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Godswill Utionkpan
985 PointsWhy is it making me pay?
Web host for students is making me pay for my order and I used treehouse discount but I still have to enter my credit card information.
5 Answers
Bob Sutherton
20,160 Points"Web Hosting for Students" is Zac Gordon's hosting company. It is not a free hosting account, but way less expensive than a regular hosting account.
"I started Web Hosting for Students based on a deep belief that the hosting industry needs a company dedicated to web students."
If my understanding is correct, they are able to provide hosting to students at a more affordable rate since their servers are not burdened with the load of big companies. Student websites are much more simple and less of a burden on the servers. That means that they can do more with less investment in server equipment. I think this is right, anyway.
I wish I had known about Web Hosting for Students when I started at Treehouse a year or so ago. I ended up buying some hosting from BLUEHOST just to "practice" with. I spent about $90 for a years worth of hosting. Most of that year, my hosting account just sat there gathering dust. While Bluehost does have some pretty good customer service (which goes a long way in a pinch), I still would have liked to have spent $25 and used the Treehouse discount for a very inexpensive hosting account.
P.S. Just looking over the site, I see that Treehouse members get one month free. This probably doesn't exclude you from having to put in your billing information, though. Just putting your billing information in doesn't mean that you will necessarily charged. But the company does likely want to have your billing information already on file for when the trial period ends. This is, I believe, exactly how Treehouse does it as well.
Godswill Utionkpan
985 PointsBut I am only a child. I don't have a credit card. That means I can't use the wordpress track anymore?
Bob Sutherton
20,160 PointsYou just a boy, mmmmhmmmm. - Carl
No problem using the WordPress track, even without hosting. You can use your own computer as a mini-server (as Kevin has suggested). There are courses that will tell you how to set this up.
http://teamtreehouse.com/library/local-wordpress-development
It might sound complex and intimidating, but if you follow along with the videos you will see it is not difficult. Do that, and later on you can convince your parents or someone else that you are worth a $25 investment in your own site to show off what you can do.
Kevin Korte
28,148 PointsI've not used web hosting for students. I don't blame you for being hesitant to give out your card information. You don't have to do so thought to continue on the Wordpress tracks. You can install Apache for free through various software bundles such as WAMP, MAMP, or XAMPP, which will install a local server and allow wordpress to function as normal on your development computer.
It's how I do it.
Godswill Utionkpan
985 PointsKevin Korte So I can still use apache? I can still function without the WordPress tracks?
Kevin Korte
28,148 PointsSure. I use XAMPP on Windows 7 and MAMP on my Macbook, both come with Apache. I than just install Wordpress into various subfolders inside of the htdocs folder. I think I have probably 6-8 different testbed Wordpress installations locally. Everything within wordpress works the same. Updates, installing plugins, all of it works fine. The nice part is going this route, you can work on the file, save it, and just refresh the browser to see the changes. It cuts out having to FTP every time to your web server to view your changes. That would drive me crazy and take too much time.
I didn't realize until just now that web hosting for students was Zac's company. It makes sense now. Just like how you get a free month trial of Amazon Prime, Netflix, etc...it still requires your card info to get going.
What Zac offeres for $25 is a phenomenal deal. You're going to be $100+ a year just about anywere else for the super basic plan. So web hosting for students is about a 75%-80% off normal prices. Not bad to take a website live for practice or whatever reason.
Godswill Utionkpan
985 PointsKevin Korte But I am merely a child. I don't have a credit card.
Kevin Korte
28,148 PointsYou don't need one. Install something like XAMPP, MAMP, WAMP for free, and than you will be able to continue on the Wordpress track without issue.
Zac Gordon
Treehouse Guest TeacherHi folks, the discount they offer is one month off of the $25/year plan so you still have to sign up for the year to get the discount.
Godswill Utionkpan
985 PointsBut I am only a child. I don't have a credit card. That means I can't use the wordpress track anymore?
Godswill Utionkpan
985 PointsZac Gordon Kevin Korte James Callahan Thanks guys!
Rashaad Prince
7,129 PointsThanks for the link James Callahan .... My younger cousin had the same concern.
Ian Z
14,584 PointsIan Z
14,584 Pointswhy you only have 837 points 6 months later, you say you want to be a billionaire tech business man. Well get to work 24/7 and quit dicking around!!! The secret to life is acting and thinking like an adult when your a kid because thats when you got the time to make stuff happen, where as when your older you gotta work and waste time just to eat and sleep. So stop playing video games and basketball and get 55k points on treehouse and make shit happen, you can do it, but only if you put in 16 hour days every day!!!