Ask Owen » web development

Where can I find a good web host?

Owen — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 22:36:22 +0000

I’ve been with my current web host for a few years now, however recently I’ve noticed that performance of my sites has started to suffer. Websites that used to load effortlessly now take a few seconds to display a page. I’ve tried contact support to see if they could help, but so far, there’s been no improvement. What’s the best way to choose a good web host?

If you give a quick search for a web hosts you’re bound to find hundreds of different providers, all offering vaguely similar products, some standing out from the others. But the question is, how do you decide the best one to select? Personally the one thing I would recommend is checking out some Web Hosting Reviews.

The thing about reviews is that it gives you an idea of what sort of experience someone else has had. Any company can set up a glitzy website, but this really gives little indication of what service you are going to receive. On the other hand, a truthful review can lay the road for a long and fruitful relationship. So, for example, if you’re interested in InMotion Hosting, then reading all about them can tell you what experiences other people have had.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that Web Hosting is a dark art. Far from it, technology has advanced to a point now where it’s pretty much a commodity. However, aspects like customer service and site performance can be hard to gauge before you part with your hard earned cash. Getting a real recommendation from someone who uses the service can be fundamental in selecting a web host that will last a long time.

What do you think? Does this seem like a great way to pick a web host or not?

How do I make my HTML table sortable?

Owen — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 22:04:04 +0000

I’m putting together a website as a school project, which shows the results you got in each subject. I’d like my table to be sortable so that a user can select which column to sort on, just like Excel. How do I do this in HTML?

Well, HTML on it’s own isn’t going to cut it this time. HTML is a language that you use to define what goes into a web page, but it doesn’t allow for the sort of dynamic transitions you’re talking about. For this, you need to start looking into Javascript, or even better, one of my favourite libraries: jQuery.

In fact, there’s a plugin for jQuery called Tablesorterwhich will do just what you’re talking about. To use the tablesorter plugin, include the jQuery library and the tablesorter plugin inside the tag of your HTML document:

Start by telling tablesorter to sort your table when the document is loaded:
$(document).ready(function() { $("#myTable").tablesorter(); } );
Click on the headers and you’ll see that your exam tables are now sortable! You’ll have to make sure that your table uses THEAD and TBODY tags, but that should be pretty standard if you’re building your HTML correctly.

Download Tablesorter here

Why do I need to keep track of the stats on my site?

Owen — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 22:06:17 +0000

My hosting provider includes a selection of statistics packages. Do I really need these? What’s the benefit?

Statistics are your most important resource! Used properly, web site statistics will tell you who is visiting your site, where they came from, what search engines they used, their browser types and even their monitor resolutions.

These statistics are critical for your survival as a webmaster. You MUST know what’s going on with your site. Is it being visited and who is visiting it? What pages are people visiting? These are essential statistics that you must watch carefully and often.

Why? To improve your site and it’s ability to fulfil it’s purpose. You’ve put a lot of work into creating a site and you want it to accomplish some goal. In order to know if you are achieving the goal, you must look at what’s going on.

I guess the first question a webmaster asks is “is anyone visiting my site at all?” A hit counter fulfils this need nicely. You can create a simple one with CGI, you can use a built-in feature if you use Frontpage, or you can use any number of free or almost free hit counters available all over the web, and even if you’re not hosting on the best web hosting service around, you’re bound to have some statistics as part of your package.

For the more complex questions I would recommend a good statistics package. If you are running your own server you have it made – lots of tools are available.

But perhaps you’re wondering why you need this data? What’s it really for? Well, let’s say you have written a site to sell stamps. You have four pages to the site. You look at the hit counter and see 400 people visited it yesterday, but only 3 of them bothered to visit your page to see what they could purchase. In addition, you also see that there were no visitors from yahoo.com and only a few from other search engines.

Now you have some things that you can do. You can come up with a better design to get your users to the page where they purchase stamps. You can see if your site is listed with yahoo.com and if not, fix it. And you can check the rankings with other search engines and fix what’s going on there.

How do I create an alternative to Javascript?

Owen — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 11:17:13 +0000

I’m coding this new left navigation menu for a new website site, and I want to be able to have the navigation show if the visitor has Javascript turned off. Unfortunately the menu has sub-menus that don’t show if the user doesn’t have Javascript turned on. How do I create an alternative section to accommodate this?

I got this question from Kelly who was putting together a website using a a funky Javascript menu and ran into an accessibility issue if the user’s browser doesn’t run Javascript (or if the user opts to run NoScript or some other blocking plugin)

The answer is really quite simple. Even piece of Javascript on a web page has the option of being following by a NOSCRIPT section that is executed by the browser if Javascript is not enabled. Here’s an example of how it works:

So, the browser will actually execute one of the 2 sections, if you have Javascript enabled, it will perform the

How do I make WordPress permalinks work on nested domains?

Owen — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 14:36:33 +0000

GoDaddy’s Deluxe hosting allows for multiple websites all under one account. The way they do this is by pointing the domains to subfolders within the root. But, this poses a problem when trying to activate the permalink structures for these new sites since the 404 handling is pointing to the main root folder instead of your domain’s root folder. I’m searching for a way to rectify this issue since I have quite a few clients in this situation. Any ideas?

I got this question from Rene who left it as a comment on a question about making permalinks word on GoDaddy. I’ve read a bit about the subject and there are two things you need to check.

The first relates to the fact that Apache uses a file called .htaccess to control thinks like search-engine friendly permalinks. This file redirects request all URLs that don’t have a file associated with them to the main WordPress file and then WordPress can figure out which page to display.

Now .. the one thing you need to realise about .htaccess is that if Apache doesn’t find out, it will try the parent directory for the file and work it’s way up the tree until it finds a file. So, the first thing to check is that you do have a file called .htaccess in the root folder of your new blog to ensure it’s trapping requests.

The other thing to check is your wp-config file. I found a blog post from someone who had a similar problem which suggests that the configuration file for the 2nd blog he created wasn’t working properly and ended up pointing at a different blog. This resulted in his URLs pointing at the parent blog and pages being redirected to the wrong place.

Unfortunately you’re going to have to try and debug this one, but I’m happy enough to give you a hand and update this article with whatever we find. It’s not as simple as clipping on a pulse oximeter to see if your blood oxygen levels are low, but I’m sure we can get to the bottom of it in the end.

Let me know how you fare.

Should I host my website overseas?

Owen — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 15:29:27 +0000

I’ve found a really cheap hosting provider in India who looks much cheaper than any other company I’ve ever seen. What’s the catch?

I’ve had this question been thrown at me a couple of times but instead of answering outright I usually ask a few more questions myself. For example:

Who’s your target market?
What support arrangements do you get?
What’s your backup plan if it all goes wrong?

The reason is that usually it’s more than just a question of price. It’s a question of the service you get, both in terms of site performance and in terms of customer support.

I came across a good article on Web Hosting Geeks that goes into some factors you should consider when thinking about hosting abroad. Here’s what you ened to consider:

Why the difference in price: It’s worth finding out whether you’re comparing apples with oranges. A company can offer cheaper hosting if they don’t provide 24 hours support. It’s true that economies like India and China might have cheaper labour costs, but make sure you’re comparing like with like.
Location, location, location: Server location can affect your site performance. Europe and America have some of the widest Internet pipes around and it always makes sense to host your server close to your target market, just to make sure they get the best experience.
Customer Service: Standards of customer service vary from country to country, especially if you’re dealing with different timezones. A company might offer 24 hours service, but night-time usually means there are less staff around.

There are some great points there that you need to keep in mind and in reality overseas providers don’t always have better prices than your home country. It’s worth checking out your web host on Web Hosting Geeks as they have a number of hosting providers lined up against each other and you can compare who give you what and where you can get a good deal. Just keep in mind that hosting overseas may be a bit more risky, so it’s good to bear that in mind.

What is Ruby on Rails?

Owen — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 21:55:38 +0000

My hosting provider says they support Ruby on Rails on their “features list”. What is this and do I need it?

When you decide to build a Web Application there are a number of routes you can go down. First of all you need to decide on which language to use. There are a number of different ones, but some are particularly well suited for building web applications. You also need to be aware of a number of development frameworks that are available, mainly because they make your job a whole lot easier because you don’t have to reinvent the wheel every time you need to do something.

Ruby on Rails is one such framework. Ruby is the development language you use and Rails is the development framework that saves you all the time when you’re building something. I found a great article on Web Hosting Rating that described it pretty well:

Ruby on Rails includes a number of useful features. There are functions designed for the validating of form data, program templates, distributing and receiving email, formatting the date and time, managing cookies and sessions and much more. It also include supports support for AJAX which enables the creation and implementation of interactive features. AJAX (Asynchronous Javascript and XML) describes the combined use of Javascript, the Document Object Model and XML to assemble web content via web browsers directly from a remote server.

All in all, Ruby on Rails offers a simple and effective platform for web development. It employs some of the latest and best technology that aid tremendously in the creation of dynamic content. For this reason, Ruby on Rails has quickly become a popular choice for developers of many different experience levels. It is highly likely that this technology will remain prevalent in the area of application building far into the future.

That pretty much described it to a T. Web Host Rating has become a great source of information for me. Not only does it expose a number of different web hosts and what their pricing structure is, but it also has a pretty good set of articles on hosting that cover a whole host of subjects.

Anyway, back to Rails. If you’re planning on building a website and don’t have a preference as to what language and framework you use, it’s worth checking out. It’s a pretty powerful way to to build your web application.

How do I use onMouseOver in Javascript?

Owen — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 15:00:33 +0000

I want an image on my website to change when I hover my mouse over it. How do I do this?

I got this question from a friend who like to dabble with HTML but isn’t too much f an expert. He saw this effect on a button on a travel insurance website was trying to produce something similar. Well, you cannot implement this with plain HTML, but need to delve into Javascript and use a function called onMouseOver. This function is triggered when the mouse runs over a certain element on your page. It also has a corresponding sister function called onMouseOut which is called when you move your mouse away from the element in question. It’s important to use both functions otherwise your image won’t revert back to the original when the mouse moves away.

So, here’s the code that lets you do this:

And here’s what it looks like:

I haven’t actually linked the image to anything, but you get the idea

Can I make money from hosting?

Owen — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 15:23:24 +0000

I’ve noticed that my hosting provider also offers “reseller accounts”. Can I use this to make some money from hosting other people?

I get this question every now and again from different people, particularly in the blogging community. The short answer is Yes! Reseller accounts are aimed at webmasters who want the opportunity to use their skills to host other people, and maybe package their services in a way they make anything from some pocket money to some serious cash. But let’s get some more pointers from this great post on WebHostingGeeks, a website that specialises in web hosting reviews but also includes some great information for webmasters.

First of all, reseller hosting doesn’t have to cost the earth. You can find packages for as low as a few pounds a month, a cost that you can easily cover with a couple of clients.
Once you have a package you are happy with, the next step is to network, find potential clients and get them on board
Spend some time marketing your service. Join forums, send newsletters and you can even run a targeted campaign.
Keep in mind that there are a number of other people out there selling the same thing you are. Just factor this into your projections.

There’s some valuable material in there, so might want to pop in and read the whole article.

WebHostingGeeks also has a number a great reviews on different hosting providers, so if you’re in the market for a new host, check them out.

How can I access my new website before changing my nameservers?

Owen — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 22:19:04 +0000

I’m currently moving my website to a new hosting provider and I’d like to work on my new website without having to switch off my old website. Is there any way I can do this?

This question came up a couple of time recently on the BlueHost forums, recently by Sombeech who was working on his employer’s website. It’s a very valid question and the solution centers around a useful technique that can prove to be very useful.

First of all some background information. When you type a URL into your browser, the first thing that happens in the the URL needs to get translated into an IP address. This is a set of 4 numbers that every server on the Web needs to have. So, for example, if you had a website called http://www.LoseSomeWeight.com (a fake website that sells Phentermine), this could be hosted on a webserver with an IP address that looks like 123.23.56.204. There is a service on the Internet called DNS (Domain Name Service) that is responsible for translating domain names into IP addresses, a process called Domain Name Resolution. It’s a pretty clever system that’s really a hierarchical set of servers spread about the Internet. If your computer asks a DNS server to resolve a name it’s not familiar with, the DNS server will ask one further up the chain if it knows how to resolve that particular name, until the name is finally resolved.

Now, when you move your domain from one host to another, or even from one machine to another, the IP address of the server will change, and in order to effect this, you need to modify one of the DNS records to point at the new webserver. (This is the simple version, there’s actually another type of server called a nameserver that comes into play). Once you do this and the name has “propagated” around the Internet (a process that can take up to 48 hours), whenever someone types in the name of your website, they will be redirected to the new webserver. This new setting however, can be done just on your machine, which would let you work on your new server while everyone else is looking at the old server. Here’s how to do it.

Here’s an example, where we’re pointing the domain http://mba-geek.com to 70.86.194.154

Go to c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc and find a file called “hosts”
Open the file in a text editor
Add a line that reads: 70.86.194.154 mba-geek.com
Save the file
Open a command prompt and run: IPCONFIG /FLUSHDNS

Your file will now look something like this:

If you open your browser, you’ll now see that you’re looking at the new version of your website and you can modify this to your heart’s content, safe in the knowledge that you’re the only person who can actually see your new changes.