This page is provided to help new customers to understand a few of the terms that we've been talking about in the guide to getting your new website.
A lot of our website customers are non-technical, so you really don't need to worry about any technical details if you want to have a hands-off approach to your new website. But, for the adventurous or plain curious, here are a few definitions.
We are continuously writing other help and guidance documents that can be found in the knowledgebase, where we address things at a more complete and technical level.
Web Hosting / Hosting
Every website is made up from a collection of files that contain the text which you read on the page, pictures, descriptions of what colours to use and how to put all that together on your screen.
Just as all the files on your computer are stored on the hard-drive inside it, your web files are stored inside one of HUNDREDS of slim-line computers (called a server) in our data centres that process requests for web pages, assemble the page and send it to your screen.
All your website's files are HOSTED on one of those servers by us. Your hosting fee pays for rental of a part of the hard-drive, use of the servers and all the equipment, building and staff that run the data centre.
Domain / Domain Name
The domain name is what human beings can refer to when talking about a website. Eg: www.oxford-webhosting.com It's a unique name that you type into your browser to take you to the website that you want to go to.
Behind the scenes, the domain name is converted to a special code (called an IP address, eg 176.32.230.24) that is quickly readable by computers and is used to look up exactly where the website that you want to see is stored. There are thousands of server centres around the world each with hundreds or thousands of servers within their secure walls. The IP address is literally an address to connect directly to the precise location in the world that your website is stored.
The internet contains a registry of every domain name in use alongside the IP address and other information such as who owns the domain. When you buy a domain, we search to find out if it's available, then we register your web hosting space and your details. The domain information is then locked so that nobody can change the details or steal your domain name.
We automatically renew the registration for you each year and make a small charge for this based on the prevailing rate charged to us by the registration authority.
Mail server / email
Every Oxford WebHosting hosting account comes with an email service included. Dedicated servers at our data centres handle the receipt and forwarding of emails to and from your account. If you have a domain registered with us then you can create email accounts based on that domain name eg: fred@mycompany.co.uk where mycompany.co.uk is your domain name.
This looks MUCH more professional than a hotmail or yahoo email address.
Our mail servers allocate a certain amount of space to store your emails (we recently increased this limit to more than double the original amount). If you're a HEAVY email user then we can extend the space for you.
Bandwidth
We use the term bandwidth when referring to how much data flows in and out of your website. Whenever someone looks at your website, data is transmitted from the web server to the visitor's computer. We keep a track of how much data is transmitted to make sure that there's fair usage and to make sure that usage is balanced between different servers.
Now, our data centres can handle an INCREDIBLE amount of bandwidth, so you're VERY unlikely to have to ever worry about your website's bandwidth.
Web Space
We allocate a certain amount of space on our hard-drives for your webspace. Rest assured, that unless you're doing something VERY unusual there will be plenty of capacity to hold your web site. The limit is rather flexible, so if you accidentally go over then you won't find things shutting down and if there's ever a problem we'll get in touch to either help you save space or allocate more room.
WordPress
WordPress is a system that can be installed into your web space that allows you to create and edit your website without any specialist knowledge or web programming skills.
You have a secure control panel that you log into from your web browser where you can write your web page content, upload pictures etc. WordPress then takes care of everything else.
It can be as simple or as elaborate as you like and it makes a perfect framework for us to build the features of your website on.
The best thing about it all is that it's FREE. There are no subscriptions to buy, no fees at all. What's more, you'll receive free updates automatically to make sure that your website is always secure and compatible with the latest web browsers.
WooCommerce / Web Store
WordPress can be extended by adding PLUGINS. WooCommerce is one such plugin that provides EVERYTHING that you need to set up a web store. What's more, it's FREE! Your only cost is a small amount extra for us to install it and set everything up for how you want to run your business.
Updates are free, so you can be confident that everything will work securely and all the latest details like oversees taxes, VAT, worldwide shipping are dealt with seamlessly.
Anything else?
Rather than drone on and on about technical details, we wanted to keep this short and just address the most commonly asked questions. But if there's anything else that you want to ask, then please feel free to ask using our contact page and we'll try our best to make everything crystal clear.
Ask us anything