Web hosting service with WordPress capability

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btf271

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Wannabe Geek

#130933 2-Oct-2013 22:13

I'm a software development student in New Zealand that has done web development papers and would like to practice my skills, as well as learn WordPress. I see for WordPress that i need to publish my web site. That's the only reason i'm looking at web hosting services. I don't need the web hosting service to be good, but i want to have peace of mind that it is not a scam and will not charge me down the track. If necessary, I can do a monthly payment, if I can then cancel at any time (not a year long contract). Or a one off payment. But it is just for learning. What is a proven web hosting service that someone knows to be trustworthy?

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Vocus

#906759 2-Oct-2013 22:17

If it's for your own education, just host it locally on your machine. Otherwise any host supporting PHP will be capable of running a wordpress installation.

btf271

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Wannabe Geek

#906764 2-Oct-2013 22:23

Does this option allow me to use WordPress? I may have been a little off with my WordPress research when i thought i needed a web hosting service.

sonyxperiageek

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#906765 2-Oct-2013 22:24

You could try Hostgator... they're pretty good in terms of reliability and service. They also have a one-click Wordpress installer.

Sony

btf271

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Wannabe Geek

#906770 2-Oct-2013 22:28

Thanks

Geektastic

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#906772 2-Oct-2013 22:32

I use Bluehost based in the USA.

24/7 on line customer services and awesome uptime for around $250 a year.

My last website design company hosted my sites on their server for a while. Last year I had a problem over Xmas and just got the stupid New Zealand "We don't bother doing any work for 2 or 3 weeks at this time of year - come and see us in mid January" response.

That was it - if I am working, I expect those supporting me to be doing so, so that was the end of that relationship.

mattwnz

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#906773 2-Oct-2013 22:32

sonyxperiageek: You could try Hostgator... they're pretty good in terms of reliability and service. They also have a one-click Wordpress installer.

One click install is no great advantage, as you have to have to use FTP and use MySQL to do some things anyway, including downloading and backing up the site. Also they will often install old versions. HG only backup once a week, so I would look for a host that does lots of backups, so in the case of your site getting hacked, it can be restored quickly easily by the host. Otherwise you will need to use a third party backup service which is an additional cost. Although you also need to make your own backups, anyway with what ever host you use, probably at least weekly.

Hosting locally should be faster, and cost wise, there isn't a huge difference these days. Also there is no such thing as unlimited, so don't get sucked in by that sort of marketing. HG for instance advertise unlimited, but in the fine print they restrict the number of inodes (files) you can have stored. Ask the host how many websites they host per server. Look for a host that has been around for many years, and that way you can be more assured that they aren't just going to close down without notice. I would suggest one that uses cpanel, as it is very easy to use.

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mattwnz

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#906774 2-Oct-2013 22:34

Geektastic: I use Bluehost based in the USA.

24/7 on line customer services and awesome uptime for around $250 a year.

My last website design company hosted my sites on their server for a while. Last year I had a problem over Xmas and just got the stupid New Zealand "We don't bother doing any work for 2 or 3 weeks at this time of year - come and see us in mid January" response.

That was it - if I am working, I expect those supporting me to be doing so, so that was the end of that relationship.

That isn't normal you know. But I wouldn't reommend hosting a website with a web designer, as they are just a middleman. Go to the host directly. Many nz ones seem to offer 365 day support and an emergency way of contacting them if the server goes down.

btf271

6 posts

Wannabe Geek

#906781 2-Oct-2013 22:56

I'm considering HostGator as it's cheap, maybe their 6 month plan or their per month plan. Do i need to use their service before i build my website? To learn WordPress, i think i do need to already be on a web hosting service?

sonyxperiageek

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#906783 2-Oct-2013 23:01

mattwnz:
sonyxperiageek: You could try Hostgator... they're pretty good in terms of reliability and service. They also have a one-click Wordpress installer.

One click install is no great advantage, as you have to have to use FTP and use MySQL to do some things anyway, including downloading and backing up the site. Also they will often install old versions. HG only backup once a week, so I would look for a host that does lots of backups, so in the case of your site getting hacked, it can be restored quickly easily by the host. Otherwise you will need to use a third party backup service which is an additional cost. Although you also need to make your own backups, anyway with what ever host you use, probably at least weekly.

Hosting locally should be faster, and cost wise, there isn't a huge difference these days. Also there is no such thing as unlimited, so don't get sucked in by that sort of marketing. HG for instance advertise unlimited, but in the fine print they restrict the number of inodes (files) you can have stored. Ask the host how many websites they host per server. Look for a host that has been around for many years, and that way you can be more assured that they aren't just going to close down without notice. I would suggest one that uses cpanel, as it is very easy to use.

If you do install an older version of Wordpress, it will usually tell you to upgrade anyway.

IMO unless you are running a forum like Geekzone, once a week backup should be ok, plus you can also do it manually with the easy-to-use cpanel (like you said).

And since the OP is only wanting to learn, HG should be more than sufficient for him. Plus their support team are usually really good with 24/7 online chat, that does work. I have been using them and have used their chat support a few times now and they actually know what you are talking about! :)

Sony

btf271

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Wannabe Geek

#906802 2-Oct-2013 23:12

sonyxperiageek:
mattwnz:
sonyxperiageek: You could try Hostgator... they're pretty good in terms of reliability and service. They also have a one-click Wordpress installer.

One click install is no great advantage, as you have to have to use FTP and use MySQL to do some things anyway, including downloading and backing up the site. Also they will often install old versions. HG only backup once a week, so I would look for a host that does lots of backups, so in the case of your site getting hacked, it can be restored quickly easily by the host. Otherwise you will need to use a third party backup service which is an additional cost. Although you also need to make your own backups, anyway with what ever host you use, probably at least weekly.

Hosting locally should be faster, and cost wise, there isn't a huge difference these days. Also there is no such thing as unlimited, so don't get sucked in by that sort of marketing. HG for instance advertise unlimited, but in the fine print they restrict the number of inodes (files) you can have stored. Ask the host how many websites they host per server. Look for a host that has been around for many years, and that way you can be more assured that they aren't just going to close down without notice. I would suggest one that uses cpanel, as it is very easy to use.

If you do install an older version of Wordpress, it will usually tell you to upgrade anyway.

IMO unless you are running a forum like Geekzone, once a week backup should be ok, plus you can also do it manually with the easy-to-use cpanel (like you said).

And since the OP is only wanting to learn, HG should be more than sufficient for him. Plus their support team are usually really good with 24/7 online chat, that does work. I have been using them and have used their chat support a few times now and they actually know what you are talking about! :)

I think you're right about HostGator. Could you please look at my question just above your comment? Thanks.

sonyxperiageek

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#906805 2-Oct-2013 23:26

btf271: I'm considering HostGator as it's cheap, maybe their 6 month plan or their per month plan. Do i need to use their service before i build my website? To learn WordPress, i think i do need to already be on a web hosting service?

You can just use HG for Wordpress if you want, or you can build your own website by itself using HG as your web host. I think that's what you mean.

Sony

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mattwnz

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#906806 2-Oct-2013 23:28

btf271: I'm considering HostGator as it's cheap, maybe their 6 month plan or their per month plan. Do i need to use their service before i build my website? To learn WordPress, i think i do need to already be on a web hosting service?

You can run wordpress on a PC to learn it. Can't remember the software you download to do it, but you don't need hosting for this to learn it.

xpd

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#906868 3-Oct-2013 08:37

WAMP / XAMP let you run a local web server and PHP/SQL - I use this method to play with new PHP packages as well as making changes on Wordpress before doing it on my live site.

Cost : $0.

XPD / Gavin

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timmmay

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#906927 3-Oct-2013 10:00

Get WAMP and run it locally on your windows machine, or I presume MAMP for Mac. I run wordpress locally for testing.

You don't need web hosting, but hostgator is good if you do, and I can give you a discount code. However I think you need to learn a bit more about the web and web development is usually done, which is understandable if you're a student just starting to look at this.

itxtme

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#906934 3-Oct-2013 10:22

timmmay: Get WAMP and run it locally on your windows machine, or I presume MAMP for Mac. I run wordpress locally for testing.

You don't need web hosting, but hostgator is good if you do, and I can give you a discount code. However I think you need to learn a bit more about the web and web development is usually done, which is understandable if you're a student just starting to look at this.

+1

You clearly aren't knowledgeable on the basics of how websites are served to people. I am not saying thats a bad thing, but something you will need to learn if you want to run your own site. The basic areas you will need to learn about include but are not limited to Webservers, Serverside scripting versus Browser side scripting and Domain names.

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