Hi

I want to dabble a bit more in Web Development. I would like to potentially creat 3/4 sites.
What is the best and cheapest way I can do this?

Is there anyone out there offering a deal on hosting 3/4 sites? If so please reply or PM me with details (i.e. secured server?).


Thanks

It really does depend on what you need. If the sites you intend to create contains 1000s of large images and files available for download, then your going to have to spend a bit more. But if you want to create standard websites that would use an average amount of images and text, then you don't have to spend large amounts of money.

It also depends how serious the websites are going to be, by which I mean whether they are going to be for clients or for your personal use to test your web skills.

If they are going to be for clients, then you'd buy a domain name for each site from a domain name registrar (I use UK Reg).

Then you would purchase a basic hosting package for each website, for example my webhost do an £18 a year package which provides more than enough space and bandwidth for a standard user. I find my host to be extremely reliable.

However, if the sites are less serious, then you could consider savings yourself purchasing a domain name for each site. You could sign up for free domains from Uni.cc. The domains provide all the features that a standard domain name purchased from UKReg would. The domains are yoursitename.uni.cc .

You could also consider going for a budget webhost and purchasing a reseller package. I've used YrHost in the past and the speed of the website and level of support appears more than adequate. I'm afraid I can't comment on reliability however. The basic reseller package allows you to host an unlimited number of sites (so you could register 10 .uni.cc domains for free and create a fully functioning website for each one), providing of course that you stick within your bandwidth and disk space limits. You could give the reseller package a try for £6 a month, you don't like, you can cancel and don't have to mess about with refunds.

Hope this helps.

I can thoroughly recommend Midphase - tons of space and more bandwidth than you can shake a stick at. All for around £45 a year! Up to 10 sites on one account

Thanks for that thorough response and the recommendation.

Ill list out my requirements based on your comments and maybe youll be able to advise accordingly?

i want to create standard websites that would use an average amount of images and text.

Initially to test web skills, then going to create for clients .


My idea was that i buy enough space for say 10 sites, then the domain names i would buy 'as and when' as i create sites for people.

Initially im goinf for simple sites 4-5 pages, average no of images. Nothing fancy (until i expand my skills!)

What do you think!?

Thanks

Midphase include one domain name purchase in the price collinsca

Will the pages be constructed with HTML and CSS or a scripting language such as PHP using MySQL databases or ASP?

If the pages are simply going to be HTML and CSS I wouldn't bother purchasing web hosting just yet. I'd create the websites offline and organise them into different folders for each site on my computer, rather than putting them on the internet. This is much more useful for development because everything is in one place and saves uploading and updating to and from the internet.

If you plan to use PHP and MySQL, then I'd do the same thing again when in the development stage. I'd install Apache Web Server, PHP and MySQL on my computer (I can give you instructions for this if necessary).

Then when you create your own website, get some webspace (like I said, I recommend 34SP my host, but HappyBeaver recommends Midphase, must be getting paid *COUGH* ). You could also use this website to develop other sites by putting them in different folders for example:

Your website is located at www.mywebsite.com
Your development space for a friendly childrens toothpaste website is: www.mywebsite.com/toothpaste
Your development space for a gardening website could be: www.mywebsite.com/gardening

That way you are effectively using the space and bandwidth of your site for developing. I do the same on my extremely out of date site, I use different folders for development. For example, my new website design in development is located at /test2.

I've done a bit of web design work for clients, but I think for me to pay for a package that could host 10 accounts would be a waste of my money and "tie me to" the clients in a way, meaning I have a lot more responsibility than just the design. Also, with a large reseller account there will be a lot of space that isn't utilised till you get more accounts. So what I do, is get the client to sign up for their own hosting and then provide me with the details for login (which they can of course change later_, or I'll visit the clients home and perform the sign up for them.

I've given you quite a bit to think about there, but that is what I do, you may decide you want to work differently.

thanks for that comprehensive msg.
great point about getting them to do the hosting... worth a thought.

Mainly HTML and CSS to start with till i get competent (im pretty good with HTML but need to readjust to web standards after a few years off) then CSS im starting from scratch really.

I would like to get an online presence, even if its just to force myself to get off my ass and do something!

Like I said before, it really is down to personal preference now about the way you wish to work. Either start making some sites on your computer for the time being and get hosting later, or go ahead and buy a domain name and web hosting so that you can get some of your stuff live straight away.

A great little program I use for coding in HTML and CSS is Araneae. It colour codes all the code you input to make coding a lot more easy, and allows you to automatically input some tags.

Thanks very much for all of your advice.