New Registration - Setting Domain Name

[Knight Township]

Background: I'm a volunteer for a small local government unit in the United States, and due to budget issues we have no funds to develop a website. Hence, I'm an unpaid volunteer for the government office, working with free, opensource software (mostly wordpress and free templates), in search of a free hosting provider; within a few weeks we will have a local benefactor donate the money to purchase a .com domain name.

 

I noticed on the account registration page one can only register once and registration information cannot be changed once registered. I have not registered yet for this reason.

 

Question: Do I need to wait until we own a domain name first, then register? Or can I register for a subdomain first (like "example.heliohost.org") then later add the domain name (like "www.example.com")?

 

Prattle: I've used a competitor of yours in the past (think 10 multiplied by 11 megabyes on a commercial tld) when I would design and donate free websites to non-profits in my local community (free minus the cost of their domain name), but it's been about 2 years since I've last designed a "free as in lunch" website, and the greater restrictions they've placed on free sites coupled with their move to a monthy versus 1 time upgrade plan has moved them out of reach for this kind of work. Looking around for another free host, I first found one, but their registration page has been broken/down first at least half a month, which has caused me to be concered about their claims of great uptime numbers. Several review sites sing your praises, so I'm glad to have found a hosting provider which I hope will become an invaluable resource to non-profits and public interest/local government organizations in the future.

 

edit to add section headings so the question stands out better for quick reviewers

 

I'm still trying to answer my own question, and think I may have - on the FAQ it says:

 

I added a subdomain to my account and it shows a "Queued" page.

All domain and subdomain changes take a day to go into effect. Seeing the queued page is normal and only means the change hasn't taken effect yet.

 

So I assume so. I also saw in mega-huge letters, underlined, that said futher down the page "please provide your username and domain name upfront" though now that I read it that appears to only apply to requests for support and not registration.

 

But I'm still not 110% sure, based off what the registration page said (make sure info is right - can't change later). Any clue would be greatly appreciated.

[Byron]

Question: Do I need to wait until we own a domain name first, then register? Or can I register for a subdomain first (like "example.heliohost.org") then later add the domain name (like "www.example.com")?

 

Yes you can do that and then when you aquire your domain name you can just add it as a Parked Domain or an Addon Domain.

 

Prattle: I've used a competitor of yours in the past (think 10 multiplied by 11 megabyes on a commercial tld) when I would design and donate free websites to non-profits in my local community (free minus the cost of their domain name), but it's been about 2 years since I've last designed a "free as in lunch" website, and the greater restrictions they've placed on free sites coupled with their move to a monthy versus 1 time upgrade plan has moved them out of reach for this kind of work. Looking around for another free host, I first found one, but their registration page has been broken/down first at least half a month, which has caused me to be concered about their claims of great uptime numbers. Several review sites sing your praises, so I'm glad to have found a hosting provider which I hope will become an invaluable resource to non-profits and public interest/local government organizations in the future.

 

That's fine with us if you want to build and donate websites but be aware that your only allowed one account per person. So the person your building the website for would have to register the account first.

[Guest Geoff]

Looking around for another free host, I first found one, but their registration page has been broken/down first at least half a month, which has caused me to be concered about their claims of great uptime numbers.

 

Heliohost has around a 95% uptime. This is subject to change without notice however.

 

Question: Do I need to wait until we own a domain name first, then register? Or can I register for a subdomain first (like "example.heliohost.org") then later add the domain name (like "www.example.com")?

 

You can also have your domain changed by an administrator.