Web Hosting
First the general basics
The list of features for a webhost can be long and intimmidating
if you don't understand the terms. The most common features listed
are the bandwidth, disk space, email features, databases, and programming
languages available. Lets go through these one by one.
Disk Space: This is measured in
megabytes MB or gigabytes GB. One GB is equal to 1000 MB. The amount
of disk space offered by hosting companies varies greatly. The average
static website takes between 10 and 20 MB. However, if you use your
email through the hosting company then the emails that sit on their
server usually count against your disk space so it's a good idea
to have atleast 100 MB of space. Most webhosts offer a lot more
than this and it's always good to have extra space.
Bandwidth: This is usually measured
in GB/month and it is the amount of data that you can pass to and
from your server. Everytime somone goes to your website it will
use a little bit of your bandwidth. For example, if your average
webpage is 50kb then it will take approximately 838,861 visits to
reach a 40GB per month limit. That's a lot of hits and the average
website won't get that many.
Email Features: There are a couple
of things to look for here. How many email accounts can you have
and can you check your email through a website if that is important
to you. A lot of hosts offer unlimited email accounts, forwards,
and autoresponders. (This only applies to shared
hosting accounts. Dedicated
servers allow you to have as many
email addresses as you'd like)
Databases: If you are planning on having dynamic
content or a shopping cart then you will need a database. The type
of database you will need depends on the type of software you are
using on your site. Check to see what kind of database your shopping
cart, message board, etc needs and make sure you find a host with
that database. The most common databases are MySQL, MS ACCESS, MS
SQL Server, and Oracle. (This only applies to
Shared hosting
accounts. Dedicated
servers allow you to install anything that you need)
Programming Languages: Most hosts
will offer a handfull of languages like PHP, Perl, Python, ASP,
or JSP/Java. You will only need a programming language if you want
to offer dynmic content like I discussed in the database section.
If your using a premade shopping cart, message board, etc then make
sure the host you choose has the programming language that your
software requires. (This only applies to shared
hosting accounts. dedicated
servers allow
you to install anything that you need)
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