Host questions, space, etc. Also, a site design ? with dreamweaver 3

[BotCow]

Thanks in advanced for viewing this thread cause I know it's a pain to answer noob questions... but it has to be done! Anway here goes:

I'm going to start a site containing lots of media from my friends and I (videos, pictures, music) and I wanted to host it on a custom name. I looked up the registration process for my web name and it seemed pretty easy (dot com was taken but when I visited it, it wasn't there. boooo). I was wondering what the name actually does for you. I mean, a name is cheap enough ($35) but how much is a server to hold content and take on traffic? I haven't figured out how much stuff will be on there, but I already have about 400 megs of pictures that I want to put up. Oh, and where do I get a server. (n00b n00b n00b)

Okay since this is a Dreamweaver forum this is my Dreamweaver question: What's the best way to put together a massive number of pictures to browse? I'm thinking about thumbnailing all of them, then making them open up to a separate window with a built in navigation bar so they can scroll through full-size pictures. I will also want the ability to caption every picture. I saw a few tutorials on this but I can't remember where now, if you have some, please post a link, that'd be great. Thanks again for reading this looonngg post and my basic questions.

 

[luds]

You'll be able to find a server host that will register your web name too. There are loads around!

I have a few sites hosted with a company in the UK BargainHost,

http://www.bargainhost.co.uk

. They charge about £50 sterling a year for their basic account, but I'm sure that there are cheaper ones out there too. I'm not sure what you mean by "what does the name do for you"! I can only think that it makes it easier for people to remember because it won't have extra file path names that free hosting services insert.

The best way to put together pics?? lol How long is a piece of string??!!!
That must surely be preference!
Thumbnails are ok...
Or perhaps picture titles that open the picture when clicked...
JavaScript - the pic appears when the users mouse touches the picture title....
Frames - picture titles down one side.. pics open in the other half of the screen...

Personally I'd go for pic titles that open a new window or the javaSCript (harder..but not too hard), but as I say it's personal preference!

Just try to make all your pics as small as you can to reduce their file size..and therefore the download time.
You can have the most wonderful site on the net... but people aren't gonna stay if your pics files are so large that they take ages to appear on the screen.

Hope this helps (a little)

luds

 

[CoreyBryant]

Also check out

http://www.godaddy.com

to register a domain name - about $9.00. As far as what's in a domain name - depends. I mean 10 years ago, when you though of the word auction, you thought - auction. Today, you think of ebay. Your domain name can just be something about yourself. True - the .COM is usually preferred but there are so many others these days - don't let that stop you.

I have used

http://www.hostway.com

for about 4 years now. Very pleased with their services.

You might consider some type of an ASP image database. This way you can easliy add images / delete them / rename them via the database.

__________________________
Corey

http://www.merchantaccounts4less.com

http://www.pay-it.com

 

[MadMango]

Let's not forget that .COM was suppose to be used for commercial sites (ie selling stuff). If you're not selling, consider .NET or .ORG

I think you need to take a long look at your photos as well. Remember that 72dpi is the resolution to use, and you want your photos to be small enough so they don't take more than a few seconds to load (perhaps 600 pixels wide at most, by 128 colors). After you convert your photos, I think you'll see your 300mb shrink to 50mb or so.

 

[BotCow]

Great responses guys. I had a friend search hosts for me and I found a ton also. Hehe, since I'm a poor writer, I didn't truly get my point across about the domain name. When you register for the domain name only, are you in essence, getting the "property rights" for the name? Basically claiming a piece of property? And when you actually get a host, how do you actually notify them that it's your domain name. Do you password protect it or something or does the host check to see if your name matches up with the person registered for that name? Hehe, I guess selling a name doesn't really make sense to me. And who the heck owns these names?

 

[CoreyBryant]

Yes - you own the domain name & the rights as long as you are current with the registrar.

ICAAN is the organization that allows companies to be registars.

When you get a host - they will give you their name servers. Then you go back to the registrar (GoDaddy, etc) and sign into the Control Panel. It will give you a place to enter the names server information. It usually takes about 24 hours or less to propagate. The hosting company will issue a user name & password to you so that you can upload your files.

To read more about Domain Name Servers:

http://computer.howstuffworks.com/dns.htm

And this will also give you some useful information:

http://computer.howstuffworks.com/web-page.htm

__________________________
Corey

http://www.merchantaccounts4less.com

http://www.pay-it.com

 

[lebisol]

u pay u own!
u don't update(pay) u loose
password-account concept..u log in and post your tech. admin etc. info
it is as asy as handeling web-email
all the best!

> need more info?
:: don't click HERE ::