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["Susan LaBarre" <idodesign AT earthlink.net>]

Hi,

My friend Colleen McCarthy has highly recommended this list as a great
source of technical support so I thought I'd join and introduce myself. For
around nine years, I've been employed in permanent (hah!) and contract
positions as a technical communications and training specialist at various
Triangle sw companies. My extended background includes graphic design,
marketing, and copywriting. I'm a pretty good interior designer as well.
I'm much more writer/designer than techie: I write raw html, CSS, and
generate javascript using Fireworks. I can read some SQL, but I can't write
it. I'm also an advanced FileMaker Pro developer... an archaic skillset
anywhere east of California ^_^  My platforms include Win and Mac; I don't
speak Unix or perl... but I have used and modified a few cgi scripts from
Matt's archives. 

I'm currently developing a site for a non-profit women's org and enjoying my
first experience with php applications (phpBB2, Noah's Classifieds, Gallery,
CubeCart). I'm overjoyed at the rise in open source technology. So far,
installation and modification of the php sw has been straightforward enough
... but I may have some significant questions about php as I drill down into
the mods. As a graphic designer, look and feel consistency is really
important to me, so out-of-the-box templates are less desirable than ones I
can customize to complement the rest of the site.  I'm also facing my first
foray into e-commerce. My e-commerce site is for a home furnishings retail
business that I'm starting (both bricks and clicks) and is part of my exit
strategy from the sw industry. Being downsized is getting old...and so am
I...so I'll continue working contracts until I can support myself as a
retailer.

I'm looking for some recommendations for a web hosting service that gives
the most bang for the buck along with decent security, reliability, and
customer service. I've had my websites hosted at Verve (which is pretty
inexpensive...www.vervehosting.com) but now that I want to develop an
e-commerce store, I want to shop around a little more and get some advice
from other web developers. I'd rather spend most of my money on inventory
than infrastructure... so price is key... but I don't want mickey mouse web
hosting, either. I know very little about SSL... but I want both sites to be
secure for shopping and form data. The org wants some of the site password
protected and I don't know how to do this yet. My eyes are glazing over a
little at Verve's expansive cpanel. It has way more features than I
understand ... and I'm not sure what to do with most of it. I could figure
my way through it but it's less efficient than asking for help.  Anyone with
some time and experience who could walk me though some of that stuff would
be most appreciated. 

The org (which represents around 200 professional women) will likely
generate heavy ads and photos in the classifieds section and heavy photos in
the gallery... so I'm not sure that a starter package with 200mb of storage
and 7gb of bandwidth is sufficient (but the org has no budget so it has to
be inexpensive). My ecommerce site will probably contain around 200 product
photos using CubeCart or something similar (my current package only has 50mb
of storage, 3 gb of bandwidth, and one SQL db. I expect a lot of click-thru
from the women's organization and maybe from some of my brick and mortar
customers, but I'm not going to do any heavy e-commerce marketing. The site
is more of a convenience for an existing customer base than a serious web
competitor... so bandwidth may not be a big issue right now. 

Any thoughts? Any help? Much appreciated!!

Regards,
Susan LaBarre

Phone: 919-460-2873
Mobile: 919-656-2216
Email:  idodesign AT earthlink.net

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