Newbie seeking help

[BlackCat]

I am new to the world of web hosting and I'm not familiar with the best hosts. I'm also a beginner at HTML, knowing only the very basics. However, I wish to start a webpage. I've looked at the reviews for just about every host, but I'd like some more opinions, preferably not from employees of hosts themselves. I'm looking for a webpage with these features:

1-2 GBs of storage
1-5 GBs of monthly data transfer
A domain name
Includes a webpage wizard but still allows the option of doing a page from scratch
$6 a month at the most
Uptime is 99.9%

Any suggestions?

[TopQHost]

my suggestion would be to look in the offers section ( http://www.freewebspace.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=27 ) and once you find a host that fits your requirements, do some research on them. look for opinions from their clients in their forums/testimonials and also in other webhosting forums. email them and ask every question you can think of. check their server uptimes, how long it takes them to respond to your questions, etc. don't go with a host that you do not feel comfortable with.

if you want custom offers, just say so and i'm sure a bunch of hosts will offer here :)

[Riverworld]

1-2 GBs of storage
1-5 GBs of monthly data transfer

Are you sure about these requirements?

If you had 2gb of space and 4gb of data transfer, that means you could only upload your site once in a month, and view it once.

Furthermore, it is highly unlikely (especially if your just starting to learn HTML), that you would even need 1gb space. Infact, I would be surprised if you even came close to needing it.

The solution is simple :) Be realisitic here. Your hosting should be for serving webpages, not extra storage space for you (it would cost you too much).

You should only need to have hosted what you actually directly need on your website. Any other documents that aren't associated directly with your website really shouldn't be there (unless you do what I do, and upload them and access them from another location).

If you disagree, don't be shy in posting. I personally don't want to see you get ripped off here.

You should also find exactly what you need in a free host (except you'll have to register your domain still), yet if your in it for reliability, find yourself a nice starter plan that you can upgrade later. That way your not paying for things you don't really need :)

[CareBear]

Go with a host that is prepared to deal with all the basic questions you might have (cheaper host are cheap in part because they don't expect you to ask things such as how to use FTP, or how to use the control panel, how to create an email alias etc), or has a well visited support forum where other clients can help you out.
Most hosts I've seen - if they already do so in the first place - will only offer you a free domain if you prepay them for the entire year.

Includes a webpage wizard but still allows the option of doing a page from scratchThere is a very wide range of software available that you can use on your own computer to create a site with so I wouldn't make a site building tool a requirement on your new host.

Alternatively, I'd suggest buying your domain (shouldn't cost you more than $10/year) and look for a free host with domain hosting and has a control panel.
That way you can slowly ease into everything, poke around and learn as you go, then once you feel you've learned enough go look around for a paid host. You'll be in a much better position to judge what you're getting then.

[UnitHosting]

Try to choose a host that has SiteStudio might save you a lot of time spending on creating webpages.

[shadydude]

I got my site off fusioncroc.com (http://www.fusioncroc.com)
i got the standard plan for £2.50 100MB space , 2GB Bandwidth

hope this helps

[BlackCat]

Are you sure about these requirements?

Actually I'm not sure why I put 1-2 gb of storage, considering I will have no more than pictures and text on my webpages. It was late last night, go figure. :-)

There is a very wide range of software available that you can use on your own computer to create a site with so I wouldn't make a site building tool a requirement on your new host.

That's true.

I guess I'll do some research.

[BlackCat]

There is a very wide range of software available that you can use on your own computer to create a site with so I wouldn't make a site building tool a requirement on your new host.

What are some good beginner programs then?

[CareBear]

What are some good beginner programs then?If noone answers here, try asking in the Webdesign / HTML (http://freewebspace.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=17) forum.
HTML-Kit (http://www.chami.com/html-kit/) was mentioned there recently, I haven't used it but it is free so worth a try. :-)

(Edited to add that you could use FrontPage if you happen to have an MS Office edition that includes it)

[BlackCat]

After some searching I might try NitroZone's Start package. $1.50 a month, 100 MBs of storage, 4 GB of traffic, unlimited e-mail accounts, FTP access, and a number of other features located here (http://www.nitrozone.net/hosting.shtml).

To get a domain name it's $15 without any locking features, but they allow transferring domains too.