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How to Choose a Web Host By Alex Alonso for Streetgangs Magazine April 20, 2003 Choosing a web host for the first time can be extremely difficult with all the companies that are offering web-hosting services. If you do a Google search on affordable web hosting ["web hosting" +affordable] you will get 655,000 hits (April 20, 2003). How does one choose with all the options?   The first step is to determine what your needs are.  If you are a novice, you may not have many needs at first and might want to begin your web experience with a free site the way I did back in 1995.  You can sign up with YAHOO or ANGELFIRE and get 6Mb of freespace to create your own web site.  This would be a great way to first get acquainted with web development.  But if you have your own domain name (i.e. www.yourname.com) and you have big plans for your site your needs will increase. I selected my current web host in 2001 and they were my third company since I purchased my own domain name in 1998.  From 1995 to 1998 I was operating my web site for free on a university server. My site was getting more popular during those beginning years and it was time to move.  Also from 1998 to 2001 my web needs were changing and not all companies can accommodate all your needs. My needs in 2001 were as follows. This poll has been disabled Bandwidth Transfer: I was looking for a company that had an affordable package that allowed a maximum transfer of 20 Gigabytes (GB) per month. This is a lot of data, but if your page has a lot of data, downloads, images, high-resolution pictures, and audio you will need a lot bandwidth. If you have 100,000 unique visitors per month, you will need to request a package that has a lot of bandwidth.  Over 80 percent of the pages on the internet in 2002 transferred less than 5Gb of data per month so you may not need to order a package with 15GB or 20GB per month.  The problem with my website is that I get much media attention through magazine, television and radio and spontaneously I may receive tens of thousands of visitors in one day.  My site has been featured on PBS, MTV, BET, and several other local television programs so the extra bandwidth is important for my site.  Don't start off big if you do not need it.   Internet Service Provider Connections: This will tell you what type of connection the company's servers have to the internet. Most people that dial-up to the internet use a 56K modem, and that speed is slowly becoming antiquated. That modem speed can transfer on average about 56 Kilobytes per second. An average DSL connection can transfer between 500-1,000 Kilobytes per second.  This performance will allow you to download a song between one to three minutes. Web host companies have much faster connections beginning with T1, including T3, OC3, OC12, OC48. You want to be on a server that is at least connected with T3 or OC3.  And also you want to know that your web host company has the latest in internet connections, even though you may not need it.   FrontPage: If you design your pages using Microsoft FrontPage make sure they have the extension for FrontPage.  Most do but always ask and check.   Telnet: Using a UNIX based interface to access to my web files was important to me in 2001. Some companies do not have telnet access included in their packages because of security issues, but telnet has many important advantages, so consider having telnet access if you are computer literate.  If you are new to web site design, there are other user friendly ways to access your files (i.e. Control Panel, C Panel) so you will not need Telnet. If you are not familiar with telnet, it is similar to DOS in windows but with access to the internet.   Space: Although I was using about 200 Mb of space on my account in 2001, and I wanted to have much more for storage purposes. Many packages offer at least 500 Mb of space. This should be plenty of space for a web site. Space is actually inexpensive.  You will see some packages offering 1,000 Mb of space.   File Transfer Protocol: Having FTP access is a great way to transfer files from your local computer to the server of your web host. Also anonymous FTP is important for sharing files with your audience. This way they can have access to just one part of your server to retrieve information or to send you information. Make sure they offer this, even if you are not quite ready to take advantage of it   Other Features: Depending how sophisticated you are with web design you may want to consider having the following features. CGI Bin directory for running scripts, mySQL databases, Control Panel, Pearl support, and Shopping cart if you plan on selling items. I also have specific requests that included redirect pointing to another folder, mirrors, and parking domains. I have other domain names that I wanted to host with this same account, but I wanted those domains to maintain their original names (i.e. www.othername.com). and their own identity but be in the same account. Not all companies offer this, and those that do will charge you between $2.00 - $10.00 per month for each domain name. Also I wanted to park domains that I had not developed yet. This will also cost between $2.00 - $10.00 per month.   There are other specific needs that are not covered here but these are the main needs to get your site running. Next Page Do You have any Web Host Tips? Sign the message board. News Topics | Home | Research | History | Blood Gangs | Crip Gangs | People| Life in a Gang | Gallery | Iraqi Cards | Memorial | Migration | Graffiti | Resume| Injunctions Homicides | Maps | California Prisons | Contact

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