How to : Get started with your own domain website

The 2 most important parts to a website are :

domain name !

web host !

there's quite a few domain registrars, and a billion webhosts.

www.godaddy.com

www.domainmonger.com

are 2 domain registrars i've had personal experience with. I recently switched all my domains to godaddy.com because they offer privacy protection, it masks your personal information ( email, address, phone number ) from the public domain WHOIS service. a wonderful feature for us paranoid-schizophrenics-to-be. /cough

I've started a lists of webhosts here ( http://www.theangrycrayon.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9364). A lot of webhosts will let you purchase a domain name with your package, which is fancy and neat and all, but if you ever want to change webhosts, it can cause a lot of problems. So the best way to prevent that, is to learn a little bit about domain names and webhosting.

After you register a domain name yourself, you'll log in to your account at whatever company you choose to go with ( i'll refer to this as godaddy from now on ), you'll have the option to set the "DNS" or "Nameservers" (domain name servers = DNS ). When you sign up to a webhost, they usually present you with the option of "i already own a domain, I just need hosting" ( or I want to buy a domain and hosting ). Select the option where you already own a domain. Once you've purchased your subscription, you'll receive the DNS information from your webhost. You'll then go to godaddy, and plug those nameservers into your domain. It *may* take up to 72 hours to 'propagate', but usually seems rather instant to me anymore.

Next Part : Webhost Features

Things you must check out, before making a decision for a webhost are :

linux/unix OR windows based: I go for linux, because pretty much everything is made to run on a linux environment. paths and permissions are handled a bit differently in windows, so some applications that you want to install will not function properly unless they are installed on linux.

webspace : do they offer enough at a reasonable price ? charging $15/mo for 200mb is a rip-off. Nowadays you can get 500mb for $5/mo. never go for "unlimited", there's always fine-print that will subject you to charges that are insane ( it can turn a $10/mo bill into +$100 or more )

bandwidth : this determines the max amount of traffic your website can receive before being 'suspended', or charged for going over your limit. For high-traffic/large download sites ( like a digital product store like vamp3d.com ) you will need a LOT, like 30gb/mo or more. for the average personal gallery website, 5-10gb should do just fine. Again, avoid "unlimited" deals, because nothing is ever unlimited!

php( or asp)/mysql : unless you're stuck in the stone-age and plan to do it all by HTML only, then you need these! Forums, Galleries, Guestbooks, Wordpress, all require this. and at least 1 MySQL database. ASP is generally for windows-based hosts, but it can be run on a linux OS ( i know i lost 98% of you here - so just ignore this, and remember : PHP ;p )

Some webhosts come with a great control panel feature called "Fantastico" or "Installatron", its essentially a "1-click" installation method for lots of popular free web apps ( phpbb, gallery2, coppermine, wordpress, guestbooks, counters, stat tracking, even store-apps, like oscommerce ) It allows you to just plug in username password, email etc. and click "install", saving you a ton of upload time and if you're not very comfortable with getting your hands dirty, the headache of trying to configure scripts to run.

Well thats about it for now. I'll write more or answer any questions anyone may have =) If you've got some good information to contribute, please feel free.

Other Registrars:

http://www.directnic.com/