Three Ways to Deliver Your Pages
By Mel Beckman
You've built your Web site--now you want to get it in front of an audience. Let's take a look at the pros and cons of three approaches.
Serve It In-House
Apple's Personal Web Sharing software--available for $19.95 (you can order it from www .software.net/mac/internet.htm/) and slated to be included in Mac OS 8--provides a new option for low-volume Web serving. If your audience is on your intranet (that is, if it is connected to the same local area network as your Macintosh), it doesn't need to go through the Internet to get to your site. Similar to Personal File Sharing, Personal Web Sharing runs in the background of your machine. (An application that is similar but less polished, the Microsoft Personal Web Server, is available free from www.microsoft.com.)
Using Personal Web Sharing is a snap: open the Web Sharing control panel, select a folder containing the HTML documents you want to publish, and they're instantly accessible to anyone with a Web browser.
An indexing feature lets you easily make lists of documents accessible to others. Alternatively, you can build a structured site using the Claris Home Page Lite WYSIWYG HTML editor, which is included. Although strictly a one-site server, Personal Web Sharing supports standard .cgi and .acgi Common Gateway Interface (CGI) files that let you add dynamic functionality to pages.
Use Your ISP
Probably the most convenient and least expensive option is to use your Internet or online service provider's resources and expertise.
Most ISPs and online services will remotely host your site on their servers using a high-speed (T1 or faster) Internet connection. The cost can be as low as zero for a subdirectory under your ISP's domain name (for example, members .aol .com/ johndoe) to a high of $50 per month for a site with its own domain name (for example, www .johndoe .com), with a surcharge for traffic beyond a predefined threshold.
Unfortunately, not many providers have Macintosh hosts; consequently, your ability to use Mac-specific script and database capabilities is limited to those the ISP provides. Some HTML editors, such as Netscape and Claris Home Page, update information on your provider's site via a protocol called FTP. If your HTML editor doesn't have this feature, you must transfer your Web pages to the host site manually, using an FTP client such as Jim Matthews's $25 shareware Fetch (fetch@dartmouth.edu), which can be tedious.
Key questions to ask a prospective ISP are:
* How many megabytes can I store? (It's usually from 5MB to 10MB.)
* Can you natively host a Mac site?
* How many megabytes of traffic per month are included in the base price? (It's usually between 1GB and 5GB.)
* What is the speed of your upstream connection? (You want at least 1 Mbps.)
If you want a private domain name, ask if the ISP will register a name for you. This usually costs $150 to $200, plus an ISP usually charges more to serve a site with a private name. Alternatively, the name can be a subdomain within your company's existing domain name (for example, janedoe.acme.com).
Host a Public Site
You get the most control over your site with a dedicated server. Full-featured server software, such as StarNine Technologies' $795 WebStar (510/ 649-4949, www.starnine.com; see Reviews, April 1997), lets you construct a snazzy site that can sustain high traffic volumes (tens of thousands of hits per day). Also, you can use Mac-specific features and upload your Web content using Personal File Sharing, which is easier than FTP.
A server needs a dedicated Internet connection. Your office might have one, but many companies use special hardware and software, called firewalls, to prevent people on the Internet from accessing their networks. Also, if your site attracts lots of people, traffic could clog the connection.
An alternative is a separate dedicated connection just for Web serving, but it's expensive. Adequate bandwidth is key--don't even think of serving over a modem, even a 56-Kbps one, which is 56 Kbps for incoming traffic and 28.8 Kbps or less for outgoing. You need at least 64 Kbps--usually delivered via ISDN or frame-relay, which costs $300 to $500 per month--for Web serving.
The Last Word
If you simply want a home page for other users on your company's internal network, Apple's Personal Web Sharing is cheap, easy to set up, and runs on your desktop Mac.
If you want an Internet-visible site for yourself or your small business, having your ISP host your site avoids the hassle of running a server and saves the cost of a dedicated connection.
When you become Net-famous and really need the juice of a high-speed dedicated connection, a beefy Web server, such as WebStar, running on a speedy Power Mac will meet the demands of your fans. It will also strain your sanity and drain your energy. Do a lot of research, and know when you need to call a consultant.
August 1997
page: 111
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Copyright © 1997 Macworld Communications, Inc.
