Free web servers

Free web servers are available to web users to host their own web pages, without paying for the privilege.

Typically, a user will be able to get a subdomain or a directory on the free web server to use - not their own domain name. So the address would look like www.thefreeserver/myname/mypage.htm, or myname.thefreeserver.com. On the free web server users can upload their web pages, images and more, and let the world have a look at them.

Such services were formerly very common, but have been superseded for ease of use and popularity by the free blogging sites (like blogger.com) and free social bookmarking sites (like facebook.com or bebo.com) which allow users to create good looking content via a web interface - this avoids the need to create web pages or mess about with html at all.

But for many users, using a free web server is the first step into a serious online web presence, which may eventually become a web business. It is a way of testing out web creation skills, traffic generation and SEO (search engine optimization) without actually having to pay money for a domain or for real hosting. In addition, many free web server services have extensive help and guidance available through their sites, and helpful user communities, so that users can get assistance when needed.

Many webmasters start off as users of free web servers, find that they like the control of layout and content they have, and master page design, FTP and scripting there, before eventually graduating to true hosting later on.

So, who offers the top free web servers? Services going strong include the venerable Geocities, and there are many others. See here for a current list:

http://www.dmoz.org/Computers/Internet/Web_Design_and_Development/Hosting/Free/