What is hosting?

and why when you want to buy a domain name, does it need to be %26quot;hosted%26quot;? and why? isnt it just a page on the web?

What is hosting?

You can host your web site on your own computer. Download and install XAMPP - http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp.ht... Of course the computer has to be on 24/7/365 - and you have to learn a few things (some people think that %26#039;learn%26#039; is a 4-letter word).

A domain name is your address on the web - www.yahoo,com, for example. (The http:// part tells your browser that the following address is html content.) You can get a domain name by using a dynamic dns service (dydns.com and noip.com offer free services) if you don%26#039;t mind using their names, or you can get one entirely your own by registering one (if it%26#039;s available).

What is hosting?

The web, or internet is a network of computers, millions of them. Hosting is like having a webpage on a computer that is then viewable to others.

A domain is like an address that points to the correct computer. The actual storage of that webpage file (html file) is hosted on a server (or computer that serves out webpages).

There are providers, like http://www.bluehost.com that I use for my website, which both give you the domain name, and also host your website.

Other Replys:Web sites are %26quot;hosted%26quot; on a computer, and that computer needs to be set up properly to act as a server that can send and receive the web site data across the Web.

In other words, every computers gets an %26quot;address%26quot; but you rarely type in that address to see its contents; instead you type in its domain name (e.g., http//www.sitename.com).

Other Replys:Having a domain name listed on Domain Name Servers (DNS) and having a place to actually serve the files (the Host) are two distinctly different services.

One thing that confuses the issue is that a lot of companies offer both and try to get you to buy both from them. NOT a good idea, for multiple reasons. Basically it%26#039;s putting all your eggs in one basket.