Webhosting and Domain Name Recommendations for Personal Website? Creating own HTML/CSS

huggsymersh on 01/09/2022 - 13:08
Last edited 01/09/2022 - 16:18

Hello all.

Hoping to play around with building a personal website, using HTML/CSS/Javascript, and seeing if anyone has any cheaper but reasonable quality web hosting options, and domain name registrars.

I've seen VentraIP and Hostinger mentioned on other threads, but am quite new to the space so hope you may have some suggestions. It would be good if it does have some support for wordpress or other templating type platforms in case I give up on the hand stitched approach. There is another thread on websites where the OP insisted on a templating option (https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/700898) not sure if the suggestions would differ if I don't want that. But thought I'd start a separate thread in case.

Context

I've created a website previously through Wix but hated the template process. It was easy enough to create something but personally didn't find it very enjoyable or interesting. I've been recently teaching myself basic programming (via the Harvard EdX CS50 course) and started the week on HTML/CSS/Javascript. One of the projects is to build a website that is offline, but I thought it might be fun to also upload it once I've finished to get a better understanding of how these things operate.

Must say I also hated the HTML/CSS/Javascript stuff initially and found it a bit tedious and confusing. But then I started chugging through the W3 tutorials on HTML and CSS, and now finding it strangely enjoyable! What I'm creating is pretty ugly, but it's my ugly, and so surprisingly satisfying.

Thanks for your suggestions.

edit: Thanks for the suggestions so far. Very helpful and much appreciated! Will go through all your comments and suggestions and have a look. I'm not familiar with much of what has been mentioned, but this gives me a bit of a pathway to find something that will work for me.

As I mentioned in one of the comments, the initial template approach didn't work for me as I never really understand the underlying structure of how things worked. But going the path of HTML/CSS/Javacript and making everything basic has given me a much better understanding, and also building confidence to one day look at frameworks or even template platforms (or whatever they're called) to do things more efficiently.

Internet

Comments

  • Typical16-bitEnjoyer on 01/09/2022 - 13:24
    +1

    If it's just to mess around

    Hosting
    $11.75 a year
    https://buyshared.net/shared-cpanel-hosting/

    Domain
    *.click
    $1.90 first year
    https://www.namecheap.com/domains/registration/gtld/click/

  • DreadPirateRoberts on 01/09/2022 - 13:31
    +10

    If it's just HTML/CSS/JS and no backend processing (Wordpress, PHP, Rails, etc) then you can just use Github Pages which is free. Will also teach you how to use git which is a useful skill

  • AustriaBargain on 01/09/2022 - 13:40
    +4

    Do not use name cheap for an Australian domain name.

    I would recommend looking into Wordpress. Wordpress + knowing HTML/CSS/JS is a winning combination. Wordpress as a CMS has a promising future and half your favourite websites are probably based on Wordpress (check them with builtwith.com). Wordpress started as a goofy blogging platform, but now it's the backbone of the Internet, well half of the Internet anyway. So it's going to be actively developed for a long time to come.

    For hosting, siteground seems to be the preferred by from Wordpress itself. Or if you plan on making a great number of sites, you could use a premium server panel like runcloud (instead of the ancient and expensive cPanel) and use any major VPS service like DigitalOcean, scaling up the VPS or adding more servers as you need more sites. Sure you can host static sites on Github Pages or Netlify for free, but why settle for static websites.

    • Quantumcat on 01/09/2022 - 20:42

      I hate WordPress. You can't change anything you want to and it is so confusing to navigate. Give me a normal site in any JavaScript framework you choose any day

      • AustriaBargain on 01/09/2022 - 21:05
        +1

        You absolutely can treat every page on Wordpress like a normal webpage if you know HTML/CSS/JS. Granted Wordpress itself is confusing at first, but any CMS is, and it really doesn't take long to learn the ins and outs and quirks of Wordpress. Code your own plugins and become a millionaire like some other plugin makers have.

        • Quantumcat on 01/09/2022 - 21:09
          +1

          Not with the way my employer has set it up. There's some kind of package added on top with drag and drop elements. The first time I needed to fix a bug it took me an hour to even find out where I could add any CSS. Then I found a great solution…. If I was allowed to add an invisible element in the HTML, which of course I couldn't. Took a while to figure out how to solve it with just CSS. At least solving these bugs and adding features has made me better at CSS as that's the only tool I have at my disposal besides whatever elements WordPress allows me to use!
          It feels kind of like trying to write a book with some sentence fragment fridge magnets, so you get what you're given and that's it. Just give me the bloody typewriter is what I say

          • AustriaBargain on 01/09/2022 - 21:33
            +2

            @Quantumcat: You don't have to use a visual builder, but there are a lot of good ones. What builder does your employer use? In Australia it seems BakeryWP is probably the most common and Elementor the most popular. Oxygen is an interesting builder because it basically tries to be a GUI for straight CSS, or as close as possible anyway in terms of abstraction. It deal with margins and divs as you actually deal with them when coding, it creates real CSS classes, etc.

    • AustriaBargain on 01/09/2022 - 21:48
      +3

      Too late to edit this in, but anyone thinking of getting into any of this, do not register your domain name with a service like siteground! Use them only for hosting if you want a managed host, but never keep your actual domain name with them or use their email products. It makes things much harder, not easier.

      • Member 0230 on 02/09/2022 - 09:24

        I'm curious to know the reasoning behind why it's best not to register domains with a provider like siteground?

        I must say I've only ever bought domains via CrazyDomains and VentraIP.

        • Kyle-K on 02/09/2022 - 13:48
          +1

          Because it's normally not their primary business and they are horrible at it CrazyDomains by the way is also one of the worst domain name registrar's in Australia.

          By having it somewhere else it makes it easier to leave these platforms. SiteGround is also not been anything like what it once was for years and mostly survives on its old good reputation and people making tons of money on referrals.

          • Member 0230 on 02/09/2022 - 14:08

            @Kyle-K: Got it. I moved all of my domains from Crazy to Ventra when I experienced their great service first hand AND discovered Ventra is an Aussie company — like Crazy once was I believe.

            • Kyle-K on 02/09/2022 - 14:16

              @Member 0230: Yeah CrazyDomains under a name previously they used to go by and haven't in over 10+ years used to be an Australian based company in Perth. They left that behind them a long long long time ago though.

              They have now been gobbled up by a company that was even worse than they were.

              Endurance International Group

              Their reputation was so bad when they acquired Web.com and all their brands which included CrazyDomains which themselves had only acquired a hot minute ago they made it look like they were merging into them and rebranding in to Newfold Digital but it was really just EIG hoping they could shake some of the reputation they had gathered in the last 10 years.

      • huggsymersh on 03/09/2022 - 10:28

        I'm always a little apprehensive about getting locked into poor quality providers, proprietary set ups etc. These are the kind of tips I hoped to get by making this post. So thanks!

  • minty on 01/09/2022 - 13:53
    +1

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIJdypOqlL4

    If you've some experience and can understand that then it's borderline free.

    • huggsymersh on 03/09/2022 - 10:28

      Thanks, will have a watch later.

  • [Deactivated] on 01/09/2022 - 14:11
    +6

    If it is a static website then GitHub pages is one free option. Another one would be Azure Web Apps, free tier.

    For very little money, and more control/flexibility, you can host static websites in the major cloud platforms Azure, AWS and GCP.

    • moph on 01/09/2022 - 15:46
      +2

      This is the answer, you should not pay for static website hosting in 2022

  • Muzeeb on 01/09/2022 - 14:39
    +2

    Hit up Alex @Obble. He will help you out with a deal.

    • Obble on 01/09/2022 - 15:04
      +5

      Thanks mate. We actually will be posting a deal either today, or some time early this month. But feel free to PM me directly for an early discount.

      :)

      edit: Since I've been tagged here, I should add. If you're just creating a website purely for personal purposes & skill development, you can do this locally on your own PC without paying for hosting at all or a domain name. Years ago you could use Xampp to create a local apache server via localhost, not sure if that's still the preferred tool or if there's better ones out there now. Plenty of guides online for a local home server (again assuming you only need it for building your own skills for now) and a good way to learn a bit about hosting your own sites too without entirely relying on software such as cPanel, DirectAdmin, etc. Happy to help out with some questions via PM too or here if you have any.

      • huggsymersh on 03/09/2022 - 13:38

        Thanks Obble person.

        Yes I'm currently building something through VSCode and I assume it's hosted by whatever Hardvard/EdX uses to host their course. So while not local, it's pretty easily accessible. But I guess one of the reasons why I want to make it public and pay for a service is to get a better handle on how to set something up and what's involved. Already this thread has thrown a lot of jargon at me that I don't undrestand, but I'll go through each comment and read up on it to understand. I've dabbled with bits and pieces in the past, but getting a few more skills and understanding has motivated me to finally put the pieces of the puzzle together.

        • Obble on 03/09/2022 - 14:18
          +1

          Ah yeah sounds totally reasonable. Lots of great advice here and if you're just looking for something to be public/online and get familiar then there's plenty of affordable providers, also if you're not fussed about Australian, then you can get really dirt cheap hosting overseas/USA. Obviously with dirt cheap hosting comes other downsides, but probably not an awful idea starting out purely to build your skills.

          Anyhow I'll let you filter through the plenty of helpful comments. Always good to see others learn a bit more about how the actual hosting works too, rather than uploading something and magically it's online. Would help reduce support tickets drastically I'm sure ;)

          • huggsymersh on 03/09/2022 - 19:16
            +1

            @Obble: I didn't even know what 'static websites' referred to before I started this thread! Although I knew the concept, just not the nomenclature. I do now tho!

    • skillet on 02/09/2022 - 09:28
      +1

      I learned about Obble a few years back. Been migrating clients to Obble service ever since. Very happy with Obble. Great customer service is what matters and if your unhappy you can always go to their office in Melbourne because you are supporting a local business.

  • Kyle-K on 01/09/2022 - 15:09
    +3

    As it sounds like you're going to start playing around with a static website you really do not need to pay for this.

    So many great free options Netlify, Cloudflare Pages or GitHub Pages all work well with basic static websites. Got even use it with my WordPress sites hosted on a low end web hosting account statically converted push to GitHub. Then deployed to both Netlify and Cloudflare Pages who then serve my websites for free to my users.

    For domain names you can't go wrong with Porkbun and I would only recommend using VentraIP for the discounted direct .au pricing Click Host for everything else .au and for direct after you taking advantage of the wholesale rate on offer at VentraIP.

    For more traditional cPanel based web hosting if you wanted to run something like WordPress you can't really go wrong with Click Host or DreamIT.

    Additionally some people will recommend Cloudflare for domain registration as they do give wholesale pricing for renewal. However it's not for everyone as you always have to use Cloudflare DNS management and you're reliant on community support if you don't use a paid plan.

    You can also find pretty good plain HTML and the like templates by searching for things like bootstrap and HTML5 templates.

  • Kyle-K on 01/09/2022 - 15:18

    Must say I also hated the HTML/CSS/Javascript stuff initially and found it a bit tedious and confusing. But then I started chugging through the W3 tutorials on HTML and CSS, and now finding it strangely enjoyable! What I'm creating is pretty ugly, but it's my ugly, and so surprisingly satisfying.

    Once you're finished working through this the good news is you'll be able to upgrade and start using some basic frameworks to help you pretty things up.

    • mskeggs on 01/09/2022 - 15:27

      They said they were enjoying it!

      • huggsymersh on 01/09/2022 - 16:15
        +1

        Yes I am! One of the reasons why I hated the template wix/wordpress set up initially is the lack of control and understanding of how everything actually worked. And feeling trapped in a proprietary setup. Getting a better understanding of HTML/CSS makes me feel a bit more confident just playing around. I imagine the frameworks will be very useful, but it's been a much more satisfying pathway to learn really basic stuff initially.

        Part of me also enjoys roleplaying as a 1995 era website developer while learning about HTML/CSS.

        • Kyle-K on 01/09/2022 - 16:24

          You're going down the correct path starting with the basics like you have allows you to build on it later by adding frameworks to add a little bit flashiness to the sites later on and I agree those temp late WYSIWYG sites are terrible but I do like WordPress.

          • huggsymersh on 01/09/2022 - 18:30

            @Kyle-K: Yes I get why the WYSIWYG platforms exist, and they are very effective in making things accessible. And not everyone has time to learn from scratch.

            But my experience is when something breaks, or you can't quite get it to work or customise something it feels very frustrating and disempowering. And that's why I've personally given up tin teh past, as well as developed an aversion to 'web development'. But already after doing basic HTML and CSS tutorials I feel a whole lot more confident, and I can also definitely see the appeal of using a nice framework to take care of a lot of the finer details, but then feeling a little empowered to customise or adapt them, or build on their foundation.

  • jeeg on 01/09/2022 - 16:09
    +1

    Following this thread with interest - would using Publii with Github be something that is recommended/acceptable?

  • Mibo on 01/09/2022 - 18:24
    +1

    Another option for just playing around and for free is using oracle cloud free tier with a domain from freenom.
    That is if you want to learn about hosting your own website on a vps server.

    • Kyle-K on 01/09/2022 - 19:27

      Stay away from freenom domains wherever possible for example the registry system has been having issues for over a month with most people not being able to access the management of their domains.

      • Mibo on 01/09/2022 - 19:34

        I just renewed my domains 2 weeks ago, I haven't had any issues.
        I also registered a new domain on the 25/08, no issues then either.

        • Kyle-K on 01/09/2022 - 19:40

          It's been a little while since I checked but it was all over reddit so I guess there's somewhat good news that they're back online now.

          But domain names are so cheap these days it's worth while spending the money or using a more reliable solution that offers a subdomain.

          • Mibo on 01/09/2022 - 19:52

            @Kyle-K: From your link there's only like 2 posts about it, but I do agree their reputation is garbage; you get what you pay for.
            I still think it's fine if you're just playing around. If you need 100% reliability then sure, spend a bit of money, but otherwise it's fine.
            I do recommend using cloudflare instead of freenom's own nameservers though.

  • dmbminaret on 02/09/2022 - 09:00

    These guys are good:

    https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/690351

  • neophytte on 02/09/2022 - 10:09

    Does this help: https://tld-list.com/ ?

    • Kyle-K on 02/09/2022 - 14:05

      Actually I would say it does help but it also doesn't help at the same time.

      It tells you who is the cheapest price but it doesn't help you in my opinion decide who on that list can be trusted and who's going to offer you good service. There's a bunch of companies on that list are at the top that most people would tell you to avoid.

      • huggsymersh on 03/09/2022 - 13:35
        +1

        Indeed. That's my motivation in asking the hivemind for recommendations. The qualitative info.

  • greyeye on 02/09/2022 - 16:42
    +1

    setup an S3 bucket in AWS
    enable static site delivery
    pay less than a few cents a month (or free if it's the first year)

    https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonS3/latest/userguide/Hostin…

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