[atomicmonkey]

So I've finally decided to build a webpage... With a couple of years of college under my belt now, I'm going to start looking for some freelance work on the side of my education (and especially on the side of whatever grunt work I do to make some bank this summer).

I'm very interested in the artist friendly hosting I've found and heard about here, such as Liquinox and Creationstorm. Creationstorm seems like a very solid service with some nice plans, and Liquinox has that whole customizable rate to meet your exact needs. I'd be better off emailing either service directly (which I will probably be doing in the coming week), but I was wondering if any of you could answer or give experience since I know some of you use these services. Any overall thoughts/impressions on either are welcome. I was also wondering about some scripts and features available. I've seen some sites designed with php-nuke and using coppermine gallery that are exactely what I was looking for, so if you know if either of these services features these scripts, I'm very interested. NOW...

Here is a site I came across yesterday in my search that really just shocked me with their plan:

http://www.colorteck.com/

1 gig of space, 60gb (!) transfer, loads of software and scripts (including what I'm looking for), for $6.95 per month or $41.70 semi-annually. I dunno seems too good to be true? Anyone with any experience... I will be emailing them and trying to find some of their customers opinions before I sign up for sure...

btw - bandwidth is a very important part of my decision, i realize i'm relativly unknown but once i've got my site up and a decent portfolio of my work ready, i'm going to be selling myself like crazy once I start looking for work

[Ian Jones]

I'm considering supporting creationstorm... they don't have the absolute best deal but hey, they are hosting this forum and so deserve support in return. Just a little opinion.

[DJorgensen]

I would be very interested in what others have to say about this topic as well.
Once I've completed finals in a couple of weeks, my plan was to get proper hosting, as well as a domain.

Currently, I've been looking at iPowerWeb, only because I've heard a couple of people praise it quite well. CreationStorm was another on my list - but I'm really not sure who I should go with.

I know this has been discussed before (a few times), but as time changes so does the web. I give thanks in advance to anyone who is able to share their experience and give any advice.
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[Impaler]

I use Liquenox to host my site (I'm 95% sure they host Eatpoo as well). The thing I find most admirable about Sumaleth's service is the incredibly quick response time. They'll answer your emails within the hour, which means that periodic problems (like other users on the server hogging the resources) are fixed immediately, rather than in two or three days. Plus, Liquenox is ridiculously madhouse dirt cheap.

I don't know about creationstorm from first-hand experience, other than they appear to be rock-solid with their reliability. Since Sijun has been hosted by them, I haven't seen ANY down-time (apart from scheduled blah blah blah), which is pretty damn impressive in itself.

That colorteck stuff seems like an all-too-good deal, which in internet terms invariably means there's a catch. I would do a lot of research before I invest my money in hosting with them. Chances are, they're a first-year company, which means that their awesome deal will basically bankrupt them and you'll lose your money.

I'm rambling by now, so here are three rules to keep in mind when looking for hosting.

1) Don't let the hosting company tell you what you want.

2) Massive transfer rates aren't always that important; you can save money by making the graphics on your page smaller in file size. Scale your bandwidth costs downwards, not upwards.

3) You're not married to your host, no matter how much they make you think you are. If the service isn't everything you want it to be, find another host and transfer your domain there.
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QED, sort of.

[Socar MYLES]

I use ipowerweb, and have had absolutely no problems with them at all. But I would be considering Liquenox very strongly if I were looking for a host.
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Dignity isn't important. It's everything.

www.gorblimey.com - art

[DJorgensen]

Thanks Socar and Impaler.
I forgot to mention Liquenox... (sorry Sumaleth)

I guess I'll give myself a couple of weeks to make a decision, and to get some money together.

Also in terms of getting a domain for myself, do I register at goDaddy (or the like) and transfer it to my 'host'? How does it actually work? I've never actually done it since I'm like a total n00B with 'this' part of the web...

Sorry for Hijacking your thread atomicmonkey
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[Jin]

Hi

Be sure to spell Liquenox with an "e".

First time I tried it, I spelled it "Liquinox", with an "i" and got a fertilizer site.




Jinny Brown
Painter Classes at TutorAlley Forums
(new registrations and Painter Classes on hold due to family medical emergency)
Tutorials and Painter Info at PixelAlley

[atomicmonkey]

Jin- true!

dj- It's all good, the more discussion the better. I'm new to this too and it will be my first website.

everyone - thanks for the help

[Ian Jones]

Hosts will usually provide domain registration as part of a package. Your also quite welcome to use another source for registration and simply transfer this to your host. Depends if you think you can save $5 here or there... I personally think its just easiest to let your host do the whole shebang.

[idiot]

I'd also recommend liquenox. It's so cheap for all you get, I don't know how they can afford it. I recently switched to them from homestead.com (way too expensive), and I'm extremely pleased. I'd do a testimonial for them, maybe even put a liquenox banner on my site, I'm just that happy with the service.

[DJorgensen]

[Ian Jones]

Yeah, it's a fair bit easier than you think. I had exactly the same concerns when I first started investigating the idea.

[Sumaleth]

[Ian Jones]

So whats your future then Suma? Can you revise your prices and give us an idea of the viability of your services?

[balistic]

If you want to find a solid host, the best way would be to check out Web Hosting Talk. There are a lot of one-man "hosting companies" out there who just re-sell space at big data centers. I've heard of fifteen-year-old kids throwing together web pages and selling hosting, with none of their clients realizing their site is at the mercy of a teenager who's just reselling for some server farm like CI Host (AVOID AVOID).

But check that forum I linked to. If people are speaking highly of something there, you know it's good.
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brian.prince|light.comp.paint

[Sumaleth]

Ian: I think we'll probably stick with the current prices for a while. Our main focus is actually the software we're developing, and the hosting is something we have there to ultimately compliment the software. The software won't be cheap.
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Art Links Archive -- Artists and Tutorials

[Ian Jones]

lol Suma... Nice little plan you have.

[atomicmonkey]

hey thanks for that link balistic, really helpful.

i found some positive discussion and reviews of the colorteck site I was looking at, gonna seriously consider that now...