Personal or Family Web Sites

[garym053]

Just wondering what people who have and maintain their own web sites are using for providers and software?

Interested in starting one, mainly to post camping/hiking/paddling/XCSkiing pictures, but possibly more. Seems to be a variety of storage space and prices out there.

Any helpful advice or hints?
Thanks

[Tim5055]

Gary,

The first thing you need to do is Domain Registration.  It seems that most hosting companies charge too much, so register it yourself.  I use GKG.NET INC  for the registrationof all my domains.

Then you need hosting.  You can find a lot of companis out there that will give you hosting for $3 - $4 a month, paid yearly.  The problem with most of them is that they limit the "Monthly Data Transfer" and charge you extra if you go above a certain amount.  For hosting I use FatCow for hosting.  For $99 a year they give you:

    *   1 GB of Disk Space for Your Files
    * 30 GB of Monthly Data Transfer
    * 100 E-mail Accounts
    * ShopSite Starter
    * CGI, PHP
    * Friendly Toll Free Support
    * 30-day Money Back Guarantee
    * Webstats

As I said, the data transfer is what will kill you.  Folks looking at your photos can  push up your monthly transfer.  I think I'm moving about 10 - 12 GB a month right now.

If you decide to use them please put "title-3.com" in the "Referred by" field when you sign up.  I have been with them a couple of years and so far the down time has been minimal, plus they have great customer service.

[garym053]

Thanks Tim,
I love your web site. Although it's much more than I would need, I'm sure!
I'm thinking that 99% or more is going to be photos to share with the extended family and friends around the country. It looks like the community webshots ONLY allow pictures, so perhaps that is too little.
Guess I'd better look at what I'm really trying to accomplish here first!

[Tim5055]

Thanks Tim,
I love your web site. Although it's much more than I would need, I'm sure!
I'm thinking that 99% or more is going to be photos to share with the extended family and friends around the country. It looks like the community webshots ONLY allow pictures, so perhaps that is too little.
Guess I'd better look at what I'm really trying to accomplish here first!

Just remember that the majority of bandwidth utilized is photos.  It adds up quickly.

[campingcop]

Gary

Don't know how involved you want your web site to be but I use Tripod for my web site with a link to Webshots for pictures.

Haven't updated the web site in quite a while