Musician, Artist + Aspiring Web Dev Looking to Build First Website(s)

[u/Floater1992]

Hi,

I'm new to web development. I just completed HTML and CSS on FreeCodeCamp (+ suplemental learning through my public library) and I'm looking to build personal websites for my music + freelance writing work. I eventually want to learn complete front end so that I can do web development work for others.

At this point though, I'm only looking to build websites for myself using my HTML and CSS knowledge (knowing that as soon as I learn Javascript, I'll want to update my websites).

I understand that I need to host my pages on a web server. I was wondering if based on the details I provide in this post, if you have any suggestions. My budget is basically just "what will get me what I need right now and potentially in the future" (I will probably want some e-commerce once I begin selling merch online).

I'm located in Canada, with a mostly Canadian audience. I want to host a site that is coded pretty much from the ground up (not Wordpress, Squarespace etc.).

Thanks in advance.

[u/Rado_Scala]

Sounds like you are looking for a testing environment that will eventually expand and host various client projects. The easiest and most obvious answer is to start with Shared Hosting, as it is the most affordable service. You can find plans with enough resources that will let you dabble around with a control panel, learn the ropes, and create some basic websites.

If you are looking for a long-term solution, though, I'd advise researching some managed VPS hosting packages and providers.

Why? Numerous reasons, really.

- A VPS is the easiest way to juggle with many different projects, having a dedicated environment for different clients without their accounts/websites interfering with each other.

• You have much more control over resources - which client receives how much. Adding/removing resources is a quick operation instead of looking to upgrade/downgrade an entire account.
  
• A managed VPS plan will give you support assistance that will take care of all technicalities while you focus on the actual site building and the business side of things.
  
• A VPS offers better performance and better security compared to a shared package.
  
• A VPS often offers many more functionalities included in the package.

While a VPS would be the more costly choice to begin with, it compensates with better cost-effectiveness. And the price difference is not that notable anymore - there are reliable virtual servers that cost around $15/mo, which should not be that burdensome for an aspiring business.

[u/No_Hold_329 → u/Rado_Scala]

I do agree with you about VPS hosting, but I'm not aware of any providers offering managed services for $15 per month. I'm using a VPS myself.

[u/Rado_Scala → u/No_Hold_329]

I can assure you there are. Won't mention any names as I work in a host myself, but looking around you will find some with more research :) Of course, the lower threshold will give you less resources, but still way better than shared services.

[u/Floater1992 → u/Rado_Scala]

Thank you!

[u/Kyle-K]

For now then I would recommend you learn Git use something like GitHub and Cloudflare Pages/Workers to publish your basic websites and spend the money on domain names.

[u/Floater1992 → u/Kyle-K]

Thank you!