Domains, Websites & Hosting

[MikeC]

Contemplating creating an online business and just doing some research, if people could help with the following, i'd appreciate it

• Is there a site where I can check if a domain name is available or not?
• Whats the best website design program to use for beginners?
• Can anyone recommend a good host?

Thanking you :approve:

 

[DanFreemanPhoto]

Any site where you can buy domains/hosting will have a domain checker.

Can't really answer that as I know very little.

I've just switched to evohosting.co.uk. Pleased with them so far, but I guess it depends what sort of hosting you want ie. whether you want mySQL packages etc

 

[Mr Pants]

Buy domains from Godaddy.
Host with Hostgator.

Don't really use a program for web design. Don't do a lot actually, if I code it's just in a basic txt editor tbh.

 

[MikeC]

Appreciate the replies guys

 

[Camble]

I use who.is to find out if a domain is already in existance and also it tells me who owns it etc, just incase I need one that is already owned and the person fancies selling it.

I use Photoshop & textpad/notepad to code and use existing css templates I have made to save time and to keep in format.

 

[Sym0n]

I check and buy from either namecheap.com (mostly for .com domains) or 123-reg.co.uk.
Beginner wise you'll want to go with something WYSIWYG like Frontpage. You'll then learn a bit more and wish you'd never touched the stinking pile of s**t program and start all over from scratch with Dreamweaver or Notepad, if you hate yourself.
Hosting, I'd say I'm the best.

 

[CCrispUK]

Buy domains from Godaddy.
Host with Hostgator.

Same here, have done for the last year and a half. Your best bet if your new is to use a CMS like WordPress software, i had been using it for nearly 10 months so can help you with setting up etc, i was well impressed with the admin panel and the backend, its top notch! wordpress.org and download, upload to site, setupo a mysql db and off you go Its also easy to skin it to how you need using existing skins and modifying them.

EDIT: nearly forgot to say, search google for 'hostgator discount codes', you can get a code to get a .com for around a fiver or less.

 

[MikeC]

This is all good! Thanks!

 

[furry_cup]

for you.. i recommend just getting a wordpress template and doing that. job done. Doesn't matter where you get a domain from.. the most popular ones are reasonably priced.

Although one thing i would say is stay the f**k away fro 1and1.co.uk.

 

[conneh]

http://1and1.co.uk

Use 1&1 for my domains, and have had hosting from them before. Always pleased. Their website builders also seem pretty neat with plenty of features.

 

[Sym0n]

Although one thing i would say is stay the f**k away fro 1and1.co.uk.

Agreed! f**king awful company with terrible customer service and support (in India). Total and utter w**k.

 

[Rob]

Avoid 1&1, I currently use vidahost and they're cheap and spot on (well they were last year)

 

[z8jay]

http://www.tsohost.co.uk/

 

[furry_cup]

http://1and1.co.uk

Use 1&1 for my domains, and have had hosting from them before. Always pleased. Their website builders also seem pretty neat with plenty of features.

Fair play if you have had a good experience with them. I sure havent, Every time I use them is by clients choice, is a bad experience for me. Fair enough their uptime may be quite high but their customer service has been appalling. I cant deal with a call center in India when I need to speak fluently with someone who isn't reading from a script.

May be okay if you have a site that sits there 365 days of the year, 1and1 just doesn't cut it for some of the solutions I require.

I use Heart Internet / Rackspace / Justhost.com

 

[C.J]

Domains = 123reg
Hosting = EUK reseller
Design = Dreamweaver, however there are plenty of free templates out there you could use, and customise to get a good start.

 

[colossuss]

Design = Dreamweaver, however there are plenty of free templates out there you could use, and customise to get a good start.

I would never recommend Dreamweaver to anyone. Such a pain in the arse programme, codes in such a strange way as well

I recommend you try a content management system, for example Joomla, that will let you create/remove pages through your website so you dont have to bother with coding or anything. You can also get free templates for it. If your site becomes successful then you can pay a designer to create a Joomla template specifically for your website

 

[Mr Pants]

If you want to learn to code a good start would be taking some templates and messing around with them. Web design is one of those things that you learn more by going hands on rather than reading a book about it.

 

[C.J]

I would never recommend Dreamweaver to anyone. Such a pain in the arse programme, codes in such a strange way as well

It's the best software I've used for coding, ever, and I use it 5 days a week.

If you only use Dreamweaver in 'Design view' then Dreamweaver is NOT for you.

 

[furry_cup]

Totally agree! I use dreamweaver all the time if I'm building basic html/php sites. I use Visual Web Developer if i am developing a asp.net c# site.

I have also experimented with text wrangler and most recently Coda.

 

[Cookie]

As someone that's been in the business before, stay the f**k away from 1&1. Atrocious customer service, we had so many people leaving them and coming to us

 

[swbroadband]

Is there a site where I can check if a domain name is available or not?

https://my.swbroadband.co.uk/domainchecker.php - nice simply domain checker (quick and easy)

Whats the best website design program to use for beginners?

This is difficult to answer, because it completely depends on how computer 'literate' you are - if you're quite technically minded and can get your head around some confusing concepts (to start) then I would suggest diving in with Adobe Dreamweaver - you can download the trial here: http://www.adobe.com/eeurope/products/dreamweaver/ (30 days)

Can anyone recommend a good host?

Anything but mainstream providers, they all have ridiculous restrictions and force propriety formats / control panel suites that only make it more difficult for you to learn and setup your online business. You will also get charged for additional "extras" which are standard and included with most other providers. Smaller providers offer more personalised support, which I feel you will benefit from in the initial outset - they're generally happy to help diagnose issues and point out potential issues; larger firms - you'll get canned responses and referred to the FAQs.

If you'd like more advice / guidance on setting up an online business, web hosting (what you do and don't need) & web design in general - feel free to drop me a PM or add us MSN and I'll happily answer your questions in depth - don't worry, I won't try to sell you anything either; just want to help!

All the best,
Ryan