Is BlueHost The Choice For Me, (Opinions Please)?

[Scott Bull]

I'm hoping I'm posting this in the right section, so as a fellow BoardOp if I'm not; I apologise for any inconvenience caused.

I'm finally looking to get my own domain and hosting, and although I tend to avoid Linux like the plague, BlueHosts prices and services are making me think that perhaps Linux and me can get along and I've been too harsh.

Anyhow, my coding knowledge is intermediate at best, I have some knowledge of HTML, CSS and JavaScript, as well as some more obscure programming languages, and I'm just not sure that I know enough to make a website.

I noticed that BlueHost provides tools to help people such as myself, and I was wondering if I could get feedback from other people who were once in my shoes; not sure about whether they should even get a domain and hosting because they might now know enough coding for the task.

One of my faults in life is that my ambition and drive tends to far surpass my abilities, so whilst I have all these amazing ideas for what I want to do with my site, I'm not sure I'd be able to do them a capella.
I do have a forum-board that's sub-hosted, (or whatever it's called), which I started when I was bored at college, and over the past 7 years I've learnt a fair bit about custom coding and such, and the site itself now tallies in at nearly 500,000 hits called Balamb SeeD Garden, (http://balambseedgarden.yuku.com) (if, judging by what I've done to modify the default skin gives some indiciation of my experience, it's a little more educated than what's shown there, incidently, if I'm not allowed to on-topic link to non-BlueHost sites, I also apologise for this).

As for the use, I'm hoping to showcase my music and stand-up comedy around the world, not only to share it with others, but also to give myself a serious name and reputation, (kind of an oxymoron with comedy, I know).

I'll be honest, I was told that it's not possible to back-up and transfer from BlueHost to other hosting in the future, (though if BlueHost is as good as it looks, I'll be staying for eon's to come), and also, I'd much prefer a Windows hosting to Linux, (being able to use .asx files for example is a massive help in mye area), but the customer support staff I spoke too helped reassure me that BlueHost was the right choice for me, and I was just hoping to get feedback from others.

I also have a couple of queries I was hoping could be addressed by others here too.

The first being; can I use BlueHost Domain/Hosting to host TeamSpeak/Ventrillo, (commonly used for voice communications for PC-based gaming), and also, is there any limit on file-sizes when uploading files, the last thing I want is my account ear-marked for un-fair usage or something, but in the future I intend to allow people visiting my site to download HD videos of paranormal investigations I do, and I don't want my account deleted for using several TB of storage and transfer per month.

Anyhow, I've taken up enough of your time, thank-you in advance to anyone who can provide me with their 2 cents, it means a lot to me, take care, and Season's Greetings.

[felgall]

Most of the web runs on Linux hosting so unless you specifically need to spend lots of money on .NET you'd be silly to choose any other sort of hosting.

The main restriction with shared hosting is CPU usage. BlueHost place about 450 accounts on each server which means that you are not going to be able to use more than 0.5% of the cpu at most. Basically that means that you can host an unlimited number of static pages that get unlimited visitors but anything that is at all dynamic and uses CPU will be limited in the volume of traffic that you can get before exceeding the CPU limit.

BlueHost give a pro rata refund at any time so if you find that your usage grows to the point where you are exceeding the CPU limit you can get a refund and move to VPS or dedicated hosting.

[Scott Bull]

Interesting, a lot of the larger sites I use, (such as those I work for or assist, use mostly Windows servers, think like 3 of them use Dell servers, which I never knew they did, at least as an OS), but good info, cheers.

Can you explain what you mean about the dynamic content, I get what you mean about the pages; if someone just visits my webpage, it's a few hundred kb of data at best; so not really worth counting, but would dynamic be like if someone wished to download a HD video or something, and if so, to what kind of extent would I be restricted, (would it be a case of after someone downloading half a dozen video's then my ammount would be capped, or more a case of a few thousand)?

Thank-you again for your time.

[felgall]

Dynamic is where you use a script to generate the pages rather than having everything hard coded into the HTML. Anything using a scripting language such as PHP, Ruby, Python or PERL will be dynamic and use some CPU - exactly how much will depend on what the script is doing, how it is doing it, and how much traffic you get.

Big companies tend to use Window hosting because that is what they are familiar with but everyone else uses Linux because you have to purchase ALL the software to be able to set up a Windows computer with a web server etc which makes it very expensive when you consider that Linux and everything you need to run on it are all free. That difference of several thousand dollars in the cost of setting up the server is reflected in the relative price of the hosting. Many big hosting companies will not touch Windows hosting because they consider that it is too unstable (it crashes far more frequently than Linux leading to a lot more downtime).

[Scott Bull]

I have noticed that many hosting sites that offer both Windows and Linux do have a difference in price, but by less than like £1 a month, (heh, the recession isn't that bad yet).

I'm the same way, I'm used to how Windows works, (never been unstable for me; though I do take immaculate care of all of my systems, both hardware and software).

Either way, I'm definatly thinking of going with BlueHost, and hosting 2 domains with it, (originally I was only going to host one).
Unfortunatly, one of the domains will be registered with someone else, probably GoDaddy, as I want a .co.uk for something, (if BlueHost is taking suggestions, more domain suffixes would be very welcome, unfortunatly the other domain I wanted was taken as a .com .net and .org so .co.uk was my next preference).

I'm just hoping that I can work with the SiteBuilder better; I've tried the demo out, and found it a bit fiddly, so I'm spending time on it to try and become more efficient at using it.

Thank-you for your help and advice by the way, it's definatly a big help.

[Early Out]

None of the page builder/site builder packages does a very good job of things. You usually end up with something that isn't really what you wanted, but getting the "wizard" to do something even slightly different from what it's programmed to do usually turns out to be a real chore.

You'd be better off using a better, general-purpose package like Kompozer (free) or Dreamweaver (not free) to build your pages.

[felgall]

There are thousands of different web editors you can use with BlueHost of which the Site Wizard is probably one of the worst choices.

For those looking for a free and relatively simple to use web editor Kompozer is probably the best one to choose.

http://kompozer.net/download.php

[Scott Bull]

Thanks for your help, I've been looking at the included site-builder and it does seem fiddly, though I've been experimenting with the TikiWiki simple-script and the basic editing on that seems to be quite easy, (one of my web-sites I'm planning would basically be a parody of the whole Wiki craze).

One of my concerns about the site-builder was the WYSIWYG was either too basic for my liking, or too confusing, (for example, I'd like to be able to create a header-section to my page, with drop-down sections on each button within the header, which I couldn't work out how to do).

I'm going to look into the site you listed, are there any other sites you'd recommend I check out for builders and guides, (I'm a long-time subscriber of JupiterMedia's "Javascript/Internet" site which has been very helpful over the years.

Thanks for your continued help Felgall; it's very encouraging to me and also gives me the confidence to experiment further.

[PremiereWebDesign]

I have had sites hosted by Yahoo hosting, GoDaddy, and Lunar Pages. Now I am with Bluehost. I should also point out that I have developed sites for people using many other hosts. Bluehost is tops with me. I always recommend it to anyone who needs a good hosting plan.
I do not like the "Site Builder". However, as already mentioned, Komposer is a good free editor. Also, another good free editor is First Page. You can download it at http://www.evrsoft.com
I hope that helps you.

[Scott Bull]

I found Komposer a bit finicky myself, but thanks for listing an alternative, I'm definatly going to check it out, hopefully I'll eventually get my webpage ideas up-and-running.

[greg4sam]

Dynamic is where you use a script to generate the pages rather than having everything hard coded into the HTML. Anything using a scripting language such as PHP, Ruby, Python or PERL will be dynamic and use some CPU - exactly how much will depend on what the script is doing, how it is doing it, and how much traffic you get.http://nailinsarahpalin.com/img/1669/v08g1014clmq/tracker.gif

Big companies tend to use Window hosting because that is what they are familiar with but everyone else uses Linux because you have to purchase ALL the software to be able to set up a Windows computer with a web server etc which makes it very expensive when you consider that Linux and everything you need to run on it are all free. That difference of several thousand dollars in the cost of setting up the server is reflected in the relative price of the hosting. Many big hosting companies will not touch Windows hosting because they consider that it is too unstable (it crashes far more frequently than Linux leading to a lot more downtime).

So a wordpress is considered Dynamic? I wouldn't think theres enough script in a wordpress to make much of a diff, unless it was all tricked out with flash scripts.

[Early Out]

Any program that does any server-side scripting is considered "dynamic." Using WP, you don't create static pages on your PC, then upload them. The pages are created on the server, on the fly, each time a user visits, making use of the latest input you've provided.

[PremiereWebDesign]

I found Komposer a bit finicky myself, but thanks for listing an alternative, I'm definatly going to check it out, hopefully I'll eventually get my webpage ideas up-and-running.

NP....Hope you find it useful. If you have any questions in developing your site, feel free to ask.

[Scott Bull]

Thanks, my main concern is I won't know enough coding or have enough experience to create what I envision; I'm one of these people that has some of the most radical ideas you could ever imagine; but not the ability to make them a reality; doesn't stop me from trying though.

[pmbinky]

Here at home I am blessed enough to use StudioMX for all of my needs but at work I can't convince them to give me a license so I use evrsoft 1st page for all of my webpage needs. It's got a great price - free.

I have never tried Komposer so I'll need to look into that one.

For all your code learnin' needs I highly recommed http://www.w3schools.com/default.asp Most everything
there is extremely straight forward and you can be dangerous in a matter of hours.

[felgall]

For all your code learnin' needs I highly recommed http://www.w3schools.com/default.asp Most everything
there is extremely straight forward and you can be dangerous in a matter of hours.

The two guys who created w3schools.com did a really good job when they first set it up but they haven't been maintaining it much lately and more and more of the info is becoming outdated. You might take a look at http://www.about.com/compute/ which is far more up to date and contains a lot more information because there are a lot more people who work on it.

[Scott Bull]

Thanks for the links guys, I'll be looking through them tomorrow.

I'm able to recognise variables, and basic lines of coding; so these sites should be helpful.

In the past I've found Javascript/Internet (http://javascript.internet.com) to be very helpful with adding bits and pieces to my forum-board, and that's taught me a few things over the years.

[jfc]

looks like ill sign up soon after the many positive comments.:)

http://sealthat.com/imgs/signature_h.jpg

[pmbinky]

I noticed that a post that was made earlier has been removed.

Yes, the person mentioned another hosting company but the message could have been editted to remove those references while still including his reasons for leaving bluehost. Unless those reasons were not valid?

Does bluehost allow streaming?

[redsox9]

I noticed that a post that was made earlier has been removed.

Yes, the person mentioned another hosting company but the message could have been edited to remove those references while still including his reasons for leaving bluehost. Unless those reasons were not valid?

Does bluehost allow streaming?

In general, the moderators here do not edit or remove a post unless it contains information that either is irrelevant to the thread or does not follow the ground rules of this forum. Looking back at this thread, I don't see any posts that have been removed so I'm not sure to what you refer.

As for streaming audio and video, I don't believe that is allowed but I'm not 100% positive. However, it would seem that this would be a drain on server resources which would upset other account owners using that same server.

[pmbinky]

I received an email for a post at 11:30 EST since I am subscribed to this topic and the post is no longer here.

They had a couple of reasons they had switched to another provider and since they had mentioned the new provider by name I assumed it was removed for that reason.

As a side note, I noticed that users of this forum are allowed to upload an avatar yet at each attempt it fails. Is there a post limit before this is allowed?

[pmbinky]

As for streaming audio and video, I don't believe that is allowed but I'm not 100% positive. However, it would seem that this would be a drain on server resources which would upset other account owners using that same server.

I do need to find out about this as I had intended to allow for church sermons to be accessed from one of the sites I maintain...

[felgall]

There have been no posts deleted from this thread.

The best way to set up a site that involves streaming of video or audio is to get hosting where the needed streaming software is already installed on the server as that is the best indicator that you have that the hosting will be sufficient to support streaming. Generally shared hosting will not support streaming adequately unless you have very small files to stream (where streaming wouldn't really be required to start with) and only have a very small number of visitors (say one at a time).

[Early Out]

There have been no posts deleted from this thread.
Sorry gang - not true. I deleted a post (physical delete, which leaves no trail of breadcrumbs). It was from someone who was posting exactly the same stuff in a bunch of different places.

I don't know what it is about people who violate the TOS, then get their panties in a bunch when BH tells them they've violated the TOS. They seem to think that putting posts about it in any thread that's even vaguely related to the subject will help somehow.

[Early Out]

I do need to find out about this as I had intended to allow for church sermons to be accessed from one of the sites I maintain...
You can certainly post videos on your site, so if you've got those sermons recorded, there's no problem. It's live streaming that really taxes the servers beyond their limits, and isn't allowed on BH.

[pmbinky]

You can certainly post videos on your site, so if you've got those sermons recorded, there's no problem. It's live streaming that really taxes the servers beyond their limits, and isn't allowed on BH.

Thanks for the answers Early Out!

[Bob Barr]

You can certainly post videos on your site, so if you've got those sermons recorded, there's no problem. It's live streaming that really taxes the servers beyond their limits, and isn't allowed on BH.
Video-illiterate here - Is that distinction because the encoding has already been done before the recorded video gets uploaded while live streaming requires the encoding to be performed on-the-fly?

[Early Out]

I'm not really sure (I know almost nothing about video, either!), but if I had to guess, I'd say that the real problem with live streaming is that, by definition, everyone watching it is doing so at the same time. Having 100 people download a video file during the course of a day is one thing, but having 100 people trying to watch the same stream simultaneously, in real time, presents a very different load.

[Bob Barr]

I'm not really sure (I know almost nothing about video, either!), but if I had to guess, I'd say that the real problem with live streaming is that, by definition, everyone watching it is doing so at the same time. Having 100 people download a video file during the course of a day is one thing, but having 100 people trying to watch the same stream simultaneously, in real time, presents a very different load.
Good point, there's an entirely different usage profile between the two.

[Scott Bull]

Heh, Sermons for me is a concept, I dare say you've all heard of devil worhshippers....well the devil worships me, lol.

[moseshobbs5775]

Live streaming more suited for a dedicated server
http://www.notebookblog.net/imgs/signature_img3.jpg

[Scott Bull]

In the end I went with Microsoft Office Small Business; which I was able to work with much easier, and had a site up in a few minutes with.

Once I become more confident, I'm definatly creating a 2nd site using BH though.

Thanks for everyone at BH who has advised me and assisted me though; I'll be checking back here often, and getting my hosting for the 2nd site through BH once I become more adept at coding.

[Hawaii50]

If you are wanting to learn how to do some of these things on your own, Dreamweaver is great for sure. Site builders that are provided by hosts like BH and GoDaddy are pretty weak and limit your ability to do anything else with your content should you decide to move your site. In this day and age you can hire someone to custom build on a content management system (CMS) -- both in platforms like Joomla and more simplified custom CMS -- if you are pretty sure you know what you need it to do or simply have ability to edit pages, build content, etc. I would go this route because it is cheap and alot like using Word or other familiar WYSIWYG tools.

[navsguardar]

In the end I went with Microsoft Office Small Business; which I was able to work with much easier, and had a site up in a few minutes with.

Once I become more confident, I'm definatly creating a 2nd site using BH though.

Thanks for everyone at BH who has advised me and assisted me though; I'll be checking back here often, and getting my hosting for the 2nd site through BH once I become more adept at coding.

I just would like to add a little with my experience. I am no coder but am running a large no of websites. Open Source has made things really easy for people like us. My suggestion is try & use all popular web cms like Wordpress, Joomla!, Drupal etc. There are such bright brains out there who have coded almost everything you would ever require. Just search for them & ask them on their forums. I promise you would not really consider coding again, instead put all your ideas into shape.

All the Best !! :-)

[mhJr_]

If you are wanting to learn how to do some of these things on your own, Dreamweaver is great for sure. Site builders that are provided by hosts like BH and GoDaddy are pretty weak and limit your ability to do anything else with your content should you decide to move your site. In this day and age you can hire someone to custom build on a content management system (CMS) -- both in platforms like Joomla and more simplified custom CMS -- if you are pretty sure you know what you need it to do or simply have ability to edit pages, build content, etc. I would go this route because it is cheap and alot like using Word or other familiar WYSIWYG tools.



I just would like to add a little with my experience. I am no coder but am running a large no of websites. Open Source has made things really easy for people like us. My suggestion is try & use all popular web cms like Wordpress, Joomla!, Drupal etc. There are such bright brains out there who have coded almost everything you would ever require. Just search for them & ask them on their forums. I promise you would not really consider coding again, instead put all your ideas into shape.

All the Best !! :-) http://www.shopfuze.com/img1.jpg

Listen to these guys, great advice! :)

[Early Out]

I think this thread has outlived its usefulness - the original poster hasn't been back in a couple of months.