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  1. #1

    Newbie needs help

    Hello all.

    I want to have a website where I can share pitures and video (avi, wmv, mpeg) of video games I play.

    Do I need to buy a domain name and web hosting space to do this (anything else I need)?

    Also are there any disadvantages buying this from a provider in the US (Im in UK).

    Any advise is appreciated, I'm totally new to this.

  2. #2
    Hello,
    You don't need a domain name but if you want to look professional then getting a domain name is a good idea.

    If you want to place videos on your site then you must buy hosting (with lots of bandwith) because free hosts do not allow videos on their servers.

    About disadvantages, it depends who will be your visitors if you want to have traffic from US then server in US is better then in UK.

  3. #3
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    Hi!
    Welcome to WHT

    That depend, you may just link your images and videos directly to an HTML or you a gallery script like http://gallery.menalto.com/ to make it easier
    In this last case, you will need a host support php/mysql at least, and some other requirements listed at http://gallery.menalto.com/requirements.

    There are other options, of course, but that's the one that I prefer (and personally use)
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  4. #4
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    ok! Here we go.

    If you would like your own personal address on the internet (myvideogamevideos.com etc) then you will need to buy a domain, which can be had at under $9 nowadays.

    Ok, so 1 thing down, whats next? The space. How much disk space do you think you'll be using? Don't look for more than you need, maybe 100mb more at max. Next the bandwidth, since you're just starting off look for something in the range of 20gb to 50gb (this is waaaaay more than enough for a while).

    The only disadvantage of going to the US vs the UK for hosting is you *may* have slower download speeds, but thats only if the server is very far from you, most servers on the east coast should do well for you. UK hosting tends to be a little bit pricier, but in a few minutes there's going to be a lot of UK hosts arguing this.

    Last but not least, if it sounds too good to be true, it is. If you want good support, reliability, and speed then make sure you pay a little more and don't get more space than you need. Good luck with your hunt, let me know if there's anything else I can help you with!

    Oh, also, will you be needing php or mySQL (or ASP/MS SQL)?

  5. #5
    Thanks guys wow fast replys

    Can I buy the domain name and the web hosting from differant places then am I able to keep the domain name and change hosts?

    Oh, also, will you be needing php or mySQL (or ASP/MS SQL)? I have no idea what these are lol.

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by needhelp1
    Thanks guys wow fast replys

    Can I buy the domain name and the web hosting from differant places then am I able to keep the domain name and change hosts?

    Oh, also, will you be needing php or mySQL (or ASP/MS SQL)? I have no idea what these are lol.
    Yes, it is recommended you buy them in 2 different places. As for the php/mysql....if you don't know what it is, then I doubt you'll be using it. Its basically scripting, if you ever decide to put in forums, or have anything other than static content (html/image/video files = static) then you will need it.

  7. #7
    Ok thanks

    So is buying the domain name straight forward and I presume I can buy that from anywhere?

    Where as with the hosting its better to do some research and find a reliable provider?

    Also when choosing hosting you can choose linux or windows, do I need to choose windows because my OS is windows?

  8. #8
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    For the domain name I would recommend namecheap.com . For website hosting, Linux or Windows will suit you fine -- you can go with either, and you shouldn't notice the difference.

    What kind of budget are you looking at?

  9. #9
    Well really I want 500mb of space and I have no idea how much this will cost so I havnt even thought about a budget. Obviously I dont want to spend too much but until I see how much 500mb will cost me I dont know how much its worth to spend.

  10. #10
    I suppose you will need large bandwith as well if you are going to let people download movies from your site.

    I would start with HostGator they give you 5GB of space and 75GB bandwith for less then 10$/month, proboably it would be more then enough at the beginning.

    After few months when you will know what you exactly need, so you can dump hostgator and move to another place, because you pay them monthly instead of yearly fee.

  11. #11
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    Also when choosing hosting you can choose linux or windows, do I need to choose windows because my OS is windows?
    No, not at all, is totally independent of what's the OS that you use on your PC.

    Apache is the Webserver most used on the world and runs (better) in linux.
    However, how do you plan to show your images/videos? are you going to use some kind of gallery? or you going to do your own thumbnails and directly link them through html?
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  12. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by needhelp1
    Well really I want 500mb of space and I have no idea how much this will cost so I havnt even thought about a budget. Obviously I dont want to spend too much but until I see how much 500mb will cost me I dont know how much its worth to spend.
    You should be able to find what you need at about $5 - $7 a month. Especially because you're using static content.

  13. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by Jedito
    However, how do you plan to show your images/videos? are you going to use some kind of gallery? or you going to do your own thumbnails and directly link them through html?
    I know nothing about designing the website (yet).

    What I imagined was having a homepage with links to videos or pictures,which will take u to another page where u can click the link of the game u want to see pics/movies of, which will take u to a page with thumnails of the pics/vids for that particular game.

    5gig is way more than I need, can you recomend somewhere else to buy from so it costs me less?

  14. #14
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    I suggest to that to use a gallery script like the one tha I pointed above http://gallery.menalto.com/
    That really is going to save you a lot of time making your own thumbnails, and linking it
    Take a look to two sites using it

    http://www.picturethecity.com/
    http://kylemaclean.net/g2/main.php

    You can link videos too on it (screenshots can be done with the script too)
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    DowntownHost LLC - In Business since 2001- West/Center/East USA - Netherlands - Singapore

  15. #15

    Linux/Windows hosting misconception

    Well really I want 500mb of space and I have no idea how much this will cost so I havnt even thought about a budget.
    Today, 500mb of space won't cost you much at all - it will be well below USD10 / month. But if you want reasonably good hosting with reasonably good support, then pay about USD10 / month. I think since the files that you host are "pictures and videos", if you have lots of people downloading them, then you should be more concerned about bandwidth. If you do not expect much downloads, many companies and many hosting plans are open to you. You might want to check out Hostgator - they have cheap shared hosting right up to expensive ones (room for expansion).

    Also when choosing hosting you can choose linux or windows, do I need to choose windows because my OS is windows?
    NO ! That is a misconception. The OS that you are using and the OS your hosting company is using has no relation at all. You can host on either Linux or Windows without problems. Most websites that you see and use are hosted on Linux. Linux hosting are generally cheaper and more reliable.

  16. #16
    So this http://gallery.menalto.com/ is a program to create a website? then I just upload the finnished design to my hosting?

  17. #17
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    Basically is a gallery script, that you can modify.
    However, if you're only going to use your host to show pictures/videos, then, I think that would be the best and easiest thing to do
    Shared Web Hosting - Reseller Hosting - Semi-Dedicated Servers - SolusVM/XEN VPS
    LiteSpeed Powered - R1Soft Continuous Data Protection - 24/7 Chat/Email/Helpdesk Support
    Cpanel/WHM - Softaculous - R1soft Backup - Litespeed - Cloudlinux -Site Builder- SSH support - Account Migration
    DowntownHost LLC - In Business since 2001- West/Center/East USA - Netherlands - Singapore

  18. #18
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    Needhelp1,
    Looks like you want something to design your website, these are usually called CMS (Content Management Systems). If you want to create one quickly I'd suggest:
    Drupal (www.drupal.org)
    Or Xoops (www.xoops.com)

    But if you want to have more power and have maybe 10 minutes to understand what you're doing, Joomla is for your (www.joomla.org)

    All of the above require mySQL to run, but it makes a website heaps easier to manage.
    Recommended: Stablehost, Hivelocity, Fused

  19. #19
    Quote Originally Posted by Swizi
    Needhelp1,
    Looks like you want something to design your website, these are usually called CMS (Content Management Systems). If you want to create one quickly I'd suggest:
    Drupal (www.drupal.org)
    Or Xoops (www.xoops.com)

    But if you want to have more power and have maybe 10 minutes to understand what you're doing, Joomla is for your (www.joomla.org)

    All of the above require mySQL to run, but it makes a website heaps easier to manage.
    Thanks alot this helped me to get started

  20. #20
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    Quote Originally Posted by needhelp1
    Thanks alot this helped me to get started
    If you're going to be using CMS then you will probably have to adjust your budget toward around $10/mo with PHP and MySQL

  21. #21
    Yep I decided to buy my domin name from namecheap and hosting from hostgator while I'm getting started so I have all the options available then after a month or 2 when I know more what I'm doing and what I need I'll have a look for a cheaper host.

  22. #22
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    My personal recommendation would be to stick with a smaller host that is willing to spend the time and walk you through the install and help you troubleshoot any problems. Although you might end up paying a little more you will love the attention a smaller host will give you!

    Good luck with this.

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