Technical Requirements for Easy Availability Page Software for Rental Property Owners

Easy Availability is designed to be used in a wide variety of contexts. To use and run our software you need the following commonly-used elements:

An existing website on a web server. Easy Availability has been tested on websites running on Linux/Unix and Windows (Microsoft-IIS/6.0) servers, but should run on other servers too. You should download and install the trial version to check if the product is compatible with your particular web server.
PHP 4.1+. Your web host must provide PHP version 4.1 or above (see note (1)) for your use (the overwhelming majority of proper hosts do - see note (2)). PHP is a hugely popular programming language in use on over 20 million domains around the web. (N.B. You don't need to know any PHP to run our software - it simply has to be available on your web space.)
A 'modern' browser with JavaScript enabled. Easy Availability has been tested with Internet Explorer, Firefox and Opera, but should work with any browser that works with JavaScript and style sheets. You can test your own browser using the on-line demo to see if it's compatible.
FTP (File Transfer Protocol) software to transfer the Easy Availability files from your PC to your web space. (NB. This is only relevant if you are installing the product yourself. If you instruct us to install it for you then FTP will not be necessary).

Some Windows-based FTP software is available free of charge, and we can suggest Smart FTP which is available (free for private use) from Download.com. In addition, we can suggest CoreFTP.com who also offer a free version for download.

Both companies provide good on-line instructions and tutorials, although the tutorials at SmartFTP are perhaps more comprehensive. See SmartFTP Online Tutorials

Notes:

(1) How can you check if you have PHP? There are several possibilities:

Email your web host and ask
Go to your web host's site and check the hosting package you have. It should say if PHP is included
Go into your site's Control Panel and look around. Some control panels report on installed components and may tell you if you have PHP
Download this ZIP file, unzip it, and FTP the enclosed file (php_info.php) into your site's root directory. Then point your browser at:

http://www.yourdomainname.com/php_info.php

and a full report on your PHP installation will be shown if PHP is installed.

(2) By 'proper' hosts we mean those that are established to offer web packages and domain hosting with the normal components that many users expect. These include: Perl, PHP, MySQL, ASP, Front Page, etc.

If you are attempting to economise by using 'free' space for your web site, perhaps space provided by your ISP, then it's possible that your web space will be nothing but storage space and will have none of the functionality that interactive web sites need.

In our experience, many users of such 'free' space come to the realisation that it is a false economy, as such free space is often loaded with adverts (which makes it look amateurish) or has little or no functionality. More importantly, the savings that users are making are small or non-existent because fully-functioning 'proper' web space can be had so cheaply these days that there is no argument for compromising on quality. Fully-functioning web space can be rented for as little as £13 - £15 PER YEAR!

If you want a recommendation for cheap web space (on which Easy Availability will run with ease) then check out http://www.hostingbegins.com/. We are not connected with this company (beyond having used them ourselves and having directed clients there) but we like the service provided and we love the prices.