Web hosting and domain name advice

[Ricochet J]

Just have a look at my sig. That trade mark sig of Mr Marley enjoying his joint was replaced by a single line of text, no doubt by a Don!

So, instead of paying Photobucket for hosting my images with more bandwidth allowance would it be feasible to just buy a web hosting service and go through that route? I've also found a few domain names which I wouldn't mind buying for 2 years.

The advantages I can see are:
- More flexibility as I can do as I please with my space as I'm not restricted to images
- I can have my own personal e-mail address
- I wouldn't have a don replacing my sig with text again

The disadvantages are:
- I don't know the first thing about web hosting or domain name buying

Any advice is welcome!

 

[Ricochet J]

With web hosting do I need to take into consideration security or anything else for that matter? How do I assign a domain name to a web hosting IP address. Would that involve a DNS?

 

[Ricochet J]

Brilliant guys thanks for the recommendations. What FTP clients do you guys recommend?