My cable Internet service...can I use it?

[CanadaKen]

Hi

Forgive me here....I'm green as grass when it comes to all this.

My Internet access is via my TV cable company. Part of the package
is a personal web site. I was hoping this would allow me to host
a small weather page. On their FAQ page there was this question.

"Can I use server-side scripting on my Webspace?
No. We are not yet able to provide this function."

Does that rule out using their pages for a dynamic weather page?

Thanks
Ken

[Budgie]

Hi Ken and welcome to the forum.
That info does really rule out that web space for a weather site.
As the data changes regularly then you need a service that will allow regular FTP uploads at the least.
Server side scripting covers everything from Flash to the likes of Java and PHP, all of which you will probably want at some point.

Most on here go for the likes of E-Rice for a website host (about $10 US a year) and Go-Daddy for the URL registration. This will allow you to do just about anything you want. 

[CanadaKen]

Thanks, Budgie

I kind of figured they would only allow an extremely simple page.

Oh well.....on to Plan "B".

Ken

[Budgie]

Yep, nice if you want a small static website that never updates but not so good for our usage. 

[ve3gsi]

Hi Ken,
My ISP does not allow server side web software and since I am not serviced by a high speed connection my plans for now is just to stay on the free web space allowed by them. It would do me little good to have a web page on a full service web host such as E-Rice as I would not be able to update nor read my page fast enough to be any good.  I would like to be able to go with a full service web host, and perhaps someday I will if my connection speed makes it into the fast lane.

Instead, I take advantage of many of the 'tags' provided by WD and update my little text based web page every ten minutes. It also makes good use of  JavaScript to present relevant weather text and suppress unneeded information. I get some feedback from local people who check this little station's stats and surprisingly one person in California who checks the temperature everyday.  Because of my internet limitations the simple page does just fine, at least for now.

[Phil Holmes]

Yep, nice if you want a small static website that never updates but not so good for our usage. 

If you want a web site that is updated fairly frequently, then all you need is one that accepts FTP uploads, and it sounds like the orignal questioner simply wants this and would have the functionality.  You can get more interactivity with server-side scripts, but they're not needed - I've been running for 8 years and only use FTP on the main part of my weather site.

[Budgie]

Most ISP's who offer free web space don't like you uploading files on a regular basis, especially if it's something like the clientraw files that run Weather Display Live.
If you're only uploading the files once an hour then this service may be fine. The problem comes when you spend all that time building the website and then find out that the host won't let you upload the data as regular as you want too or restricts the amount of bandwidth that you can use.

You need to know what you want to do with your site and whether your host can supply that service. If not then there are always other cheap options available. After all, you get what you pay for. 

[Phil Holmes]

Absolutely.  But in truth, the weather doesn't really change that fast, so uploading every 30 minutes is generally perfectly good.

[JaxWeather]

Absolutely.  But in truth, the weather doesn't really change that fast, so uploading every 30 minutes is generally perfectly good.

Well here in Florida we can go from Sunny to 1/2 inch of rain in 30 minutes so...    LOL

-Bob

[Budgie]

And up here we can go from 15 mph to 50 mph in less than 30 mins. 

[Phil Holmes]

Yes - but that weather data isn't lost - it's just 30 minutes until someone reads it online.

Bottom line is - if your provider handles FTP, you can create weather site.  Period.

[Budgie]

You could just upload your data to Wunderground, get a free Google Blog and add the Rapidfire banner  to it.
Then you wouldn't need FTP either. 

It's all a question of enthusiasm, time and knowledge but most of all it's about what YOU want out of this hobby. 

[CanadaKen]

Instead, I take advantage of many of the 'tags' provided by WD and update my little text based web page every ten minutes.

I live in a gated condo complex. The strata counsel will allow me to mount the sensors at the back of my roof
if I have a web page where the whole community can see the weather. A text based tag system would work fine.

Do you have it set to automatically update?

Ken
 

[Budgie]

Have a look at this FAQ, Ken, as this will give you an easy web page where you can add any data you want: http://www.weather-watch.com/smf/index.php/topic,53074.0.html

[CanadaKen]

Wow, that look perfect!

I am a new owner of an AcuRite 1035. It's still in the box waiting counsel approval
and also waiting all the bugs to be fixed. I will go the Weather Display route that's
for sure! I can't believe how hard Brian has worked with this product. I know my local
Costco had tons of them returned. It looks like with Brian's help it may turn out to be
a good little station.

Many thanks to all for the help!

Ken