Website Hosting Recommendations...and...

[Gia al Qamar]

OK...hugely frustrated belly dancer here...
My simple little site which has been up and running and hosted by AOL for EVAH is locked...AOL isn't supporting their "Easy Designer" website program anymore and I can no longer do updates.
So?
So I went to GoDaddy-dot-com who hosted my domain name and signed up for their website hosting and what looked like a fabulously easy web designer do-it-yerself package...
Great...
Except...it won't work. My computer isn't letting it load...and so...5 days later, I'm still without an updatable website and I'm ready to explode.
I need advice from my belly dancing sistas (and brothers)...I need a website host at a reasonable price with an EASY to use program for construction. I don't want someone else to design it for me...I'm too TYPE-A for that...
HELP!!!
Thank you!
Gia

[raksphoto]

Hello Gia,

Having watched ISPs come and go with the wild abandon of the 1990's, in order to avoid all of the types of problems you are describing, I resolved to completely avoid any large corporate ISPs and webhosts. What seemed to make much more sense was to get involved with a community-based ISP, the reasoning being they were much less likely to be involved in any merger-mania debacles. So, I went with my local Santa Cruz, CA provider, www.cruzio.com. This has been most providential, and offers great peace of mind.

They have various hosting plans, including an easy-to-use store-front should you need that. They can can also assist you with a domain, if you're still having problems with godaddy.com.

The web is the web, everything really is local on an interconnected basis. Despite being in Santa Cruz, CA, Cruzio.com really does host content from all over the world, including commercial shopping websites.

I got soooo tired of ISPs and webhosts changing everything constantly that my measure of their worth was continuous improvements without dying, moving, or being bought and sold over a period of one half decade. This webhost and ISP is like that. However, if proximity to California really feels like an issue for you, then you might instead consider finding a community-based web host in your area with similar characteristics.

Wish you well, and good luck!

Blessings and Light,
raksphoto/Michael Baxter

[Gia al Qamar]

Thank you so much Michael, I will check them out!
Gia

[steffib]

Not sure whether that is helpful, but it may be a good data point to hear from somebody else who uses GoDaddy: I use my own software to design my webpages, and then upload the html onto their servers, through their web-based interface.

Now, the question what software to use to make the html - there's no easy answer, and I am on a Mac anyways, so my choices are not all that interesting for somebody on a different platform.

Good luck - it's always frustrating to figure all that out in the beginning.

[zorba]

I have heard a TREMENDOUS amount of "problems" with godaddy - although I have no personal experience either way with them.

I've been using Quality Web Hosting, VPS, Dedicated Servers - Host Color for years - they're among the very cheapest, and have very good support. I haven't a CLUE about web tools though - they have some, but I dunno what or how good they are...

[Gia al Qamar]

Thanks Zorba...do you use your own editor then?

[laura 2]

I use GoDaddy's Website Tonight designer and have had very few problems with it - in fact, I've only had to contact their tech support maybe 3 times in the two years I've had my site.

Have you contacted GoDaddy's technical support? I've found them to be tremendously helpful and polite.

[zorba]

Thanks Zorba...do you use your own editor then?

Yes - a straight text editor, the old skool, old fashioned way.

[whitneync]

I used godaddy for years... and created the site on my own computer... publisher, or dreamweaver for windows are good, and if you happen to own a mac, iWeb is an Excellent piece of software, and super easy to use. (see pomegranateandpuce.com for an example of a site i did in an evening)

[Gia al Qamar]

I use GoDaddy's Website Tonight designer and have had very few problems with it - in fact, I've only had to contact their tech support maybe 3 times in the two years I've had my site.

Have you contacted GoDaddy's technical support? I've found them to be tremendously helpful and polite.

Yes...three times. They had me install FireFox, which helped the GoDaddy page load faster...but when I clicked on the "Website Tonight" link, it wouldn't load for love or money.

I cached and cookied-out...didn't help. I do have Norton, but have no clue how to disable the firewall...and I'm not sure how to 'check' to see if that would work without having to pay to find out!

So I'm at 'go' and just found out that I have 30 days to figure this out...then I'm up a creek...sans paddle.