#Website hosting guide

[pinkukrumare]

The Essential Guide to Buy Website Hosting: What You Need to Know

In today’s digital age, having a website is crucial for businesses, freelancers, and hobbyists alike. But before you can launch your site, one of the most important steps is to buy website hosting. This guide will walk you through the essential aspects of website hosting, helping you understand what it is, the different types available, and how to choose the best option for your needs.

Understanding Website Hosting

So, what exactly is website hosting? In simple terms, hosting is a service that allows individuals and organizations to post a website onto the Internet. A hosting provider allocates space on their server for your website files, making them accessible online. Without hosting, your website wouldn't be viewable by anyone.

Types of Website Hosting

When you set out to buy website hosting, you'll encounter several types of hosting options, each suited for different needs. Understanding these can help you make a more informed decision:

Shared Hosting: This is the most common and budget-friendly option for beginners. With shared hosting, your website shares a server with other sites. While it's cost-effective, the downside is that heavy traffic to one site can slow down the others. It's perfect for small personal websites or blogs with low to moderate traffic.

VPS (Virtual Private Server) Hosting: If your site is growing and you expect more traffic, VPS hosting offers a middle ground between shared and dedicated hosting. It still shares a server, but you get your own dedicated portion of the server’s resources, allowing for better performance.

Dedicated Hosting: This type of hosting gives you an entire server dedicated solely to your website. It’s ideal for large businesses or high-traffic websites, offering maximum performance and control. However, it comes at a higher price point.

Cloud Hosting: Cloud hosting is becoming increasingly popular due to its scalability and flexibility. Your website is hosted on a network of servers, meaning you can easily upgrade or downgrade your resources as needed. This is an excellent option for websites with fluctuating traffic.

Managed WordPress Hosting: If you're planning to use WordPress for your site, managed hosting is worth considering. This service includes automatic updates, backups, and security measures tailored specifically for WordPress users.

Key Features to Consider

When you're ready to buy website hosting, several key features should influence your choice:

Storage and Bandwidth: Ensure that the hosting plan provides enough storage for your website files and sufficient bandwidth to handle your expected traffic. For example, a blog with lots of images may require more storage than a simple text-based site.

Uptime Guarantee: Look for a hosting provider that offers an uptime guarantee of 99.9% or higher. Downtime can significantly affect your website’s performance and your brand's reputation.

Customer Support: As a beginner, having reliable customer support is crucial. Choose a hosting provider that offers 24/7 support via multiple channels, including live chat, phone, and email.

Security Features: Security is paramount. Ensure your hosting plan includes essential features such as SSL certificates, DDoS protection, and regular backups to safeguard your data.

Ease of Use: The hosting platform should be user-friendly, especially for beginners. Look for features like one-click installations and intuitive control panels to make managing your website easier.

How to Buy Website Hosting

Now that you understand the types and features of hosting, here’s a simple step-by-step guide to help you buy website hosting:

Determine Your Needs: Assess your website's requirements based on your goals, anticipated traffic, and the type of content you plan to create. This will help you choose the right hosting type.

Research Hosting Providers: Explore different hosting providers and compare their offerings. Some popular options include Bluehost, HostGator, SiteGround, and DreamHost. Check user reviews, performance metrics, and customer support ratings.

Compare Plans: Look at the features and prices of various hosting plans. Pay attention to renewal rates, as many providers offer low introductory prices that increase significantly after the first term.

Choose a Domain Name: If you don’t already have a domain name, consider registering one through your hosting provider. Many offer free domain registration for the first year when you buy website hosting.

Select Your Plan: Once you've settled on a provider and plan, make your selections. Be cautious about any add-ons or upgrades, ensuring they align with your needs.

Complete the Purchase: Finally, proceed to checkout. Read the terms and conditions, and finalize your payment. After your purchase, you’ll receive instructions to set up your hosting account.

[lakshinandeibam]

How to Buy Website Hosting: A Complete Beginner’s Guide

If you're looking to launch a website, knowing how to buy website hosting is one of the process's first and most crucial steps. Whether it's for a blog, an online store, or a portfolio, choosing the right hosting service can make or break your website's performance. With so many options available, it can be overwhelming, but don't worry—this guide will walk you through the process clearly, step-by-step.

In this post, we'll cover the basics of website hosting, explain the different types of hosting plans available, and help you choose the right one for your needs.

What Is Website Hosting?

Before diving into the steps of how to buy website hosting, let’s first understand what website hosting is. Simply put, web hosting is a service that allows you to post your website on the internet. The hosting provider stores your site’s data on their servers, making it accessible to visitors when they type in your domain name.

Without web hosting, your website wouldn’t have a home on the web. Think of it as renting space on the internet so that people can view and interact with your site.

Step 1: Determine Your Website’s Needs

When learning how to buy website hosting, the first thing you need to figure out is what kind of hosting best suits your website. The hosting you need largely depends on the type and size of your website. Here are some factors to consider:

Traffic expectations: If you’re expecting high traffic or growth shortly, you’ll want a more robust hosting plan.

Website type: Different types of websites have different requirements. An e-commerce site will need more resources than a small personal blog.

Content type: Websites that have a lot of images or videos will need more storage space and bandwidth than text-heavy websites.

Step 2: Understand the Different Types of Hosting

When figuring out how to buy website hosting, understanding the various types of hosting available is critical. Each type serves different purposes and comes with different price points.

Shared Hosting: This is the most affordable option and is great for small websites or blogs. Your website shares server space with other sites, making it cost-effective but slower if the server becomes overloaded.

VPS Hosting (Virtual Private Server): A step up from shared hosting, VPS hosting gives you more control and resources. Your site is hosted on a virtual partition of a physical server, which provides more stability and performance.

Dedicated Hosting: With dedicated hosting, you have an entire server to yourself. It’s powerful and expensive, making it suitable for large businesses or websites with high traffic.

Cloud Hosting: A flexible option that uses multiple servers to balance load and maximize uptime. If one server fails, another takes its place, making it a great option for websites that need high availability.

Managed WordPress Hosting: This type of hosting is specifically optimized for WordPress websites. It often comes with enhanced security, automatic updates, and better performance for WordPress users.

Step 3: Compare Hosting Providers

Now that you know your needs and the types of hosting, the next step in how to buy website hosting is comparing different hosting providers. Some popular providers include:

Bluehost

SiteGround

HostGator

InMotion Hosting

DreamHost

When comparing these providers, look at the following:

Uptime guarantees: Choose a provider that offers at least 99.9% uptime to ensure your site remains accessible.

Customer support: Check if they provide 24/7 support and if their support is available via multiple channels like chat, phone, and email.

Security features: Ensure the host offers basic security features like SSL certificates, firewalls, and regular backups.

Pricing: Pay attention to both the initial price and renewal rates. Some providers offer low introductory prices, but their renewal rates can be significantly higher.

Step 4: Choose a Hosting Plan

After comparing hosting providers, the next step in how to buy website hosting is to choose the right hosting plan. Most hosting companies offer multiple tiers of plans within each hosting type. When deciding, think about:

Bandwidth: This refers to the amount of data your website can transfer to users. High-traffic sites will need more bandwidth.

Storage: This determines how much content you can host on your site, such as images, videos, and files. Make sure to pick a plan that fits your content needs.

Scalability: If you expect your site to grow, pick a plan that can scale with your traffic, such as cloud hosting or a VPS.

Step 5: Purchase Your Hosting and Domain

Once you’ve chosen the hosting plan, the next step in how to buy website hosting is to make the purchase. Most hosting companies offer domain registration services, so you can bundle your domain name with your hosting plan. However, you can also purchase your domain separately from a registrar like GoDaddy or Namecheap.

After choosing your domain and hosting plan, you’ll be prompted to enter payment details and confirm your purchase.

Step 6: Set Up Your Website

Congratulations! You’ve just learned how to buy website hosting and have purchased your hosting plan. Now, it’s time to set up your website. Most hosting providers offer one-click installations for platforms like WordPress, making the setup process quick and easy.

Once your website is live, make sure to:

Install security plugins (if using WordPress)

Set up analytics to monitor traffic

Optimize your site for performance by compressing images and using caching tools

[ishouldmakethissometime]

I should really consider dropping square space and just make this my website.

neocities guide - why you should build your own html website

do you miss the charm of the 90s/00s web where sites had actual personality instead of the same minimalistic theme? are you feeling drained by social media and the constant corporate monopoly of your data and time? do you want to be excited about the internet again? try neocities!!

what is neocities?

neocities is a free hosting website that lets you build your own html website from scratch, with total creative control. in their own words: "we are tired of living in an online world where people are isolated from each other on boring, generic social networks that don't let us truly express ourselves. it's time we took back our personalities from these sterilized, lifeless, monetized, data mined, monitored addiction machines and let our creativity flourish again."

why should I make my own website?

web3 has been overtaken by capitalism & conformity. websites that once were meant to be fun online social spaces now exist solely to steal your data and sell you things. it sucks!! building a personal site is a great way to express yourself and take control of your online experience.

what would I even put on a website?

the best part about making your own site is that you can do literally whatever the hell you want! focus on a specific subject or make it a wild collection of all your interests. share your art! make a shrine for one of your interests! post a picture of every bird you see when you step outside! make a collection of your favorite blinkies! the world is your oyster !! here are some cool example sites to inspire you: recently updated neocities sites | it can be fun to just look through these and browse people's content! space bar | local interstellar dive bar creature feature | halloween & monsters big gulp supreme peanutbuttaz | personal site dragodiluna linwood | personal site patho grove | personal site

getting started: neocities/html guide

sound interesting? here are some guides to help you get started, especially if you aren't familiar with html/css sadgrl.online webmastery | a fantastic resource for getting started with html & web revival. also has a layout builder that you can use to start with in case starting from scratch is too intimidating web design in 4 minutes | good for learning coding basics w3schools | html tutorials templaterr | demo & html for basic web elements eggramen test pages | css page templates to get started with sadgrl background tiles | bg tiles rivendell background tiles | more free bg tiles

fun stuff to add to your site

want your site to be cool? here's some fun stuff that i've found blinkies-cafe | fantastic blinkie maker! (run by @transbro & @graphics-cafe) gificities | internet archive of 90s/00s web gifs internet bumper stickers | web bumper stickers momg | gif gallery 99 gif shop | 3d gifs 123 guestbook | add a guestbook for people to leave messages cbox | add a live chat box moon phases | track the phases of the moon gifypet | a little clickable page pet adopt a shroom | mushroom page pet tamaNOTchi | virtual pet crossword puzzle | daily crossword imood | track your mood neko | cute cat that chases your mouse pollcode | custom poll maker website hit counter | track how many visitors you have

web revival manifestos & communities

also, there's actually a pretty cool community of people out there who want to bring joy back to the web! melonland project | web project/community celebrating individual & joyful online experiences. Also has an online forum melonland intro to web revival | what is web revival? melonking manifesto | status cafe | share your current status nightfall city | online community onio.cafe | leave a message and enjoy the ambiance sadgrl internet manifesto | yesterweb internet manifesto | sadly defunct, still a great resource reclaiming online social spaces | great manifesto on cultivating your online experience

in conclusion

i want everyone to make a neocities site because it's fun af and i love seeing everyone's weird personal sites that they made outside of the control of capitalism :) say hi to me on neocities

[wjmdigitaldesign]

WordPress.com vs WordPress.org: What’s the Difference and Which One Should You Choose?

If you’re thinking about launching a website or starting a blog, chances are you’ve come across WordPress. But there’s a common point of confusion: WordPress.com vs WordPress.org. At first glance, they sound like the same thing — but they’re actually quite different platforms with distinct features, pros, and cons.

In this blog post, we’ll break down the differences between the two, help you understand which one suits your needs, and guide you toward the best choice for your website goals.

What is WordPress.org?

WordPress.org is the self-hosted version of WordPress. It’s the open-source software that anyone can download for free and install on their own web hosting server. With WordPress.org, you have full control over your website.

Key Features:

Complete Customization: Install any theme or plugin, modify the code, and design your site exactly the way you want.

Ownership: You fully own your website and all its content.

Monetization Freedom: Use any ad network, sell products, offer memberships, or add affiliate links with no restrictions.

Advanced Functionality: Great for eCommerce (using plugins like WooCommerce), custom development, SEO tools, and more.

Pros:

Total control and flexibility

Thousands of free and premium plugins/themes

Full access to your site's backend and data

Ideal for business, large blogs, and complex websites

Cons:

Requires web hosting (usually $5–$15/month)

You handle security, backups, and updates (though plugins can automate much of this)

Slightly steeper learning curve for beginners

What is WordPress.com?

WordPress.com is a hosted platform created by Automattic (the company behind WordPress). It offers a simplified, all-in-one solution for building a website without worrying about hosting, maintenance, or technical tasks.

Key Features:

No Hosting Needed: Hosting is included. No need to buy a separate plan or domain (though custom domains are available on paid plans).

Easy to Start: Perfect for beginners who want a fast and simple setup.

Maintenance-Free: WordPress.com handles updates, security, and backups.

Pros:

Free basic plan available

No setup or maintenance required

User-friendly dashboard

Great for hobby blogs, personal websites, or simple portfolios

Cons:

Limited customization (especially on the free plan)

Cannot upload custom themes or plugins unless on Business or higher plan

Limited monetization options on lower-tier plans

WordPress.com branding unless you upgrade

WordPress.com vs WordPress.org: Quick Comparison Table

Feature

WordPress.com

WordPress.org

Hosting

Included

You provide (self-hosted)

Cost

Free with paid upgrades

Free software, hosting cost

Custom Themes & Plugins

Limited (paid plans only)

Unlimited

Monetization Freedom

Limited

Full control

eCommerce

Only on paid plans

Full eCommerce support

Maintenance

Handled for you

You manage it

Suitable For

Beginners, personal blogs

Businesses, pros, devs

Which One Should You Choose?

Choose WordPress.com if:

You want a hassle-free experience and don’t want to manage hosting or security.

You’re a beginner with no technical background.

You just need a simple blog or portfolio site.

You’re okay with limited flexibility or willing to pay for premium features.

Choose WordPress.org if:

You want full control and the ability to customize everything.

You’re building a business website, store, or scalable project.

You need to monetize your content freely.

You're comfortable (or willing to learn) about managing your own hosting.

Final Thoughts

Both WordPress.com and WordPress.org offer powerful tools for creating websites, but the right choice depends on your goals. If you’re starting out or want something easy and low-maintenance, WordPress.com is a solid option. If you're aiming for maximum control, customization, and scalability, WordPress.org is the way to go.

Still unsure? Start with WordPress.com to get your feet wet — and when you’re ready for more freedom, you can always migrate to WordPress.org.

Need help deciding or building your site? Contact WJM Digital Design for professional guidance, custom WordPress development, and support tailored to your goals. info@wjmdigitaldesign.com

[expphot0]

Managed WordPress vs Other Hosting: A Simple Guide for Business Owners

Introduction: Why Your Website Hosting Matters If you own a business with a website, you’ve probably heard terms like “WordPress” and “hosting” thrown around. But what does it all mean, and why should you care? Think of your website as a store – it needs to be built somewhere. That “somewhere” is your hosting. WordPress powers about 43% of all websites on the internet. It’s popular because it’s…

[argentsurleweb]

️ Les Étapes Clés pour Un Site Web Performant et Sécurisé

Cette vidéo vous dévoile les meilleures stratégies pour drupal help section overview | tutorial – astuces et stratégies pour réussir en ligne !. À ne pas manquer ! Description détaillée de ️ Les Étapes Clés pour Un Site Web Performant et Sécurisé Vous voulez un site web rapide, sécurisé et bien référencé ? Suivez ces étapes indispensables pour éviter les erreurs courantes et réussir votre…

[techbreeze-it-solutions]

How to Access FanFiction.net During the Ongoing Outage

FanFiction.net, one of the largest and most popular platforms for fan fiction writers and readers, has been down for over 24 hours due to a DNS issue. If you’re experiencing this FanFiction.net DNS issue, don’t worry—there’s a workaround. By manually adding DNS entries to your host file, you can bypass the problem and regain access to the site. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to do this for…

[theseoblogspace]

A Beginner's Guide to Setting Up an Online Store with Ecommerce Hosting

Imagine you’ve spent years perfecting your craft, making unique, handmade items. Now, you’re ready to share them with everyone. Or maybe you’ve found a profitable niche in wholesale or dropshipping. Whatever your dream is, starting an online store is the first step to success. In today’s world, having an ecommerce site is key to reaching more people and increasing sales1. With low upfront costs…

[bhawaybhalla]

Build Your Dream Website in 2024: Your Beginner's Guide to Launching Like a Pro (Even with ZERO Coding Experience!)

The internet is your oyster, and a website is your pearl. In 2024, having an online presence isn’t a luxury, it’s a necessity, whether you’re a budding entrepreneur, a passionate artist, or simply someone wanting to share your voice with the world. But the thought of building a website can feel daunting, especially for beginners. Fear not, intrepid explorer! This comprehensive guide will equip…

[cat-eared-rose]

Personally, I'm enjoying the pirating mood you're in. Keep up the good work.

It's actually because someone I follow is also on a piracy rant LOL but also like. Read up on how to do this shit safely it is not that hard I promise you. Look at the posts everyone 👀

[hexiva]

Roleplay Is Not Dead Nor Doth It Sleep

There's a post going around about how text-based, freeform roleplay is dead, and I was typing up a huge response to this, with an accompanying guide on how to find roleplayer in 2024, when I realized it might have a bigger reach if I made it its own post. So here's that guide.

I hesitate to say that there isn't a problem with the new format of social media making roleplay more difficult to find, but in the desire to make that point, the OP of the original post has left people with the idea that there's no way for them to get into freeform text roleplay in 2024. Which just isn't true! Here, look at all the ways.

Forums

The link to RPG-Directory to find roleplaying forums is a good start. Once you've found a forum RPG, even if you don't join, there's usually an 'advertising' section on that forum where other forum RPGs post their ads - this may help you to find forums that don't advertise on RPG-D.

Another really good forum to find roleplay on is Barbermonger. Barbermonger is focused on connecting people for one-on-one roleplays.

This last one's going to be weird, but it turns out that there are still people seeking roleplay on the Gaia Online forums after all these years. I think this is delightfully retro and then crowd there seems a little older than average. No pre-existing knowledge of Gaia required.

Tumblr

You can also find forum roleplay groups (as well as tumblr and Discord groups) right here on Tumblr. Usually, the thing to do is to use the search function - search for "[genre] rp" or "[fandom] rp" and sort by "latest." (If you sort by Top, you are likely to find dead RPs.) For example, here's fantasy rp, historical rp, and marvel rp. You can also try jcink rp, as most roleplay forums are hosted on Jcink these days, or discord rp, depending on your favored platform.

There are also tumblr blogs specifically dedicated to advertising roleplays. I'm not super familiar with these nowadays, but just in the process of searching those tags above, I found these:

Jcink Tinder

RPG Adverts

RPings

There are more, I just don't know them off the top of my head.

Reddit

Listen, don't run away, I swear it's good now - I swear Reddit is good now -

Reddit is a good place to find Discord roleplays. It's a little heavier on smut-only roleplays than other platforms mentioned here, but it's not impossible to find sexless, plot-based roleplay here either. Most ads are for one on one RP, but you can find groups mixed in here too. The big subreddits for text-based freeform RP seem to be:

r/DiscordRP

r/RoleplayPartnerSearch

r/roleplaying

r/Roleplay

Some of these have weird rules about what you can put in your ad, and I don't remember which ones, so read carefully and don't get discouraged if your ad is initially removed.

Discord

In 2024, Discord is by far the biggest and most popular platform for roleplay, and it has its own native roleplay advertising hubs. Here are a bunch:

roleplay partner hub

Rockin Roleplay

The Roleplay Garden

roleplay help

the roleplay connection

RP Central

Roleplay Central

Roleplay Hub

Barbermonger also has a Discord server

Roleplay Meets: Reborn

RP Hub

The Scribes Guild

DM Rp Village

cherry blossom! roleplay hub

DM-RP

Roleplay Round Table (21+)

The Historical Syndicate (specifically for historical roleplay)

The Roleplayer's Directory

If you can't find the Discord roleplay you want on here, you can also try Discord hub websites, like Disboard. These work similar to tumblr tags - search for [genre] rp or [fandom] rp.

Other

The original post specifically mentions that 'all the old "omegle but for role play" type websites died out ages ago'. This is mostly true, but not quite! There's still Rolechat. It's a little janky, but what it needs more than anything is a bigger user base. Their Discord server is also a good place to find one on one discord roleplay. It is, of course, free, but if you want to support its development, they have a patreon.

Please reblog this post, and add your own tips on how to find roleplay!

[argentsurleweb]

Améliorez Vos Emails Marketing et Faites Décoller Votre Taux d'Ouverture !

Cette vidéo vous dévoile les meilleures stratégies pour create a mysql database in cpanel | siteground mysql tutorial – astuces et stratégies pour réussir en ligne !. À ne pas manquer ! Description détaillée de Améliorez Vos Emails Marketing et Faites Décoller Votre Taux d’Ouverture ! Découvrez les meilleures pratiques pour améliorer la conception de vos emails marketing et augmenter votre taux…

[what-even-is-thiss]

Free or Cheap Spanish Learning Resources So You Can Run at Windmills in Fluent Spanish

I will update this list as I learn of any more useful ones. If you want general language learning resources check out this other post. This list is Spanish specific. Find lists for other specific languages here.

For the purposes of this list "free" means something that is either totally free or has a useful free tier. "Cheap" is a subscription under $10USD a month, a software license or lifetime membership purchase under $100USD, or a book under $30USD. If you want to suggest a resource for this list please suggest ones in that price range that are of decent quality and not AI generated.

WEBSITES

Dreaming Spanish - A website that is also a YouTube Channel. This is a comprehensible input site with videos about a variety of subjects with multiple hosts from multiple countries. It has content for learners from absolute beginner to lower advanced. It lets you sort videos by dialect, subject, length, etc. The free version has a lot of content. The paid version is $9 a month and has many more videos and allows you to track your listening hours. The website is in English but all videos are entirely in Spanish.

Lawless Spanish - A free website with resources to learn Spanish relating to grammar, pronunciation, and vocabulary. The website also has worksheets, charts, an AI chatbot, and reviews of different learning resources. The website is in English.

Spanish Boom - A free website with beginner lessons and free readings with audio and visual aids. They're also associated with a service called Esidioma that provides paid courses with tutor help for around $23 and also sells books. Prices are in Euros but they also sell to people outside of Europe. The website is available in multiple languages.

studyspanish.com - A website with free verb drills and grammar lessons. It's commonly used by high school Spanish students. They also have a blog that hasn't updated in a while but there is an archive to read through. They have a paid tier with access to their podcasts, vocab lessons, and their Spanish learning app which is $10 a month or $120 for a lifetime membership. The website is in English.

Speaking Latino - A website marketed at Spanish teachers but it's in English and has guides to colloquial Spanish and slang in a lot of different countries and a free blog with tips on sounding like a local in different countries. It has a paid tier but that's mostly useful for Spanish teachers. They also sell slang dictionaries for various countries that are usually less than $10.

UT Austin Spanish Proficiency Exercises - A bunch of free grammar, vocab, and pronunciation guides for various tasks you should be able to do in Spanish at various levels from one of my alma maters, the University of Texas at Austin. It's got videos of people from different countries pronouncing things. The podcast links often don't work for some reason but the grammar, vocab, and video links should work fine. The website is in English.

SpanishDict - A free dictionary website and app with a search feature that also has curated vocabulary lists on various topics and articles. They have a paid tier at $13 a month with a writing coach and subscriber only curated lists and articles. Personally I don't think their paid tier is all that special but it's up to you. The website is in English.

BBC Bitesize Spanish - Bitesize is a free study resource for kids and is sorted by level. It has articles aimed at little kids as well as secondary school aged teens studying for their exams or planning to study abroad. The website is in English and available worldwide, not just in the UK.

YOUTUBE CHANNELS

Hola Spanish - A channel by a woman named Brenda from Argentina who makes videos about grammar, pronunciation, culture, media, and general Spanish tips for upper beginner to advanced learners. The channel is almost entirely in Spanish with occasional vocabulary words translated into English onscreen. There are subtitles in Spanish onscreen but sometimes they randomly disappear.

Butterfly Spanish - A channel with free lessons from beginner to lower intermediate. The host also makes videos about useful phrases and listening practice videos. The channel is mostly in English.

Spanish After Hours - A comprehensible input channel for beginner to intermediate learners with vlogs, history, Spanish tips, and news. The descriptions and video titles are in English but the videos are all in Spanish. The channel host is from Spain.

Easy Spanish - A channel part of the easy languages network that makes a combination of videos with useful phrases and terms for beginners and interviews on the street with locals. They have teams in both Barcelona and Mexico City and there are dual language subtitles in Spanish and English onscreen. The hosts also have a podcast for intermediate to advanced learners.

My Daily Spanish - A catchall channel that has lessons, discussions of grammar, culture topics, vlogs, vocabulary, and other various things. The host is from Spain and also makes a lot of YouTube shorts. She mostly speaks in Spanish but occasionally uses English or has English translations onscreen.

Spansh Boost with Martin and Spanish Boost with Mila - These channels are run by a couple from Argentina who also work as tutors on italki. They often appear on each other's channels and both have their own podcasts and vlogs and general content videos that they make discussing their lives, giving tips, and discussing culture. Mila also makes a lot of videos playing the sims.

Spanish Boost Gaming - Run by Martin from Spanish Boost, this is a lets play channel in clear and easy to understand Spanish. Subtitles are available in English and Spanish and a few other languages as well and it's an actual let's play channel. He plays a variety of video games, makes jokes, and says cuss words and everything.

Mextalki - A channel run by a couple of guys from Mexico city that has listening practice, podcasts, street interviews, and Mexican Spanish specific lessons. Some videos have dual language subtitles onscreen while others do not. The channel is majority in Spanish but in a few lesson videos or portions of videos they will speak in English a bit.

Espanol Con Juan - A channel that teaches Spanish in Spanish from upper beginner to upper intermediate. Juan has grammar lessons, vocabulary lessons, and videos about culture. He is from Spain and the channel is entirely in Spanish. He also has a podcast for more advanced learners.

READING PRACTICE

Vikidia - A wikipedia type website specifically made for kids. The articles are short and written in more simple easy to understand Spanish. The website is in Spanish and made for native speaker kids.

Spanish graded readers by Olly Richards - Spanish has short stories and dialogues for beginner and intermediate, books in easy Spanish on world war 1, world war 2, western philosophy, and climate change. There's also dialogue books specific to Mexican Spanish and Spanish used on social media. The books usually go from $5-$20 new depending on how old they are and whether or not you bought a digital copy. These are really easy to find at used bookstores for cheap though, especially in the US.

Conatilteg Digital - This is a mobile app that provides digital versions of the free textbooks for children provided by the Mexican Ministry of Education both historic and current. The link I provided is for iOS but the app is also available on android and the app is available in multiple countries and not just Mexico. The app is entirely in Spanish and categorized by grade from preschool to secondary school so it's a resource appropriate for all levels and may be enjoyable for any kids you know that are learning Spanish. You can also view their browser website here. (also entirely in Spanish)

Hola Que Pasa - A free website with news articles for learners from beginner to intermediate difficulty. They also provide audio and have the news articles available in podcast form. Every article has certain phrases highlighted that you can hover over and get and English translation of. The website is in a mix of English and Spanish.

Spanish in Levels - A world news website in Spanish for learners. The articles are separated into three different levels and the website is in a mix of English and Spanish. Each article also has audio.

PODCASTS

Spanish for False Beginners - An unscripted podcast about various topics hosted by a guy from the UK and a guy from Spain. The podcast is aimed at people who find beginner content to be boring but still find intermediate content to be too difficult. English is very rarely used.

Uforia/Univision - Uforia is a free app aimed at native speakers in the US and has Spanish language radio, music, and podcasts. Univision in general is also useful if you like American and international news and programming in Spanish.

Radio National de Espana - Another site for native speakers, this is Spanish National Radio. They have a variety of free podcasts and radio programs.

Spanish Obsessed - This is a series of lessons in podcast form for learners from absolute beginner to advanced.

Storylearning Spanish Podcast - This podcast tells different short stories in Spanish and is aimed at upper beginner to lower intermediate learners.

Radio Ambulante - A Spanish language podcast from NPR that's similar to something like This American Life that tells stories from around Latin America. Although it's aimed at native speakers, the language used is clear and understandable and transcripts are available. They're also aware that a lot of intermediate and advanced learners use them for listening practice and they have developed a free app that helps with comprehension and vocabulary when listening to their podcast.

SELF STUDY TEXTBOOKS

Madrigal's Magic Key to Spanish - A self study textbook written in the late 80s that still mostly holds up for beginner to upper beginner Spanish. A paperback edition of the textbook is about $25 and used copies and ebooks are also usually available wherever you like to buy books. It's also half off on Amazon pretty often.

Complete Spanish step-by-step by Mcgraw Hill - This is a complete version of the McGraw Hill budget option, the spanish step by step series that focuses on the most frequently used words and grammar. It's $25 new but the individual books in the series usually cost less than $10 and used versions and ebooks are available.

Complete Spanish Grammar from Mcgraw Hill - This is a workbook as well as a textbook that usually costs around $20. The complete Spanish all in one version of the book costs about $40. Used versions of these books can be difficult to find because people tend to write all over them but ebook versions are available. You can also find their beginner workbook for around $18.

Practical Spanish Grammar - This book is usually around $25 but because it's not a workbook it's fairly easy to find used copies. An advanced grammar textbook is also available.

SERIES FOR LEARNERS AND KIDS SHOWS

Destinos - This is a series of over 50 episodes of a telenovela made for Spanish learners. The plot revolves around a group of siblings searching around the world for their long lost half sibling they just learned that they had so the series includes a lot of different Spanish dialects.

Extra Spanish - A 13 episode sitcom made to show in Spanish classrooms that revolves around a group of friends in Spain and a student that just moved there.

Dora la Expladora - Yeah if you remember Dora the Explorer from your preschool days it also unsurprisingly exists in Spanish. You can watch clips and some full episodes on YouTube and buy full seasons for around $8 each on Amazon.

PBS Kids in Spanish - A few PBS Kids shows like Cyberchase and Daniel Tiger have been dubbed into Spanish. The link I've given goes to a place to buy them on Amazon Prime but if you go digging on their YouTube channel or the PBS Kids website you also might be able to find them for free. They don't always make it easy to find though.

Plaza Sésamo - The Spanish language localization of Sesame Street for Mexican audiences with its own unique characters. The YouTube channel has a huge amount of content on it and often has episodes streaming live.

[numbpill]

========================================================

[tutorial: build your own neocities/nekoweb page]

========================================================

a beginner's guide for making your very own home on the indie web—retro, personal, weird, and 100% yours.

this ain’t an average wix, squarespace, or tiktok aesthetic.

we’re talking full html/css with soul and attitude.

[ prerequisites ]

------------------

> an idea

> basic text editor (vscode, notepad++, or even notepad)

> account on https://neocities.org or https://nekoweb.org

> some gifs or tiles you love (dig deep or make your own)

> optional: image host or gif repo (or self-host everything)

[ feeling overwhelmed? read this. ]

-----------------------------------

you do *not* need to know everything.

html is not a mountain. it's a garden.

you plant one tag. then another. then a style. then a button.

you can build your site piece by piece.

and every piece is a portal to somewhere personal.

you are allowed to make broken pages.

you are allowed to use templates.

you are allowed to start over as many times as you want.

this is *your* world. you control the weird.

[ step 1: create an account ]

-----------------------------

> neocities: https://neocities.org

> nekoweb: https://nekoweb.org

register a name, log in, and enter your file manager.

this is where you upload your files and see your site live.

[ step 2: your first file - index.html ]

----------------------------------------

make a new file: `index.html`

basic starter:

<html>

<head>

<title>my weird little corner</title>

<link rel="stylesheet" href="style.css">

</head>

<body>

<h1>welcome to the void</h1>

<p>this is my page. it’s strange. like me.</p>

<img src="mygif.gif">

</body>

</html>

> upload to the dashboard

> boom. you’re live at

https://yoursite.neocities.org

or https://nekoweb.org/u/yoursite

[ step 3: add a style sheet - style.css ]

-----------------------------------------

create a file called `style.css` and upload it.

here’s some nostalgic magic:

body {

background: url('tile.gif');

color: lime;

font-family: "Courier New", monospace;

text-shadow: 1px 1px 0 black;

}

img {

image-rendering: pixelated;

}

marquee {

font-size: 20px;

color: magenta;

}

link it in your html and the vibes activate.

[ step 4: decorate it like a haunted usb ]

------------------------------------------

> use <marquee> for chaos scrolls

> embed gifs from https://gifcities.org/

> steal buttons from https://cyber.dabamos.de/88x31/

> set up a guestbook at https://www.smartgb.com/

> loop audio with <audio autoplay loop>

> add fake errors, 90s web lore, random link lists

[ step 5: resources, themes, and comfort ]

------------------------------------------

> templates & layouts: https://numbpilled-themes.tumblr.com

> glitchy gifs & buttons: https://glitchcat.neocities.org/resources

> layout builder: https://sadgrl.online/projects/layout-builder/

> free tiled backgrounds: https://backgrounds.neocities.org/

> beginner html intro: https://www.w3schools.com/html/

> pixel fonts & cyber assets: https://fontstruct.com/

remember:

you don't need to know js. you don't need to be a coder.

you just need a mood, a direction, a dream.

the html will follow.

[ bonus concept: shrine pages ]

-------------------------------

> a page just for one character you love

> a room to house digital fragments of your identity

> embed quotes, music, images like altars

> call it shrine.html and link it from your homepage

[ closing mantra ]

------------------

you are not here to be optimized.

you are not a brand.

you are a ghost inside the machine,

carving your initials into the silicon void.

welcome to Your website.

========================================================