AvalancheX

Okay so I'm making a new website for myself, using Joomla as I'm not a very good website designer , and so I will need MySQL and PHP.

However, incase even in the design stage it all goes belly-up I don't want to go ahead and pay for any website hosting now (thinking 1and1.com for when i do by the way, incase anyone was interested) but the free hosts stink..

So i was wondering how do i go about setting up something like a test server on my own computer, so I can design the website etc then should the time come, purchase web hosting and upload the content.

I did do a google search prior, but found nothing, but you guys are great anyway, so any help would be fantastic.

Cheers!

onlycodered

No! Do NOT use 1and1! They are horrible! If you do end up going paid, I strongly recommend asmallorange.com. If you ever go with paid hosting, make sure you do your research. webhostingtalk.com is a great resource. Also, if a hosting plan looks too good to be true, it probably is - either that or you get horrible uptime and/or support.

Anyway, on the topic of hosting your website locally, here's a very extensive guide on how to set up a LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP) server using Ubuntu: http://howtoforge.com/lamp_installation_ubuntu6.06

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AvalancheX

Okay thanks very much, i'l keep the hosting comments in mind!


On another note, do I have to do it in Linux? I could install it I spose, but for the sake of possibly 2hours or so's work, it would be alot easier to stick with windows .

onlycodered

WampServer is probably what you're looking for. It's very easy to use.

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AvalancheX

Thanks very much, +2 Rep.

xthedrumzx

I would agree on not using 1and1... theyre a pain, support services stink... IMHO, i would reccomend GoDaddy.com. In the web design business I work for, almost all our clients use GoDaddy, and I have never heard a single complaint. That would be my reccomendation. Good Luck!

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onlycodered

My complaint is the horribly non-intuitive control panel.

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xthedrumzx

lol. well... let me rephrase. I use dreamweaver, and remotely place all the files onto the client's godaddy host using DW... so, i have never had experience with the panel. BUT, I can imagine that there's a price to pay for simplicity If you are doing it all yourself, I couldnt comment. But if you are using another program to upload, go for it lol

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onlycodered

I edit everything locally too, but sometimes you need to change things in the control panel such as MySQL databases and subdomains and such.

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stupid

I agree 1&1 is garbage (it's so rare we all agree on something here... go AMD).

My 2 hosts are viux.com and m6.net, great customer service and prices if you want to check them out.

These two have very nice and intuitive control panels as well

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