What is hosting?

If you want to have your own website on the Internet, you need to sign up for hosting. Hosting is basically a service which allows your web page to be seen by other people on the Internet. It is done by putting all your website files (i.e. content, graphics, sounds, an so on) on a special computer, which has the following characteristics:

Has a permanent Internet connection. This means that it's connected to the Internet all the time, so that people can always go to your website and see it.
Is always turned on. This way, your web site can be accessible at all time.
Has a special software which allows to view websites which are put onto the computer's hard disk.

Such computers are usually called servers.

Apart from making your website accessible on the Internet, hosting companies usually offer a range of another services, including:

Mailboxes (also called mail accounts). This allows you to have email addresses associated with your website. (click here for more info...)
Script support. This allows you to put special files called scripts, which are simple programs that run on the server and display a generated web page. This allows to create so-called dynamic websites, i.e. sites which have content changing with time. (click here for more info...)
Database support. This allows you to use databases, which are collections of data to be displayed on your website. (click here for more info...)

Need more help? Ask your questions at our Hosting forum!

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