Agreed, it was not a hijack, Lea. I read about DropBox too, but from what I can tell Dropbox and iCloud will not host a website... they're just for sharing data (docs, photos, videos, etc.) which means that iCloud may be slicker, but will be functionally less than MobileMe.

I've seen several recommendations for BlueHost

Also got an invite discount coupon from MacTech for HostGator

It all depends what type of files, and how you want them to access them. Like mentioned DropBox might be a good way to share files if they're just text and smaller type docs. You'd still need a web host to host the website though.

If you don't want to use DropBox and only want them to download from specific doc links on your website it's a snap. If you want them to be able to browse a folder that's different.

Those were my conclusions too Reboot. I want one vendor that does it all... like MobileMe did.

How much disk space do you need, what size are the files you want the students to access?

Do you want them to view a whole folder of files or are you going to give them links for only certain files?

I think 10-15 GB would be plenty...

Well in MM there were many folders in my iDisk, but outsiders could only see the Public one... something like that.

This is one of the reasons I'm not already in love with iCloud. I don't use iWork a whole lot, so there's no use in iCloud for me in the backup/storage arena. To me, the public file sharing was the one truly useful feature in .Mac/MobileMe.

I have my own site/domain, which I've found to be cheaper than any service can possibly offer. I use HostMonster and have been very happy with it for several years now. I have my personal site, and The Graphic Mac hosted with them.

Okay, I've had some time to mess with DropBox. Like JD mentioned, the Public sharing feature of MobileMe was the one useful feature. I haven't seen a way in either DropBox or Network Solutions to make a Public folder without making who accesses it register. They can download separate files without registering if you give them the link to the file(s), but can't view the whole folder. There is a workaround like I mentioned above by setting up one dummy email address for a Shared folder and giving the link and log in info to the students, but there is the total file size limit.

With DropBox you get 2 G free, but you would need to pay $10 a month to get 50G. Then you'd need to pay a web host to host the web site too, that would be separate.

If you used FTP to share files through Network Solutions they would be hosting your site for you, $10 a month, and you could use your 300G of disk space for your files without incurring the extra charge.

With FTP they could use a web browser and see the whole folder so they can pick and choose files, it would look like this;

ftp://gesplus.com

User name - student_files
Password - $tudenT

You can name the folder/user whatever you want of course, that's just one I set up to show you how it works. It is set as read only so files can't be deleted or renamed if one uses an FTP client instead of a web browser.

Thanks, I'll look into that.

I have 11GB of Dropbox storage (free). You need to look on their site for the "get more storage" options. View a video, get more space. Refer people, get more space. They have like half a dozen things you can do to get your free space up to 10+GB.

You don't need your own domain either, so that shouldn't be an issue.

However, as Reboot stated, it's still not as "transparent" as MobileMe was. You can share individual files, but in order for people to see a whole folder, they have to have their own Dropbox account. Given that it's free, it's not that big of a deal - but it is a barrier that some people will simply not want to overcome.

Quite frankly, it's easier just to use your own domain hosting to share files. My HostMonster control panel allows me to set up a folder to be accessed as a web disk - so others simply need to know the URL and password to mount it on their desktop just like it was a server. They can upload or download files as easily as drag & drop.