Keeping It Cheap: Free Web Site Providers
More than 23 zillion Web space providers have an unbeatable price, which you probably guessed already from the title of this section. If you set up a personal or limited-interest site (such as a condo association newsletter), free Web space providers may be the way to go. You can get lots more space than your local ISP provides. It’s not unusual to get 50 or more megabytes (MB) of Web storage space without having to pay a dime for it.
If you plan on running any sort of professional site, though, the free Web space providers aren’t really the ticket for you. You need your own domain name — .com, .org, or whatever — in order to be taken seriously. (See the section “Getting Your Own Domain Name,” later in this chapter.) Also, free Web hosts make their money by slapping ads onto your site, and you can’t usually put up your own in competition with them.
Having to post a free Web host’s ad on your site means you may not be able to use any add-ins such as opinion polls and chat rooms that feature their own banner ads either.
Table 16-2 lists some free Web hosts.
| Web Site Name | Web Address |
|---|---|
| 50Megs.com | www.50megs.com |
| Angelfire | www.angelfire.lycos.com |
| Crosswinds | www.crosswinds.net |
| Dreamwater | www.dreamwater.com |
| TopCities | www.topcities.com |
| Tripod | www.tripod.lycos.com |
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