shared or virtual dedicated server for a beginner?

[Makaveli2007]

Somebody told me I should go for a virtual dedicated or virtual private server instead b/c he had found a shared hosting package by a certain company to be too restricting when trying to do anything other than a simple html css site.

Is this true? What would the advantage of having a virtual dedicated server to having a shared server?

Should I simply get a shared host package which includes php & mysql and be fine for the first year or so (and then worry about getting a virtual dedicated server later)?

[londrum]

my advice would be to start off with what you can comfortably afford.

if you can afford to get a great hosting package then do it. there's no downside to that. but there's no harm in starting off with a shared package and upgrading further down the line either. the search engines won't care either way.

your traffic is likely to start off small the first six months or so, so you don't dedicated servers to cope with that. your visitors are highly unlikely to notice any difference.

the only thing that tripped me up was the fact that my first shared package didn't allow me to use the .htaccess file -- and that is something that you might need to use that straight away.

[Makaveli2007]

how can I make sure it allows me to use that .htaccess file?

And what else should I care about? thx!

EDIT: I mean what else should I care about as in what else is crucial that I might not be considering right now (such as having access to the .htaccess file)

[edited by: Makaveli2007 at 10:01 pm (utc) on Oct. 23, 2007]

[jdMorgan]

In addition to .htaccess privileges, these Apache modules may prove critical but are sometimes not available. Ask the host to provide assurances in writing before you sign up.

mod_alias
mod_access
mod_dir
mod_expires
mod_headers
mod_rewrite

Jim

[londrum]

check what your bandwidth limit is as well. and check what happens if you go over the limit.
some packages will just shut your site off, but others will charge you money - which might add up to quite a bit over the course of a few days - especially if you've got music or video files on there