Need suggestion for starting a social website

[jeyaganesh]

Hi, I would like to start a social website like my space or facebook. I have no programing skills.
1. I am looking for some webhosts like yahoo who are providing 'page builder' kind of software.
2. I want to know what kind of webhosting service I have to choose?
3. For such a website how much storage capacity I have to choose?
4. Will webhost themself provide server to run the website or I have run the website from my computer?
From my knowledge I have these questions. Please suggest me generously if I have to concentrate on more things. Thanks in advance
Jay

[23meg]

Hi, I would like to start a social website like my space or facebook. I have no programing skills.
1. I am looking for some webhosts like yahoo who are providing 'page builder' kind of software.

You can't really create such a site without programming skills, and "page builder" kind of software will just produce static pages, not write code that will run such a site.


Please suggest me generously if I have to concentrate on more things.

Perhaps you should learn a programming language, or hire programmers. Ruby on Rails is a great framework for the kind of thing you're looking into.

[Cappy]

I agree, ruby on rails would work best.
site5.com is THE best host I've ever had, I host 3 websites on a $5 a month plan and it includes TONS of features like time-machine and ruby on rails.

[Raylee]

Given your skill level I would suggest that you could begin with a Blog. Lots of the skills are transferable in the learning curve. Blogger is easy to learn. Even if it goes nowhere you will have your hands on the controls and learn how it works. You can also do a Forum like this one without a lot of programming skills. You can use PHPbb which is freeware and there are hosts that provide the server, PHP, and Mysqul which are the programs that it runs in all as part of the hosting package. The problem isn't getting the site up it's getting enough traffic to make it interesting which is an entirely seperate issue. Just like an empty chat room an empty forum or other social site is boring. Interesting new material is the life blood that keeps people coming back. Many sites fail before they reach critical mass of attracting enough people to forum a sustainable community. This may not help but I suppose it won't hurt. Lots of luck. There is lots to learn but if you enjoy it then it won't take long at all.

[jeyaganesh]

Thank you very much for your suggestions. I will try to learn that program. As you mentioned I will try to create blogs and small websites first, prior to start such a social website. Thank you all, Jay