Hello, I have some basic questions about switching from MobileMe to Host Excellence. I've read the page about it on the FAQ, but I'm really not all that experienced when it comes to dealing with web hosting, so I'm still unsure of some of the details.

First, when I create a new site in iWeb, then publish it to MobileMe, it immediately has an address, regardless of whether that address is reflective of a personal domain name or not. When using Host Excellence (or other hosts, for that matter - I've only used the previous .mac in the past), would I need to purchase a new domain name for each individual site I wanted to create in order for them to have web addresses, or would those sites be automatically given addresses, even if the addresses were the strung-out type (analogous to the web.me.com/name/sitename addresses, rather than the cleaner, purchased sitename.com)?

What I'm concerned about is flexibility; I make small sites for the organizations I'm a part of fairly often, but since they're small private sites, I wouldn't want to have to purchase a new 'domain' for each one (what the link to it looks like is a secondary factor to the matter of its having an address in the first place). Like I said, my experience with web hosting is not much, so forgive me if I'm asking 'obvious' questions.

Next, just to make sure I'm looking at this accurately, the unlimited web space and data transfer that HE offers relates to the same web-hosting factor that MobileMe's 20GB file storage and 200 GB data transfer applies to, right? ... how is that possible? (<- rhetorical question) Anyway, in using it, have you found any 'catches' to the seeming no-contest situation between these two hosts?

Lastly, it was mentioned in the FAQ that between the Win or Linux options for using HE, Linux is the one to take. Why is that, and would it still be compatible with Windows systems? I looked around some, but didn't see any details, just point me in the right direction, please, if I missed it.

Anyway, thanks for all your help! Long post, I realize, but my MM subscription is up in 19 days, so I'm working on making up my mind on whether to switch or renew. I've been using your site for reference for a long time; it's a great resource. Thanks for the work you've put into it!

No, you don't need to buy a new domain name for each site you create in iWeb. When you sign up at HostExcellence you choose a domain (which is free) like yourdomain.com

To that domain of course you can upload several websites if you want. The addresses of the websites will then result in

yourdomain.com/website1/pagename.html
yourdomain.com/website2/pagename.html
yourdomain.com/website3/pagename.html
and so on...

there's no limit to it.

My iwebfaq.org website is made out of 5 completely separated websites put together to build 1.
iwebfaq.org/site/ (english one)
iwebfaq.org/de/ (german one)
iwebfaq.org/ita/ (italian one)
iwebfaq.org/forum/ (the forum)
iwebfaq.org/news/ (newsletters)


That's right yes. With a normal website you will never use up MobileMe's space and data transfer. You only reach the limit if you have a podcast, huge movies and so on...


MobileMe's servers are really slow. If I need to upload a 5MB file to my iDisk on MobileMe it takes me half an hour whereas on HE it takes me 5 minutes or less. Also the pages load faster when visiting them.
MobileMe used to be "better" because in IWeb '08 you couldn't publish to a server other than MobileMe's from iWeb itself. From iWeb '09 you can publish to any hosting if you'd like to. I always publish to a folder and upload using another FTP application anyway. Some iWeb features get broken (like comments in Blogs) but there are workarounds or I don't mind of losing them.
The greatest down side of MobileMe is that you can't install a Wordpress blog or a Forum on it and other stuff.



Some time ago people reported that they are experiencing some problems (compatibility issues) when storing iWeb websites on Windows hostings/servers. I always used Linux so I can't confirm/deny that. A Linux server is also generally considered to be more stable, safer and faster (whether it's true or not I don't know it's out of my knowledge).

Using a Linux server just means that your website is being stored on a Linux running machine. It doesn't matter at all whether your visitor is running Windows, MacOS or Linux. There are no issues on that side as far as I know.

Regards,
Cédric

Thanks so much for your quick response! I've been having a lot of frustration trying to get a large (picture intensive) site published to MobileMe, which at this point I have still not succeeded in doing due to connection breaks. So since it's re-subscription time anyway I'm seriously considering changing hosts in hopes of gaining more control over my sites than I currently have. Your advice/experience is hugely helpful.

With that second question (comparisons between the two), I was actually hoping to hear if you'd found any negatives to HE. It seemed strangely great that it could offer unlimited space and data transfer, when other hosts seem to parcel that stuff out with such definite limits. I'm just trying to get the most info I can before deciding.

I did some reading over at the HE site as well, though, and between the description there and your positive reference, it seems like a pretty safe move to make. Changing addresses will be a bit of a bump, but if I can't get the site I'm working on published in the first place, there's nothing to lose.

Negatives on HE? Well... I don't know...

If you're living in Switzerland you can't use the phone-support because when you digit the number into your phone all you get is the weather forecast (this has nothing to do with HE, it's more about the management of phone numbers in Switz). I hate talking on the phone anyway.

Sorry, they've always been helpful when I needed them.

No negatives, 'n' all positives, huh? Ok, thanks again. I'm going to make the change this weekend.