[Hosting] Hosting for a Residents Commitee - Website & Forum

[flyinghaggis]

Hi Everyone,

I’m planning on trying to put together a website for my residents committee (and all owners/tenants) in my block of flats. I’d like for it to provide a website forum and log-on’s for potentially up to 300-400 users. There are 183 flats in my development and most are rented so I’d like to have logon options for both the tenants and owners. Other than the forums I’d like to use the website for hosting minutes of meetings/factoring documents/letters. Some kind of bulk email (for newsletters/etc.) to all users’ would be useful as well.

Problem is I really don’t have much of a clue when it comes to putting together a website from scratch. I’ve had a look at 1&1 for hosting which seems like it might do the trick. It offers the option of Linux hosting or MS hosting. I’d guess I’d be looking for Linux hosting and using something free like phpbb since I won’t actually be generating any income from the website. Their mid-range package for £8.99 month offers up to 10 MySQL databases and what looks (to me at least!) like a good range of supported options?

Can anyone advise whether that will be sufficient for what I’m planning on doing and whether there’s anything else I should consider or look into before signing up?

Any advice appreciated…!

TIA

[Messa]

Hi,

PHPBB should be fine for what you're after. A lot of people prefer Linux Hosting when running PHP sites.

Can you see yourself using more than maybe a few hundred MB of disk space? It's probably a more advisable to start off with a small package and expand as you need it, as you say you're not gaining any income from the site.

Shopping around wouldn't be a bad idea either, check out reviews before committing to a host, check out the level of support each company offer, ask around + browse other forums

HTH.

[Edu-IT]

I'd steer clear of 1and1 to be honest. Often recommended on here is CS New Media, CS New Media Web Hosting - UK Based Web Hosting, Reseller Hosting, VPS & Dedicated Servers.

If there's anything you need help with to get it up and running then just shout. Happy to help!

[flyinghaggis]

CS New Media look pretty good actually!

On a similar topic, before I go on a wild 'Google' chase, does anyone have a quickstart guide (or any website links/etc) on the basics of installing phpBB onto hosted web space?

Edit: Just been on 123-reg and notice they offer some (alledgedly!) one-click options for automatically setting up stuff like phpbb,wordpress,etc which sounds like it would be ideal for what I'm after? Has anyone any experience of them and this system?

[dwhyte85]

Hi Flyinghaggis,

Alot of the control panels have fantastico (it's like a quick installer for scripts) on them, it's literally 2 clicks. If you need any help drop a PM - i'll explain.

[kmount]

CSNewMedia will have one click installers for phpbb I would imagine under their Plesk control panel.

I'd also back Carl & his team as experts in this field with many an edugeek'er on board.

[kili]

I recommend Joomla CMS. There are thousands of components for it and a forum component and numerous newsletter components. It has user accounts for login, public and private sections of the website and a whole lot more.