[Johnny Brown]

I'd appreciate some help on this, spent a couple of hours getting my head round this and I think I now understand the problem, but am confused on solutions...

I'm in the process of updating my website.

Currently I have my domain name registered with 123-reg.co.uk.
My site is hosted on my dad's zen space. I've also got some space I could use with my ISP nildram.

To make things look better, the domain is set up to forward users to where the site is hosted. It then replaces the long zen.blah/etc with my snappy site name. What has always confused me is this always displays just the site name and doesn't change to reflect the page being viewed. This also fucks with forward/ back buttons and folk trying to link to my site. Obviously it needs sorting.

From 123, I can see it is using a 'framed web forwarding' system. Wikipedia seems to think this is an unusual setup. I'm not sure I understand the other options. I certainly couldn't implement them. The other options offered by 123 don't look any better than what I have.

So, is there are simple solution? Is there a simple better way of forwarding. Is it to cough up and switching hosting to 123? Or should I look for a good host and move both? Can I even move who registers the name?

Thanks in advance.

PS Should I reinstall in Linux? 

[slackline]

123-reg.co.uk appear to be a web-hosting and domain name registration place and as such don't appear to impose any limits or restrictions on how you (or anyone else) write/design their web-site, so the 'framed web forwarding' isn't something that they are restricting you to.

Where your site is hosted is really pretty much irreverent, what you're talking about is how the web-page is written/designed.  The hosting/domain thing works like this...

All computers connected to the internet get something called an IP address which is a set of numbers xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx (could be anything, to check what you're home router/computer has just point your browser at here).  So you have your site hosted on you're dads zen space which is a computer that Zen have sat on the internet on a computer with the IP address 212.23.8.80  But numbers are pretty awkward for humans to remember so there's something called Domain Name System that basically are computers that hold very long lists of IP address's and domain names such as www.adamlong.co.uk so that when you type the address into the address bar (or click on a link) your computer actually goes and looks it up to see what IP address it needs to request the web-page from.

Anyway, this is all background really but the point is you don't need to change where its hosted or where you've registered your domain.  What you're really doing (as you've said!) is redesigining your website but it sounds as though you're looking at an alternative to the framed web forwarding your currently using.  I have a suspicion that this will be down to the software you're using to write the web-page (Dreamweaver or something else?).

I'm not too hot on writing web-pages (my personal experience is writing web-pages by hand or using a wiki).  I think Bubba knows a bit more about this, what you really want to be aiming for is CSS which makes really funky nice web-sites that adapt well to the browser its being viewed on.

Oh, and you shouldn't have to reinstall Linux its not like windows you know    But if you don't have it installed already it would be a good idea to do so 

[Bubba]

I'd either host with 123 if they're any good or get a cheap hosting package elsewhere and change the dns tags on your domain to point at your new webspace,  rather than just forwarding it from 123.

Hosting is pretty cheap nowdays unless you need loads of space/bandwidth. If you don't then (just an idea) I could even look into hosting it for you on my server for a small fee.

[Johnny Brown]

Cheers guys. The new site is all css etc.

It should hopefully have a CNAME subdomain housing the image library, which will be on a different host wherever I end up hosting the main site.

change the dns tags on your domain to point at your new webspace,  rather than just forwarding it

Bubba, the DNS sounds like what I was after. I've got the option to alter this on 123 but its got a load of 'don't fuck with' warnings, so I need to be sure what I'm doing.

I get the impression the 'framed web forwarding' is a version of this for idiots. The problem with putting the site inside a frame means the address bar no longer corresponds to the content, just the frame, which is obviously a clumsy way of doing it.

Will have a google on dns and see if I can figure it out...

123 do 100mb storage/ 1.5 gb transfer for £2.50 a month. Its cheap, but is it a good deal?
That should be well sufficient as the images will be mostly on Photoshelter.

[tomtom]

JB,
Not sure if this is any help, but I use Streamline.net 'power user'! which is about £30-40 a year and they've been great to me over the last 3 years. My Dad uses them as well to host a U3A account...
Tom

[slackline]

Its not so much that frames are an idiots way of doing things, they're just old and have been superseeded by the more funky CSS way of doing things which never used to exist.

[Bubba]

I get the impression the 'framed web forwarding' is a version of this for idiots. The problem with putting the site inside a frame means the address bar no longer corresponds to the content, just the frame, which is obviously a clumsy way of doing it.

I agree.

The DNS thing is easy - you just point the tags to the primary/secondary DNS addresses that your new host supplies to you.

123 do 100mb storage/ 1.5 gb transfer for £2.50 a month. Its cheap, but is it a good deal?

Rosehosting (who host this site) do 400mb space / 20gb transfer for $5.95 but obviously they are US based.

One thing worth checking with 123 is that they can accommodate your planned use for your subdomain. Will they be able to point the subdomain at a different host?

A CNAME subdomain will usually be used to map the subdomain to the same host. To point the subdomain at a different host you really need to have a new "A Record". Have a look here for a bit of detail.

[Johnny Brown]

Cheers for all the help guys.

Its not so much that frames are an idiots way of doing things, they're just old and have been superseeded by the more funky CSS way of doing things which never used to exist.

Yeah, I ditched frames for design years ago. This is actually being done by the domain host as a way of changing the address displayed in the address bar.

you just point the tags to the primary/secondary DNS addresses that your new host supplies to you.

Could I not do that with my existing host if I can work out the IP address?

Would my index page need to be in the root directory for it to work? I'll be paying for the photoshelter hosting so would rather avoid another if I can...

[Bubba]

Could I not do that with my existing host if I can work out the IP address?

The IP address and the DNS records are different things. If you used the IP address then you'd probably just be forwarding again.

You might be able to do this with your existing host but you'd have to check with Zen as to whether they will allow it. You say your "dad's Zen space" but what exactly is it? Is it the free webspace that comes with a broadband package? Often those sort of packages won't allow you to use a "real" domain on that webspace, you have to use something like "username.zeninternet.co.uk" or similar.

Would my index page need to be in the root directory for it to work? I'll be paying for the photoshelter hosting so would rather avoid another if I can...

Not sure what you mean here but you'll always need some sort of index page in the root for the site to be served correctly.

[Johnny Brown]

Nice one, that's just the kind of info I was after. Guess hosting at 123 is going to be the easiest option.

I may be back with more DNS/ Cname queries soon...

[Somebody's Fool]

123 do 100mb storage/ 1.5 gb transfer for £2.50 a month. Its cheap, but is it a good deal?

Sounds like they're giving it away. But if you want to be sure, I believe Alvin Hall posts on here under the pseudonym 'Jim.' Ask him etc?

[Jim]

Damn, you found me out

[Johnny Brown]

Just about to buy some space with 123 then thought I should check some reviews. Turns out they're fucking terrible.

The US based providers seem to be the best deals, anything I should know about? Can I have a .co.uk domain registered in the US?

I don't need much space or bandwidth prob 50Mb absolute max (as the bulk of the data will be on Photoshelter) but I would like:

-domain hosting on same site, preferably with free transfer etc
-PHP so I can integrate a blog
-subdomain support
-all for fuck all

Mochahost seem to fit the bill. Any opinions etc?

[Johnny Brown]

Oh yeah, and what's the score with linux/ windows based servers? Most run linux, is that right? Will it make any difference to me using windows?

[tomtom]

Oh yeah, and what's the score with linux/ windows based servers? Most run linux, is that right? Will it make any difference to me using windows?

What prices are you getting JB? from 123 and others? from streamline I got unlimited web space for very little more...

[Johnny Brown]

£2.50/ $2.50 a month seems to be the starting rate. On 123 that's for 100mb storage/ 1.5 gb transfer, no subdomains or PHP hosting, on Mocha all are included, storage and bandwidth unlimited.

As I said storage/bandwidth is the least important bit. Current site is 13Mb.

[Tris]

Oh yeah, and what's the score with linux/ windows based servers? Most run linux, is that right? Will it make any difference to me using windows?

It depends what scripting/db's etc you are going to run on your site, if it's like Php or MySQL then go with Linux. If you want to run MS SQL or ASP or any other windows based scripting then go with a Windows OS.

I use Easyspace (part of Iomart now) to host my site, costs me about £30 a year for 1GB of space. I went with a linux option as it was cheaper and I am not running any SS scripting.

[slackline]

Oh yeah, and what's the score with linux/ windows based servers? Most run linux, is that right? Will it make any difference to me using windows?

Obviously you want to go with Linux  Most internet sites are hosted on linux a few big ones are Google, Amazon, Ebay, Flickr.  It won't make any difference if you're using windows though unless your writing your site using M$'s .NET/ASP and their databases.

[tomtom]

Just been updating my pages and streamline.net are £57 for two years... 1.5gb unlimited bandwidth, free domain name etc.. and a wad of google adpages vouchers (speaking of which I have £75 worth from them of which I will probably never use... if anyones got a better use for them - Bubba? UKB?)
T

[Bubba]

Just been updating my pages and streamline.net are £57 for two years... 1.5gb unlimited bandwidth, free domain name etc.. and a wad of google adpages vouchers (speaking of which I have £75 worth from them of which I will probably never use... if anyones got a better use for them - Bubba? UKB?)
T

Are they Adwords vouchers? I can certainly use one if you don't need it. Google recently sent me a £50 one but another would be quite handy