This website stuff is hard...

I've had a website in the past. It was some simple HTML with some pics on a free host. That was pretty easy.

Now I want a real host so I can have more space and most importantly for me, allow hot linking. And it seems kind of hard.

Step one is to get myself a domain name right? Or should I get myself a web host first? On the recommendation of a fellow board user, I signed up here: http://bsdwebhosting.net/index.html because its super cheap and seems like it would be perfect for my small needs. Thats what I thought at least. I signed up, only to find out that he requires a domain name. There goes my dreams of cheap. A bunch of numbers rather than a domain name would have been just fine for me since I'll be linking most of the time. So I guess I need a domain name. Now, there are a gazillion and one places that register domain names out there. They seem to have some widely varying prices. Should I just pick the cheapest or what?

Assume I somehow figured out the above step. Now we get into forwarding and stuff I really don't get. Lets say I get my domain name and want to forward it to a site at that freebsd host. Why is it that after people are "forwarded" to my site, the name in the address bar will change? Isn't that the whole point of domain names? There's a computer somewhere that knows that XXX name = XXXX address so it directs you there and still displays the XXX name, right? It seems as though people want to charge extra for forwarding with masking so that it works the way its supposed to.

Can anyone break this stuff down for me? My needs are small. Current site is about 15megs and thats mainly pictures of my hobby stuff. I don't plan on getting many hits so I don't need much transfer.

This seems like a good deal if I just wanted the name and then transfer: http://www.targetdomain.com/

This place seems like a good deal for registering and hosting: http://www.1dni.com/

And suggestions would be great. I've even considered just hosting my own site on a spare computer here at home. However, I'm on cable modem and there are apparently work-arounds that have to be done that I'm probably not capable of doing.

Thanks.

Mark

Forwarding is just forwarding, masking is separate and may be an extra cost.

Jumpdomain.com has forwarding and masking included in the 9.99 price for registering a domain name - that's who I go through. Includes e-mail forwarding as well. My mail is forwarded from the e-mail address on my site to a yahoo mail account.

(Hmmmmm.... I thought it had masking, but I can't find it in my profile now. ... I'll keep checking...)

I use http://www.domaindirect.com and/or http://www.register.com for my Domain Name(s) and http://www.phpwebhosting.com for my webhosting. You basically park your domain name (thru either domaindirect, register.com, etc.), then (I think) you change the nameservers on your domain name to that of your webhost. Check this out for some basic directions:
http://phpwebhosting.com/step.html

And this is a full description of what you get with phpwebhosting ($9.95 a month).

http://phpwebhosting.com/host_details.html

And with these guys they say you don't need a domain name. It's been awhile since I actually set up my site so some of my info may not be exact--try emailing them (or your own webhosting service) for better instructions on what to do. phpwebhosting has been rather friendly and helpful when I email them.

you don't need a domain name. You could use a portion of their domain name But, if you want to go elsewhere later, for instance your hosting provider goes out of business, people have to learn your new address. an example that everyone here knows is with the led museum.

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an example that everyone here knows is with the led museum

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Eh? something I missed, Craig has been at ATT for years and led museum has been parked at www.ledmuseum.org for a while.

Though I don`t sign in here all the time usually pass by a t least once a day to pick up the latest threads.

Keeping an eye out for when the squatter`s move away from ledmuseum.com.Would prefer to move .org to a service that allows the real domain owner to appear as registrant, Craig if you could get in touch.......

Domain parking kept sepearte from domain hosting allows you to move hosts easily, masking is no more than a java script that fools your browser, charging extra for it is somewhat of a liberty.Catch all email forwarding is a definate must as well and sort the incoming with your inbox filters.

Another alternative might be a .tk domain which you can get for free:

http://www.dot.tk/

I use www.oneandone.co.uk as a domain service but it will only allow registrants from the UK, but if you are in the UK would recommend them.Would not reccmend freeparking.co.uk registration is cheap renewal is expensive, something to askabout from any registrar the price of renewal...

Adam

Some good info. Thanks guys.

Mark

Forwarding means the browser visits one site and instead of showing a page it tells the browser to go to another site instead. Normally that shows the forwarded-to site in the browser bar.

By "masking" I think you mean something like forwarding, but the forwarded-to site is wrapped in an HTML frame so it doesn't show in a browser bar. That can confuse users sometimes. But jumpdomain offers it at no extra charge, just select "URL Frame" in the DNS setup menu.

Best is to get a domain name and get it hosted (virtual host is fine). That means the pages are actually under your domain, you don't forward at all. You usually do have to pay for that, but it can be as low as $3 a month or so if you don't need much bandwidth or disk space.

Masking can be useful, but I think it's a little irritating from a user standpoint. For the most part, though, if you are not using a webhosting service, then masking will come in handy so that you always have one domain name that your visitors go to.