Recent Articles
5 Myths About Web Hosting
The topic of web hosting often brings up misconceptions and confusing misinformation that can complicate the process of not only selecting the most appropriate web hosting company, but utilizing these services to the utmost of their benefit. When you are trying to decide upon not only the company with whom you wish to do business, but the type of hosting services that will work the best for your situation, it is important that you evaluate the realities of web hosting, and debunk many of the myths that exist regarding web hosting services. Understanding these myths, where they came from, and the truth that can dispel them, can help you to decide what kind of web hosting is right for your site.
Myth #1: Managed hosting is overall more expensive than dedicated hosting.
For this myth it is important to consider not just the upfront cost of the hosting services themselves, but the financial implications of a website for the long run. Managed hosting is a type of hosting service that allows the owner of a website to have a private server, but also the technical support needed to run and maintain such a site. Those that choose not to utilize the services of a managed hosting plan will need to find alternate sources of such technical support. Paying for a team of skilled webmasters that will oversee the monitoring, administration, and upkeep of a website can be exceptionally expensive. This means that if you do not already have these skills, or have someone on staff that can complete these tasks efficiently, choosing managed hosting can greatly benefit you. Though you will spend more on the hosting services themselves, not having to pay another person to take care of these tasks, or dealing with the complications that can arise from poorly executing webmaster responsibilities, can quickly offset these costs.
What Makes a Web Host Reliable?
There are hundreds of web hosting companies to choose from, but not all web hosts are created equal. Failing to choose a reliable web hosting company cause a lot of hassle down the road, whether it’s terrible customer service or even the loss of potential site visitors when the host’s server is down. In this article, we consider what you should be looking for in a web host to separate the good from the bad.
1. Bandwidth Allowance
When it comes to bandwidth, you want a host that will either offer you an unlimited package or the next best thing–an allowance of at least 500 GB of bandwidth transfer a month. Even low cost web hosting services should be able to provide 500 GB of bandwidth transfer, and you should not accept anything less if you expect moderate traffic on your site.
2. Cost
A shared hosting package in which you would share a host’s server with other users should run no more than 20 dollars a month. Cost is an important variable, especially if you are designing and up-keeping a website on a tight budget. But try to compare the products of different companies before making a final decision, rather than walking blindly into the cheapest package you can find.
Where to Start When You Decide You Want a Website
HTML, CSS, Java… huh? With all these computer languages and methods out there, it’s easy to think setting up a website is something you could never do yourself. But before you go out and spend a truckload of money having someone create a website for you, read this article from start to finish.
Putting up a web site does not have to be complicated or expensive. It is something you can do in an afternoon without any training or experience. Here’s how…
1. Register Your Domain Name
Before you can begin creating your site, you need to register a domain name. The domain name is the address of your site on the World Wide Web (example: www.google.com).
The domain name will convey to the viewer your identity on the Internet and so it’s important to choose your domain name wisely so that users will know the purpose behind the site and find it quickly using a search engine such as Google. If an Internet user types you topic on a search engine, you want your website to appear first or second in the search results. If not, they may never discover your website at all.
How do you encourage people to find your site? By using keywords in your domain name. Keywords are any words commonly associated with the topic of your site. For example, if your website is selling old Kung Fu movies, some keywords might be “karate movies,” or “martial arts films.”
When deciding on a domain name, it helps to brainstorm any keywords you can think of that related to your website. Once you’ve done this, go to http://www.google.com/adwords and click on the “Find Keywords” box to discover any other keywords you might have missed. This may require setting up a Google account, but this process is free and worth the effort.
Linux vs. Windows Hosting — What’s the Difference?
Just because your PC runs on windows does not mean you need to buy a hosting package that uses Windows servers. There are other options out there—the primary one being Linux-based hosting. In this article, we’ll take you through the differences between Linux and Windows hosting so you can decide which system works best for you.
Access to the Server: The methods you will most likely use to access your account are FTP and control panel, and both Linux and Windows hosting support these methods. Between the two servers, there are some FTP commands that are slightly different and are designed for that particular system in mind. These differences are few and far between, but be aware that typing an FTP command into the wrong system will cause an error message will appear. In sum, whether access is through control panel or FTP, both systems are comparable.
Security: Linux and Windows both have developers that are working to improve security, so the differences between them in terms of security will be slight. If security is a huge issue for you, worry less about whether your server is Linux or Windows and more about what hosting company you are using. Search for a hosting company that has a skilled staff and is reputable for consistent security and go with whatever server they recommend for your needs.
Students Contribute to Joomla through Google Summer of Code
Popular open source content management system Joomla announced yesterday that it will participate in the Google Summer of Code program, in which eight students will work on individual projects that may be used by Joomla.
Google Summer of Code is a worldwide program that pays post-secondary student developers stipends of $5000 to write code for various open source software projects.
Joomla hosting is offered by countless web hosting providers, in addition to one-click Joomla installs through app stores. If the code the students create at the Google Summer of Code is accepted, the Joomla CMS may see some new features soon.
According to Joomla, the projects students will work on for the Google Summer of Code include creating Facebook, Google services, and MediaWiki APIs, as well as multi-language options for installation.
There are 1,212 students participating in the program this year, from 69 different countries. The students who will be working on Joomla projects are from Brazil, France, Romania, Sri Lanka, and the U.S.
“We’re excited to see what kind of code these students come up with, but we’re equally as excited to have these students join the Joomla community,” said Elin Waring of the Joomla Production Working Group who is co-administering the Google Summer of Code projects. “The end goal with Joomla developers is all about creating code that millions of people use, but it is the interaction and sharing of ideas in our community that makes Joomla tick.”
The coding period begins on May 21 and will run through Aug. 24. Students will present their projects to the Joomla community in mid-August and find out if their code is accepted on Aug. 24.
Cloud Provider FiberCloud Offers Virtual Firewall Protection
Cloud service provider FiberCloud announced this week that it has added virtual firewall options to its cloud server solutions. These new firewall features will allow Windows and Linux Cloud customers to manage secure and custom connections across multiple cloud servers.
Web hosting providers that are part of FiberCloud’s reseller program will be able to offer customers additional security through this offering.
According to FiberCloud, customers will have full control over network traffic with the virtual firewall feature. The virtual firewall allows customers to form secure connections when managing traffic and give people the ability to move data between their private network of cloud servers.
“We think that security and flexibility are crucial to our cloud server products,” Susan DeFlorio, COO at FiberCloud, said in a statement. “By adding this new Virtual Firewall option to our cloud servers, we’re empowering customers with greater choices and greater freedom to access and move information across multiple cloud servers.”
Virtual firewalls can be added to any FiberCloud cloud server without installing software on the server itself.
3 Worst Server Crashes In Recent History
If there’s one thing Internet junkies hate more than the dreaded 404 Not Found error message, it’s the even more dreaded server error message. When a business’s server crashes, their entire system becomes inoperable; sales can’t be made, services can’t be accessed, and products stop working. Below are our picks for the three worst server crashes in recent history and the impact they made on us, the unfortunate consumers.
#1: PokerStars.com
PokerStars.com is a wildly popular online poker site where users play for real money. On February 21, 2012, PokerStars’ server crashed, causing more than 70,000 poker enthusiasts worldwide to be cut off instantly from their live poker games. The server crash made it impossible to retrieve vital information such as hand histories and bet amounts.
PokerStars immediately contacted affected players through an email titled “Server Issues” which stated, “….currently experiencing some problems with players logging in, creating accounts, and accessing the cashier, among others.” The email also stated that PokerStars was reviewing the issue and would have the problem resolved quickly. The server issue resulted in refunds to every player who had been participating in poker games when the server crashed.
Server issues are not uncommon on online gaming sites, and can become a very big issue when real money is in play. We suggest you review online terms and conditions before joining for any real money games online!
Google Launches Data Analytics Tool
Google officially launched BigQuery this week. The tool allows businesses and developers to gain real-time business insight from large amounts of data. This public launch comes five months after Google offered the tool to a limited number of developers for beta testing.
BigQuery is accessible via a UI or REST interface, and allows users to store as much data as needed. Users pay only for what they need, and developers and businesses can query up to 100 GB of data per month at no charge.
The tool has only two pricing components: query processing at $0.035 per GB processed (up to 1000 queries per day), and storage at $0.12/GB per month up to 2TB.
Web hosts will benefit from big data from the amount of storage it requires for companies and developers to analyze the terabytes of user data.
For example, Ju-Kay Kwek, product manager, BigQuery, says social and mobile analytics company Claritics built a web application for game developers to gain insight into user behavior. According to a case study, Claritics was able to reduce time to run complex queries on large data sets from 30 minutes to 20 seconds, and shorten the amount of time spent to maintain their data analysis infrastructure by up to 40 percent.
ICANN Application Bug Pushes New gTLD Reveal to June
According to a report issued yesterday, the new gTLDs may not be revealed until as late as June 29. ICANN CEO Rod Beckstrom said in an interview with Domain Incite that he hopes to be able to host the reveal before he steps down from his position on July 1.
Applicants initially expected to hear if their applications were successful this week, but then last week ICANN pushed the reveal back to sometime in May. Now applicants may have to wait until the ICANN 44 meeting in Prague on June 29th before learning if their applications were successful.
According to Beckstrom, scheduling the reveal for June 29th is a personal goal, not a commitment from ICANN to meet that deadline. While he is pushing for a quick resolution of the issue, he stated the quality of the program is more important than a specific reveal date.
It was a technical glitch in April that forced ICANN to take its application system offline. ICANN is continuing to investigate what happened to the TAS that caused applicants to see file names and usernames of other applicants. ICANN plans to notify users of whether or not they were affected by the TAS bug by May 8.
According to ICANN, the bug was not a security issue, but rather a standard software bug.
“Obviously any time you have a software problem or technical problem with any program you come under enhanced security and criticism, and I think that’s understandable, that’s fair,” Beckstrom told Domain Incite. “What we’re focused on is resolving this successfully and I think ICANN has dealt with many challenges in its past successfully and we’re committed to resolve this issue professionally.”
WPHub.com Provides Premium WordPress Resources In One Convenient Place
Specializing in reviewing premium WordPress themes, plugins, and hosting providers, (as well as producing engaging WordPress tutorials), WPHub is your one-stop resource for all things WordPress. WPHub was created to serve the WordPress community by providing access to premium WordPress resources in one convenient place (there’s no area on the official WordPress.org website for premium themes and plugins). WPHub offers resources for themes, plugins, tutorials, and hosting. Be sure to check back often, as new content and resources are constantly being added!
Themes
You’ll find 577 premium WordPress themes in WPHub’s Themes section, all from top developers like WooThemes, ElegantThemes, ThemeForest, and StudioPress. Finding the perfect theme for your WordPress site is easy with WPHub’s search filters, which allow you to search by color palate, category, company, features, layout, price, and width.
Plugins
WPHub works with some of the best WordPress plugin developers on the web, constantly testing plugins for usefulness and compatibility. Whether you’re looking for e-commerce solutions, dynamic website forms, or anything else, WPHub has the perfect premium plugin for you!
Tutorials
Besides offering plugins and themes, WPHub also provides comprehensive WordPress training on a number of different topics, including how to use query_posts correctly, how to create a WordPress admin page plugin, and more. The folks behind WPHub have worked in the WordPress industry for years, and their expertise really shines through in their easy-to-follow, yet thorough, tutorial videos.
Hosting
WPHub works with some of the best WordPress hosting companies around to make sure users can get up and running quickly. Hosting companies that receive the WPHub seal of approval all work right out of the box, meaning they’ll set you up instantly with no configuration needed so you can start building your WordPress site right away. Finding the right WordPress hosting provider is easy thanks to WPHub’s handy comparison chart and pricing guide.
