Web Hosting

Lately I've gotten really frustrated with the POOR capabilities to provide formatted documentation in SL. Notecards do not provide a mechanism to format text to make something like a product "User Guide" anywhere near what can be accomplished with HTML (or other web tools).

Here is my question:

What I should be looking for if I go to an external "Web Host" provider.

I'm not looking for lots of bells & whistles, just something reliable that I can provide access to formatted text, and maybe store/transfer data in both direction between SL and an external website.

One example of a web site that comes to mind is:
www.hippo-technologies.co.uk/resources

I don't consider myself to be a technical guru, but I can comfortably find my way around most programming topics. I'm pretty familiar with HTML type formatting. Also, I already understand that it would require some (perhaps a LOT) work to get setup.

The thought has crossed my mind that it would also be nice to provide a site that could have forums (like this one) for when LL pulls the plug here.



If any of you have any recommendations (either good or bad) I would be most appreciative.

I've never used a commercial web hosting service, but what I use for the SL Left Unity Feminist Network is a free wiki. I don't know that it will address your needs, but it IS free, pretty easy to format and navigate, and you can also restrict perms on it.

To get an idea of how it looks, check out the SLLUFN wiki at:

http://feministos.wetpaint.com/

All else being roughly equal, I look at a few specific things: Bandwidth, and how I'm allowed to manage my site. I once had an ISP that gave me my own web space, but only allowed me to manage my site through their web portal. I couldn't even post anything freeform. The best host, IMO, is one that gives you unrestricted SSH or SFTP access to your site.

As for bandwidth, you need to figure out about how much traffic your information is going to generate and choose a host that provides the bandwidth allocation you need at a reasonable price. Your site is going to be no good if you hit your monthly cap in one week.

There are two ways you could approach - either an actual web site or a "wiki" type of set up.

Both have pro's and con's.

The pro with a wiki set up is that there are free services out there and most of them are WYSIWYG. Wikispaces is one to look at. Maintenance would be much simpler than needing to do a full website.

A full website will have more options and capabilities, but those come with a price tag. Free hosting is to be avoided at all costs, so expect to pay for hosting -- then there is the time to build the site and maintain it.

I could give you a list of hosting companies to avoid, but it is simpler to just say that after 10 years of moving my various web sites around, I've given up on every company except Network Solutions. I'm not saying that NS is perfect, but after nightmare upon nightmare, they were the last hosting company standing. They are more expensive than some of the smaller outfits, but I find the peace of mind worth it. I currently have 6 sites hosted with them and a 7th hosted elsewhere (that I regret my host choice but moving the database gives me heartburn, so that one stays where it is until I can't stand the host anymore.)

As the saying goes, your mileage may vary...that's just my .02 cents.


(also, many hosting services offer things like forum and blog software as part of their hosting package - NS does.)

Register a domain through godaddy and they give you a web site free. just has godaddy at the bottom so you should opt for a $6 per month bare bones web host. Then you have a lot of options assuming you selected linux. godaddy is pretty reliable for above board non black hat operations.

I disagree on Godaddy. I've fired them in the past. They nickel and dime you to death and their website is unnavigable.

I second go daddy
been using them for years, and have not had any problems with them
I find their website easy to navigate, and the price fits my budget
eventually I am thinking of having a web set up for my store, for easy browsing and plan to use godaddy for the host and registering of the domain

eventually

We provide web hosting if you are interested.

If you are interested let me know We sell unlimited hosting, so you can host unlimited domains, you have unlimited space, unlimited bandwidth - Just cant break our CPU is all.

We have our prices set to around 6.95 a month for this.

EDIT: We use Cpanel - so all your blog script is all in there aswell, it will be automatically installed - we are also a managed solution, this means we will even install scripts for you.

EDIT 2: We offer 8 locations to choose from aswell.
California (USA)
Chicago (USA)
Georgia (USA)
New York (USA)
Texas (USA)
Washington DC (USA)
Berkshire (UK)
Singapore (ASIA)

If your interested shoot us an email at [email]support@area52hosting.com[/email] or reply right here
- Please pardon our website, we are in the middle of a server move, so our template is not yet installed.

Ill be in SL for the next few hrs if you also want to talk ingame