As I understand it, in order to create a website you must first register a domain name and buy a web space.

Having a registered domain name allows you to have a simple url you choose, like www.example.com, instead of something like www.geocities.com/example.

The web space is where you store your html, css, etc files.

If this isn’t a correct understanding please correct me.

So my first questions: If you register your own domain name, but want to use free web hosting, can you make your url direct the user to the files saved on the free webhosting? In this case, after accessing the website will your registerred domain name still be in the address bar, or will the webhosting address be visible?

Second: Can you recommend any good web hosting sites that don’t have banner ads?

Third: If you answered positively to the last 3 questions, is there any concievable reason why someone like me, creating a small low traffic site, would regret paying to register a domain name and not paying for commercial web space?

Thanks for your help

Hi friends,

I want to get the following text online on my website. Therefore, it must be polished not being weird for English speaking people.

I thank you for your time in advance,

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If you want to get a forum online at your own domain you will need a web host providing one of the forum softwares; Vbulletin, phpBB or SMF. Some of web hosts offer an installing service called "Fantastico". By using this service, you can create your forum without difficulty, even if you are not skilled in using any software.

To start your forum website:

Step 1: Register a domain name. A domain name is a name you want to call your website. For example, yahoo.com, articlesbase.com, threehosts.com or wikipedia.org.

Step 2: Buy a web hosting package providing phpBB, Vbulletin or SMFs to host your website online. A web hosting service provides you with online space and needed softwares. This enables you to get your forum online at your registered domain name. We recommend getting your domain and web hosting plan from the same company. This way, it is often possible to get your domain for free, due to some web hosting services offering a domain as a free gift today.

To set up a website, there are three steps you will need to take:

Get Your Domain Name:
A domain name is a name you want to call your website. For example, “yahoo.com”, “youtube.com” and “wikipedia.org” are all domain names. To obtain a domain name, you have to pay an annual fee to a registrar for the right to use that name. Take into consideration that you cannot buy a domain for life. You get it for a period of one to ten years. If you fail to renew the domain name at the end of its term, the registration of the domain will be revoked and the domain name may be acquired by another party.

Choose a Web Host and Sign Up For an Account:
A web hosting service provides you with online space. This enables you to get your web pages online at your registered domain name.

Design Your Web Pages and Get Them Online:
There are three ways to create and get your website online:
A- Some web hosts offer Easy-To-Use Site Builder that helps you build your web pages without difficulty, even if you are not skilled in using any website creating software. Their web builder is a WYSIWYG program (What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get). This means that the finished page will display exactly the way it was designed.
B- You can create the pages offline with your favorite program (DreamWeaver, FrontPage, etc), and then upload them to your web host. This is another easy way to get your website online.
C- Frontpage Extensions allow you to publish your site directly from the FrontPage application. This means that you will not have to upload files through FTP, or another method. Microsoft FrontPage is a popular WYSIWYG HTML editor and web site administration tool from Microsoft.