Advice on Web Hosting

[Jack Aidley]

I'm hoping to be releasing Great Ork Gods as a free .pdf in the near future. To do this I'll require a website. However some time spent searching for good, cheap hosting has rapidly led me to believe I really don't know enough about it to make an informed decision.

So then, to those with websites:

What specific features do you think I will require?
And how much bandwidth do you think I will require?
Can anyone recommend a good UK based host?
Or tell me horror stories about some I should avoid?

Thanks,

Jack.

[Matt Wilson]

Dreamhost was recommended to me, and I loves 'em.

Much much better rates than someplace like yahoo or earthlink (we're talking like $10/month), and heaps of user friendly for boobs like me.

check out www.dreamhost.com

[Jack Aidley]

Thanks for the recommendation; but I want a UK based host.

[Matt Machell]

UK wise there's various deals that'll come in around £50 a year, giving you a half decent amount of file space, some bandwidth (how much transfer you get a month) and other stuff you may need (scripting languages, databases, funky bits, whatever).

For a small site 25mb of storage, 3gb bandwidth a month should be enough (it will depend on file sizes though). If you want to run forums or similar then you will want hosting with PHP or ASP and a database.

Places like ghoulnet are a cheapish place to get this sort of deal, although the less you pay, the more likely problems are to happen. I had problems with them when they upgraded a server badly, for example. How likely you are to fall prey to this kind of thing, depends on how complex your use of the pages.

As an aside, do you just want UK based for the timezone and ease of contact?

-Matt

[ADGBoss]

Since I know of no UK based web hosting that I could comment on, I will not comment on that specifically.

As for recommendations.  Since its a free pdf, no need to worry about the payment options setup.  You probably want something that gives you plenty of webspace, has php and SQL enabled along with other formats and databases, gives you a few emails and the ability to make changes from a web interface.

Bandwidth: go ahead and get about twice what you think you need, and it depends on how big the files that people will be downloading are.  At least I would keep that in mind.


Sean

[Jack Aidley]

For a small site 25mb of storage, 3gb bandwidth a month should be enough (it will depend on file sizes though). If you want to run forums or similar then you will want hosting with PHP or ASP and a database.

I'm not initially intending to have forums; but might add them later.

As an aside, do you just want UK based for the timezone and ease of contact?

That, billings in pounds and a desire to help support IT companies in my country.

Since its a free pdf, no need to worry about the payment options setup.

Although my first release will be free, if all goes to plan I may release pay-for .pdfs later. What features will I need for this?

[Christopher Weeks]

Plan for a scripting environment.  PHP or VBScript/ASP are probably your cheap and simple options.  Both are easy to learn.  As far as commerce goes, you could be as simple as having a Paypal button and then emailing the PDF manually through as complex and a fully automated shopping cart and eCommerce solution.  It depends on the quantitiy of sales and the targetted level of professionalism.

Chris