Tech: Web Hosting site question - 2018

Subject: RE: Tech: Web Hosting site question - 2018
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 25 Jun 18 - 09:25 PM

I tried to set up an Azure account for a free app but my university has our email go through Microsoft, so though I entered all of my personal MS information, it ended up tied to my work account. I've sent through a request to cancel it and I'll try again later. I used the MS Edge browser to set it up and at sometime in the past must have contacted my university email through there. Damned cookies!

Subject: RE: Tech: Web Hosting site question - 2018
From: Vashta Nerada
Date: 25 Jun 18 - 09:55 AM

Kendall's new web page is on Weebly and is lovely.

Subject: RE: Tech: Web Hosting site question - 2018
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 24 Jun 18 - 05:22 PM

You can pay for a WordPress account and get more features, a domain name, etc. So it would be an upgrade from my free site to take the "wordpress.org" out of the URL.

I use Dropbox (almost 8 gig now that I've made a lot of referrals and loaded it onto different devices), Box (both a private one and a university one), and MEGA. But I don't host from those, they're just backup or working files I can share on different projects.

Subject: RE: Tech: Web Hosting site question - 2018
From: Stewart
Date: 24 Jun 18 - 03:48 PM

I'm confused
"If I decided to pay Wordpress for that site..."
Two of my web sites are on WordPress.org, they are free (I use the free templates, which are fine for me) and easy to set up. As for large sets of photos (jpg), audio files (mp3), pdf files, html pages, etc, I just ftp them up to my web host server using FileZilla and then link to them in my web site or wherever. On my web host, InMotion, there is infinite web storage, and all I pay for is the web host fee ($4.49/mo for the first 3 years). For other small storage I use Dropobox, or the other free cloud storage - their free storage is limited to just a few GB, but enough for me as a place for others to download my files.

Cheers, S. in Seattle

Subject: RE: Tech: Web Hosting site question - 2018
From: Will Fly
Date: 24 Jun 18 - 01:51 PM

There are no ads in Weebly apart from a banner at the foot of the page advertising their presence - which gets lost if the page is deep enough.

There is a drag and drop "build" system which allows you to populate your web page space with text blocks, image blocks, gallery blocks, etc. You can see the html for each page if you want to, but I never bother with it as it's quite complex.

So I use the site builder software, which is the simplest by far of all the systems I've seen. Even a free site has unlimited pages and unlimited photo uploads - like mine. You can also set the SEO parameters for each page, though I don't whether you can disable access by bots, etc.

Subject: RE: Tech: Web Hosting site question - 2018
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 24 Jun 18 - 01:15 PM

I have a couple of separate things I'm doing - I think the first part, a simple home landing page with my links, can be hosted by Microsoft Azure for free. This video is helpful and I already have all of the parts - the folder, the Filezilla, etc.

The blog photos are a larger project, requiring space and a site that I control so it isn't upset that I use it for third-party hosting. I could, for example, link photos to the free blog that I've had for years. (I used to do this back when eBay charged a lot for putting photos on their site. They got smart and now encourage uploading photos, so it isn't needed there any more.) If I decided to pay Wordpress for that site then they would give me more space, but depending on the cost, having a separate site for storage might be easier. I've always had files stored where I could link to them, not embedding them into the page itself.

This is very helpful, I'll explore the recommendations here this afternoon. Thanks.

Subject: RE: Tech: Web Hosting site question - 2018
From: Stewart
Date: 24 Jun 18 - 12:48 PM

I just migrated to InMotion, they're one of the most highly rated. They were super helpful during the process and quickly responded to any questions I had. If you peruse their web site you should be able to find a 50% introductory discount for WordPress users - try this web page. The plan I have, "Power," has unlimited disk space and up to 6 web sites - $4.49/mo for 3 years (regular price $8.99/mo). The transfer went smoothly and they set up my new sites very well. The only problem right now is to get my old host (iX is one of the worst on all reviews) to transfer my domains. All I need is the EEP code from my old host (iX Hosting support is down for the weekend and their support has usually been terrible!), which will authorize the domain transfer, and InMotion will take care of the rest. InMotion seemed the best for me - 3 web sites, unlimited storage, and $4.99/mo for the first 3 years and $8.99/mo for subsequent 3-year terms. So far their service response has been super with very quick response.

Cheers, S. in Seattle

Subject: RE: Tech: Web Hosting site question - 2018
From: Nick
Date: 24 Jun 18 - 12:43 PM

It used to manage to serve quite a few pages over time quite successfully when it used to be a little more active than it is now - at least enough not to cause any problems

Stats - as I said it depends how much storage and bandwidth and how many visitors you need

Subject: RE: Tech: Web Hosting site question - 2018
From: Nick
Date: 24 Jun 18 - 12:30 PM

Do you know what the size of what you want hosted is?

Are there pictures and video and or tunes that you want on the site?

Do you have an idea of what amount of bandwidth you need?

I have used InventiveHosting for some years for a number of reasons. It costs me £12 a year (£1 a month) and it's a similar amount in the US.

So I have just uploaded a picture of an add on domain that I just use for email mostly - most of the other files are main domain. Cost and bandwidth.

Never had any problem. I store about 5500 files with them (mostly text obviously). Only time they contact is if there is server work they need to warn me about or I need to renew.

They have a number of plans. No ads. Put anything you like on it that is legal. They used to (may still) host certain sorts of sites that some places don't so they are quite relaxed about content given legality. No spam. Total control over anything you want. Wordpress available if I remember, PHP, lots of stats if you want them - there are a couple of pictures here which show the control panel. Can drag and drop or use filezilla or what you want
Options1
Options2

For a a quid or dollar a month it works for me

Subject: RE: Tech: Web Hosting site question - 2018
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 24 Jun 18 - 11:05 AM

Will, is your site free of ads? Can you choose to add/exclude it from search engines? Did you use an html editor to design it or did they require you to use site builder software?

I started looking at Omeka as a place to store images, but I don't think they have a free plan (their photos are limited to 4mg, last time I checked). I think I could link from there, but again, all of this requires research.

Thanks for your suggestions, I'll look at each one.

Subject: RE: Tech: Web Hosting site question - 2018
From: Will Fly
Date: 24 Jun 18 - 10:27 AM

I use Weebly which, if you don't mind your URL ending in "weebly.com", is completely free. Your photo upload is restricted to 10Mb per photo unless you pay for a specific plan.

Here's my village photo website as an example:

Henfield Then And Now

Subject: RE: Tech: Web Hosting site question - 2018
From: GUEST,Richard Robinson
Date: 24 Jun 18 - 07:57 AM

I'm with Webfaction. $10/month for more diskspace & bandwidth than I can eat (YMMV), a whole bunch of things that can be set up with a couple of buttonpushes (including drupal & wordpress), access via ssh & sftp so you can roll your own (they'll even open a port for you if you want to do something other than http), helpful support ... works for me.

Subject: RE: Tech: Web Hosting site question - 2018
From: DaveRo
Date: 24 Jun 18 - 02:53 AM

I use github pages, free, for hosting very simple static pages such as the one about my mudcat addon. It's obviously for projects - not necessarily software - but I don't know what their rules are.

I had a free wordpress.com blog when I was sailing. It's closed now but still online. I would use that service again if I needed a blog.

If I were looking for something bigger, or with server-side scripting, I'd probably look first at AWS. I use the 'free tier' of their Lambda service and it and their controls work well - though they're not simple!

I would keep the domain registration and the webservice separate so you can move either. Some TLDs are cheaper than others: my .com domain costs me more every year than .co.uk would. Some registrars offer multi-year registrations cheaper I think.

Subject: RE: Tech: Web Hosting site question - 2018
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 24 Jun 18 - 12:51 AM

Thanks, Joe. When I open up Filezilla there is often an add from their host company, https://www.inmotionhosting.com/business-hosting that I've looked at. I like Filezilla; I need to compare InMotion with all of the rest.

Subject: RE: Tech: Web Hosting site question - 2018
From: Joe Offer
Date: 24 Jun 18 - 12:36 AM

I use Network Solutions and pay about ten bucks a month. I get mad at them every once in a while, but they're reasonably good. Not the cheapest service on the block, but I've had three or four Websites with them and had no reliability problems.

My wife leads a club that had a GoDaddy Website, and I inherited maintenance responsibilities. I found GoDaddy to be difficult to deal with. I moved the Website to my Network Solutions space, but haven't figured out how to move the domain name away from GoDaddy without paying a lot of fees - so I'm still paying GoDaddy ten bucks a year for the domain name. Danica Patrick should be ashamed of herself.

-Joe-

Subject: Tech: Web Hosting site question - 2018
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 23 Jun 18 - 11:01 PM

For many years my Charter, now Spectrum, account gave me a few megs of web space, where I stored a couple of little pages of links that I use as a home page and family site. Charter grandfathered me for a while when no new users could get it, but it will cease in early July.

I've used web servers for years at work, I had space where I put various documents or series of documents, and worked on a live server. With Charter I did the work on my computer and uploaded files via FTP using FileZilla.

I have a Wordpress (free) blog that I haven't done much with for several years, and one that I recently took down. I'm thinking of reviving the existing one, and need to do something about the images because I used to use Photobucket for third-party hosting, but last year they broke thousands of web sites by blocking that unless users paid hundreds or thousands of dollars for the privilege. I'm not finding another adequate free way to do that - Flickr was just purchased by SmugMug and I'm pretty sure their plans don't give me the space and versatility of Flickr. I took down most of the Photobucket stuff, saved it and need to rehost and reconnect it. With server space I could load the photos and relink them from the folder where they're stored.

I don't need site builder software, I tend to resist that (most of it is proprietary, for starters) - I can create my own web pages. I have thought about using a site that allows for the use of Drupal, but there's a lot of work to set up a site on my own, I'd probably be better using WordPress because chances are they have a design I'll like just fine and I don't have to design it and download and install modules.

I'm fine with keeping the source on my computer and uploading FTP. What I want is space. Where I can transport in my existing blog if I decide to do that, or where I can simply host the photos that link to the free blog and leave it where it is. I have those personal pages that I want to host, and though I don't need a huge amount of space, I work with a lot of images and those add up.

So, here are a few review sites:

Web Site Hosting Service Reviews.

The Best Cheap Web Hosting Sites of 2018.

The Best Small Business Web Hosting Services of 2018.

The Best Dedicated Web Hosting Services of 2018.

The Best Web Hosting Providers for 2018.

Best WordPress Hosting.

Most of the links are to reliable online sites, CNet or PCMag. The last one features just WordPress. Most of them have advertising from the companies mentioned, but they're upfront about it and tend to offer good reviews.

So, for those of you who have small, non-commercial websites, what are you using these days? Do you have different sets of pages on one site, serving different projects, etc.? Are you happy with the amount of space and pricing and customer service? I'd much rather start out with a site with a reasonable rate and stay with it than be surprised with a huge hike at the end of the trail period. Did you look at the security of the site you use, and do they provide any features that give you confidence that their site won't be hijacked in the middle of the night?

I've used academic space for many years, but my university no longer has personal space on the servers, or I wouldn't have to search for a reasonable site now. A domain name they can't hold hostage if I decide to move would also be useful.

The search I did at Mudcat before starting this thread had the top two posts from John In Kansas. Alas, he is gone, or we could have simply discussed this on one of his ongoing threads. Tell me what you're up to and if you were to start fresh today, what choices would you make, what questions would you ask?

Thanks!