Archive for July, 2007

Apple Inc is the maker of the worlds coolest computers, as I’m sure you already know. Their website has, for the last few years, been very innovative and has started several design trends. What has Apple’s website like in the past? Let’s find out, with a little help from the Wayback Machine. Ready? Let’s get started. (more…)

• Tired of Wordpress’s default login screen? Try out this cool plugin. It allows you to substitute your own images and style sheet for the Wordpress default. Now if only it would let you replace the entire wp-login.php file…
• We all know that Wordpress works well as a CMS for a magazine-type site. Well, there’s a tutorial up now. Learn how to build a blog that looks like a magazine.
• Can you believe those iPhone skeptics? The iThing outsells the Motorolla RAZR, and everyone’s complaining that it didn’t sell more. The iPhone is a revolutionary product. Really, everyone’s going nuts about it. The webhost Media Temple is offering an iPhone-ready version of it’s AccountCenter for crying out loud!
• Continuing with more Wordpress stuff, Mashable has a list of “50+ Tools For The WordPress Admin.” The operation of you blog revolves around that back end interface; make it more useful.
• Hell froze over; Dvorak’s using a mac…and he likes it. Dvorak likes his new mac…and he’s the guy who complains about everything (especially Apple and Microsoft).
• Microsoft’s at it again…. Hotmail’s been blocking emails about Linux. More idiocy from Microsoft. Did you know that they used to block emails from GMail users?

I’ve decided to call this technique “Content Mapping,” for want of a better term. What is Content Mapping? Here’s an example. The idea is that the colored blocks will help you visualize how your layout is structured. This has several applications. It’s useful for finding ways to improve your website, or for other things as well. Plus, it’s fun. (more…)

Hopefully you’ll notice some speed improvements around here. I’ve finally found the time to update Webmaster-Source’s layout to utilize CSS instead of tables. Don’t believe me? Check yourself! 100% CSS page layout.

When you’re starting a new website, you need to come up with a name as soon as possible. How soon? You should pick a name before you start building your layout and all that. Why? Well, it’s not easy to make a logo and matching color scheme for a site without a name. (more…)

The oldest (and best) Harry Potter website, The Leaky Cauldron, has just updated their layout today. It seems like a good opportunity to feature them on Websites Through The Years. (more…)

Blogger, perhaps the most famous free blog provider, pretty much kick-started the blog phenomenon. Though Blogger doesn’t measure up with a self-hosted Wordpress installation, it’s a heck of a lot better than LiveJournal and Wordpress.com.

October 12, 1999

Not much, is it? This is blogger when it first started. Back then there was no Blog*Spot hosting service. You had to host the files on your own web space. Too bad the Wayback Machine can’t get at the administration pages, it would be cool to see what the write post page used to look like. Oh well. (more…)

• In 2009, all our analog TVs are going to be useless (unless we buy $300 conversion boxes) when all the TV stations switch to the new digital standard. The FCC is planning on auctioning off the vacated airwaves. Google says they will bid at least $4.6 billion…if the FCC agrees to their terms. The terms? Click through for the rest. Go Google!
• The Zonbu Zonbox…. What an odd concept. It’s a $100 PC with a twist. It has 512MB of RAM, a low power processor, and 4GB of flash memory. The thing’s useless without a $15/mo subscription which nets you 50GB of encrypted hard drive space at Zonbu HQ. Basically, you’re running a linux box where all your files are stored somewhere on the other side of the web. It’s being touted as the “PC of the Future” by numerous people. Not a chance. You can’t edit video, play 3D games, rip your entire music collection, or anything that involves a lot of disk activity. Hello, do you want to wait while your files stream across the web? This is not a PC, it’s a web appliance that compliments your computer. I think it’s best used as a little web device to stick somewhere like your kitchen or garage so you can check you email, and look things up on Wikipedia easily.
• Senate Forcing Colleges to Spy on Students: Really, monitoring peoples’ web traffic? I’m not a lawyer, but that seems a little unconstitutional to me…
• Mashable has just compiled a list of over 400 useful resources for webmasters, designers, bloggers, and heavy computer users alike.
• Yesterday, the 365 Main data center in San Francisco went down, taking with it several major websites including Netflix, Yelp, Craigslist, Technorati, AdBrite, LiveJournal, TypePad, USA today, and Vox. It also caused problems with the servers running Second Life. There were major power outages in the area which must have brought down the data center, despite several layers or redundant power backups.
• Windows Vista is increasing sales of Windows XP.

Ars Technica is one of my favorite tech news sites. Though they’ve been around since 1998, they’ve had very few layout redesigns. Nowadays they have an ultra-cool design, but they didn’t start out that way…

April 22, 1999

I despise (most) designs with a black background and white text. It’s hard on the eyes, and come on, that color scheme should have died with DOS! (more…)

Are you tired of paying for mediocre hosting? It’s common knowledge that big hosting companies like Dreamhost and BlueHost oversell their services, claiming to offer “300GB of storage” and “3000GB of bandwidth” for a low cost of $6 a month (or similar). When you’re site is just starting out, with only a few hits, you don’t notice any foul play. But when your site starts getting bigger, they cut-off your service well before the advertised limits for “excessive use of resources,” all thanks to a little clause in the Terms of Service.

What are your options? Well, you could use a VPS or dedicated server (pricey, but powerful) or you can escape from dishonest hosting providers.

A Small Orange, a hosting provider since 2003, goes for the “quality not quantity” approach. They offer friendly tech support, and they appear to not be overselling. They’re prices are reasonable as well. What do they offer? Well, they’ve got Shared Hosting and VPS plans for various budgets. All plans included PHP, MySQL, and Ruby on Rails.

The “Tiny” plan offers 75MB of space, 3GB of bandwidth for $2.08/month. The more useful “Small” plan has 400MB of storage, 10GB of bandwidth for $5/month. They proceed to offer various other plans for $10, $20, all the way up to the “Super” $30/mo plan with 4500MB of space and 100GB of bandwidth. Extra bandwidth will cost you $0.50 per gigabyte.

Don’t leave now! Sure, it seems that the huge hosting companies offer more for your money, but don’t forget that they oversell. You only think that you’re getting 300GB of bandwidth (30000MB). There’s no way any host can offer that much (unless they have cluster hosting, which is highly unlikely). A Small Orange has quite a following of satisfied customers.

I’m not a customer of ASO, but I can tell they’re pretty good by doing some online research. I’ve yet to see anything truly bad about them. If they find a problem with their service, they’ve got it fixed in a couple days. A Small Orange has an amazing track record for a host.

Want to read a review by a blogger who uses ASO? Look no further than Nutshell Journal.