In looking for a web hosting provider, you'll see plenty of options for unlimited web space. Don't be beguiled into thinking that this is a particularly significant offer or comes without strings. Hard drive space nowadays comes fairly cheap, where just five or six years ago it was at a premium. Offers of unlimited web space, therefore, tend to mean little on their own. You need to consider if the rest of the hosting plan is either generous or acceptable.

Features vs. Space

Right up front, you want technical support and customer service, ideally on a 24/7 basis, that you can reach by telephone as well as email. This might be the most critical feature of web hosting plans. A hosting knowledgebase is also a good sign, especially if it's comprehensive.

Reliable and well-rated hosting companies will also offer a comprehensive web-based account control interface. It should be one that web newbies can readily understand and work with. Interface features include file upload and downloads, site design features, email account maintenance, mailing list management, and invoice and billing access. These are other basics that are also important, and in fact considerably more so than endless megabytes or gigabytes of storage space that you'd be hard pressed to use unless you're a professional photographer.

Your own domain name should be included, as should at least 10 email accounts. Other features and capabilities include active server pages (ASP), PHP scripting, at least one SQL database, FrontPage, server side includes, Perl, and CGI scripting. But exactly what are these capabilities? The best way to put the answers into perspective is to understand that scripting, or programming, is what drives a web site. It instructs the user's browser--such as Internet Explorer, Netscape, Opera, or Firefox--how to present the data and guides interactivity between the visitor and the website.

ASP, VBScript, PHP, CGI, and Perl are all essentially programming language that handle web features such as forms input, automated file retrieval and presentation (which is what you see on sites like The New York Times and other publishing companies), and database queries. Rudimentary web hosting plans tend not to feature scripting capabilities. Yet it is scripting that takes websites away from static pages and hyperlinked text into the realm of interactivity and on-demand presentation that we take so for granted.