Introduction

There are many providers of Web Services out there. Some of the services are free and some are not. Many providers offer free signup with limited features in the hope that you will pay for the Premium service later. This is a pretty typical model. However, a new trend in the Web 2.0 world are services which are completely free but reasonably limited. You do not have a sense of what type of Web Server is running the system or what the technology is behind it. The days of uploading Web Pages to a server are being superceded but still useful. Web technology now permits one to just type content directly within a Web Page and press the 'Publish' button.

This page will cover simple to complex services. Simple doesn't mean low powered, it means less complex; essentially providing you with a Publishing framework. I'll go from the totally free lightweight service to heavy Portal Software and also cover what what lies in between. I physically can't cover everything but I'll give you a taster of some of the services I'm aware of based on my research and you can decide or not...

Web 2.0 Web Publishing

These are the Web 2.0 services. My choice of service is GooglePages. However, it doesn't have access to DBs yet and has limited but reasonably useful Javascript support. I don't pick it just because its Google. I pick it because it's a really simple but powerful way to publish your content. If you're looking for scripting then move onto the other services.

GooglePages http://pages.google.com is an extension of the Google Mail system. Going to pages.google.com brings you to the GooglePages product which is still in Beta. You can have up to five unique domains and each can have several hundred pages using standard templates and layouts. It's free and you can place Google Ads on your site. You can also drop Google Gadgets onto your pages. Highly recommended for someone wanting to create a Web page quickly. It's a Web 2.0 interface which does not have ftp access which may disappoint some looking for more. There's no DB or PHP. It's lightweight but powerful.

AwardSpace

Well, hmmm let me see... a lot of them are in Beta. GooglePages is a Beta too so I humbly offer competitive analysis. So what's it missing... FTP access Javascript access Database access Scripting access Control of your home page Folders! DNS setup Smart Sub-domain access FrontPage Extension (Okay, now maybe I am going too far...!) Mainly, what I'd call _advanced_ features. So, let's take a look at a service offering Advanced features for free. It's called http://www.awardspace.com and it's excellent. Maybe Google will either offer features which compete with this. You get a nice control panel which handles your access to all your services.

Weebly

Another new kid on the block is Weebly if you want to design your own WebSite in a few minutes. It's a Web 2.0 product from what I can see and uses the drag'n'drop paradigm. From what I've seen, it hasn't many Widgets but it's nice clean interface. It sits at the low end of the curve in terms of terms of technical know-how. It's a nice start but you can't do too much with it presently. I setup my own Website in about twenty minutes but it's mostly links to my Blog. You can take a look at it here.
I had to apply for an invite. So it may take you a little while to get an account but it's worth the wait. You can easily setup your own subdomain. What I like about it is the way it handles the navigation for you (a little like PageFlakes.) It'll be interesting to see where it goes. Right now it's pretty raw but reasonably powerful for it's limited set of features.
Weebly Web Site

FreeWebTown

I've setup a free account with FreeWebTown and so far it's pretty good. It has 250 MB of free storage and I've created my first page. I've decided to make it about celebrities. There is a nice editor tool with templates similar to GPC but not as comprehensive. The advantage over GPC is that is has ftp access which I think is important. You don't get your own subdomain but one nice feature is the the free dot.tk service recognizes the URL and you can redirect a domain to it. Over the next few weeks, I'll be checking out all the free services and see how they work out. Again, it's free and thay make their money from the ads you'll see on their editor tools. My Home Page on FreeWebTown FreeWebTown

Java Servlet Hosting

There are no free services worth their salt in this space based on my research. The closest you'll get to a free Service is http://eatj.com which offers a free service where you can upload WAR files. Catch is, if you don't login for 14 days or more your account is disabled. So you can't go on a two week holiday to change direction for a while. The service I recommend is Kattare.com which I have signed up for. It's not free but it serves my needs. I'll add more services here as time permits.

Other are:

http://jsp-servlet.net

http://myjavaserver.com

http://visionwebhosting.net

Ruby/PHP/CGI hosting

Ruby is leading the new wave of Web 2.0 services. Here is a list of them.

Right now, I don't recommend any of them but my Kattare account also has Ruby access, so I'm covered. However I will check these services out shortly once I get my other Java projects sorted. Ruby is the new wave, join it or get covered by the wash!

Portal Hosting Solutions (Liferay)

Right now, I'm recommending using http://www.kattare.com to host the LifeRay Portal http://www.liferay.com. If you'd like to see the running version of my Liferay Portal you can goto http://www.blokefood.com.  If you'd like to know the steps it took me to get hosted, then read my short article Liferay Portal Install Hints And Tips