Lesson 7: Publishing
Your Pages on the Web
Congratulations!
By now you've built your first Web site. You've structured your content
into headings and paragraphs and other elements, added images, links, and
a style sheet to control your text and color styles. Now it's time to share
your work with others, get feedback, and perhaps make some modifications
to your Web site to get it ready for your audience.
To get your
Web pages on the Internet, you'll need a Web hosting service. In this lesson,
we'll explore the options, which include free Web hosting services, and
monthly fee Web hosting with many added benefits. You'll need to evaluate
your needs and level of interest, and choose a service that works best
for you. Cost is always a factor, but it probably shouldn't be the only
factor you consider.
As you visit
the pages listed in this discussion, be sure to read the offers carefully,
and weigh the pros and cons of each service before you make a decision.
Chances are good that you'll find a solution that's right for you, at the
right price.
Exploring
Your Options
There are many
ways to get your Web pages online. There are hundreds of sites on the Web
that offer free or low-fee Web hosting services. Most of them offer a flat
monthly fee for a good amount of storage (you'll need some space for those
images and all the additional pages you'll add in the future), multiple
email addresses, and other services. Some Web hosting services also include
free connection software, to make the process of getting started a lot
easier. We'll start with the free hosting services...
Free
Web Page Publishing
Some Web sites
will host your Web pages free of any charge, just for being a member of
their Web site. The catch? Your Web pages will contain banner advertisements.
If this doesn't bother you, and you don't want to pay a monthly fee to
publish your Web pages, then one of these free services is probably the
solution you're looking for.
Geocities is owned by Yahoo!, and offers free Web site hosting under their domain.
This means your Web address will look something like http://www.geocities.com/YourUserName.
This
page provides a run-down on all the different Web hosting packages they
offer.
Summary:
Free, but with
their banner ads on every page.
1 free email address.
15 MB of disk space
on their server.
3 GB of data transfer
per month.
Tripod is
owned by Lycos, and offers free hosting with a few nice added benefits.
Your Web address will be in the format YourUserName.tripod.com.
This
page provides a list of services you'll get with their free option,
plus a pay for service option to consider.Summary:
Free, but with
their banner ads on every page.
20MB of disk space
on their server.
Page design templates
you can use.
Lots of free images
you can use on your Web pages.
Angelfire.com
is also owned by Lycos, so its free service comes with the same bag of
of goodies that you'll find at Tripod.com.
This
page provides a list of services you'll get with their free option,
plus a pay for service option to consider.
Monthly
Fee Web Hosting
Can't stand
those pop-up ads and flashing banners? All three sites listed above offer
an "upgrade" package that removes all advertising from your Web pages.
For $4.95, Tripod and Angelfire will upgrade your hosting
package to include 25 MB of storage space, and give you access to additional
tools, including HTML and script libraries. On the Geocities
home page, you will notice there are several options, ranging in price
from $4.95 per month to $19.95 per month.
Other monthly
fee Web hosts include:
Your-site.com. For $5.00
per month, Your-site.com offers a bit more for the money. Perhaps the most
important benefit is their support services, which includes a 24/7 paging
service. You'll also get 50MB of disk space, 6GB of bandwidth per month,
and up to 25 email addresses.
Brinkster.com. For $3.95
per month (plus a $3.95 initial setup fee), Brinkster offers 30MB of disk
space, and some additional technology features that may or may not be of
interest to you.
Uploading
Your Pages
Geocities, Tripod,
and Angelfire all provide an easy tool for getting your Web pages online.
Once you sign up, you'll be given all the information you need to transfer
your Web pages and images to their server. If you want to go the quick
and easy route, sign up for one of these free services and let them walk
you through the process of getting your Web site online.
If you decide
not to go with Geocities, Tripod, or Angelfire, the process is a little
more involved. Most monthly fee Web hosts require you to use an FTP program
to upload your Web pages and images. FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol.
It's the standard protocol for transferring files from one location (your
computer) to another (your host's server). There are many free FTP programs
out there, but perhaps the easiest to use and most popular is WS_FTP.
You can
get
a free copy of WSFTP here. Once you fill out the short form and download
the program, install it on your computer. You'll need to make a note of
all the information your Web host provides to youβ€”you'll need this information
to set up your FTP program. You'll find more information on this in the
activity page for this lesson.
Discussion
Now that you
have explored some of your options, share whatever insights or experiences
you might have with others in the class. Post your comments to the following
discussion items in the message board:
Have you ever used
a Web hosting service before? If so, which Web site, and how would you
rate their service?
If this is the
first time you've ever explored Web hosting services, which of the services
listed above impressed you the most, and why?
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