Web Hosting For Dummies
February 21st, 2008 — Shrewdy
Millions of people have gained benefits from “For Dummies” books. Most don’t really like admitting to being dummies. Many are far from dummies, but want to get back to basics so they have a good foundation for whatever they want to learn.
These people are Shrewdies.
They want to gain the benefits of web hosting without years of learning technology secrets.
How can Shrewdies get good quality web hosting at reasonable prices? Or free?
There is a good example at WordPress.com, but it is not for commercial gain. It’s necessary restrictions also limit it’s use for optimized not-for-profit projects.
My solution is to set-up my own WordPress.com equivalent, but with fewer restrictions and a closer community. Obviously smaller scale than WordPress.com. Small is beautiful.
I’ll continue to develop the WordPress Wizard for single user WordPress installations, but first a short diversion as I document and develop a WordPress Multi User installation.
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February 22nd, 2008 at 10:43 pm
Well, for good free hosting I use Byethost. It has an automatic script installer that will set up the latest version of WP for free, and has fewer restrictions than a hosted WordPress solution. The space and bandwidth are very nice, no ads or posting, and the support is friendly. The only drawback is that even installing a blog engine can be intimidating for total newbies (the people who are drawn to Blogger).
February 24th, 2008 at 6:59 am
Good points Troy. One of the hosting companies that I use, almost exclusively for WordPress blogs, also has a WordPress Installer (Fantastico), but I don’t use it.
I found it didn’t always handle upgrades well.
My grand plan for my WordPress Installation Wizard is to list all the steps required and perhaps automate it. I’m not too bothered about automating it, because I think a well documented installation sequence is almost as easy as an automated script. It is certainly easier to fix if things go wrong.
This makes it easy for total newbies, as long as they are able to follow instructions, and willing to learn some new processes.
If they are not, the only answer is a managed solution - e.g WordPress.com. I am starting new services providing managed solutions that allow commercial activity (free WordPress.com accounts must NOT be commercial).
I also feel that WordPress.com’s restrictions on scripting restrict it’s usefulness for fully optimized non-commercial sites. Hence my current project to provide free blogs for my local community. That should stop any malicious script activity or other abuse - I know where the bloggers live!
February 24th, 2008 at 6:27 pm
I like this approach, it’s one we need more free hosts to take. By guiding the newbies and giving them tools to make a killer site, you’re less likely to end up with “deadbeat” webmasters and bloggers who don’t develop their account but take up disk space. Giving people the option to place ads or other commercial use adds incentive. For example, I’ve been semi-actively promoting Byethost for them for free, but there are a huge number of sites hosted there that go absolutely nowhere. A core group of great sites is better than a hundred little personal pages.
Focusing on your local community (as long as it’s large enough) is a very cool approach that’s become popular lately with geo tagging and the like. As you said, it eliminates total anonymity and helps keep the “total dickwads” from bringing everything down a notch. Also, you might get featured in a local paper :).