Buying a website interface and hosting it

Hello,

Can you help me pls. I have 3 questions:
1) Since photographers' sites are usually a standard build-up is it possible already to buy a ready made interface (maybe change the colours, fonts etc) from somewhere? I imagine one can get a good PHP or Java site at reasonable price this way...
2) What is a good (cheap) place to registrate .com domain?
3) I would guess one would need at least 50GB storage space to upload good quality photos, how is it usually solved? Do people use their own computers as servers? Or can you get huge amount of disc space hosting at reasonable price somewhere?

As you can understand I am planning to get a website and would need your help with some basics, thank you.

Indrek

1. templatemonsters.com has lots of template for you to start your website
2. godaddy.com
3. are you really use all of that 50GB of space for your picture? when you post your pic on your website, you just don't use the huge file (it will take forever to load up)

For the PHP look no further than this site. Pekka's EE 2.0 is as good as you will find anywhere. Plus there is a great support forum on this board.

Click HERE

Thanks Neil and Bubble, its a lot help!

1) There are plenty of places to get software for posting pictures. Many are open source and come with a lot of help on the web. EE 2.0 is a place to start, because its is hosted here.

2) godaddy is cheap, but personally am looking to go in a different direction when my domain registration needs renewing because I feel like they aren't treating their customers right.

3) for hosting I am using globat. they give you a lot of storage for not a lot of money, but I am not really a big fan, because they like to use opt-out upgrade, meaning they will upgrade your service unless you take the effor to opt-out of the upgrade and I think they are slow running php scripts. But I get a lot of disk space. 100 GB right now and haven't even touch 10% of it.

As for running your own home computer as a server. On thing you need is either a static ip and with a DNS [zoneedit is who I use] or find a dynamic dns. (I haven't needed a dynamic dns, so I can't point to towards one of those) You might also want to make sure you are not violating the terms of service agreement with your ISP.

An important question is what you want to do with the web page. I was going to use it to archive stuff, because I know globat will backup more than I will and as long as I give them money, my data should remain there. But if you want it there for viewing pictures a lot, you probably don't need 50 GB right off the bat. Also if you are thinking about running the webpage off a machine in your house you have to remember that the machine needs to be up for your webpage to up and running and it can effect your internet experience at home if for whatever reason your page is seeing a lot of traffic (either its popular or a DoS attack)

This is off-topic, but are you unhappy with godaddy's hosting services or their domain registration services? I've used them for domain registration for years and have never been unhappy in that regard. Edit: oh wait, I see you say you have a globat host - which then makes my question, what's wrong with godaddy's domain registration customer service, in your opinion?

i've used goddady for all of our hosting client (100+) and no problem so far. You can control everything from the control panel when you login. I don't see any need to call them for support.

+1 for Godaddy. I've used them for years with great service. I've done web hosting, email hosting, domain registration and certificate purchases through them.

As far as hosting at home: I am using dynamic dns through http://www.dyndns.com I am using their free service. I then use my domain provider to create a DNS CNAME to my DYNDNS name. The url I advertise is:

http://images.fuzzysgr​aphics.com which is just an alias to:

http://freeservername.​dyndns.com (not the real URL) but it appears to be my server, and it's updated whenever my ISP changes my IP address.

It's a bit cobbled together, but it is a free way to brand my Gallery2 server while I'm testing it out. Someday I'll probably have to host it somewhere since the server currently resides in my basement.

www.smugmug.com

GoDaddy people. They actually offer Photo Gallery software in the Hosting Control panel that can be installed for free. If you choose GoDaddy PM me, I have over a thousand 10% off any purchase coupons that never expire. I will send you a code to save you some cash.

I have over a thousand domains through GoDaddy, and so many email accounts and hosting plans that a few customer support reps know me by name.

To fuzzygraphics,

The problem with hosting websites in a house or on a basic internet connection is that if the power goes out, your website goes down. Or if your internet goes down, so does your site. Web Hosting providers (Mainstream ones) offer and provide 100% uptime, with some of the most advanced data centers in the world. Power goes out, backup power, Internet goes down, multiple internet backup systems, hardware failure, image copy on another server is booted up. Not to mention gigabyte connections compared to kilobytes.The technology that is implemented in a data center will never be at grasp for residential use sadly, thats why people who have hosted their website at home have started to use hosting services.

EnronRocks wrote in post #2991503
GoDaddy people. They actually offer Photo

To fuzzygraphics,

The problem with hosting websites in a house or on a basic internet connection is that if the power goes out, your website goes down. Or if your internet goes down, so does your site. Web Hosting providers (Mainstream ones) offer and provide 100% uptime, with some of the most advanced data centers in the world. Power goes out, backup power, Internet goes down, multiple internet backup systems, hardware failure, image copy on another server is booted up. Not to mention gigabyte connections compared to kilobytes.The technology that is implemented in a data center will never be at grasp for residential use sadly, thats why people who have hosted their website at home have started to use hosting services.

I agree, there are limitations. There are also cost benfits. If you are so motivated, and can accept the risks of hosting (how often have you had service outages at home recently?) it can be an economical alternative.

There are benifits to hosting as you stated, but there is a cost with that. Like any business decision, you need to determine if the value justifies the cost. You can not compare the level of service a host offers againts a residence without comparing the difference in pricing.

That said, most home internet connections are not as reliable as one would prefer for a hosting situation. For me personally, I accept this risk to run my own server while I experiment with different platforms at no cost. If your livelyhood is on the line, it is probably more prudent to have the most reliable solution available.