Help
- General
- How can i contact you?
- What about the forum?
- What about Technical support?
- Why with you?
- Tell something about you.
- Web Hosting FAQ
- What is Web Hosting?
- What is virtual hosting?
- My host offers unlimited bandwidth/space/transfer
- What exactly is space and bandwidth/data transfer?
- What do I need to do to put Flash on my website?
- What are PHP, ASP, perl, etc?
- What is MySQL, MS SQL, etc?
- Will there be forced advertising on my site - things like banner ads or popup ads?
- How can I pay for web hosting?
- How do I upload my site online?
- What is the difference between UNIX hosting and Windows hosting?
- Domain FAQ
- What is a domain name?
- What is a TLD?
- What signs and characters can be used in a domain name?
- Are domains case sensitive?
- What about trademarks and protections on domain names?
- What is the WHOIS database?
- What makes a good domain name?
- What is a "used" domain name?
What is Web Hosting?
Web hosting is the act of renting space and bandwidth through a company so that you may publish your web site online. You can either opt for free hosting that is usually supported with banners and pop ups, or may opt to get paid web hosting, which gives you complete control over your site contents.
What is virtual hosting?
Also known as shared hosting, this form of web hosting should suffice for most everyone. Virtual hosting simple refers to the fact that your site is on one server, and that this server hosts mulitple sites. You are virtually shared - your site will not be the only one on this specific server. Very few sites would actually need the power of a dedicated server, so this option provides to be a reliable and cheap solution.
My host offers unlimited bandwidth/space/transfer
As we explained on our scams page, it is not possible for a web host to offer 'unlimited' bandwidth or diskspace. Such hosting plans always come with clauses that restrict how much bandwidth you can transfer at a given moment, how much CPU usage you can use (which is arbitrarily decided), and so forth.
What exactly is space and bandwidth/data transfer?
Diskspace is the size your website can be. Every single letter on your website has to be stored somewhere on your web host's server.
Each letter is one byte, and a megabyte is roughly one million bytes. HTML pages are usually very small, but it is the extra images, scripts, and even databases that can take up large amounts of disk space.
Bandwidth/Transfer is the amount of data the server will allow your site to send in a month. Transfer is usually measured in gigabytes - billions of bytes.
Once you go over your monthly limit, a host may either shut your site down for the remainder of the month or it can charge you 'overage.' This overcharge is usually about $2.00-$5.00 per extra gigabyte of transfer.
What do I need to do to put Flash on my website?
Flash is a client side feature - it runs on the user's computer, not on your web host. As long as the user's browser has the correct plugin installed, it will run on their computer.
What are PHP, ASP, perl, etc?
These are all programming languages which are referred to by their acronyms.
PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor
ASP - Active Server Pages
Perl - not an acronym
Each programming language has its own benefits and uses. It is best that you research on your own to find one that best fits your needs.
What is MySQL, MS SQL, etc?
MySQL and MS SQL are database systems. Depending on what your host provides, you can use a database to organize your data.
Will there be forced advertising on my site - things like banner ads or popup ads?
Not at all. You are paying for webspace that is only yours - no one may put ads on your site except you.
How do I upload my site online?
Uploading your site can be done in many ways, but the most popular is FTP.
When your hosting account was created, you should have been provided with an FTP account. Using software such as CuteFTP or WS_FTP, you can log into your host. Then, using the program like a normal windows program, you can drag and drop files onto your web host. These files become live online instantaneously.
There are other ways to upload your site such as using SSH or uploading files through your browser
What is the difference between UNIX hosting and Windows hosting?
Depending on which operating system to go with depends on your needs.
If you need to support Microsoft products such as ASP, MS Access, or VBScript, then Windows hosting would be better. Furthermore, if you are comfortable with IIS and do not have the time to understand how UNIX works, Windows hosting would again be a better choice.
There are some things to remember.
First of all, just because you use Windows at home does not mean you should use Windows hosting. The two are completely different, and having a Windows system at home will not affect your ability to communicate with a UNIX server.
Secondly, Linux is much more common with web hosts due to its superior stability and because it is free. Since it is free, Linux hosting is usually cheaper than Windows. Just because it`s free does not mean it`s not as good - Linux is an excellent product too.
What is a domain name?
A domain is a textual version of an IP address, the number that is points to a particular Web site. Each domain on the internet consists of numbers, but it would be very confusing if you had to remember such long combinations of numbers.
Without domain names each and every Web site would have to be recalled by a number , similar to the telephone system, but much more difficult to remember! For this reasons domain names were introduced, and have made navigation on the net much simpler!
What is a TLD?
Top Level Domain. The part of the domain name after the very last period "."
Top Level Domains are divided into two categories:
gTLDs: General TLDs such as .com, .org, .net and .info, which are not associated with a particular country or region
and
ccTLDs: TLDs such as .us, .de, .co.uk, .ie, .ca, etc. These TLDs were assigned to geographic locations, however, some, as in the TLD .tv, were sold by their owners (in this case the island of Tuvalu) to corporations to market and sell outside of the country. The TLD .tv has now come to stand for "television" in the Internet.
What signs and characters can be used in a domain name?
The maximum length of a domain is 63 signs/characters, excluding the ending (as in ".com"). You can choose all alphabetical letters, numbers as well as the hyphen "-", also sometimes referred to as the "dash" or "minus" sign. The "WWW" you often see on the front of domain names is not part of the domain and special characters (e.g. $,%,&,?,=) are not allowed.
Are domains case sensitive?
No, domain names are not case sensitive. WWW.DomainName.com is the same as www.domainname.com is the same as www.DOMAINNAME.com - they can never point to different websites.
What about trademarks and protections on domain names?
If you wish to buy or sell a domain through A1domainhosting.com, we suggest that you first check to make sure it doesn't violate any existing trademarks. If you are not sure, visit http://www.sedo.co.uk/legal/ and run a trademark search on existing and expired trademarks in the EU and the USA. If your domain is in violation of a trademark legal action may be sought by the trademark holder.
What is the WHOIS database?
WHOIS databases contain contact and registration information for every domain registered with a particular registrar. WHOIS databases are maintained by individual registrars and not by the central registry. For this reason some information may not be up to date or may be misleading. Furthermore, registrars update their databases every 20-48 hours, so registration information regarding a domain name may be misleading.
What makes a good domain name?
"Good" is always subjective, but there are some general rules to go by when looking for a quality domain. First, make sure your domain has a TLD that is appropriate for its intended use. Opening an auto repair shop outside of London? Maybe stick with a .co.uk TLD. Looking to launch an entertainment news site that you see yourself advertising at next year's Cannes Festival? Then definitely stick with the .com name and maybe try to secure the .net and .org, too.
Once you have the TLD down, make sure to keep the name relatively short and memorable. Perhaps a real word, a phrase, an acronym, a catch made-up word - all of these are possibilities that, through a little brain-storming land you a high quality domain name.
Watch out for domains with hyphens AND without hyphens. Everyone's instinct works differently - whereas one user may never think to type "all-my-children.com" another user will allways type in phrases with hyphens. Also watch out for articles such as "the". The humor newspaper The Onion has secured their online presence by acquiring both the domain "theonion.com" and "onion.com".
Lastly, test your desired name out. Get opinions from co-workers, friends, people on the streets! After all, it's all these people that you want to get to your site when it's finished, and their novice opinions can sometimes be the best answer to the question "is this a good domain name?"
What is a "used" domain name?
A "used" domain is one that has already been registered (and perhaps used as a Web site with traffic), or one that is currently registered and listed for sale. Platforms such as Sedo with "used" domains for sale are often called "after markets" or "secondary markets".