HTML code, before presenting it to the browser. If your web host does not support SSI, you can manually copy the repeating elements or use Dreamweaver's library feature.
  
  
• Do you want or need to use FTP? Would you rather have it automated by the web host? CompuServe for example has a special wizard that automates the whole publishing process.
  
  
• Do you want anonymous FTP capability? If your host doesn't provide the service, you can consider remote drives as an alternative. Some free providers are:
  • IDrive provides 25MB of space. You can create limited access directories to let project members or customers upload and download files. Requires a browser to access (IE or NN version 4 or better).
  • XDrive provides 25MB of space. They have programs that integrate with Win98/NT Explorer that lets you drag and drop to your remote drive.
    
    
• Do you want flexibility with upgrades for e-commerce, domain name, more e-mail, more web space, etc.?
  
  
• How important is reliability?
  
  
• Is speed an issue? Will you have many images? Do you expect large numbers of visitors?
  
  
• Do you want to view site statistics? Do you want access to your site log? If your web host does not provide either of these services, you can get site traffic information tracked by SuperStats.

There are many, many good resources of remotely hosted utilities and new ones are created every day. You can start with these:

• CGI Resource Index, has a large list of sources for CGI programs that are ranked by users.
• MyComputer.com has a suite of free add-ons such as counters, polls, guestbooks, site search and site statistics.
• MSN LinkExchange. This site focuses on marketing aids for sites and most services are paid.

You can see many of these workarounds implemented on the American Society of Mechanical Engineers Pittsburgh Section web site. This site was built with nothing more than free space on a server, no CGI or FrontPage extension support, and a nonexistent budget.

On the homepage is a poll, search box, mailing list sign-up box, and a counter. On the Feedback and Forms page, you can access the forms that are all processed by another server. On the Calendar page, are maps to meeting locations. What you won't see is the site statistics utility, but it's tracking your visit—Big Brother is watching.

You will be amazed at what kind of functionality you can build into a web site using what's available on the Internet, often free, if you are willing to search and to do some HTML coding. Buyers beware, however. Read the fine print and understand the intangible costs of using a service and be prepared if the service becomes suddenly discontinued.

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