Need suggestion on Web domain and hosting

[FusionSenses]

I am planning to do a website for my restaurant with Flash MX.
But I need to have a domain and hosting.
I currently have Telus high speed and Shaw account for possible hosting. Since it's for a restaurant, it might be enough already. (20 MB space cap from Shaw)

So, I need a domain only, is that correct? Will the domain company work well with Shaw or Telus?

I need some suggestions:
Which combination is suited for my situation?
Which domain company is good?
Do I need a professional hosting company?
Is it better to have domain and hosting same company like 1&1?
Do I want to use .ca? or .com?

Lastly, what is the best way to learn flash MX? I have experience in Visual basic, C++, Java, and basic Html.
I want to do a web site like http://www.bin941.com

Thanks alot.

[bambam]

No affiliation
http://www.dotcanada.com/costco/

[FusionSenses]

No affiliation
http://www.dotcanada.com/costco/


That's $99/year.

I was looking a domain registration for $6 or 7 bucks a year.
And use shaw's or telus webspace for free, if it works that way.

[Silver Bullet]

1and1.com ... $5.99US for a registration of a domain for a year .. and hosting there is pretty cheap too ...

You need a domain (www.mywebsite.com) and a place for the domain to point to ... a server/hosting. I would start with about $9.99US a month for hosting and see how it goes form there ... that should easily be enough.

[Jucius Maximus]

That's $99/year.

I was looking a domain registration for $6 or 7 bucks a year.
And use shaw's or telus webspace for free, if it works that way.
$99/yr includes hosting, support, domain registration, everything.

I host my own site on dotcanada and IMO it's good value.

Also you might want to check your ISP's policies because they might not allow you to host a business website on your webspace.

They will definitely not allow domain hosting unless you pay some extra fees, which will be steep because it always seems to be that way from ISPs.

[FusionSenses]

you are right, my isp doesn't allow business hosting, and domain cannot point to www.shaw.ca/website.


so $99, it's actually not bad.
1and1.com is actually cheaper.


but if my hosting goes to them, most likely mean, they own the domain instead of me, because they will force me to go with them for hosting as well.

[Jucius Maximus]

but if my hosting goes to them, most likely mean, they own the domain instead of me, because they will force me to go with them for hosting as well.
If you want to guarantee that you own the domain, just register it independently at a site like godaddy.com or domainmonger.com.

For other domain hosting packages, just read the fine print. If they are worth their salt, they will explicitly specify that the domain belongs to YOU and not them.

[B40]

Buy a domain for $8 on Godaddy, then cloak it and load your site off your ISP hosting.

[FusionSenses]

1&1

"Best of all, this isn’t just for your first year hosting with 1&1. We won’t charge you a penny for your included domains for as long as you have your shared hosting package with us!"

[AznProto]

i use http://domains4you.com they are pretty good

[ZeroAquaduct]

I use GoDaddy.com myself, but you could also check out Netfirms.ca. They're pretty cheap too.

[weedb0y]

godaddy.com for .coms and 10dollar.ca for .ca domains.. www.level4.ca for hosting for now along with dreamhost

[FusionSenses]

Buy a domain for $8 on Godaddy, then cloak it and load your site off your ISP hosting.


This is exactly what i want to do to save hosting fee per month.

But how can it be done?

let say i buy a domain called website.com, how can i point it to ww*w.shaw.ca/mysite?


what is cloak?

[ZeroAquaduct]

This is exactly what i want to do to save hosting fee per month.

But how can it be done?

let say i buy a domain called website.com, how can i point it to ww*w.shaw.ca/mysite?


what is cloak?

You actually "forward" the domain to your Shaw website. So when someone types www.website.com, it'll forward you to members.shaw.ca/mysite. In the address bar, it'll say members.shaw.ca/mysite.

If you don't want it to say members.shaw.ca/mysite, you could select "mask domain" in GoDaddy.com. In this case, the address bar will show www.website.com (instead of members.shaw.ca/mysite). However, everything will show www.website.com, not just members.shaw.ca/mysite. Even members.shaw.ca/mysite/home.htm, or members.shaw.ca/mysite/page1.htm will show www.website.com (you won't get www.website.com/home.htm or www.website.com/page1.htm).

[Shiifty]

You can also use other services like www.mydomain.com to point your domain to your host at shaw. Tons of advice and info for the newb and veteran at www.webhostingtalk.com .

Can I ask why use flash? It can be difficult to make simple updates to your site with flash, and since you're just learning, it will take A LOT of time to make it look "pro". Personally, if a site is all in flash, I just close it, I can't be bothered looking at flash sites, they irritate me. If you must use flash, use both html and flash, so you can do updates easily, but the "cool" stuff like image, graphics, etc, are in flash.

[FusionSenses]

Thanks alot of those information, that helped.

So, Cloaking = URL forwading?

Mask domain = Stealth forwaring?

are those service usually included with any domain company?

I wanted to use flash, because i can use animation for buttons. I think I can still do HTML inside of the flash, right?
The site wil be really simple, just like normal main page and few links to contact, menu, concept. But just all in flash without people know it's all flash.

So, people actually get turn-off when they see flash loading at the beginning?

[FusionSenses]

Now, I got to the point about Email.

If i register only domain at mydomain.com, and pay $8.95
Can I still use GM@senses.com?

how does the email work?
Do I need to get hosting service from the same company to get that email to work?
Or is there a way to forward like the URL forwarding by just registering the domain name?

thank again

[siriuskao]

Now, I got to the point about Email.

If i register only domain at mydomain.com, and pay $8.95
Can I still use GM@senses.com?

how does the email work?
Do I need to get hosting service from the same company to get that email to work?
Or is there a way to forward like the URL forwarding by just registering the domain name?

thank again
if you are using domain forwarding + shaw webspace. It's the cheapest way but like someone said the site can get turned off anytime since shaw probably wouldn't let you host business site using a home account.

yes you would need 3rd party hosting to get yourname@yourdomain.com email to work.

one more thing, yes most people I know hate flash loading. animated button is bad as well. Just use clean html/css.

[B40]

if you are using domain forwarding + shaw webspace. It's the cheapest way but like someone said the site can get turned off anytime since shaw probably wouldn't let you host business site using a home account.

yes you would need 3rd party hosting to get yourname@yourdomain.com email to work.

Very good point. Actually if this is for a business, you don't want to skimp out and save $5 a month on hosting.

Just pay for hosting, based on your requirements, it will be very cheap. And you won't have to worry about Shaw closing your account, well worth the price.

[FusionSenses]

Thanks alot. So, basically, my email address will be XXX@shaw.ca if i dont want to pay money for hosting.

if shaw shuts me down, then I will use Telus account, since I have that as well, and if it gets shuts down, i will get 3rd party one.
I am trying it out at the beginning anyways, so when i get the site up, i might get 3rd party ones by that time


Btw, how do they know it's for business? It's not like it will use alot of bandwidth for a restaurant website. Do they check all the sites regualarly?

Also, give me some comment on this simple flash website
http://www.bin941.com

[FusionSenses]

I am at the "check out" page of mydomain.com.

It says it will include email forwarding? Does it do the job I want?

[z3r0]

So, I need a domain only, is that correct? Will the domain company work well with Shaw or Telus? Yes, you shouldn't have a problem with the hosting, unless space or bandwidth runs out. In that case, you would just make a backup and transfer to a new host.

Which combination is suited for my situation? I'm not exactly sure what yoy mean. :confused:
Which domain company is good? .com
Do I need a professional hosting company? No, unless you run out of space or bandwidth. See above and below.
Is it better to have domain and hosting same company like 1&1? You do not need a hosting company in this situation, but, if you have the cash you might as well. It will help you in the long run.
Do I want to use .ca? or .com? .ca is more targetted towards the Canadian audience while .com has no similar restrictions. Its up to you, what you think would be better for your restaurant. There is no better than the other in the situation you are in.

[Barclay_BMO]

Visit this site:

http://www.easyhosting.com/

Pay for Domain name and then you will have FREE (Yes .. FREE) Hosting for 5 years!

http://www.redflagdeals.com/forums/showthread.php?t=193307

[z3r0]

I am at the "check out" page of mydomain.com.

It says it will include email forwarding? Does it do the job I want?

No, I don't think so.

You need to order it on top of your domain.

I believe GoDaddy offers free 100-pack email forwarding with every domain name: https://www.godaddy.com/gdshop/domain_offer.asp?se=%2B&ci=545&app%5Fhdr=

[z3r0]

Visit this site:

http://www.easyhosting.com/

Pay for Domain name and then you will have FREE (Yes .. FREE) Hosting for 5 years!

http://www.redflagdeals.com/forums/showthread.php?t=193307

You should try to stay away from *possible* scams like these. This is a BIG form of overselling, in my opinion.

Theres nothing to say you will have a host tomorrow.

EDIT: Can you give me a link? I haven't found this "deal" yet.

[Barclay_BMO]

You should try to stay away from *possible* scams like these. This is a BIG form of overselling, in my opinion.

Theres nothing to say you will have a host tomorrow.

EDIT: Can you give me a link? I haven't found this "deal" yet.

Sorry Dude. My mistake. That offer already expired. I saw it on a television ad a while back.

[ZeroAquaduct]

Thanks alot of those information, that helped.

So, Cloaking = URL forwading?

Mask domain = Stealth forwaring?

are those service usually included with any domain company?

I wanted to use flash, because i can use animation for buttons. I think I can still do HTML inside of the flash, right?
The site wil be really simple, just like normal main page and few links to contact, menu, concept. But just all in flash without people know it's all flash.

So, people actually get turn-off when they see flash loading at the beginning?

"Cloaking" is the same thing as "mask domain."

[ZeroAquaduct]

Now, I got to the point about Email.

If i register only domain at mydomain.com, and pay $8.95
Can I still use GM@senses.com?

how does the email work?
Do I need to get hosting service from the same company to get that email to work?
Or is there a way to forward like the URL forwarding by just registering the domain name?

thank again

If you register a domain with GoDaddy.com, I do believe it has email forwarding included. So mail that goes to yourname@website.com will be forwarded to your current email account. And if you use Outlook, you could specify your "From" field as yourname@website.com. Users on the other side would not know that you're using Shaw's POP/SMTP. However, you have to be using Shaw's Internet access to receive/send, or else it'll block you (spam purposes).

[FusionSenses]

I ordered from mydomain.com, and see how it goes.

Thx for alot of information.

RFD rocks

[nickia]

Thanks alot of those information, that helped.

So, Cloaking = URL forwading?

Mask domain = Stealth forwaring?

are those service usually included with any domain company?

I wanted to use flash, because i can use animation for buttons. I think I can still do HTML inside of the flash, right?
The site wil be really simple, just like normal main page and few links to contact, menu, concept. But just all in flash without people know it's all flash.

So, people actually get turn-off when they see flash loading at the beginning?


you don't need flash to achieve the animation button effect. check out my newly built site www.ambermac.net (http://www.ambermac.net) , the menu is animation but it's achieved by using 2 pictures.

[FusionSenses]

Those effects are kind of different than animations.

I can use Gif for animation, but it's easier in Flash to make animation than gif.
I just made some animation in flash for 5 minutes, it seems not THAT hard.
I read about 20 examples b4 i install flash to try it out. At the beginning, it seems confusing, didnt know where to start, but i think i will pick it up soon.

and i wont have time to discover the programming part of it anyways, i just do some animations. I wishi can use physics for button animation, that would be cool. That will be later on though.

[FusionSenses]

Just an update.

mydomain.com already got my domain working. and it does come with url forwarding and email forwarding for free.

I signed up yesterday nite, and it's working already.

I recommend this company to anyone. So far so good.

[Shiifty]

Read the forum at www.webhostingtalk.com , it's the largest forum for web hosting I know of. Lots of explanations and a "classified" section where people are selling host packages you can purchase. And yes most people hate slow loading flash sites that are difficult to navigate, especially when they play music. Another side effect is search engines can't crawl a flash site. Flash is good for artists, bad for businesses. You could always make a separate flash and html site, and over time you'll see which area visitors prefer.

You still seem a bit confused about domain names and hosts, I'll try and clear things up (I was in your shoes just a few years ago).

The internet is made up of IP addresses, you know what these are. Every place on the internet has an IP address. For example, www.redflagdeals.com (http://www.redflagdeals.com) is 67.19.247.84 (http://67.19.247.84). You can access RFD just by using the IP address. You can get to any website simply by using the IP address.

The domain name simply points to the IP address. redflagdeals.com is just an alias for 67.19.247.84. It makes websurfing and the internet much easier and personable. The internet would still work without any domain names.

The RFD web site is hosted on a server by www.theplanet.com , somewhere in North America. These servers have big fat pipes to the internet, much larger than the 10 mbit lines we have to our house (like a sewer system). So RFD pays The Planet to host their website, at the IP address 67.19.247.84. Then you hire a domain name registrar to point the domain name RFD to that IP address (in this case, RFD uses Tucows, http://domainhelp.tucows.com ). The registrar can be the same company you host your site with, or not (as in the case with RFD).

If using cloaked domain names, you can host your business site on http://www.shaw.ca/yournamehere/ and have http://www.yourbusinessname.com point to it, so that yourbusinessname.com appears in the browser, but the site is loaded from shaw.ca/yournamehere/ . It's not professional, but will get the job done.

For your needs, a host can be found for <$10 a month, most likely $4-5, a domain name costs about $8-15 depending where you buy it from.

[FusionSenses]

Thanks for all the warnings and advices about flash site.
I will keep that in mind when i make the site.

I probably will make the site using flash that normal people won't notice it's flash, for example, no loading time, no crazy animation all over the place, more text.

I just will make some buttons that people feel comfortable with, but not over done it.