Website hosting and designing software

[TimS]

I've just registered my domain name and am wondering if anyone knows of some good hosting services.
I'm not looking for major business hosting, just something to get started on - studio is small, so website wont have huge traffic, large scripts and the like.. basically, just something to get started with a web presence.

Also, is there any recommendations for website design programs that you use/find intuitive/easy to use and looks great when compiled?
I've done a little website design/development before (many yrs ago now) - mainly used FrontPage (embarassed)...
I'd like to do something using Flash but I havent designed in flash before - any suggestions?
Thanks guys,
Tim..

[mfdu]

i use Register.com to host my .org in conjunction with a re-direct from index.html to indexb.html on my optusnet homepage (to side-step the register.com borders and crap they impose on the direct descendant pages)

it's about $60 per annum?

you can view source on my pages to see what i mean - http://members.optusnet.com.au/~mfdu/index.html and http://members.optusnet.com.au/~mfdu/indexb.html - i've got nothing to hide. there.

website design programs? what - don't you just hard-code in notebook? i mean, come on. get commando on it's arse, yo!

c.mfdu

[TimS]

i use Register.com to host my .org in conjunction with a re-direct from index.html to indexb.html on my optusnet homepage (to side-step the register.com borders and crap they impose on the direct descendant pages)

it's about $60 per annum?

you can view source on my pages to see what i mean - http://members.optusnet.com.au/~mfdu/index.html and http://members.optusnet.com.au/~mfdu/indexb.html - i've got nothing to hide. there.

website design programs? what - don't you just hard-code in notebook? i mean, come on. get commando on it's arse, yo!

c.mfdu

Thanks for the reply Chris..
Hardcore coding...errr, not for me!!
I have a mate that just did his whole website doing code - cascading menus, online purchases, everything - all done writing code..
man, it would make my head explode!!

[jkhuri44]

Hardcore coding...errr, not for me!!
I have a mate that just did his whole website doing code - cascading menus, online purchases, everything - all done writing code..
man, it would make my head explode!!

+1


Frrikkin hate that shit! But wish i could do it!!

:)

[mfdu]

but you can look at a wave form of a lead vocal and read / edit it like lyrics, huh?

it's just another language. no, really.

[wez]

umm, actually i do my website in pure, raw HTML. typed into textedit. even a bit of java.

i am very, very sick.

of course some of you code-savvy guys would take one look at it and say yeah, it looks like it. there are a few issues for sure, but i already know way more about that stuff then i ever really wanted to so it's probably not a skill i'll be developing any further.

oh, back on topic... i use webstrikesolutions.com and i couldn't recommend them more highly. rock solid, great help desk, all the stuff you need. love their work.

w

www.thefinishingpost.com.au

[heathen]

Hey Tim, TPG do all that type of stuff, fast net too on adsl2+. I've been with em for ages, I know they do website and domain hosting pretty cheap.

Had to go wireless now, grrrrr optus won't allow tpg on thier phone lines. So I told em to shove it and to shove it for the rest of eternity, if they send 1 more rep to my place trying to get me to switch over from Telstra I'm calling the cops.

Scumbags keep saying but we'll save you money, then yeah once I switch over everything has to be optus. I keep telling them I can save them money if they just leave me the hell alone.

Everytime I say to them can you match 18 gig a month for $50 bucks they go ohhhhh no we can't do that.

[TimS]

Hey Tim, TPG do all that type of stuff, fast net too on adsl2+. I've been with em for ages, I know they do website and domain hosting pretty cheap.

Had to go wireless now, grrrrr optus won't allow tpg on thier phone lines. So I told em to shove it and to shove it for the rest of eternity, if they send 1 more rep to my place trying to get me to switch over from Telstra I'm calling the cops.

Scumbags keep saying but we'll save you money, then yeah once I switch over everything has to be optus. I keep telling them I can save them money if they just leave me the hell alone.

Everytime I say to them can you match 18 gig a month for $50 bucks they go ohhhhh no we can't do that.

Know what your saying Heath.
I'm with Pacific and they do 15G a month for me for 55 bucks - super deal..

Wez,
Thanks for the tips - will follow it up..

[TimS]

but you can look at a wave form of a lead vocal and read / edit it like lyrics, huh?

it's just another language. no, really.

Yeah, know what you're saying Chris.
I used to write code in Visual Basic 3.0 (and 4.0) - yeah it was an 80's thing!!!
Cant remember any of it now - I gave up designing software (I designed educational software for healthcare professionals for a while)
I think I'll just stick to basics to start with..

[heathen]

Yeah thats a good deal. Don't they do hosting?

[TimS]

They sure do - a little pricey though..
Still looking into a few options.
webcity.com.au have a low volume hosting for $5.95/month

[Kurt]

Just make sure whoever you go with has generous disc space if you want to host some audio/video stuff.

I use hightekhosting.com for my site.

[tunetown]

I use http://www.qualityhostonline.com .Starts from $1.50 per month.

Cheers

[TimS]

All great replies - thanks for the links guys..
Tim..

[Sheer Noise]

I use www.ehostpros.com

Haven't had a single hassle with any of my 3 websites, each running for over 5 years now.

Dreamweaver is the bomb for page design, although not the easiest to learn, it's not too hard either and has a fairly intuitive server interface so you can upload easily from within the program.

On the mac, iWeb is great for creating a simple but effective and "nice looking" website. I've used it for a couple of my sites and it's been great.

2c spent.

Dave

[Martin]

my choice:

www.alpinedomains.net
www.alpinehosting.net

domains are $25 for one year then bigger discount the longer you get it

basic hosting is a bit over a hundred bucks a year but plenty of speed and bandwidth to keep you going

importantly, easy to use with fantastico which will help you manage content etc etc

no i don't work for them but run many sites off the one hosting package, thats the other benefit, domain redirection is free so you can just keep on buying domains and host them off your package deal without extra fees etc etc

[Milo]

I'm trying google Page Creator (free): no html, just type/copy/paste

http://leestreetstudios.googlepages.com/home

Five pages done in about 45 minutes.

[Martin]

its not pretty, but it works :)

[smash]

Adobe Contribute for easy design.

I host my webpage here at home, my URL redirects to my static IP. Everything runs off a UPS, and if I want to make changes, they are instantaneous.

Something I saw recently that was quite clever was at http://www.creamrecordingstudios.com/gallery.html

Basically the entire "Gallery" section is the clients "mobile me" (formerly known as .mac) web gallery loaded in a frame.
So essentially, it looks waayy more complicated / expensive than it is.

*** In the interest of full disclosure, and lest I be accused of subversive advertisement, I consult for several Apple resellers ***

[no-fi]

we started playing with wordpres... but I'm not 100% sure it's useful.... There's lots of stuffing about to make it work more like a general content management system rather than just a bloggy thing. (but other content management systems in general just look WAY complex for what we want)

And I get the feeling there's a lot of time will be needed to make it look not just unlike a blog, but half decent as a website, too... (though once we learned how to do it, it'll be really simple to modify and change the whole look of the site on a whim)

right now it's in the too hard basket, so I just re-uploaded the old site...


music is SO much more fun to do with my spare time than web design is.
:-)

[Mark Bassett]

Dreamweaver + Fireworks.

[TimS]

music is SO much more fun to do with my spare time than web design is.
:-)

Oh, absolutely!!
I just want to get a little online presence, other than MySpace...
:-)
I'm using Dreamweaver also.. although I'm looking at maybe using Flash, but I dont have a Flash writing program.... yet.

[wez]

no-fi, your site looks quite cool as it is, i like it. and the music samples are pretty neat too.

[no-fi]

cheers, wez!
:-)


it's just that the sits is about 4 years old now, and we feel it needs a change in look...

also updating info on it is a massive pain, cause I have to go into the html with a text editor and faff about then re-upload the pages, and half the time I miss a paragraph or newline tag, so then I have to do it again, blah blah blah. plus linking gigs into the news section means I have to do the same changes to 2 separate pages... also it means only I edit the pages, and I have to do it from home.

I really want a basic CMS system, where we can both go and just login to the site to add things from anywhere, whenever we think to do it. and just enter the data in plain text, (with links maybe) and let the site sort out presentation & formatting.

this way the site can change a lot easier, and a lot more often, and we can easily add all sorts of things as we see fit - I guess we're trying to make the site more interesting to return visitors.

Also - we want to add entire new sections to the site.... this is going to need a new menu bar at least, and that one is 4 years old, and my friend who made it originally doesn't seem to have the font anymore.
:-)

[JulienG]

also updating info on it is a massive pain, cause I have to go into the html with a text editor and faff about then re-upload the pages, and half the time I miss a paragraph or newline tag, so then I have to do it again, blah blah blah. plus linking gigs into the news section means I have to do the same changes to 2 separate pages... also it means only I edit the pages, and I have to do it from home.

I really want a basic CMS system, where we can both go and just login to the site to add things from anywhere, whenever we think to do it. and just enter the data in plain text, (with links maybe) and let the site sort out presentation & formatting.

Don't go for a CMS, use a simple wiki, I find that's the only way to get an easy to manage site these days. Myself I use MediaWiki (what WikiPedia uses), but that's well over the top for this sort of thing (I was already using it).

[Kurt]

My old site used very simple ssi's, the content was just a text file, the server then assembled the bits whenever the page was loaded. Buggered if I can remember how to do it now but there's lots of info on the 'net.