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  1. #1

    new and need info

    I have two domains that I would like to publish and I'm looking for a host. Have done a fair amount of research but still need a bit of help.

    One site will be fairly basic in that there will be articles only with some photos (very rarely video). The concept of the site will probably lead to a forum at some point. I would assume this site will be low on b/w (until the forum is up). Would also like a basic chat area. Biggest question on this site is what should I look for (in a host) if I want to add a forum? Any hosts come to mind based on this breakdown?

    Outside of the forum, how hard would it be to have people register in order to read the articles? What options would I need for that as well?

    The second site will be more video oriented but not heavily (just a few at any given time and small in size) and no forum.

    Anyway, any information you guys could pass along will be very helpful. I've looked at many hosts (have ruled some out based on info here) but I'm not sure I'm getting what I need since the forum issue is new to me. Something may look great price wise etc but I'd hate to find out later that a forum would not work well on the host.

    I plan to use a program called SiteSpinner to build the sites....any words good or bad on that program while I'm asking questions?

    Sorry for all the questions.....

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
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    597
    You will need to have PHP and MySQL database to run a forums. Most hosts have PHP and MySQL database.

  3. #3
    Join Date
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    Some hosts offer preinstalled forums software. If you know what kind of forum software you want to use and what kind of video files you need to host just contact a few providers and ask them to give you more information about service. This way you will be able to check their response time as well.

    Best Regards
    Dimitar
    DawHB.com - Web Hosting Blog | VPSHostDir.com - VPS Hosting Media

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jan 2003
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    Lake Arrowhead, CA
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    what should I look for (in a host) if I want to add a forum? Any hosts come to mind based on this breakdown?
    Any host/plan which allows php/cgi scripting and databases will be fine, though as you already mentioned you should probably find a host with flexible upgrade options if you expect bandwidth and space to increase dramatically in the future. Being "new", you may also want to find a host who can specifically support the forum software you intend to use and/or provides a script installer which can install the forum software automatically.

    Outside of the forum, how hard would it be to have people register in order to read the articles? What options would I need for that as well?
    There are dozens of scripts available which can do this (try hotscripts.com), but if you're going to have a forum it often makes more sense to use the forum's registration process for the entire site so visitors don't need to login twice. To do this, you use "Portal" software which uses the forum database as both "content manager" and "back end" (registration system) for your entire site. Exactly how to implement this for YOUR site is beyond the scope of a forum post.


    I plan to use a program called SiteSpinner to build the sites....any words good or bad on that program while I'm asking questions?
    HTML editors are fine for site design... but they won't help you with content management or member registration. You (or someone) will need to integrate (php/cgi) scripting into your site for those things so at the very least, your html editor needs to create well commented output. More likely, you will want to hire a site coder who can take your html and include it into a framework needed for your membership options.
    http://www.srohosting.com
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  5. #5
    Join Date
    Sep 2000
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    389

    Re: new and need info

    Originally posted by boomhower
    Outside of the forum, how hard would it be to have people register in order to read the articles? What options would I need for that as well?
    You will probbaly need some sort of Content Management System (CMS). There are plenty of free ones out there. A few I can recommend are:

    - ez publish ( http://www.ez.no ) is medium difficulty in setup but I found it to be a heavy resource user and a bit slow.

    - typo3 ( http://typo3.com and http://typo3.org ) this is a very flexible and powerful script. You can mold it any way you like. The only disadvantage I could see in it is the learning curve. You will need to read the documentation before you can do anything useful in it.

    - mambo ( http://www.mamboserver.com ) is a good CMS, easy to setup and maintain.

    I hope that helps a bit.

  6. #6
    Biggest question on this site is what should I look for (in a host) if I want to add a forum? Any hosts come to mind based on this breakdown?
    Almost all linux hosts with php-mysql and offering plans around $5 to $10 ( or little less or more ) will enable you to add a forum, often by autoinstallers like fantastico . You can do a manual install also. The things that you should look for in a host that how or what there answers to the following questions are :

    1) their general views and allowances on the common forum softwares - some hosts will not allow phpbb

    2) ( if in future your forum gets big ) how big a forum they can handle without asking you to move becoz of overuse of system resources ? This can have various answers from various hosts - a good benchmark is that how many concurrent visitors the host can allow if the script is for example, phpbb/smf that comes along with their ( fantastico ) hosting package in its core form , ie, as it is, without any mods or hacks or any alteration by you

    3) some other issues which you might get light of if you do a search on 'forum' here




    Outside of the forum, how hard would it be to have people register in order to read the articles? What options would I need for that as well?
    All forums will let you add a articles/news section via such plugins or you can look for CMSs - they have forum plugins - it is a separate and long discussion but if you are having a host with autoinstaller for such scripts you can easily try out what suits your needs the best. You can also try out the demos at opensourcecms.com


    Would also like a basic chat area
    You can either have a php based chat or java chat - many hosts have that also inbuilt


    I've looked at many hosts
    Here's a good shor list : ( in no specific order ) - tera-byte, unitedhosting.co.uk, site5, micfo, enhancedhost, worldzone , all are in business for a long time and with performance and stability and good support. With micfo you can have a really free 30 day trial and that is excellent for you to test out the things. With site5 , system resource usage issues ( provided they get big enough as your site grows ) can be better handled if you are on their rapidreflex plans.


    I plan to use a program called SiteSpinner to build the sites
    how you build a site absolutley depends on what suits your abilities and preferencs best - and how much hand coding you want to do or not do - if you are using CMSs or image gallery softwares they can also reduce your workload much
    Last edited by mahut; 06-07-2005 at 02:37 PM.

  7. #7
    Thanks for all the quick replies.....

    Do I undertand correctly that I could build my entire site using a CMS? Whereas Sitespinner would build the site but lacks much of the extra features of the CMS....login etc

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Aug 2002
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    London, UK
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    9,039
    Your correct. A CMS will allow you many functions and features, while site spinner will just build the skelaton (from what i understand).

    Get yourself some hosting and try out some different CMS systems before deciding how to build your site. Mambo is pretty popular and should handle the type of content you want to publish.
    Matt Wallis
    United Communications Limited
    High Performance Shared & Reseller | Managed VPS Cloud | Managed Dedicated
    UK www.unitedhosting.co.uk | US www.unitedhosting.com | Since 1998.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    May 2004
    Location
    UK
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    610
    I suggest if you are going to use a CMS you use PHP-Nuke as it is a widely supported script and tehre are many nice templates for it.

  10. #10
    Thanks again....I think I've decided on Site5 (various reasons).

    I'll take a look at the CMS options you have suggested. New to this whole deal so it's a slow walk trying to make sure I don't screw up.

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Jun 2004
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    Spend some time on www.opensourcecms.com they have demo of almost all CMS and this will help you in selecting a CMS for you.

    Regarding, Host you mentioned, that you have shortlisted few.. I would suggest focus on them at present and seek feedback on them at this forum. You may post seperate thread for that if you feel.

    All the best!
    <<snipped>><<snipped>>
    why?

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Aug 2002
    Location
    London, UK
    Posts
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    The best way to learn is to try it.... have a play with the various CMS systems available and see which one you like best.... changing things before you launch your site is very easy, changing things later is not so easy.

    Good luck
    Matt Wallis
    United Communications Limited
    High Performance Shared & Reseller | Managed VPS Cloud | Managed Dedicated
    UK www.unitedhosting.co.uk | US www.unitedhosting.com | Since 1998.

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