Language
The info is presented in this language at the free webspace
provider's website. If a provider does not offer any info
in english, this normally means that only people from
a special country can use it's free offer.
Your free website could usually be in any language
you want, but there might be restrictions on this from
some free homepage providers. Take a look at the frequently
asked questions page, TOS or support page.
Space
This is how much space you are allowed to use for your
web site initially when you sign up. 1 MB = 1024 kb.
If a provider claims to offer "unlimited"
space, be careful. The server will be extremely slow
if it isn't already! "Unlimited" space is
specified in the search results as "999 MB".
Most likely most of the unlimited hosts would not allow
999 MB...
For a normal personal homepage you would not need more
than 5 MB. If you have many sound files and large images,
you might need more space.
Some providers might be able to offer you more space
than what you initially received, if your site is very
popular and you really need the extra space.
Upload
Summary
FTP - Upload your files with a FTP client.
Browser - You can upload and create your site online
with your web browser.
Email - Email your files to them and they will add your
files to your directory.
FP - FrontPage server extensions installed for you to
upload your files with FrontPage.
You can upload files to a free webspace provider's
server with a FTP-client (for example WSFTP for Windows
or Fetch for Mac) or you could upload files with your
web browser. FTP = File Transfer Protocol. I prefer
to upload with a FTP-client since you will be able to
upload all your files intstantly. With most browser
uploads you need to specify the name for each file you
upload and can only upload 1-10 files at a time. This
makes browser upload much slower than when you use a
FTP-client.
Some providers can only receive your files if you email
the files to them. It's very time consuming to upload
files manually via email. This means that the provider
will only let you update your homepage via email one
or two times per month... A few services offer to accept
your files via Mirabilis pager ICQ, but this solution
has the same problems as email upload.
If you use Frontpage to create your website, some free
web hosts have FrontPage server extensions installed
which will make it easier for you to maintain your site.
Ads
To make money from it's free webspace offer most free
hosts will put ad banners on your pages. Some are automatically
put on your pages, others just require you to add their
logo or link to your pages.
"Topbanner" means that they will put their
adbanner automatically at the top of your page(s). "Footbanner"
means that they will put it at the bottom of your page(s).
Some of the major free webspace providers have started
to add pop-up ads to users homepages. "Popup"
ads are very irritating. You should try to avoid pop-up
ads on your page, since it will distract your visitors.
It is also very likely that most of "your"
visitors will only see the pop-up ad and click on it.
In other words, they will miss your site.
Some providers will let you deside if you want a pop-up
ad or an adbanner (for instance Geocities and Hypermart).
If they allow you to choose this, it is indicated here
as "Popup/Banner".
"Adframe" means that the free host will insert
a frame at the top of your site and a banner will appear
in this frame.
"Watermark" is a new form of logo ad displayed
usually at the corner of the screen. Geocities was the
first to use this form of ad. It's not visible in older
browsers (version 3.x and older).
"Textlink" means that they will insert a
text ad on your pages.
And finally "No ads" means that they claim
that they will not put ads on users pages. Remember
that most will end up doing so anyway later, since they
have to earn money somehow...
Since each free host have their own definitions, you
need to take a look at their Help pages or FAQ pages
to find out the exact details of the type of ad they
will put on your site.
CGI-SCRIPTS
Explanation
CGI-BIN - You are allowed to use your own cgi-scripts.
CGI = Common Gateway Interface.
Collection - You can use pre installed scripts by the
free webspace provider (for instance a guestbook).
Counter - The only script you may use is a counter
(text or graphical) script that they have installed.
MsgBoard - The only script you may use is a message
board script that they have installed.
If you don't know what a CGI-BIN is, you most likely
wont need it. CGI scripts are scripts to create more
interactive web sites. Some free hosts will let you
use pre installed scripts for your site. These pre installed
scripts could be message boards, guestbooks, forms,
counters etc.
Most free web hosts do not offer CGI-BIN for you to
upload your own scripts due security reasons. If a free
host do allow this, make sure your scripts don't take
up too much system resources or they might remove your
account. One example of a CGI script that free hosts
don't allow for this reason is banner exchange scripts.
Address
This is the web address your site will get at the
free webhost's server. /you means that you will get
the webaddress (URL - Uniform Resource Locator) http://www.something.com/yourusername.
dir means that they have different subdirectory
names you can choose, for instance 'sport' or 'music'.
This also means that your address will get long and
harder for your visitors to remember.
Domain means you can only get a free website
with them if you own a domain name. Some will register
a domain name for you for free, but you still have to
pay to own a domain name (currently with Network Solutions
$35 per year).
Subdomain is an address like this one: http://yourname.something.com
|
