If you think Vanilla looks like an awesome forum script, but your not sure if you can get things together as far as installing it yourself – you are in luck.  If you don’t have a web hosting account or you would rather get Vanilla as an all in one package, try out their hosted installs of the script.

Much like how WordPress has a hosted version of it’s script at WordPress.com, Vanilla does the same thing with VanillaForums.com.  There you can get the same Vanilla forum script that others can download and install, but yours will be pre-installed for you.

The prices are pretty reasonable,   and vary depending on what you need.  You have the Basic plan for $19 per month, the Plus plan for $49 per month and the Premium plan for $199 per month.  If you just want to test things out first, they also have an ad supported free version you can try too.

Head over to VanillaForums.com and sign up.  If nothing else, you can try the free version out and see if it is something you would like to pay for or possibly install on your own web hosting plan.

I have talked plenty of times with you before on free forum scripts you can easily setup and run from your web hosting account.  By far, the most unique one I have seen is Vanilla.  The Vanilla Forums script is a great open-source, standards compliant forum script.  However, that is not what impresses me.  The thing that impresses me the most is the fact that is stands out from the rest of the crowd and refreshes the idea of what a set of forums should look like.

What Makes Vanilla Special?

Now a simple audio podcast can not do justice to how graphically different this forum script looks and feels.  Rather than having a list of subforums, and within those having threads, right from the start you are seeing all of the most recent threads that have been posted on.  That brings you the proverbial meat and potatoes right off the bat.  You can categorize your posts into different subforums, but that is a secondary option rather than the first.  When you visit a forum, you want to see the new stuff first.  The fact that Vanilla-powered forums do that right off the bat is just amazing.  I wish more forum scripts would try this different approach.

You have full support for themes and add-ons, so you can really get down and dirty when it comes to customizing the look and feel you want your forums to have.  The documentation is lacking in a few areas, but overall it does get the job done.

Here are a few more amazing features that  I am sure you will enjoy:

• Embed Vanilla – You can very simply embed your set of Vanilla forums within your website.
• Social Connect – Let users sign into your forums with their login details from OpenID, Google, Twitter or Facebook.
• Vanilla Connect – quickly embed details about your Vanilla forum in your WordPress blog.

You can also import your forum posts from just about any other forum script into Vanilla with their easy import option too.

Overall, Vanilla amazes me, plain and simple.  If more script developers out there thought outside of the box like these guys do, we would have a wider selection of great looking websites.

You can go download Vanilla and install it yourself at vanillaforums.org.

On today’s show we will be talking about one of my new favorite forum scripts out there.  Vanilla is definitely not your ordinary message board script.  It takes your traditional ideas of what a forum should be, takes out all the bad parts and leaves you with a functional flow of information – guaranteed.

Now, that might be a big claim to live up to, but I think the Vanilla forum script is more than capable to get the job done.

I want to share with you my thoughts on why Vanilla is one of the best forum scripts out there and a really easy way anybody can use it – no matter if you have a web hosting account to install it on or not.

Vanilla Forums 101

I have talked plenty of times with you before on free forum scripts you can easily setup and run from your web hosting account.  By far, the most unique one I have seen is Vanilla.  The Vanilla Forums script is a great open-source, standards compliant forum script.  However, that is not what impresses me.

Get Vanilla Hosted for You!

If you think Vanilla looks like an awesome forum script, but your not sure if you can get things together as far as installing it yourself – you are in luck.  If you don’t have a web hosting account or you would rather get Vanilla as an all in one package, try out their hosted installs of the script.

Love Vanilla or does another forum script work better for you? I’d love to hear your feedback in the comments!  Hope you enjoyed this week’s podcast and stay tuned because there is definitely more to come.

So, you want to start your own website where people can upload videos of dogs of skateboards? A few years back, this would be nearly impossible. These days though, finding a script that will clone many of the best features a video sharing service like YouTube has is pretty easy.  There are a lot of duds out there though in the world of YouTube clone scripts so I have gone through the trenches to find you the three best scripts for the job.

ClipBucket

ClipBucket is a free open source script that will not only let you get started with creating your own video sharing service, but it also provides a lot of great social networking features too. Customizable templates and plugins are readily available for any ClipBucket powered website.  So this means it should be fairly easy to get a unique template designed and to customize your ClipBucket install to meet your own vision of what you want your video sharing website to be. Check them out at clip-bucket.com to learn more.

PHPmotion

PHPmotion is another great free video sharing script to try. With both video and audio support, this script looks to deliver a lot when it comes to features too. There are a number of great looking themes for PHPmotion that are well worth checking into and a reported user base of 100,000 webmasters – so the support for this script should be phenomenal too. With little to no knowledge required, you can start up your own video sharing website. Go visit phpmotion.com to download it for yourself.

ClipShare

ClipShare promises to be the ultimate video script for starting a highly profitable video sharing community.  While it is not free, it might give you the proverbial “step up” if PHPmotion or ClipBucket do not seem a professional as you would like them to be.  Over 20 video formats are supported in ClipShare, videos are converted on the fly and you get a fully brand-able video player that other people can embed on their websites. The website, clip-share.com is where you want to go to learn more about this amazing premium video sharing script.

Now, this is not to say these are the only three choices out there. These however seem to have the best resources, reviews and simply look the best overall.  I think if you mix a great FFMPEG hosting provider with ClipBucket, PHPmotion or Clipshare you will have great success when it comes to getting your own YouTube-like website off the ground and on the Internet.

Welcome to the first Web Hosting Show for 2011.  So what is the first thing we have to talk about in the sixth year of this broadcast? I want to touch on the topic of getting your own YouTube clone set up.  We will tear apart the basic necessity you need (FFMPEG hosting) and give you a few good scripts to try out so you too can get on the social video sharing bandwagon.

You can make a clone of about any popular website service out there, and YouTube is no exception.  You basically need the FFMPEG tools to help convert the video or audio into a digestible web format and a script to organize it all.  Sounds pretty simple, right?

Here is what we have in store for you on today’s show:

What is FFMPEG Hosting?

Time to take a look at another hosting term you might have heard of but didn’t really know what it means.  FFMPEG hosting is the word up for review today. This is a term that is used to refer to any time of hosting that provides an assortment of of recording, converting and streaming tools for audio and video on the server side.

Best YouTube Clone Scripts

So, you want to start your own website where people can upload videos of dogs of skateboards? A few years back, this would be nearly impossible. These days though, finding a script that will clone many of the best features a video sharing service like YouTube has is pretty easy.  There are a lot of duds out there though in the world of YouTube clone scripts so I have gone through the trenches to find you the three best scripts for the job.

That is it for today’s show.  Hope you enjoy – and if you have any feedback be sure to use the contact link above or leave a comment and share with me your own thoughts on FFMPEG hosting.

Believe it or not, there are files you probably should not upload to the server you host your website from.  Not only could you get in trouble with your web host by doing so, but you could also be putting your own security at risk.  On today’s podcast we will go over some of the files you should not host and my favorite way to back up personal files remotely and securely.  The Web Hosting Show is on the air.

There are a lot of unsaid rules that you must learn when it comes to mastering the world of web hosting.  Knowing what files you should or should not host is one of them. While it might sound like common sense to some – sometimes it is the things that go unsaid that get you in trouble, so let me save us all a lot of trouble and let you in on this.

Here is what we have in store for you on today’s show:

Files You Should Not Host

Having a web hosting account is handy at times.  It allows you to practically upload anything you want to share with friends, or to store online.  This is a blessing and also a curse when it comes to the web hosting business though.  While it is handy to be able to upload anything to a web hosting account, it is not always practical.  Sometimes, it might even be against the rules.

Better Off Site Backups with Carbonite

I have been a big fan off keeping files backup off site for a while now and the best tool I have found to get that job done is Carbonite.  Out of all the other solutions, Carbonite does the best job at making backing up automated so I don’t have to worry about it.  For the webmasters out there, it is also a great way to store your website backups too.

Hope you enjoyed this edition of the Web Hosting Show podcast.  Feel free to share your own thoughts about hosting in the comments.  I would love to see them!

Getting started with Stitcher is easy.  The best way to get started is to click that "Listen to us on Sitcher" link you see on the Web Hosting Show’s website via your mobile device.  Now, just enter your e-mail address into the empty box – and get your download link.

By streaming the best in news, sports, talk and entertainment straight to mobile phones, Sticher is the easiest way to stay connected to the world on the go – receiving only the information that’s the most important, in a format that fits into people’s busy lives. Go check it out, if you need an easier way to follow the Web Hosting Show podcast on your mobile phone.

It might be easy to find a free photo gallery script you can get up and running on your website.  However, not all scripts are created equal.  Sometimes you might want a simple page dedicated to photos, and other times you might need an entire domain dedicated to the idea of showcasing your images.  I have searched the Web high and low to bring you the best free image gallery tools for big projects, medium sized projects and lightweight projects.

Here are the three best free image gallery scripts, depending on the job you need them for.

An Advanced Free Image Gallery Script

Zenphoto is a great gallery tool that also comes with some CMS (content management system) options to make it a great tool to use to run your entire website.  It doesn’t try to do too much though, when it comes to features.  it keeps things simple by just delivering one of the best web media gallery management tools out there.  Once installed, the administrator interface is pretty easy to pick up and with the online template system they have – you can create a beautiful website in no time at all. Zenphoto can also handle audio and video too – which makes it an all in one multimedia gallery tool too.

A Middle of the Road Free Image Gallery Script

Minishowcase is another good gallery script that keeps things really simple.  With just a little PHP and JavaScript, you can put together an online gallery of photography, artwork or anything else without the need of configuring databases or customizing the code. You can literally get this script up and running in just a few minutes.  All you need to do is bring the content to showcase. If you need a gallery tool that is on the simple side (but still looks good) there is no better choice than Minishowcase.

A Very Lightweight Free Image Gallery Script

SmoothGallery is the last album script I have to share with you today. Using mootools, this fantastic JavaScript gallery and slideshow system lets you setup a simple image gallery, slideshow or showcase anywhere on your pre-existing website.  While you could not use this tool to run your entire website, it does make for a great way to showcase your work on the website you already have set up.  So if you would rather just showcase your images on one section of your page, rather than dedicating an entire website on it – SmoothGallery is a great script to use to get that job done.

There are plenty of more scripts out there, but these three of the best for the occasions you need them.  Zenphoto makes for a great tool to base your entire website off of.  Minishowcase is a nice lightweight gallery tool that could maybe be put in just one section of your website.  Then, last but not least, you have SmoothGallery.  It would let you display your images on a single page, just to quickly show them off to your website visitors.

There are thousands of free image host out there, but not many that focus on providing you a cheap or free place to host an online gallery for your photography, images or artwork.  If you do not want to upload a script and run it from day to day, you might try one of these three free image gallery hosting services to get your own portfolio hosted online.

Picasa

I had to throw one generic free service into the mix, and Picasa is the one I decided to pick.  Now run by Google, Picasa not only gives you a place to host pictures – but also comes with a very powerful desktop client to organize your collections with too.  If you have a Google account (and really, who doesn’t these days) go check it out and see if you like it.

Flickr

Flickr is another awesome and free way to upload and share your digital images online.  It might be one of the most well known photo sharing websites on my list today, and there is good reason for it.  It works, and it is where the people are right now.  You can create an account for free by logging into the Flickr website with your Yahoo info, and you’ll be ready to upload soon after that.  You can also organize your collections, share them with friends or limit who can see them too.

SmugMug

The SmugMug service is an interesting alternative to Flickr.  It seems to do everything Flickr does, and I am sure the developers of the service would say they do it better. Where SmugMug might hold the advantage is when it comes to selling your prints online.  They have a nicely integrated service that makes buying prints or merchandise with the prints on it very easy to do.  It might not have the community that Flickr does, but it is not short on features either.

So there you have it – which one of these services do you like the best? Do you have another that you love more? Send your thoughts to me in the comments – cause I would love to check out what you use for free image gallery hosting.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then this podcast has to be worth at least eight minutes or so of your time.  On this edition of the Web Hosting Show we will be taking a look at both online photo gallery hosting services and three different types of photo gallery scripts you can install on your own web hosting account.

There are hundreds if not thousands of great ways to showcase your artwork, your photography or any other type of images you have created and share them with the world.  I have done my best to check them all out – so you can finally know which ones are the best of the best.

Here is what we have in store for you on today’s show:

3 Best Image Gallery Services

There are thousands of free image host out there, but not many that focus on providing you a cheap or free place to host an online gallery for your photography, images or artwork.  If you do not want to upload a script and run it from day to day, you might try one of these three free image gallery hosting services to get your own portfolio hosted online.

3 Free Photo Gallery Tools for Any Occasion

It might be easy to find a free photo gallery script you can get up and running on your website.  However, not all scripts are created equal.  Sometimes you might want a simple page dedicated to photos, and other times you might need an entire domain dedicated to the idea of showcasing your images.  I have searched the Web high and low to bring you the best free image gallery tools for big projects, medium sized projects and lightweight projects.

Also, I would love to hear your experiences with the best gallery hosting services online or the best album scripts on the web.  If you have any other great resources worth sharing, be sure to leave a comment and share it with the rest of us.