For a newbie, the very term web hosting is somewhat complex and at the same time confusing. Most of you have certainly tried of going through the endless list of articles that are commonly associated with the term “beginner friendly information”. In reality, these so-called beginner friendly articles are replete with technical jargons and definitions that eventually debar a large section of people from comprehending its exact meaning. The result is quite obvious. Most of people consider web hosting is a thing for the techie, of the techie and by the techie. However, the ground reality is the very opposite. Web hosting is not as complex as it appears; you just need to have a resource where all the important details pertained to web hosting are illustrated with ample examples and in simple language for making it easier for a non-technical person to get the hang of it.

Lets start learning various aspects of web hosting from the scratch. This will help us to grapple with this concept. Some of the common definitions and terms are exemplified in layman language so that people without non-technical background can come to term with this concept:

Web Host
It is a service that permits organizations or individuals to make a website accessible through World Wide Web. It is an Internet hosting service and the organizations that are offering this service, share server space with their clients. Apart from providing space, these organizations also offer data center space and Internet connectivity for their respective clients.

Scripting Language Compatibility
This is the most vital issue that should be heeded with due care. Not all servers are compatible with both PHP programming language and ASP.Net. Therefore if you are planning to run your website in PHP programming language, you have to ensure the fact that your web hosting server is compatible with this particular scripting language.

Bandwidth
It is often termed as data transfer rate. The amount of data that can be retrieved from a website within a given time period is known as bandwidth. MB and GB are the two common units for measuring bandwidth.

Server Space
Conceptually, there is not much difference between your computer’s hard disk space and server space. The storage capacity of your website is by and large dependent on how much space is allotted for your website in that server.

Domain Name
It is often termed as hostname. It basically identifies a computer in the Internet. In most of the cases, web-hosting companies offer domain name for free and in some cases, they demand a little amount of charge for this purpose.

HTTP
This is the popular acronym of the term Hyper Text Transfer Protocol. This is an application level protocol that is used for transferring a web page from one place to another. Interlinked resources are being retrieved by using this protocol.

Structured Query Language
It is popularly known as SQL. This is a database programming language, which is extensively used for interacting with database and for answering users queries.

File Transfer Protocol
It is commonly termed as FTP. It is widely used for transferring files and pages from your PC to the server. Login information is provided by the hosting service provider and it is quite easy to use. Just type “FTP://” in a window box, which will enable you to access it.

HTML
It is an acronym of the term “Hyper Text Markup Language”. It is extensively used for developing websites.

SMTP
For transferring e-mails within the ambit of Internet Protocol networks, SMTP is used.

POP3
Post Office Protocol version 3 is used by local email clients for receiving mails from remote server. POP3 is actually an Internet standard protocol that is used extensively for retrieving emails.

In reality, the concept of web hosting is not as complicated as people think about it. If you try to comprehend its functions earnestly, you will definitely form a fair concept about it.