Comm 333 Web Design II

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Modules > Extras > Web Hosts

Your Websites, After Simmons

Most of you will be graduating (yay!) after this semester. You'll still have access to all your Simmons accounts and Simmons web space for 90 days after graduation. After that, you'll have to purchase and set up your own hosting in order to keep your websites live.

Domain Names

The first step for your website is to brainstorm and purchase a domain name. The domain name will be the public address of your website: apple.com, google.com, simmons.edu, scotch.io, etc.

The domain name should be close to your site name and ideally, very memorable.

Your domain name will consist of two parts. The name you choose, as well as a Generic top-level domain (gTLD).

If I wanted to make a portfolio site with some combination of my name, I could choose any of the following:

  • danegroves
  • danealexander
  • danealex

It's usually best to try to get a domain name using one of the original top-level domains:

  • .com
  • .org (primarily for non-profits)
  • .net

There are many, many other gTLD's though: .biz, .app, .info, .jobs, .mobi, .tech, .xyz

There are also two-level country codes that were designed to be used to namespace domains in a country. Some country codes, with particularly useful two-letter combinations have been used as domain hacks. Examples include .io, .ly, .me, .nu, and .ms.

Purchasing a Domain Name

Once you've gotten an idea of what you want to call your site, the next step is to find out if your name is available.

You can search domain names on pretty much any web hosting site. Here are a few you can try out:

The search engines will let you know if the domain you wanted is available. They'll also suggest similar names and a variety of available gTLDs.

You'll find different available names listed at different sites. Prices will vary as well. For a standard domain name, that's not going to be a popular company name or very short or simple, expect to pay between $8-20 per year to register the name.

Before you buy...

You do not have to buy a domain name from the same company that purchase web hosting from. However, if they are different companies, there is usually a slightly more complicated setup involved (not a big deal, just a few additional steps).

Many web hosts offer discounted or even free domain names when you purchase a web hosting plan.

Web Hosting

Up until now you've been using Simmons College as your web host for free (after your tuition).

Now you'll have to choose a company to do this for you. The good news, it's relatively cheap and you'll have more control over your site than you did with your Simmons web space.

Web hosting plans come in a wide variety of type and quality. You'll sign up for a plan to pay in monthly installments or annually. Generally there's a decent discount for signing up annually.

Types of Hosting Plans

Shared Hosting Plans
These are the most affordable types of plans (and also the worst performing). In these plans you share a web server with many other users and websites. The performance of your site will depend on what other users on your host are doing and their websites. It will also depend on how many users and sites the web hosting company allocates per server.
Virtual Private Server (VPS)
In these plans users still share a physical server, but each user will get their own virtualized web server to use. It's resources are walled off from other users and there is a performance guarantee and often the ability to dynamically add resources as needed.
Dedicated Web Server
You have full control of a web server and do not share resources with anyone else. This is the highest performance, but also the most expensive. Additionally, if you had this type of service, you would also likely need some kind of Systems Administrator to help manage the server.

For your sites, a shared hosting plan will be fine. Remember that there is also a wide variety within shared hosting plans.

Comparing Shared Plans

There are a variety of options to look at when comparing shared plans:

Server Type
Most web servers are run on Linux and are Apache-based. However, some are Windows IIS servers. You'll want to make sure you get an Apache plan unless you know you need IIS.
Domain Names and Subdomains

How many different sites (domain names) does the plan allow? Can you add unlimited subdomains? Example: my domain is danegroves.com. Can I create the following subdomains for free: blog.danegroves.com, teach.danegroves.com?

You should be able to create subdomains for free. The number of domain names supported isn't necessarily a dealbreaker, but if it's less than 5, keep that in mind.

SSL Certificates
This will allow you to set up your site as a secure site that uses https. You need a special SSL certificate for this. Very soon this will be pretty much a requirement for all websites. Find a web host that offers the certs for free and ideally has some sort of helpful automated setup.
Bandwidth
This is the amount of data that is transferred to and from your web host when people view your site. This isn't generally an issue with smaller sites, but if your site was large or was suddenly to become very popular, you might need to pay attention to this.
Databases
How many databases can you have with your plan? What types? (mysql, mongodb, etc). Pretty much any web application that you run on your web host will need a database (WordPress for example).
Email Accounts / Email Storage
What are the restrictions
Support
What type of support does the company offer and does it cost money
Web Interface
This is how you interact and change the settings for your web hosting account. Most sites use an application called cPanel. There are a few different versions around, but they basically all have the same features. One notable exception is DreamHost which uses it's own, very nice, web portal.
Other Considerations
  • Do they offer easy installs of common web applications like WordPress?
  • What programming languages are supported
  • What version of PHP does the server run (hopefully up to PHP7)
  • In what ways can you access the site? All hosts have ftp. But you might also want SSH access.
  • How much do they charge to add domain privacy to your domains

Example Web Hosts

These are not necessarily recommendations, just examples of common and well respected web hosting companies.

After you purchase hosting...

To be shown in class:

Initial Emails from web hosting provider

  • cPanel/web panel access information
  • FTP account
  • Temporary site address and ftp host

cPanel/web panel demo

  • bluehost
  • InMotion Hosting
  • DreamHost

FTP

  • Directory structure
  • Upload your files

Modules > Extras > Web Hosts