Help, Oh Please Help This Newbie Find The Right Host

[S2S333]

Hi - I've done many hours of research, and found this site because it is referenced as an excellent resource in whreviews.com. As others who have noted in these threads, there is a tremendous amount of conflicting information and many folks who post recommendations are actually web host providers themselves. Moreover, I have noticed that some sites are touted as being excellent, while those very same sites are denounced as horrible and to be avoided at all costs in other forums. I know you know what I mean when I say it is extremely confusing for a newbie, such as I, to know how to proceed (except with great caution, hence this post...)

This is what I will need for the new site I am about to launch, and I would be so grateful if an honest soul, with first-hand knowledge and substantial experience, who will gain NOTHING from making his/her recommendation, could point me to a handful of web hosting companies that could support my with with the following features. Please note that I am guessing on my requirements, to some extent, since I do not know if the site will draw little or lots of traffic, hence I need the ability to expand the package and add-on features.

First of all, let me say that my plan is to build a dynamic web site using Macromedia Studio 8 (which includes Dreamweaver 8, Flash 8, and Fireworks 8) - dozens and dozens of hours already invested in listening to CD tutorials and plodding through hundreds of pages of pdf manuals... Since the site is not yet created, I could (theoretically at least) use ASP JavaScript, ASP VBScript, ASP.NET VB, ASP.NET C#, ColdFusion, JSP, or PHP MySQL. I have never designed an interactive website before, but all the literature I have read leads me to believe Windows-based servers (ASP) are more expensive to host, though ASP is easier to learn, though I have all the above choices in Dreamweaver 8. And if I can use Unix instead of the giant Microsoft, that's just fine by me... One way or the other, I'm going to have to learn some database stuff, just want to make the right decision right up front.

I need to be able to do the following:

1. Create memberships, i.e. have individuals create unique usernames, store password info, track member activity, etc. Thus, I suppose I need the host to provide me with lots of free e-mail addresses (I am assuming the member e-mail addresses, which would be used by members to correspond w/other members, are the same thing as the "free e-mail addresses" touted by web hosts). Just as with this site, I'd like to require new members to type in the twisted text that appears in a box (no idea what the technical term for this is), to avoid automatic submissions.

2. Recieve payments from members, in a secure fashion.

3. Offer on-line chat.

4. Offer Bulletin boards/discussion boards, such as this one, where members can post their thoughts/comments, regarding specific subjects (or create their own new topics).

5. Provide members with a certain amount of "space" (couldn't tell you how much space would be provided, but assume the necessary space to post 5 pages of written text), where members can post a pic of themselves, or perhaps pics of things they're into (e.g. guitars), or their own poetry, or their experiences with soul mates (that's what the site's all about, incidentally). ,

I realize that seems like a tall order, and I apologize for taking up so much space with this request, but I do genuinely believe that I am more likely to find knowledgeable, honest people in a forum such as this, than I would ever find querying web host providers themselves.

Thanks to all who will take the time to read through this litany, and though I am a newbie at this, I'm knowledgable at other stuff (e.g. legal stuff), so perhaps I can give you a tip or two myself, to return the favor.

S2S333 (soul to soul - 333)
:thankyou:

 

[stealthdevil]

What are your webspace & bandwidth requirements? What is your budget?

 

[S2S333]

Alas, I was afraid of that question, and I think the honest answer is: I don't have a clue what my necessary bandwidth is, nor what my web space requirements are.

What I can tell you is that, right now I am using Infinology to host a static web site of mine, and under the "Stellar Unix" plan I bought, for $6.99/mo payable 12 mos. in advance, I have 100 GB of "traffic" - I assume that's per month, and 4,000 MB of "unlimited files" as a quota, and 8,000 e-mails.

Problem is: that package does not offer e-commerce, which comes at a tidier price of $75/mo plus $45 one-time set-up fee (which includes SSL for payments, chat, BBS, though I was utterly unable to find out from tech person on phone this morning if their server operates on UNIX or Windows.) That is WAY OUT OF MY BUDGET.

Ideally, I'd like to spend no more than $25/month, at least initially, if at all possible, and of course, I'd much rather pay by month, than have to fork out hundreds of dollars up front, by prepaying an entire year. Truth is: I just don't have that kind of money to invest right now.

Though I don't know my necessary bandwidth, if you tell me how I can get an approximation, I will. I can tell you that the site will have flash content (which I assume consumes bandwidth), and though no products will be sold , it's a site designed for folks who believe in soul mates, so, if successful, it'll be full of content in the form of individual profiles (i.e. the "space" each member will get as part of their membership), there will be active online chat, and active discussion boards.

I imagine this will require a substantial amount of bandwidth, and if I understood what I have read correctly in my research, each time someone posts a reply, or starts a new discussion, there is a transfer of data, so that might get rather intense, too.

Again - I want to help you help me, so if you tell me how to come up w/approximations, I'll get to work.

Thank you so much for your reply. :kiss:

S2S

 

[New Idea]

You might want to wait & check out Fusion 1.1 for your forum needs (I have a customer I help administrate version 1 and it's great) but 1.1 is supposed to have the enhancements of "paid" forums areas (that might do what you wanted for your access to profiles & such) and it will integrate with one of the popular live chat programs already although the chat software is "paid" it's not bad (sorry can't recall which one) It also has photo posting & auto thumbnails built into the forums so it might be worth a look. Depending on all you want to do it could be a more simple solution (and it also comes stock with a portal you can enable to function like a home page)

You can get what you describe cheaper with separate components. The reason they are charging high is because your SSL cert etc. is included in the price. You could do better with a common host by purchasing a bargain Certificate (annual charge) and some hosts charge a few $ extra per mo. for a dedicated IP (needed for the certificate). That might keep your costs down. Another thing to consider is if you don't need automated billing like e-commerce you can use PayPal (which will be compatible with the upcoming Fusion module also) Nowadays people don't have to have a PayPal account to pay with PayPal and it eliminates the need for the security certificate and all that goes with processing on-line payments (gateway, merchant bank, configuring everything, etc.) since all the "secure" stuff with payment is conducted on their site.
Just some ideas.

 

[S2S333]

WOW! Thank you for all the information. I had already thought I might resolve the entire payment security issue (and the fact that exporting "private data" from certain countries, e.g. EU countries, requires compliance w/some very strict privacy regulations, namely, the EU Privacy Directive) by using Pay Pal. Pay Pal just charges a bit for the service (I have a corporate a/c all set up with them, which has been authenticated), but I might well want to absorb that simply as the cost of doing business w/o additional headaches resulting from sensitive data theft.

In terms of the web host, though, I would still love a recommendation about a reliable provider that will give me the tech support I need, as well as the e-commerce functionality for interactive web pages (such as the membership database), discussion boards, chat, etc.

Can you make a recommendation for such a host, w/n my budget?

Many thanks, once again, for all that valuable information.

S2S

 

[S2S333]

What are your webspace & bandwidth requirements? What is your budget?

My best guestimate (primarily based on WHReviews.com article) is that I'll need approx. 100MB disk space, and 5GB bandwidth.

Would like to spend no more than $25/mo., and don't know yet if it makes any difference if my site is hosted on Unix or Windows.

Based on above, any recommendations for a reliable web host offering chat, BBS, SSL, etc.?

Many thanks for any suggestions that may be forthcoming (I keep coming across conflicting information or reviews by folks who have only had a few months' experience with any given web host).

S2S

 

[Lesli]

Hi S2S333,

In looking over your original project specs, you might want to add another piece of software to your "possibles" list: ExpressionEngine. It allows you to set up your templates online, has membership capabilities, uses captchas (that twisted text) to slow spambots and automatic signups, now has a simple e-commerce module with a more complex one on the way, would allow you to create very simple "profiles" for each member, offers an integrated discussion forum, AND is ready to use. Your learning curve might be a bit less...intimidating if you use a good, solid CMS software package rather than try and make several different scripts play nicely.

Your disk space and bandwidth requirements look solid - most personal sites don't even use 5GB of bandwidth per month, though you should easily be able to find a plan that gives you the disk space and bandwidth you need. Your stated desired monthly budget seems eminently reasonable. You should be able to find solid, reputable hosts with good servers that may even be a bit under that price. However, in one of your other posts, you say that you currently have 100 GB of traffic (which is bandwidth).

What I can tell you is that, right now I am using Infinology to host a static web site of mine, and under the "Stellar Unix" plan I bought, for $6.99/mo payable 12 mos. in advance, I have 100 GB of "traffic" - I assume that's per month, and 4,000 MB of "unlimited files" as a quota, and 8,000 e-mails.

Is that accurate? If you are currently using this much bandwidth, you'll need to look at a hosting plan that allows you a high monthly bandwidth amount.

ExpressionEngine runs on both Windows OR Unix, so whichever operating system your chosen web host uses, you'd be able to try out that piece of software and see if it would work for you. I've used EE to develop business, personal, gallery, blog, showcase, and community sites, so I know that it's extremely flexible. The software creators just released version 1.5.

You'll only need to pay attention to the server operating system if you plan on using a program or programming language that's only available on one platform or another. Your post mentioned ASP.NET, C#, VMScript - be aware that these are only available on Windows servers. ASP is available on some Linux/Unix servers, but it doesn't behave quite the same as ASP in a Windows environment. If you're firmly decided on using those languages, you'll want to look for a Windows host. Otherwise - you're correct, it won't matter which operating system the server is running.

You seem to have a lot of solid ideas about what you want to do, but also a lot of questions; so you'll want to find a host with whom you can communicate easily and clearly. Start with a smaller hosting plan, and upgrade as you know that you'll need the disk space and bandwidth - that will keep you from paying money before you really need to pay it.

Almost every web host who's been around for a while will have positive and negative reviews. That's just par for the course. One person may just need access to the webspace and good, fast servers while another person is coming fresh off of Geocities and doesn't quite understand what they need to do to manage their own domain. These two individuals have different requirements, both in terms of what toys they can play with and what level of assistance they require. The trick, for any web hosting client, is to know what they need in a web host: both today, and tomorrow. If a client doesn't know how to evaluate the web host and make sure that the host will provide the service they want, the client will be disappointed, discouraged, or even outraged. (There are also plenty of instances where a web host has done something wrong - but, for some reason, it seems that about half the negative reviews I've read are a misunderstanding on the clients' part - and they're annoyed, aren't able to communicate with the host, and so vent on public fora as both an attempt to resolve the problem and to get their anger out of their system.) Read the negative reviews, identify the reason for the complaints, and feel free to question hosts about the reviews you find.

Another good way to find a good host is to poll your friends and co-workers, or email other webmasters and ask them about their web host. Find a web site with some similarities to the one you want to build; then, if the site is consistently up and the pages load relatively quickly, ask the webmaster if they'd be willing to tell you about their web host.

If you have any further questions, feel free to ask. (I apologize for not giving specific host recommendations; but 1) I'm a web host and 2) we're only allowed to advertise in the Marketplace forums. That's actually a fairly sensible rule - it keeps threads like this from devolving into hard-sell-fests.) Bets of luck with your project!!

 

[S2S333]

Lesli - How can I possibly thank you for having taken so much time to carefully ready what I wrote and for your thoughtful and detailed response? If you ever need legal advice (I'm an attorney admitted in NY and NJ), I will be glad to provide it.

One immediate point of clarification: I am currently using zip in terms of bandwidth, 100GB is the traffic I am allowed w/the package I currently have w/Infinology, not my current use.

I will most certainly look into ExpressionEngine, because the features you list are what I am looking for. Part of my problem is ascertaining what I can do with Macromedia Studio 8, and what I need to do through third party software, whether freely downloadable, shareware, or offered as part of the hosting company's package.

I am so happy to hear you say that much of the bitching on the hosting forums has to do with clients not articulating clearly what they are looking for to the company they choose to host their site with, but I also know there are probably lots of scam artists out there, or newbies (like me), who can purchase a "reseller package" from just about any web host and then resell it to fools (like me), without being able to provide the necessary technical support.

I would be perfectly delighted if I could just speak to a human being who would listen to what I intend to do with this site, and direct me to the package best suited to my needs (including the upgradability). Of course, that presupposes they are disinterested, and let's face it, most are out for the allmighty dollar.

My final hope was shattered last night, when I sent an e-mail requesting updated website referrals to Dan@whreviews.com (whose site I thought was unbiased, though it is hosted by HostGator, which coincidentally gets a "honest host" award by whreviews.com), and it bounced back to me as being undeliverable.

Can you tell me this: 1. In order to be able to have members sign up (i.e. effet payment, either via a SSL on my site, or thru PayPal), and for me, as the administrator of my site, to keep track of such membership (i.e. expiration date, particular pages that can be viewed depending on the type of member, e.g. adults versus adolescents, whether the members are adhering to the posting policies, etc.), do I need to have a special feature offered by the web hosting company, or as you suggest, purchase/download a third party's app?

2. In order to be able to offer members the opportunity to chat live (e.g. on a public place, or in individual, private chat rooms), must I purchase a separate package which I then add on to my Dreamweaver site, or, again, is this something I look for as an offering by the host compnay?

3. And finally, in order to be able to host a forum (where I hope we'll have some very lively debates about the existence of soul mates, experiences with soul mates, etc.), with different topics, some of which will be reserved for certain members (e.g. teens will not be accessible by adults, to avoid pedophiles, though I will certainly monitor the content of the discussion boards myself), must I purchase something special, look for the feature as part of the hosting company's package, or do the whole shebang from w/n Dreamweaver, or Flash?

As you can see, I have lots to learn, but I am determined to make this happen.

As an illustration of the cause of my confusion, I finally broke down and visited HostGator last night, and their packages seem too good to be true. For instance, they offer all the above, but when you click on the question mark next to SSL, you learn that in fact, they permit you to connect to PayPal - heck, that ain't no feature particular to them, since I can link to PayPal myself, thanks for nothing.

Also, it appears they are borrowing a third party's chat application, and so on and so forth.

Again, I am not trying to recreate the wheel, here, and I'm just as happy going w/something like what you suggested, but I'd like to make informed decisions, and ideally, have a few choices.

Thank you so much for your time.

S2S :thumbsup:

 

[Lesli]

Hi S2S,

Lesli - How can I possibly thank you for having taken so much time to carefully ready what I wrote and for your thoughtful and detailed response? If you ever need legal advice (I'm an attorney admitted in NY and NJ), I will be glad to provide it.

No problem!! I was once a newbie - *every* host was once a newbie. We're just further along the road than you are currently, that's all.

I'm so sorry to hear of the bounceback problems with WHReviews! I have seen Dan post on this site, so possibly he'll pop in at some point and answer some of your questions. One of the hurdles with web hosting (and with any remotely-offered and remotely-purchased service) is that the provider and the client are separated by distance. They - we - rarely ever meet, and certainly aren't close enough for regular face-to-face meetings. Everyone has to take a little more care in their communications. I don't know Dan personally, and have not ever actually referred to his site; but could it possibly have been a temporary glitch?

I will most certainly look into ExpressionEngine, because the features you list are what I am looking for. Part of my problem is ascertaining what I can do with Macromedia Studio 8, and what I need to do through third party software, whether freely downloadable, shareware, or offered as part of the hosting company's package.

Their website is http://www.pmachine.com. They have a free "core" version which you could also use, and experiment with, until you know if you want to use EE for your whole site. The core doesn't include membership, the forum, the gallery, or the simple commerce module - but it would let you put up the basic site, and see if you could work with their templates. It's also relatively straightforward to upgrade from the free Core to the full commercial license. (I'll give you fair warning, though: it does cost money. Not thousands of dollars, but it isn't $50.) I've developed several sites using this software, and would be happy to answer questions about its capabilities. If I don't know the answer myself, I can certainly point you in the right direction.

Actually, if you decide to purchase ExpressionEngine, get in touch with me. I can purchase the license for you and bill you for the yearly support-access upgrades, and give you a slight discount because I manage half-a-dozen licenses with them, currently.

I am so happy to hear you say that much of the bitching on the hosting forums has to do with clients not articulating clearly what they are looking for to the company they choose to host their site with, but I also know there are probably lots of scam artists out there, or newbies (like me), who can purchase a "reseller package" from just about any web host and then resell it to fools (like me), without being able to provide the necessary technical support.

It's a combination of factors. Yes, many people begin reselling web hosting without knowing what they're getting into, or without knowing how to provide proper support. Answering questions and writing documentation isn't as easy as you'd initially think. I was fortunate enough to cut my teeth in an environment where there were no stupid questions, and showing even a tiny bit of initiative in asking smart questions meant that you would get help anywhere, any time. This carried over and meshed with my normal tendencies to (over-)explain things. This kind of communication is not normal to everyone, though. When you have a frazzled, confused new user on one end, and a less-than-focussed tutor/tech on the other end, both sides can begin to get a little bit frustrated. A tiny bit of patience on both sides goes a lo-o-ong way. It's a delicate balancing act.

I would be perfectly delighted if I could just speak to a human being who would listen to what I intend to do with this site, and direct me to the package best suited to my needs (including the upgradability). Of course, that presupposes they are disinterested, and let's face it, most are out for the allmighty dollar.

Speaking as a web host, I'm definitely happy to have customers pay me for the services I provide . However, I've also counselled a few of my clients to downgrade their packages when it became clear that not only were they not using their full resources, they weren't regularly coming anywhere near using their quota. Yes, it does mean I get less money; and no, I don't routinely check every single hosting client's account. (I'll do a quick scan when clients on larger hosting plans come up on their six-month anniversary, and advise them based on what I've seen to date. Still, it's the responsibility of the client to track their usage over time and request upgrades and downgrades as necessary, and I made sure that the support documents told people exactly how they can track their resource usage. This lets them know what to do, how to do it, and how to save money. And hopefully a little bit of sanity - learning how to deal with web hosting can be frustrating.) Every client for whom I've done this, however, has stayed with the company; and we're now beginning our fifth year.

One other thing to confirm: when you're looking at web hosts, see what their policies say about:
* upgrading or downgrading more than once a year
* any fees for upgrading or downgrading (IMHO, there shouldn't be)
* what happens if you cancel your hosting contract in the third month of a 12-month commitment (do you write off the other nine months' worth? do you get a partial refund? do you have to pay an early cancellation fee?)

I honestly don't know of any web hosts that charge fees for upgrading or downgrading your hosting plan - but then again, it's been a long time since I've evaluated other web hosts that thoroughly. I do think that some will not refund any monies even if you cancel early; and I honestly don't know how many include a cancellation fee on anything other than a dedicated server or VPS (virtual private server). I don't know that you need a VPS at this stage; and I certainly don't think you need a full server to yourself. You may one day, if your site grows and grows; but you can look into that later.

1. In order to be able to have members sign up (i.e. effet payment, either via a SSL on my site, or thru PayPal), and for me, as the administrator of my site, to keep track of such membership (i.e. expiration date, particular pages that can be viewed depending on the type of member, e.g. adults versus adolescents, whether the members are adhering to the posting policies, etc.), do I need to have a special feature offered by the web hosting company, or as you suggest, purchase/download a third party's app?

It depends on what script(s) you want to use. Some hosts will offer scripts that will track billing, and membership. Some will not. Personally, I would suggest that you figure out what tool you want to use, *then* find a host that works for you. If they offer the script as part of their package, wonderful - but looking for a host that provides Script X can limit your choices.

Keep in mind, also, that many hosts may offer these third-party scripts, but aside from providing security updates, they may not offer much support for the scripts. It would be a bit like renting a manual-transmission car, then expecting the rental place to teach you how to drive without stripping the gears and burning out the clutch. (That's not a great analogy - sorry about that.)

2. In order to be able to offer members the opportunity to chat live (e.g. on a public place, or in individual, private chat rooms), must I purchase a separate package which I then add on to my Dreamweaver site, or, again, is this something I look for as an offering by the host compnay?

This is going to sound like a cop-out - but it depends specifically on what you're looking for. If you're looking for something that acts like those "Speak to a customer service rep" popup windows, there are scripts that would allow you to run this on your own site. The trick with those is that you have to know how to integrate the script with your site - or pay someone else to do this. Depending on volume and your own expertise, you might want to look into a third-party provider. Some hosting companies will have such an application available for quick installation on your system - ask the hosts as you evaluate them. You'll want to ask about "live chat applications". (If you're looking for something like setting up regular chat rooms...that's slightly different. Not impossible, but slightly different.)

(Continued in next post. I topped the 10,000 character limit.)

 

[Lesli]

3. And finally, in order to be able to host a forum (where I hope we'll have some very lively debates about the existence of soul mates, experiences with soul mates, etc.), with different topics, some of which will be reserved for certain members (e.g. teens will not be accessible by adults, to avoid pedophiles, though I will certainly monitor the content of the discussion boards myself), must I purchase something special, look for the feature as part of the hosting company's package, or do the whole shebang from w/n Dreamweaver, or Flash?

In order to host a forum, you have to either install a script in your webspace, or make sure that a forum is one of the features of any overall script you choose to install. From the description you gave, I think you'll be happiest if you can find a software package that will let you handle everything at once. That way, your members only have to remember one login name, you don't have to try and have the scripts integrated by someone else...it saves you headaches.

While many hosts will offer easy-install scripts as part of their package, and some will offer some pretty inclusive scripts, be sure that you know what script you're using and how to back up your data. That keeps the power in your hands. You'll know what tools you'd need at a new host, if you ever found the need to move again; and you'd be *able* to move all of your data. Personally, I'd opt for a third-party solution, as I own the software license and could then choose what script(s) I'd be using - but that's my personal choice. Your mileage may vary.

As an illustration of the cause of my confusion, I finally broke down and visited HostGator last night, and their packages seem too good to be true. For instance, they offer all the above, but when you click on the question mark next to SSL, you learn that in fact, they permit you to connect to PayPal - heck, that ain't no feature particular to them, since I can link to PayPal myself, thanks for nothing.

Also, it appears they are borrowing a third party's chat application, and so on and so forth.

An SSL is merely a certificate that lets browsers know: yes, this really is the domain that the server says it is; and yes, the transactions will be encrypted so that the credit card data won't be stolen. You'll still need a script to process the credit cards, and a payment gateway. (That's a whole 'nother ball of wax. It sounds scary and intimidating, but trust me - it's not as horrendous as it may seem.) At any rate, I went to the question mark next to "Shared SSL" on HostGator's site, and got a small popup window which explained what SSL was, and that either a shared or a private SSL is required when accepting credit cards on your site (that is, if *your* server is processing the payment, you have to have an SSL certificate. If you're linking to Paypal or a payment gateway, you don't have to have the SSL certificate. Their site will have it.)

Borrowing a third party's chat application...are you talking about the Live Chat icon in their site's upper right corner? It simply looks as if they may have leased a live-chat script hosted by a third party. Depending on the features they wanted in the live chat, their own technicial staff's knowledge and expertise, and other reasons, they probably simply decided that it would be easier to outsource their live chat functionality than reinvent the wheel. That doesn't say anything - good or bad - about HostGator. It's just the way they (and many other businesses) chose to set things up. It looks like they're using LivePerson, a fairly well-known live chat provider.

Again, I am not trying to recreate the wheel, here, and I'm just as happy going w/something like what you suggested, but I'd like to make informed decisions, and ideally, have a few choices.

That's always a good decision. Knowledge gives you, the client, the power to make informed buying decisions, to speak with your provider about additional needs, to make sure you buy what you need (and only what you need), and to know when it's time to move on (or move to a managed dedicated server).

Best of luck to you! And let me know if I can answer any more questions.

 

[S2S333]

Lesli - You have positively given me more attention in the past 24 hours than members of my own family (a bit of an exaggeration, but you catch my drift...). If this is the kind of responsiveness you give your customers (I mean AFTER they have signed up with your service), you've certainly gotten MY attention... :kiss:

Down to business (can't figure out how to quote you in boxes, so I'll just reference the issues

1. Re: EE - You say you can offer a discounted price because you've bought licenses in bulk. I'm afraid of asking this, but.... just how much does that license cost (and I mean the full Monty, not just the trial version) - I really do want to offer full functionality on my site from the get-go. Also, I assume your service offers that package as an add-on to its clients, is it any cheaper that way (yep, you're in the process of reeling me in...)

2. Re: Chat feature - I do not want little customer-service type pop-ups. I want to offer live chat, à la AOL, i.e. a place where online members can select a chat room and join to give their two cents. I'd also like members to be able to have private chats in separate chat room (I stopped using AOL about 5 years ago, but I definitely remember having several private rendez-vous).

3. Re: SSL - I realize it is more complicated for me to be able to actually accept and process credit card/debit card payments on my site, but I do want to offer that feature -- let's face it, this whole business is complicated for me, a little more difficulty ain't gonna make a difference. At least, I am well aware of the EU Privacy Directive requirements, and in fact I recently noticed on the Adobe website (Adobe must've acquired Macromedia while I wasn't looking, 'cause I've also posted questions on the support forums in a futile attempt to get help using the blasted Studio 8 software packages) that they have an "EU - reviewed by Trust-e" icon at the bottom right-hand corner of all their pages - I thought that meant they met the very strict requirements of the EU Directive (which applies to the export out of EU states to any non-EU country of private data, which is ANYTHING that can identify an individual, i.e. their first and last name, let alone their credit card iinfo), but when you click on it you just get 15 pages of Adobe's privacy policy -- tough for even a lawyer to plod through, but they've certainly covered their ass)...

So -- is the ability to process CC/DC payments something that also comes bundled in a tidy software package,together w/the chat, discussion board, membership creation/tracking, or does this particular feature have to be purchased separately, by opening a merchant a/c w/a third party vendor such as authorize.net?

4. Re: Dan - Your point is well taken. I will give him another shot in a few days to see if the bounce-back was a glitch.

5. Re: Your web host service - Does your service offer what I am looking for, w/n my budget, and if so, is there a telephone number where I can reach you to discuss the above, or is that a no-no, here (have not yet had a chance to visit your site, since I'm always battling the clock, but I assume I can contact you that way, as well)?

Once again, I cannot thank you enough for your time, and if I ever manage to reach him, I'll thank Dan, too, 'cause it was on whreviews.com that I found out about this hostingdiscussion.com site in the first place.

Incidentally, the kind of discussion board I am looking for is something exactly like this one, with the ability to quote someone and respond (once you figure out how to do so, of course), and I've gotta admit - I love the little smileys..

Best regards,
S2S arty:

 

[Lesli]

Hi S2S,

To use the quote feature, you hit the "Quote" button at the bottom of the message to which you want to reply. Then, enclose the quoted text in [.quote]quote this text[./quote] - except don't include those periods, like I did. I did that to show you how the code would look. The resulting text would look like this:

quote this text

Everyone has to go through that learning process. Fortunately, once you learn it, most popular forum packages act the same way (including ExpressionEngine's).

ExpressionEngine - the full monty package, including the discussion forum, would be around $300, with the discount. Their full whizbang ecommerce package (which they say will be an additional separate license) hasn't made its debut yet, and the developers are being quite cagy about when it will be done and what features it will include. However, their simple ecommerce module (which was just released) allows you to link to PayPal from any item / page on your site. You could set up something that described the site memberships, link to a PayPal subscription form, and get paid members that way. I have to admit, I haven't fully explored the ecommerce module yet, so can't really give you a rundown on all its quirks and tricks.

I'll give you a fair warning, though: the site you want to set up sounds fairly complex. You might want to think about working with a web developer for part of the site creation, and specify that you want directions on how to add content, edit content, and maintain the site. This is another cost, but depending on how much learning you're able to do on your own and the time constraints of your project, you might be able to save yourself headaches this way. I've done this for a few of my clients who don't want to do their own site design or development, but want to be able to add their own content.

1. Re: EE - You say you can offer a discounted price because you've bought licenses in bulk. I'm afraid of asking this, but.... just how much does that license cost (and I mean the full Monty, not just the trial version) - I really do want to offer full functionality on my site from the get-go. Also, I assume your service offers that package as an add-on to its clients, is it any cheaper that way (yep, you're in the process of reeling me in...)

My service doesn't offer EE as an "add on", necessarily, in that EE isn't installable straight from the control panel. I do offer EE to my clients, though, as an additional item for their hosting package if they wish to purchase it. Some do, some don't - I've recently finished putting an artist's gallery into ExpressionEngine, though, and am gearing up to add ecommerce functionality. (Sorry for being so specific - I wanted to make sure we were using the same definition of "add-on".)

2. Re: Chat feature - I do not want little customer-service type pop-ups. I want to offer live chat, à la AOL, i.e. a place where online members can select a chat room and join to give their two cents. I'd also like members to be able to have private chats in separate chat room (I stopped using AOL about 5 years ago, but I definitely remember having several private rendez-vous).

This is something I haven't personally investigated before, not being a frequent user of chat rooms; but I do understand what you want to offer. I don't doubt that there are scripts available out there that would allow you to add this functionality. I just don't know of any off the top of my head. I can tell you that some chat scripts would be disallowed by various hosting providers, depending on what the chat scripts did. For example, on my network, no IRC-access scripts are allowed due to security reasons. That does not mean that you couldn't do what you want; that just means that you'd have to be aware of which scripts you could and couldn't use. If you find a script you want to use but don't know if you can install it, just ask your prospective hosting provider, and name the specific script. You might include a link to the script's home page, just in case the provider is not familiar with the script - they can take a quick look, and tell you if they forsee any problems.

3. Re: SSL - I realize it is more complicated for me to be able to actually accept and process credit card/debit card payments on my site, but I do want to offer that feature -- let's face it, this whole business is complicated for me, a little more difficulty ain't gonna make a difference. At least, I am well aware of the EU Privacy Directive requirements, and in fact I recently noticed on the Adobe website (Adobe must've acquired Macromedia while I wasn't looking, 'cause I've also posted questions on the support forums in a futile attempt to get help using the blasted Studio 8 software packages) that they have an "EU - reviewed by Trust-e" icon at the bottom right-hand corner of all their pages - I thought that meant they met the very strict requirements of the EU Directive (which applies to the export out of EU states to any non-EU country of private data, which is ANYTHING that can identify an individual, i.e. their first and last name, let alone their credit card iinfo), but when you click on it you just get 15 pages of Adobe's privacy policy -- tough for even a lawyer to plod through, but they've certainly covered their ass)...

So -- is the ability to process CC/DC payments something that also comes bundled in a tidy software package,together w/the chat, discussion board, membership creation/tracking, or does this particular feature have to be purchased separately, by opening a merchant a/c w/a third party vendor such as authorize.net?

The ability to process CC/DC payments has to be purchased separately. You can either buy a script and process the cards on your server (which would require you to do your own fraud screening, etc. etc.) or you could lease monthly access from some place like authorize.net. If you process the cards yourself, you'll need a merchant account and an SSL certificate. If you lease access to a payment gateway, you may or may not need a merchant account, but you won't need an SSL certificate. Financially, it makes sense to get the full-blown merchant account and process the cards yourself once you've crossed a certain amount of average charges per month (roughly US$3,000). Before that point, you're paying out money for a service you're not using.

The membership / forum / simple (PayPal only) payment option all comes in ExpressionEngine, while the chat functionality, the ability to process credit cards on your server, and the SSL certificate would need to be additional licenses / scripts.

4. Re: Dan - Your point is well taken. I will give him another shot in a few days to see if the bounce-back was a glitch.

5. Re: Your web host service - Does your service offer what I am looking for, w/n my budget, and if so, is there a telephone number where I can reach you to discuss the above, or is that a no-no, here (have not yet had a chance to visit your site, since I'm always battling the clock, but I assume I can contact you that way, as well)?

I do offer a hosting plan that would give you the initial disk space and bandwidth you named, for $11.45 a month (or $123.35 a year.) It has a bit more than you requested: 8.5 GB bandwidth, and 275 MB disk space. The next-smallest plan is just barely under your stated bandwidth requirement (150 MB disk space, 4 GB bandwidth), but I'd actually recommend you start with that plan and upgrade when you *know* that you'll need that bandwidth. Both plans include unlimited email forwarders, so you could give your site users an email address that forwards to another email account. If you wanted to give them their own on-site email address and mailbox, though, you'd want to look at one of the larger plans. (Sorry - I'm not entirely sure what you want to achieve, so can't give you good advice there.) You can upgrade I do not currently offer regular phone support, because the business hasn't reached the point where it would be cost-effective. I keep up regular communications through client forums and through the support desk - both of which give the client something they can print out, and refer to again and again. It also provides us with a quick, easy reference should the client have further questions on that same issue - we don't have to ask the client the same questions over and over, nor do we have to invest in additional client management software. However, I would be willing to work with you and have some initial phone conversations. We have been slowly preparing for the day when we would be able to offer limited phone support, and have been kicking around thoughts as to the best way to offer phone access and have the line staffed. (We're still a small operation, personnel-wise; and I dislike generic service centers so strongly that I feel like I'd be doing my clients a disservice to offer that type of phone support. I always know when I'm speaking with someone working from a script, as oppposed to someone who is actually able to solve my problem.)

Wow. Another essay. Sorry about that

 

[S2S333]

Lesli - If you provide your existing clients with this kind of prompt online support, I dare say you won't need to invest in additional human resources for live telephone support. Then again, if you have many clients like me, you'll probably be run into the ground in short order.. irate:

To use the quote feature, you hit the "Quote" button at the bottom of the message to which you want to reply.

.... an illustration of your great teaching abilities - this corresponds to the "code" view in Dreamweaver.. I'm learning.

ExpressionEngine - the full monty package, including the discussion forum, would be around $300, with the discount.

i can't find an icon for someone who passed out, so this'll have to do...

A bit steep for my initial budget, though probably worth every penny, and many thanks for the discount offer.

This being said, I have to make do with my meager means, so I guess I'm going to have to go with a provider that has as many integrated scripts as I seek, and look into purchasing whatever is missing...

I'll give you a fair warning, though: the site you want to set up sounds fairly complex. You might want to think about working with a web developer for part of the site creation, and specify that you want directions on how to add content, edit content, and maintain the site. This is another cost, but depending on how much learning you're able to do on your own and the time constraints of your project, you might be able to save yourself headaches this way. I've done this for a few of my clients who don't want to do their own site design or development, but want to be able to add their own content.

if only I could afford that luxury, though in truth, I must tell you that I am having lots of fun learning this stuff (Dreamweaver, Flash, Fireworks, all the server-side functionaliry) - haven't had this much intellectual stimulation in over a decade... then again, I'm a corporate lawyer, so I guess that's not saying much, eh?

I don't doubt that there are scripts available out there that would allow you to add this functionality. I just don't know of any off the top of my head. I can tell you that some chat scripts would be disallowed by various hosting providers, depending on what the chat scripts did.

Whole 'nother nest of vipers, eh? Obviously, I myself have no clue what scripts are out there, but I can tell you that the "chat" feature is not meant to do anything illicit, just permit members to chat live when they are logged on at the same time. This being said, we can do away with this feature, provided there is a great bulletin board such as this. Mind you, I say "great bulletin board", but at least twice, now, I have attempted to reply to you, only to find that I lost my entire window which contained 20 painstaking minutes of copying and quoting, because I guess I navigated away to check something you said in one of your earlier replies... I know, by now you're splitting your sides laughing.... So let me reprhase that: I'd like a bulletin board designed for dummies, like me, that is intuitive and easy for regular folks to use, possibly with a "save" feature, a spell check, and of course, the smileys (I'll have to add one lying flat on the ground, passed out).

The membership / forum / simple (PayPal only) payment option all comes in ExpressionEngine, while the chat functionality, the ability to process credit cards on your server, and the SSL certificate would need to be additional licenses / scripts.

OK, well based on everything you've advised, I'm going to forget about processing payments on my site, will simply link to PayPal, and be done with it. One problem down, sixteen hundred to go...

The forum feature is an (expensive $99) add-on from ExpressionEngine, so I suppose I could try to find a host that offers their own forum script.

But I definitely need to have the ability to let users create user names, passwords, and for me to track the status of their membership.. I assume that involves yet another script, which hopefully won't conflict with the others, or again, find a host that offers this feature.

I must say, I can't exactly imagine how I can have the Pay Pal payment feature tie into the membership one, or to be very specific: (1) if a user creates a profile by entering a user name (of his/her choice), a password, and an e-mail address (for me to communicate w/her/him), clicks on the "I agree" without reading my terms and conditions (as is typical), then clicks on "Pay now" and is directed to the PayPal website, how then, after the payment is effected, will the user be redirected to my site in order to complete the membership process and (assuming the payment goes through) immediately be able to enjoy the wonderful content and features s/he has now become entitled to? (2) How do I track the amount of time left for each membership, or must I manually input the date when the person signed up in a database?

Both plans include unlimited email forwarders, so you could give your site users an email address that forwards to another email account. If you wanted to give them their own on-site email address and mailbox, though, you'd want to look at one of the larger plans.

Actually, yes, I would like to be able to give each member his/her own e-mail address, e.g. weirdo@soulmateofmine.com. This e-mail address would permit members to communicate via e-mail with one another on the site, but I would also like the e-mail forwarder, which they can opt-in for, thereby permitting them to receive notice at their own personal e-mail address of the existence of an e-mail waiting for them on the site or actually forwarding the site e-mail to them. So, I believe I will need a bunch of e-mail addresses to go with my plan.

I guess I should add one other point re: disk space needs. I want to offer my members a certain amount of space where they can post whatever they like (subject to terms and conditions, posting policies, etc.), e.g. 150KB of disk space which will be their own space (I guess this could loosely be referred to as a blog, though the last thing I want to deal with is yet another blasted script...). In that space they could post pictures, their own poetry, their views/first hand experiences w/soul mates, etc. The value of the membership, therefore, is the ability to communicate w/other like-minded individuals via e-mail or discussion boards, to have their own space w/n this community (up to them if they want to make that info viewable to the general public or restrict to members only), to take part in surveys, etc.

Based on the foregoing, and knowing, as you now do, the limitations of my technical abilities when it comes to website design/management, do you think it would make more sense for me to purchase a "reseller" plan, not because I want to resell the space (God forbid!), but rather simply because I want to make sure the members have enough space to post their stuff?

One final question: do you have a website package (or know of a third party bundled package I can purchase) which offers integrated scripts (I use that word like I know what it means - I'm just guessing it means I won't have to worry about anything, just click a button and the suckers get installed on my site) for: (1) membership creation, (2) payment processing via paypal, (3) forums, (4) bulk e-mails, and (5) automatic back-ups?

I know I owe you a bundle for taking all this time on me and would gladly avail myself of your offer for website design assistance. This being said, I imagine that would make most sense if you can host my site (I like the idea of starting small and adding space as I grow), but must I necessarily purchase the $300 EE in order to have the above features w/your site? Also, how much would the web design assitance cost?


Many many thanks,
S2S :smilie3:

 

[Lesli]

Hi S2S,

It is so easy to get utterly snarled in things like this. It's never easy. Never, never, never. But oddly fun

It sounds like what you want to offer folks is closer to IPB's "community". They offer an integrated forum / blog scripts, with a single membership. Invision also offers a perpetual license, or a yearly license - that might be more to your budgetary requirements. They do not currently offer an ecommerce option, though from the looks of their site, they're getting there. IPB also has a fairly decent reputation for quickly issuing patches for any security holes. That would let you give your members "blog" space, and let you allow them to upload pictures and other files; but I don't know if you could get to the level of saying "this member can only upload X MB worth of total files". Again, I haven't examined IPB's script too closely.

Web design assistance cost would depend on how much assistance was required. (Yeah - I know - that helps *so* much.) What I've done in the past is broken the project down into sections, and told the clients, this chunk would cost X, this chunk would cost Y, this chunk would cost Z. That lets us work out what would get their site up and active, within their time and budgetary constraints. Obviously, if you're able to learn how to customize the system and do a chunk of the work yourself, you'll pay less money.

The $300 for EE would include the integrated forum. If you wanted to put that one off, the price would drop to about $215.

Looking at this:

This e-mail address would permit members to communicate via e-mail with one another on the site, but I would also like the e-mail forwarder, which they can opt-in for, thereby permitting them to receive notice at their own personal e-mail address of the existence of an e-mail waiting for them on the site or actually forwarding the site e-mail to them.

I'm honestly thinking that PMs and forwarders would be the way to go. The PMs (private messages) would work the same way these forums' PMs work, letting your members communicate with one another on the site; while the forwarders would let them receive email from people who are not members of your site. Providing email addresses to site members means additional admin responsibility - and providing them with additional email *boxes* means that you'd need more and more disk space. There is a way to set up a POP email account so that the mailbox has a set quota limit - but then you have to watch for who's uploading huge images, whose mailboxes sit full but idle, and so forth. You might want to start smaller (plain-text blogs, a single avatar image, forwarders and PMs) and expand once you've had some learning-time and can handle full-fledged web host reselling. It looks like you're trying to set up something with some features similar to LiveJournal / MySpace / et al, but with a narrower community focus? Start small, then expand. People will grumble when a feature does not work right, but rarely ever complain when they're suddenly given more toys to play with. This lets you see how much you'd really need in terms of extra features. Then, when you've built your site membership up, you'll have the income to justify the extra expenditure. (You'll also have enough time to find out what the members really want most, and have time to learn how to provide it to them.)

I would be willing to work with you, in terms of hosting plan size, so that you could get the larger disk space and bandwidth requirements without necessarily having to purchase a VPS or a reseller plan. That would let you get the larger chunk of server resources without having to pay the extra cost for having a server completely to yourself (and without having to learn server administration - at least, not until you're ready to make that jump.)

Also, you'll want to speak with the folks at ExpressionEngine about using their software for your specific project. They have something in their license that stipulates that you can't use EE to run a hosted blogging service. You'll need to work out the exact details with them, as to the definition of a "hosted blogging service". If you're just planning on giving people space to hold a personal profile page, that might be fine - but check with the head honchos at ExpressionEngine.

"Integrated" scripts means that the scripts work and play with each other. You don't have to have one member database for your forum script and another for your overall site - they use the same database. "Preinstalled" generally means that the scripts are already installed, but not customized. "Single-click install" means you click a button and the suckers are installed in your webspace. (I am Glossary Gal!)
* ExpressionEngine (Pmachine hosting) will pre-install the smaller version of EE on your site, and give you a discount on the full forum-gallery-membership-simple commerce version. (Possibly they will do installation. I honestly don't know.)
* I, as well as many other hosts here, offer single-click backups from your hosting-account control panel. I'm not sure about PMachine. (This would mean that you could back up your files - not that your members would be able to back up their images or their profile information. All of that would be backed up with your database.)
* bulk e-mails...you mean "the ability to have lots and lots of POP email accounts with their own mailbox and password", right? In the web hosting industry, "bulk email" is sometimes synonymous with "spam". I don't think you meant that. I offer one hosting plan that gives you 250 separate email accounts, and I see from PMachine's site that they also offer plans with lots of separate email accounts. For these, you would need to manually create and manage the accounts, though - unless you wanted to give your clients access to your hosting control panel. (I humbly suggest that you *not* do that. If you really want to do this, you'll want to look into a reseller account, which will let you define the hosting plans and give your clients their own separate access while protecting yours.)

 

[Lesli]

I forgot to mention: there's a feature on these forums that lets system members send an email to another member. This email goes directly to the member's box, rather than simply sitting on the server waiting to be read. ExpressionEngine and (I think) IPB also have this functionality. That might help you give your members the communications abilities without having to set up and maintain separate email accounts for each of them. I can give you a demo, if you're interested.

 

[S2S333]

Lord have mercy, I should learn to keep my trap shut.. All kidding aside, thanks from the bottom of my heart, Lesli... :kiss: (yes, I'm sure you're tired of me slobbering all over you, by now..)

In the hour since my last post (while you were drafting your response), this is what I found out: 1. I can download for free arty: a membership script called "Profile Manager Basic", from interlogy.com. This is what it purports to do: Profile Manager Basic is a free, fully-functional, easy-to-use and customizable membership software. You can now build your own custom registration forms and membership area in your site. Your users will fill out a registration form to get access to member area in your site. On the member area, users can update their information, change password, access member-only content or browse other user profiles. You have total control over abilities of the users or the design of the pages. Only requirement is to have Perl/CGI in your server.

For $199, the Premium version can be purchased, which in addition allows members to communicate using forums, blogs, IMs, and permit the processing of payments (recurring, one-time only), etc.

Server-side requirement: ImageMagick (that is one offered on GatorHost and presumably others).

As for the forums and chat room scripts, I stumbled upon Chipmunk-scripts.com, which apparently offers forums php script and chat room scripts.

Again, I just found these and haven't pressed on further, but at least I know what to look for, now, thanks to you.

Providing email addresses to site members means additional admin responsibility - and providing them with additional email *boxes* means that you'd need more and more disk space. There is a way to set up a POP email account so that the mailbox has a set quota limit - but then you have to watch for who's uploading huge images, whose mailboxes sit full but idle, and so forth. You might want to start smaller (plain-text blogs, a single avatar image, forwarders and PMs) and expand once you've had some learning-time and can handle full-fledged web host reselling.

I do realize I'll need more disk space to permit members to have their own e-mail addresses, but I think disk space is pretty cheap (relatively speaking, of course), and much as I hope this'll take off like the Concorde used to, it'll probably take some time to build a following. But let me ask you this: can't I limit the size of the space the members have, which would include all their stored e-mails, sent and received, in addition to giving them the option of having the e-mails forwarded to their own personal e-mail addresses (and perhaps automatically deleting them from the site)? In all honesty, I really have no desire at all to become a reseller, now or ever, but there must be a way to offer a reasonable amount of space (and perhaps offer additional space for a few extra bucks, subject to certain maximum amounts, precisely to avoid turning the site into a web hosting environment) to members, which they can choose to use to clog up w/their e-mail (and then no longer have the ability to send/receive e-mail unless they empty their bin), or with pictures of their stuff, or their writings - whatever.

I do like the idea of EE, but it's the price tag that's worrisome, 'cause let's face it: all of this is a gamble. Therefore, if there is a way for me to do this in an inexpensive manner, I'd rather go that route, at least initially.

"Integrated" scripts means that the scripts work and play with each other. You don't have to have one member database for your forum script and another for your overall site - they use the same database. "Preinstalled" generally means that the scripts are already installed, but not customized. "Single-click install" means you click a button and the suckers are installed in your webspace. (I am Glossary Gal!)

Well, then what I would love to have would be integrated scripts, that offer single-click install - and just wouldn't it be lovely if it were part and parcel of a hosting package, or available for free?

It looks like you're trying to set up something with some features similar to LiveJournal / MySpace / et al, but with a narrower community focus? Start small, then expand. People will grumble when a feature does not work right, but rarely ever complain when they're suddenly given more toys to play with. This lets you see how much you'd really need in terms of extra features. Then, when you've built your site membership up, you'll have the income to justify the extra expenditure. (You'll also have enough time to find out what the members really want most, and have time to learn how to provide it to them.)

Yes, those are excellent words of advice, and I agree wholeheartedly with you about startnig small, and building based upon need. In terms of content, there are, indeed, some similarities in features with MySpace and LiveJournal, but only the ability to post certain content (and believe me, I will strictly control this particular feature, especially as it relates to the portions of the site that will be available to teens). The site is really designed to pull together a community of like-minded individuals - some may choose to post info. about themselves, others will simply want to lurk, others will want to jump into the debate with both feet. At least, that's my vision...

Lesli - You have been incredibly helpful. I think now I am going to continue doing research based on the information you have provided me. As you can see, I am actually enjoying this (or perhaps I'm just a bit of a masochist), but you have pointed me in the right direction.

To sum it up: your site could offer me the space/data transfer requirements that fit my budget, and you obviously are ready, willing and able to provide the support that I would need, which to me is critically important.

I take it that if I find free/inexpensive features that run on scripts your site supports we could make this happen (though I realize it would be ideal for me to find a bundled-up package).

Please correct me if any of my assumptions are wrong. Otherwise, I'm going to continue with the research and will undoubtedly have more questions for you, though at that point I'll just pose them on your site so as not to clutter this a here laudable forum.

I cannot thank you enough for your help. I feel as though I've had a crash course in website management these past 24 hours (or taken a virtual drive in a Ferrari at 250 mph -- something I hope to do for real before my days are over) arty:

S2S

 

[S2S333]

I like that idea, and you're right, it sidesteps entirely the mailbox problem. I'm not quite sure what IPB is, but presume I can google it...

 

[Lesli]

Hi S2S,

It sounds like you've got a lead on some other scripts that might work for you - great! I suggested ExpressionEngine because that's what I was familiar with, but I knew that others had similar scripts available. I just didn't know their names. It looks like you may have found something, to try, though, so that's good. If you decide to use a different software package in the future, you may have some fun migrating your data, but find a MySQL guru and they should be able to give you a quote on a migration script (or you can do some minimal research and figure out how to port over the data.) ExpressionEngine is wonderful - I love it - but it isn't inexpensive.

IPB is Invision Power Board, and they've been producing forum software for quite some time. The blog module is a relatively recent addition (in the last year).

Your assumptions are correct: once you find scripts that will run on my servers, this can happen. I offer both Windows or Linux hosting, so if you find and fall in love with a particular script that only runs on Windows, I have low-cost Windows packages and can still help you out. There aren't too many scripts that are banned - but I'll advise you, find scripts that are in active development. That way, if hackers find security holes and begin exploiting the script, you won't be stuck with a potential security vulnerability and no way to fix it. (That's another reason I recommended EE and IPB - they're both in active development.)

Now take a break and let your brain soak everything up. You're right - you've digested a lot of new information. I recommend chocolate. (Then again, I'll recommend chocolate for just about any reason. Chocolate needs no reason. It simply is.)

- Lesli

 

[jsolochek]

Re: Hosting and what to look for

without referring you to one of my sites I would first look for reseller hosting so that if later on you decide to create another site you won't have to pay seperate hosting fees. Number 2, look for a hosting provider that comes with Cpanel.net for their control panel. it is one of the easiest I have found to use plus it has a lot of great features. One of these features is what is called Fantastico which is an area where you can get open source software configured and installed for free like the content management system I use on most of myy sites.

You also want a hosting companies that allows for unlimited MySQL databases and the ability to use PHPmyAdmin as an interface to manage your databases.

Regarding space, most of my sites don't use more than 50 megs. I have a couple that use maybe several hundred meg.

As far as banwidth, none of my sites ever use more than 80 percent of their alotted quota which I have set to 500 meg. If you are going to utilize RSS and/or Podcasting then you may want 1 gig of bandwidht or higher..

Let me know if you have any other questions I can help you with.

 

[S2S333]

Hi, Jsolochek ~ Thanks for the input. I need to be able to have all the scripts work together, i.e. if user signs up and purchases membership, s/he must be able to access the member content (forums, blogs, IMs, PMs, etc.) w/o having to reenter username/password.

Lesli below referred me to OpenSourceCMS.com, where all the open source scripts can be tried for free, have been reviewed, evaluated, ranked by users, and are FREE.

Problem: how to get them all to paly together nicely.

Do you know how to do that?

As for bandwidth req'ts, I will want an RSS feed down the road, so I'm likely to need that extra bandwidth (but not initially).

Why do you say I should ask for unlimited MySQL databases? I'm still a novice at this, don't understand this suggestion. Can you please explain?

I agree the reseller mode may make the most sense, particularly since I want to give members their own "space" (tho I won't tout it that way, and certainly won't become a "reseller").

Thanks,
S2S
:smash: