Posted by Al Ingham

Over the last couple days I have been hunting for free web hosts.
Something I do every now and then when the time calls. In the past I
have put small sites on the left over space of my own server, and
other servers that I have access to. However, space begins to run out
as these sites expand, and so I find myself needing to find another
host. Finding free hosts isn’t the issue. Its finding ones which
offer the best service and all the additional extras that one
requires to run their website. For example, I need PHP, but I also
need the GDLibrary function enabled. A website I am working on at the
moment needs PHP, but they also want website statistics. Many come
with banner ads, but more and more are removing these so that
customers will use their free service. Size, FTP access, and MySQL
Databases all contribute to the one you end up choosing.
At the moment I am looking for two. One as a possible host for a
large church website, and the other to host all my personal sites, as
a record of those which I have made and developed, as a working
portfolio/history of my websites. Each will have their own directory
and all will be able to be viewed in their entirety.
I find it interesting that databases with these host’s information
and offers often appear on dodgy looking, half-assed designed sites,
considering the topic of their site!
Such web hosts I am currently looking at are www.4000webs.com which
offers ftp access, php, GDLib, database – but doesn’t have website
stats or much in the way of management tools
Another is www.x10hosting.com which although offers a primo no ad and
all access deal, requires you to login to their forum at least once
every 2 weeks.
Another is www.ifastnet.com which seems to be better. However – it doesn’t have a file manager or as part of its cPanel, which is very limiting on the administration side of things.
But by far the best in terms of free service with all the gadgets and all the extra add ons is www.jaywebdesigns.com. The only downside of this is that it says it takes up to 24 hours for user activation…and that it is slightly hard to navigate their site. But if you’re willing to wait for it and put up with an un-user friendly site…this would have to be my first choice!

‘Till next time…