I am looking for not just an answer, but an answer written in a
professional way. The final answer to this question should be
formatted so that it takes no more than two pages if I cut and paste
it into a word document and should be written so that it is in a
near-final form for providing to our clients. If you have questions or
clarification - put them at the beginning so I don't have to edit them
out of the middle please. Please do not cut and paste huge portions of
text from a site (although short quotes are certainly acceptable).
Each entry should be parallel in format (although you can define the
format). Now for the question:

We have clients who need to create their own web pages, but they are
often students or non profits and therefore have no funds. I am
seeking a short guide that I can give them that covers the 3-4 top
sights for free webpage development. It should clearly note the scope
- most free sites have limitations as to length and capabilities (for
instance, whether or not they can accommodate hyperlinks). Should note
how they are making money - most free sites use adds and you should
note if the ads are intrusive and if they show up on every page.
Should note if the site is easy and intuitive to use and if you need
special software in order to use it. Thus, the usability and the
limitations of the free site development should be clear. Also, if
there is a premium package, perhaps add a one-line description of what
upgrading gets you and for how much.

Please note that we do not want free trial offers or free demos good
for only limited duration use.

I am posting this at $30 because a good answer requires not only
identifying the sites, but also trying them out. There is a small
amount of reviewing inherent in this question - I don't want an
overall review, but integrated into the answer should be info about
ease of use or problems. An excellent answer - well researched and
well written - will get a tip as well.

Hello susank~

I think the following will suit your needs. I've kept descriptions
short and to the point for ease of reading and browsing.

If I can be of furth assistance, just let me know

Regards,
Kriswrite

RESEARCH STRATEGY:
Researcher's personal knowledge, combined with careful examination of each website


For those who don?t have the means to pay for web hosting, there are
thousands of places to receive free hosting. Each of these hosts has
its strengths and drawbacks, but among the following recommendations,
we hope you?ll find something suitable for your needs.


YAHOO! GEOCITIES
Geocities offers 15MB of storage space. Free, super-easy-to-use tools
are also available to help you create your website-- no knowledge of
HTML required. You?ll also receive free clip art, counters, tickers,
and more. All Geocities free websites include banner ads. The
allowable bandwidth is 3 GB per month. This is an important
consideration; if your website is popular, you?ll soon go over your
allowable bandwidth and the host will temporarily shut down your site.
For an additional $4.95 a month, your website can be ad free, and
you?ll receive 5 GB of bandwidth. For more information on Yahoo!
Geocities free web space, go to:
http://us.geocities.yahoo.com/ps/learn2/WhatYouGet4_Free.html


FREE WEBS
Free webs has the advantage of no banner or pop up ads on your web
pages (although text ads will be used). You?ll also receive up to 40
MG of storage space. You can customize your address, and even have
your own domain name. (A customized address would be something like:
http://www.freewebs.com/yoursitename   A domain name would be like
this: www.yoursitename.com ) Free Webs also offers free website
building tools that don?t require any knowledge of HTML, plus all
kinds of other freebies, including tools to build forms and polls, add
counters, chat rooms, guestbooks, and more. For more information, go
to: http://members.freewebs.com/ourServices.jsp


TRIPOD
Offering 20MB of storage space and 1 GB of monthly bandwidth, a free
website at Tripod also has lots of good bonuses. For example, there?s
a free blog building tool, as well as a user-friendly tool for
creating websites without HTML knowledge. You?ll also find free clip
art. All free Tripod websites include ads. For $4.95 a month plus a
$10 set up fee, your can have an ad-free website and receive a more
advanced blog-creating tool. For more information, see:
http://www.tripod.lycos.com/campaigns/landing/free/


FREE WEBSITE HOSTING
This host offers a whopping 100MB of storage space and 40 megs of
bandwidth per day. You?ll also receive customizable website addresses;
you can even use your own domain name. Banner ads will appear on the
pages of your website. For $6.95 a month, your website can be ad-free.
 For more information, go to: http://www.freewebsitehosting.com/





Additional hosts that may be able to help you:


FREESERVERS
Here, you?ll receive 12 MB of storage space, but only 0.5 GB of
bandwidth. Files must be under 0.25 MB. A free tool for building
websites is available, as is a handy file copier ( useful if you
already have a website up and running and just want to switch hosts).
You?ll be able to easily add slideshows to your website, along with
guestbooks, counters, and site search engines. Banner ads and pop-ups
appear on all Freeservers? free websites. Beginning at $5.99 a month,
you can upgrade to 50MB of storage, a 2 GB bandwidth rate, a 5MB file
limit, and no ads. For additional information, check out:
http://www.freeservers.com/compare.htm


FREE WEBSITES
At Free Websites, you?ll receive 50 MB of storage and no pop up ads
(although other forms of advertising are used). Bandwidth is
unlimited; files must be under 25MB. For further information, go to:
http://www.freewebsites.com/


NET FIRMS
This host provides 25 MB of storage and 1 GB of bandwidth.  You?ll
also receive a free CD to will help create your website, with no
knowledge of HTML required. However, the CD will only function for 30
days, unless you pay a premium. Banner ads come with all free Net
Firms websites. Beginning at $4.95 a month, you?ll receive 50 MB of
storage, and the ability to use more advanced files (such as
multimedia files). For more information, go to:
http://www.netfirms.com/hostingbasic


BRAVENET
20 MB of storage is available for free from Bravenet; the allowable
bandwidth is 0.5 gigs. Your website will include ads, but you can
customize your web address. For $4.95 a month, you can have an ad-free
site, with 10 GB of bandwidth and 200 MB of storage. For more
information, see: http://www.bravenet.com/webhosting/index.php


FOREVER HOSTING
At Forever Hosting, you?ll get 10MB of storage, 500 MB of bandwidth,
customizable error pages, and more, just for putting an ad on every
page. For $3.99 a month, you can receive 200 MB of storage and 30 GB
of bandwidth. For more information, please see:
http://www.foreverhosting.net/hosting/free.html

Very nicely done. Went above and beyond my expectations and added a
couple of extra examples in case of the main ones wasn't to my liking.
On target, succinct, and well written.

There are several internet companies that offer free web hosting. 
Three popular web hosts can be found at http://members.freewebs.com,
http://freewebsitehosting.com, and http://www.geocities.com.  While
they all offer free basic site hosting and support, each mandate that
some type of ad is placed on each page that is created. On a positive
note, each host offers a relatively cheap ?pro? package that will
remove ads and allow access to more features.
	Freewebs is a free website hosting company, found at
http://members.freewebs.com.  The free package includes 40MB of web
space and 500MB of bandwidth per month.  Also included are web
statistics which keep track of visitor usage, web page ?hit? counters,
guestbook, and an easy to use paypal setup for those interested in
creating an e-commerce website.  Users may also create web pages by
using their HTML editor, WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get)
editing, or ready-made templates.  On top of all these features,
Freewebs allows users to direct their domain name to their Freewebs
account.
	FTP, CGI, ASP, ColdFusion, MySQL, MSAccess, and PHP are not supported
by Freewebs.  In addition, external linking to images hosted on
Freewebs is not allowed.  Freewebs reserves the right to delete any
?warez?, porn, and file sharing websites.  Although Freewebs requires
free account users to have a small ad placed on the bottom of each
wepage, a premium account which does not require ads can be purchased
for as little as one dollar per month.
	Freewebsitehosting.com boasts 24,555 accounts and offers a plethora
of services such as website statistics, guestbook, FTP support, and
fast and reliable servers.  A free user account allows for up to 100MB
of storage and 20MB of bandwidth per day.  Free users choose between a
small banner on the bottom of each webpage or a pop-up ad. 
Freewebsitehosting does not allow ?warez?, pornography, or file
sharing websites and reserves the right to delete users that abuse
their terms of service.  They also do not allow single files over 1MB
(to prevent file storage) or image-only sites.  While free user
accounts do not support CGI, Perl, PHP, Python, or MySQL, a ?Pro?
account can be purchased for $6.95 a month.  In addition to added
support, advertisement banners are not required on Pro account pages.
	Yahoo! Geocities free website hosting offers 15MB of storage with 3GB
of bandwidth per month.  Easy to use page wizards and templates as
well as an HTML editor are included for novice users in free accounts.
 Geocities web pages for free user accounts include large banners on
the side or pop-up advertisements.  CGI is not supported in free
accounts but services such as website counters/statistics, guestbook,
and website search scripts are available.  Geocities terms of service
prohibit e-commerce, ?warez?, file sharing, or file storage type
websites.  The Yahoo! Geocities website can be found at
http://www.geocities.com.  An ad-free ?Plus? account can be purchased
for $4.95 per month and a one-time $10 set-up fee.  The Plus account
provides 25MB of storage and FTP access.
	While Geocities, Freewebsitehosting, and Freewebs all offer free
hosting, Geocities is not recommended for professional or e-commerce
sites.  Freewebsitehosting offers the most bandwidth and host space
for free while Freewebs seems to accommodate start-up e-commerce
sites. Any of the mentioned website hosts would be ideal for novice
users as each offer webpage wizards and templates as well as online
tech support.

Thanks to you both!

Susank, thank you for the great rating--and the tip! I appreciate both :)

Kriswrite