Which is the best way to refer to a company that hosts your website:
My web host supports Ruby.
or
My web hoster supports Ruby.
or
My web hosting service supports Ruby.
asked Aug 17, 2010 at 5:34
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2What about web server?– ChrisCommented Aug 17, 2010 at 7:47
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7Web server seems to me more commonly to refer to the actual machine serving the web pages, as opposed to the service supplying the hosting. That may be related to my background in IT, however.– coriCommented Aug 17, 2010 at 10:44
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@Edward can you be more specific about what these three terms are supposed to refer to? Do you mean the machine running the software, the business that provides you the machine, or something else?– ChrisCommented Aug 17, 2010 at 13:01
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6I don’t see how “web hoster” would ever be an expected form. One that hosts is a host not a hoster.– nohat ♦Commented Aug 17, 2010 at 22:44
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2@nohat even Wired.com uses "web hoster": wired.com/threatlevel/2007/10/controversial-r– Edward TanguayCommented Aug 18, 2010 at 7:00
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6 Answers
In casual speech and conversations on the internet, the usual terminology is "web host". If you need a more formal description then you might want to go with "web hosting service". "My web hoster supports Ruby" sounds distinctly odd to me. It might occur in a sentence like
"Well-known web hoster doteasy today announced record profits".
Incidentally one way to compare terms like this is to count the number of Google hits you get with the words in quotes. I get
Web host 2,800,000 hits Web hosting service 1,000,000 hits Web hoster 30,000 hits
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And "web server" has about 17,800,000 hits, making it a hands down winner over "web host".– ChrisCommented Aug 17, 2010 at 12:57
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13@Chris: "web server" means something different to me. A "server" is a computer that "serves" clients. A "Web Server" is a computer that gives web pages to people who connect with a web browser. Your Web Host operates your web server for you. Commented Aug 17, 2010 at 13:12
I've never heard "web hoster" and "web hosting service" seems verbose to me. "Web host" is the generally accepted term, as far as I know.
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This is one of those terms that is still being played out, e.g. even Reuters uses "web hoster": reuters.com/article/idUSL1562821520071016 Commented Aug 17, 2010 at 5:53
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4That is interesting, and the first time I have ever seen that usage.– coriCommented Aug 17, 2010 at 10:42
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4For me, that's just a sign of a not-so-tech-savvy editor. I remember reading about a woman who started a "Web-based Internet blog" in a major newspaper only a few months ago. Alas, being major doesn't imply being literate. Commented Aug 17, 2010 at 12:03
I normally say Ruby is included in the (web) hosting service for my website; actually, I would say Ruby on Rails is included in the (web) hosting service for my website.
The difference for me is that saying the web server includes Ruby seems to mean it will never be removed; saying the hosting service includes Ruby means that it will be included until they don't change the service.
answered Aug 17, 2010 at 21:15
Of the choices provided, the best way to refer to a company that hosts your website is your third option web hosting service.
Based on a COCA[1] query web hosting 6 times more common that web host, and web hoster yields no hits. BTW, web server is 11 times more common that web host. Personally, I find your third option the best: My web hosting service supports Ruby. I could just as well go with: My web server supports Ruby.
[1] Google is generally accepted to be worthless as a corpus search tool. This is why it is better to use a real corpus. COCA is good for american english and BNC is good for british english.
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1But of what relevance is "web hosting", which will almost always refer to web hosting in general, and not be interchangeable with "web host/er"? And why do you assert that "web host" is incorrect? Commented Aug 17, 2010 at 10:01
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Chris, I'm sure that the term "web host" is in use. I don't accept that Google results are worthless.– deleteCommented Aug 17, 2010 at 11:58
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@Colin The relevance of "web hosting" is that it is part of "web hosting service".– ChrisCommented Aug 17, 2010 at 13:06
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2I already commented on this in reply to one of your comments, but for the benefit of this answer: a web server is not the same thing as a web host(ing service). Commented Aug 17, 2010 at 13:14
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2Incidentally, in the IT industry, we talk about web hosts all the time. I'd say it's definitely correct. I've never heard anyone say "web hoster". In fact I don't recall every seeing the word hoster in any circumstances ever. Commented Aug 17, 2010 at 13:16
- "Web host" - The physical computer hardware your web content is hosted on.
- "Web hosting service" - The product offered to a customer by a company.
- "Web hosting service provider" - The actual company. Shorter versions possible like "Web Hosting Provider" etc.
I don't agree that you could call the company the "Web host" and just randomly looking at some company web pages, none of them call themselves a "Web host" but a "XYZ Provider".
Just looking the google stats doesn't seem to be a good idea to me because...well, we would expect to find more references to the thing being provided than the providing company itself (you will find "car" more often than "car manufacturer").
"hosting provider" 2,030,000 results
It is Web Host. "Web Hoster" is some kind of a slang, as there is no such word as "hoster".
