Web hosting 'on the cheap'?

MrQwest

Hullo!

I'd like some advice on web hosting. I've beeen designing websites for about 10 years now, but in all the time i've been designing, i've never had to look into hosting as it's always the 'client' who sets it up.

Now, My girlfriend & I got engaged last month (so she's now my fiance - and also visit's this forum as djdymond) and we've decided that it might be an idea (in this day & age anyway) to have a wedding 'journal' to keep people informed of what's going on! It'll have info on our engagement party & pictures once it's done, it'll also have info on the actual wedding (+ piccies), venue, travel etc. Just so friends & family can visit for advice adn stuff!

So i'm putting a site together, but I'm looking for somewhere to host it? I've not purchased a domain yet (will be a .co.uk addy), but i plan to get that alongside the hosting!

Does anyone have any recommendations?

depending on the host i go with, i may purchase more space for my sites in the future!

But for now, what i'm looking for is some hosting. I'm not too sure how much space i'd require, as it'll only be a small website. Images may take up some space, but they'll be re-sized before being uploaded! 200mb should cover it (and more!). I'll be needing PHP + MySQL databases thrown in. CGI would be a bonus. Errr, I cant think what else i'd need. We both have our own email addresses so we're not overly fussed with mailboxes or nowt.

Any ideas?

Ta!

matty2767

if you do a search for web hosting it will bring up a load of companies each doing slighty different services. generally a basic package costs around £50/yr from what i have seen and then you add your extras on top. i havent got one myself but my dad was looking into it and this is just what he told me.

patwa_2

One thing I've found over the years is that whereas free hosting may be great, it often lacks technical support of an adequate standard, which has given rise to the numerous forums and boards across the net to try to fill the gap. Also, at some point you'll find you need a feature that just isn't provided.

As for a recommendation I would strongly recommend HostGator, https://www.hostgator.com . I'm on their baby plan which costs £5 a month ($10). Amongst the features I have:

100GB space
1TB Bandwidth
Unlimited e-mail addresses, FTP,
Subdomains and Add-on Domains
MySQL, PHP 4/5, Ruby, Chilisoft ASP
Cpanel, CGI, Bundled Scripts and add-ons

I've been with them since February and have not had any problems. Like any company you must read their T&Cs which are quite fair, a lot of the complaints I see about HostGator are honestly people just not noting the T&Cs and then complaining when what they're trying to do are not allowed (usually it's trying to host gaming services on a shared server, !!!!!!, etc).

They have a forum contributed to by both staff and members, and both live chat, e-mail and telephone support.

They have a 30 day money-back policy and there is no fixed contract. They also provide SSH access which I have found to be invaluable.

I'm not sure if I'm allowed to do this but I posted a review of sorts on my blog - I'll link it: http://blog.patwanet.co.uk and if mods don't like it I'm sure they'll quickly and efficiently remove it. the post is dated around 18 Feb.

Cheers.

H.

ace09041982

Have you tried https://www.tobyhost.co.uk, we use them for our small business and the rates are good for someone like us who only set up in the last year.

colin79666

http://www.web-mania.com
excellent host I use myself, plently transfer allowance (12GB), 500mb space, php &mysql and cgi