Web Space Hosting – Determine Your Web Space Needs

Web space corresponds to the total amount of megabytes or gigabytes a web space provider gives you with your hosting package. You must have heard that web space is used to hold the HTML and images which will be showcased on your site when your web pages are viewed.

However, you might not be aware that your web space also includes the website log files, PHP files, CGI programs, FrontPage extensions, and email accounts and emails along with space for databases.

Here is a basic scheme of how your web space is used up:

Log files – a list of requests made to your provider's server by your site. The log files tell where your visitors are coming from, and how often they come back.
PHP files. PHP is a scripting language used for creating dynamic pages.
CGI programs – CGI stands for Common Gateway Interface, it's a regular way data is passed between web applications.
FrontPage extensions – FrontPage is a website building software that enables you to create and maintain web pages through a graphic interface. FrontPage extensions support such features as data collection, counters, email and database processing.
Javascript files – these are a type of computer code that is used to perform tasks on web pages.
Externally linked CSS files – CSS is an addition to HTML that allows for better control over the way pages are displayed. CSS enables designers to build style sheets which define how different elements appear.
Email accounts and emails – hosting packages typically feature one or several email accounts.
Database – a collection of data that includes customer info, product codes, and so on. Data is stored on a web server.

Keep in mind that you may need to host more than one site on your web hosting plan. In that case you will need a lot of megabytes or even gigabytes of web space. Fortunately, web space is not expensive, and most web space providers offer hundreds of gigabytes of web space in their packages.

So, if you will be hosting one pretty simple site, then 50 MB of disc space will probably be enough. But if you are going to host a big website or several sites on one hosting plan, then you should search for a plan offering more than a hundred gigabytes of web space.

You can determine the amount of web space you need by trying to locate your site files on your hard drive and getting a total of web space it takes.