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Josh Curtis
7,782 PointsHow do you "show off" your websites?
Hey, I have searched quite a bit and haven't found an answer yet. I am learning to develop websites and am loving it! I am ready to put together a portfolio of all the websites that I have been building. My question is, what is the best/most cost effective way to display my work? I have bought several domain names and hosting for them but it's getting expensive. I want to be able to make a portfolio of my work without buying a domain name/hosting for each of them. I know I can take screes shots but this doesn't show many details of the site. Maybe host them on my own computer since they won't have much traffic? I'm sure I'm missing something obvious. Thanks for the help!
3 Answers
Anthony Babich
5,505 PointsWhat type of websites do you create? That question might help better judge this, I like Heroku but I do not like the free accounts. Hosting / Domain is inevitable if you're trying to create separate websites.
I personally just like to find a good reseller hosting plan ($25-50 a month, and if you get unlimited you can create as many sites on the hosting account as you want through the WHM (website hosting manager)). This way you no longer have to pay for a ton of hosting, plus you could technically resell some hosting space if you find the opportunity. You'd still have to purchase the domains but USE GOOGLE! I've saved clients up to 85-90% of very large orders on hosting & domains from popular sites like GoDaddy by using google. I'm currently using Host Papa Reseller WHM, but I don't like their customer service so I wouldn't necessarily recommend, just an example.
Kevin Korte
28,149 PointsHost them for free on Heroku, you technically wouldn't even have to buy a domain name if you're okay with the domain Heroku gave you. For this, the free account of Heroku would be just fine.
Only downside with the free account, is Heroku sleeps the worker when the site hasn't had recent activity, which means if someone visited the site while it's sleeping, it might take 10-20 seconds for it to load the first time, subsequent page loads will be as fast as they can be (1-2 seconds or less). After that Heroku leaves the worker active until some time has gone since the last request to the site, and sleeps the worker again. The other downside is the worker has to sleep; I believe its a minimum of 7-8 hours in a 24 hour period. That won't be an issue here.
Josh Curtis
7,782 PointsThanks for the answers. I am really only experimenting with whatever interests me. I have made a few personal "about me" sites for myself and a couple friends. Some picture/blog sites. Nothing major and definitely not worth buying domain names for yet. I'm sure I will be moved on to different ideas in the next several months and the domain names won't apply. However, I would like to start putting them together in one place that potential employers could view my work and progress. I currently have hosting for a few of my better sites which, as you said Anthony, is probably the best way to go. I'm just checking around to make sure there isn't anything I have looked over.