As a webmaster I have my hands full with the daily monitoring and maintenance of websites. It keeps me busy enough. But before any site can hit the big time I have a bunch of setup work that needs to get done and done right. Choosing the type of hosting environment is key to the site’s success and also key to keeping my workload reasonable. Making the wrong choice in hosting environment guarantees the investment of additional time to make it right. I’d like to explain how I go about making these choices. Just maybe I can save the reader some time in the long run. (more…)

UPDATE: As was pointed out by commenters, I apparently missed the live chat on startlogic, onewebhosting, and netfirms. I have updated them in the table but wont be able to send in a new request to them until 2 PM next tuesday (to stay true to the test). Sorry!

Shared Hosting Support Sucks. And by “sucks”, I mean that it is roughly on par with the type of service you would expect at Guantanamo Bay. I take that back. Staying at Camp Gitmo is free. If you had to pay for the torture, then that would be like shared hosting support. From long phone call waiting times, constant server updates, and off-shore support staff that, despite their best efforts, cannot understand a word you are saying, getting good support seemed impossible.

So, I decided to take matters into my own hands. I would call, email, and chat with as many different shared hosting companies as I could and put it on a stop watch. Every minute that ticked by without a response or an answer was a vote against my business. Of course, they didn’t know this was happening at all. (more…)

The intention of this article is not to start a flame war. My intention, instead, is to help the lesser experienced webmaster choose the best hosting environment for his or her needs. A side benefit may be that a webmaster who is well versed in one but not the other can get a better idea of what’s cooking in the other’s camp. (more…)

In your quest for knowledge and information you sit down at your computer and type in the URL of a web site you have been to before.  The magic that is the internet serves your expected web pages to you quicker than you can say “Jack Rabbit”.  What appears to be a modern-day miracle is actually a methodical process that happens lighting quick, each time you send a request for information.  Understanding these steps is easy, though they come off as steep and slippery on your first attempts at climbing them. (more…)