The world wide web can be damn confusing. You hear terms like 'domain' and 'hosting' and 'URL' bantied about, but aren't sure what they mean or how everything fits together? Here it is:

The internet is divided into two halves: the web pages which are pages you look at on the internet, and email which is normally downloaded through your email program, though through web-based programs like Hotmail it can be received on the web which is why Hotmail is called a web-based email service. We're going to talk only about the web pages side.

HOW IT WORKS

There are three basic components you need to have a web site:

1) You need to have the pages. The stuff that people are going to look at. This is commonly called 'web design' or 'site creation' by those who offer such services.

2) You need to have a 'host'. A host is somebody who has a special type of computer that is linked to the internet in such a way that it can offer your pages for anyone to look at. Having your computer connected to the internet won't do that--it gets stuff from the internet but it doesn't have the ability to show the pages in your computer to everyone.

3) You need to have a name: some place people type into their browser to locate you. It's like the address on your house which tells people where to find you. Just like you can live in a house or an apartment, on the internet you can have your own 'domain' or just get space on somebody elses. If you own your own domain, such as www.tinywebhost.com, you need to hire a 'host' to house it for you (the host, discussed in #2 above). If just getting space on another domain, such as www.yourname.tinywebhost.com, the site already has hosting and you don't need to think about that.

If you want to use space on another domain you don't need to concern yourself with purchasing a domain name but if you want your own you have to buy it from a domain name seller. First you must check and make sure the domain name you want is available, then you buy it.

Check out what we offer you: we are happy to assist you in getting your own space on the web, whether it be hosting of your domain (www.yourname.com) or sub-domain hosting (www.yourname.oursite.com).