Toronto, Canada - (Website Hosting Directory) - May 2, 2006 - Web hosting company, Netfirms, Inc., has introduced a 40-page Web Hosting Reference Guide. The book is provided to new hosting customers as a starter guide and reference manual.

Jason Matheson, Product Manager of Netfirms commented, ''We're proud to be able to give this valuable book for free to our customers. It gives both step-by-step how-tos, as well as 'layman' explanations of technical concepts. The Reference Guide is yet another element in our commitment to providing our customers with everything they need to launch and maintain successful websites.''

Topics covered in the manual include:

-- Getting started with web hosting
-- How to build a website
-- Creating a personal or business blog
-- Getting started with e-commerce
-- Registering a domain name and domain management
-- Configuring e-mail accounts and using WebMail
-- Enhancing a site with Open Source software
-- Website management: FTP, SSH
-- Databases: MySQL, phpMyAdmin
-- Advanced features: scripting, custom error pages, SSL

The Web Hosting Reference Guide is part of the Netfirms Website Starter Kit which also includes a t-shirt, and Netfirms Starter CD 2.0. Recently updated, the Starter CD now includes a fully licensed copy of web design software NetObjects Fusion 8 (retail value $189).

Among other new features, Fusion 8 has new e-commerce capabilities including setting up a web store, and Fusion's E-commerce Catalog Properties Editor.

Netfirms, Inc., with offices in the United States and Canada, was founded in 1998 and provides web hosting solutions and technology to over 1,200,000 websites.

To learn more, please visit: www.netfirms.com.