Some newbie questions

Hi, I have what I think is a good idea for a social networking site, but I have never built a website before let alone a social networking site. Will I find this too complicated ?

I have some newbie questions regarding the "Before you install" installation guide.

• Web-server that meets the Dolphin Hosting Requirements.
• Q.  Do I have to sign up with a web-server and pay the $5/month just to build my site, can't I build it first on my desktop then host it ?

• Domain name or IP address to identify your site.
• Q.  I get this, But still do I need to register a name before I have built and tested my site ?

• Access to your web server via shell or FTP (logins and passwords, normally sent by your hosting provider).
• Q. Is there free FTP transfer software I can use or will I need to purchase FTP software ?

• Access to your MySQL Database Management System (usually phpMyAdmin which can be accessed via your host's Control Panel).
• Q. Can you explain what this means is it another piece of software I will need to purchase and install.

• Access to your Web server Management Interface (CPanel or shell (for experienced users)).
• Q. can you explain what this means, and why would I need acess to my Web server Management System ?

Thanks in advance.

J.

I have my social network runing with hostgator

I never have problem with my hosting they offer live chat, ticket system and VPS and Dedicated Servers

your site will be runing %100 with out problem or database errors

when I have hostmonster the support suck when they do update your site goes down or giving you database errors and you thing is the script

I'm happy and safe with my new hosting

You can try other hosting but hostgator is a good company

if you want to know more go here if the link don't work copy the link and enjoy

http://www.boonex.com/unity/forums/#topic/FASTEST-Hosting-.htm

you probably just confused him more.

if you are planning on using dolphin, it is pre-built website. technically, all you really have to pay is "$5" a month to have your site set up and live. you can do all the configuring from the admin while your site is live. all the other software you asked about is either provided by your host or is free to download. most hosts will also include 1 free domain registration and hosting for 1 year.

hope that helps a little

It's recommended that you purchase fully supported hosting, though you can work on your site locally and then upload it to the remote server from your hosting provider.

If you're going to work on your site locally, I recommend you download WAMP, which is a pre-built and installable web server package that's easy to configure. You can download WAMP here: http://www.wampserver.com/en/ and read a guide on configuring WAMP for Dolphin here: http://www.dialme.com/m/articles/view/How-To-Install-Dolphin-On-WAMP.

Much of the requirements on that page are needed only if you are working on your site remotely (with hosting). You will not need FTP when working locally, nor will you need to worry about database management or server management, since these are available by default in WAMP. Once hosting your site remotely, you can get the information for database and server management from your hosting provider. For an FTP client, there are both free and paid clients available. I recommend WinSCP, which is a free and powerful FTP client.

While you can work on your site locally (as described above), since you're a newbie, you should purchase Dolphin-supported hosting now and work on your site remotely, as it will cause the least amount of problems.

Thank you for your responses.

I was going to go with http://www.arvixe.com @ 4/month. arvixe is a recommended Dolphin host.

What do you think are these web hosting sites all pretty much the same  ?

There are many host reviews on Dolphin, Arvixe gets some really bad press. I would go elsewhere.

1 - best to sign up to a webserver than host locally, that way you will know that what you build will work when it goes live. If it all done local first, you may find problems when you take it live, especialy if you have limited knowledge of problem solving...

tip - I use hostforweb to start my first sites, only $5 a month, no ongoing contract so you can build 1 month then stop if you dont want to continue. Also, they have softaculous - 1 click installer for Dolphin, cuts out lots of the following questions you had.

2 - Yes, to go live you will need a domain. Only about $10 though so not gonna break the bank...

3 - fillezilla is free and does the job fine for me.

4 - you get cpanel with hostforweb and most hosts. its for making changes to the server, or the script installation at root level.

However, most of the changes you will ever need to make with dolphin are all in the script admin which is seperate and easy to find your way around.

Hope this helps and good luck with the site.