First step — hosting [4]

“Let’s start at the very beginning. A very good place to start…” — Mary Freaking Poppins.

Well, that was easy. WordPress.org recommended five. I took their top pick. Downside: they’re probably getting a flood of new business as a result of the link. Upside: WordPress wouldn’t risk recommending a dud.

I piddled around the CEO’s blog (I own a pair of jeans older than this guy!). He apologizes for bandwidth shortages, which are apparently now fixed. Fair enough.

They’re the largest consumer of bandwidth in the state of Utah. Huh. I would’ve thought it was the Church of the Latter Day Morlocks and that whole world geneology thing they do.

The specs on the WordPress page are out of date. Here’s what BlueHost is currently offering for $6.95 a month:

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FEATURES INCLUDED / ALL ACCOUNTS INCLUDED

Disk Storage (NOW MORE!) 200 GB
Host 6 Domains On 1 Account (WOW!)
Free Drag and Drop Site Builder (NEW!)
Free Domain Name
Support International Domain Names

POP3/POP3 Secure Email Support 2,500
IMAP/Secure IMAP Email Support 2,500
2 Different Web Based Email Solutions
Forwarding Email Accounts Unlimited
Email Autoresponder Unlimited
Gigs of Site Transfer (NOW MORE!) 2,000 GB/mo
Add-on Domains 5
Parked Domains 20
Subdomains 20
Additional FTP Accounts 1,000
MySQL Databases 50
PostgreSQL Databases 50

CGI-BIN

CGI Library
Server Side Includes
Frontpage 2000/2002/2003 Extensions
Account "Control Panel"
FTP Access
Shell Access (SSH)
Override .htaccess Support
Anonymous FTP
Webmail (Browser Based Email)
Log Files + Site Stats
Customizable Error Pages
Web File Manager
Custom Cronjobs
Hotlink Protection
Spam Assassin Protection
Fantastico Script Support

CGI / DATABASES INCLUDED
PHP Version 4 or 5 (Your Choice)
Perl 5
Python
Ruby / Ruby On Rails (NEW!!)
Support For Custom PHP.INI Files
MySQL 4.1 Database Server
PostgreSQL Database Server
Javascript/ DHTML
Flash / Shockwave

FREE WEBSITE PLUG-IN SCRIPTS INCLUDED
Message Forum (PHPBB and More)
Form-mail Scripts
PHP Nuke / Post Nuke
Guestbook (Multiple Options)
Live Chat Software
Web Blogs / WordPress / b2evolution
Mailing Lists
Image Galleries / Coppermine (More!)
Poll and Survey Software
Web Auction Software
Moodle
Tikiwiki
Mambo and Joomla
phpForm Generator
Help Center/Support Ticket
Many, Many Others...

E-COMMERCE FEATURES INCLUDED

SSL Secure Server
OS Commerce Shopping Cart
Agora Shopping Cart
Cube Cart Shopping Cart
Zen Cart Shopping Cart
Free Generated Certificate
Password Protected Directories
OpenPGP / GPG Encryption

MULTIMEDIA FEATURES INCLUDED

Supports Streaming Video
Supports Streaming Audio
Real Audio & Video Support
Flash Support
Macromedia Shockwave
MIDI File Support
Add Own MIME Types

WORLD CLASS TECHNOLOGY INCLUDED

Quad Processor Performance Servers
Denial of Service Protection (DDOS)
UPS Power Backup
Diesel Generator Backup Power
Customized Apache Web Server
24/7 Network Monitoring
Mirrored Storage Backups
OC-48 Backbone Connection

SITE PROMOTION INCLUDED

Search Engine Submission FREE
Search Keyword Analyzer FREE
Search Engine Position Report FREE

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They had me at “MIDI File Support.”