5 Giants of Web Hosting: What Makes Them Great Web Hosts

The Internet boasts a wide array of web hosts making web hosting one of the more dynamic industries of the Web.  As in any industry, a few stars always seem to rise to the top.  When clients search for their ideal web hosting service, these web hosting companies typically win business with their extraordinary array of qualities and services.  The following web hosts are generally considered among the best of the best and the following text explains why.

Bluehost

This web host is usually found on best of lists due to their great service, competitive rates and unlimited options.  The company has an intuitive grasp on what clients really want whether it’s full functionality for an affordable price (a winning combination for small businesses) or 24/7 customer support.  Their superb technology solutions are coupled with a personable staff that has resulted in a loyal customer base and their client list keeps growing.

iPage

In business since 1998, this web host is one of the most inexpensive web hosts available that still offers great services and features like free site-building tools, a free security package, and unlimited disk space and bandwidth just to name a few.  Moreover, their commitment to green energy is a model for other companies; they are completely wind powered.  As an industry leader, the company has been featured in magazines like ComputerWorld and Inc.  While they have a lot of stellar features clients need, they are often chosen choose simply because they make the whole website experience easy, which is a great perk for people who don’t have time to spend on the ins and outs of website design and hosting.

WebHosting Hub

Anyone who is in search of a do-it-all web hosting service would do well to check into WebHosting Hub.  Like the other industry giants, this company offers affordable rates, but it also combines its website building features with WordPress, so constructing a complete website and blog is a breeze.  Aside from unlimited bandwidth and 24/7 technical support, Webhosting Hub is also favored for its ecommerce suite of tools that includes OS Commerce as well as others.  Businesses also favor them for their website design solutions.

NearlyFreeSpeech

For people who simply want to pay for the precise services they use and not for the overblown packages of features they’ll never need, this up-and-coming site is one of the best affordable web hosts in the business.  They base their prices on what a client uses instead of a flat monthly free that bundles unneeded services.  Their web apps work with well known sites like WordPress, Coppermine, Wikimedia, and so many more!  Their costs are upfront and their services include a full range of features individuals and small businesses look for in a web host.

HostGator

This popular web hosting company is also affordable and particularly user-friendly.  Whether you know a lot about website building or just a little, this company offers some standout tools like a free site-building demo.  You can get a great sample of what HostGator offers without committing.  Their customer service has garnered great reviews and their full functionality is tailored to big and small websites alike.

All of these web hosts have stellar reputations in the industry and while they appear to offer similar services, each one is special in its own way and may be the perfect fit for your website.  Check out their websites for a fuller description of their services.  Better still, call for an informative conversation with a customer service representative who is trained to answer your questions and walk you through the web hosting process.

Guest Author Frank Ashton blogs regularly on issues relevant to website owners. Keeping on top of the latest trends and passing tips onto others is his personal passion. If you’re thinking of getting a website online, be sure to compare various host offers and reviews before you make a final decision.

Useful Links: ADA rules may expand, flexbox, Think Responsively

DOJ May Apply ADA Accessibility Guidelines to Websites explains what is under consideration in terms of expanding the ADA rules to apply to public websites in addition to the government websites it already requires.

Chris Mills wrote a terrific tutorial about Advanced cross-browser flexbox for Dev.Opera.

Deborah Edwards-Onoro used Storify to put together a summary of Ben Callahan’s Think Responsively talk from an Environments for Humans webinar.

How to Modify a WordPress Stylesheet for a Child Theme

WordPress has many outstanding attributes that have helped to make it the most popular blogging platform in the world and one of these is the parent and child theme format. The introduction of this means that when modifications are made to a WordPress theme, upgrades to newer versions can be made without losing any of the new code. This is a huge bonus for website developers, who in the past, would have to spend hours finding customised code and applying them to upgraded themes.

Modifying a WordPress stylesheet for a child theme is a relatively simple process. The first step is to ensure that the child theme itself has been set up. To do this, you will first of all need to login to your FTP client and look at the WP content directory for the installed WordPress. Once there, enter the “themes” section and you will see a list of the themes available. If, for example, there is a theme there called “holiday” and you wish to create a child for it, you will now need to create a new folder and call it “holiday-child”.

The next step, is to create a valid stylesheet called style.css and put it in the folder. The easiest way to do this is to simply create one using your favourite text editor, save it and then transfer it via the FTP. The new stylesheet should contain the following minimum information.

/*
Theme Name:   my child theme
Theme URI:      http://mysite.com
Description:      This is my child theme I have created
Author:             My Name
Author URI:       http://mysite.com
Template:          parenttheme
Version:            0.1
*/

Although much of the information in the lines above is generic, the one thing that must be altered for the child theme to work is “parenttheme”. In the example we are using, this should read “holiday”. The theme name should also be renamed holiday-child.

Whilst the above stylesheet is valid, what will happen when it is activated is that the site will load without any new formatting, as of course, the stylesheet does not have any actual CSS in it at the moment! Adding the following code would load the parent themes CSS file inside the child theme, thus making the site formatted.

@import url(“../parenttheme/style.css”);

Again, the phrase “parenttheme” would be replaced with “holiday” in the example that we are using.

Once this has been done, it can be uploaded to the site via FTP.

The second step is to then activate the child theme. Having logged into WordPress admin area, you should navigate over to “Appearance>Themes” where you will see that the parent theme is currently active. If everything has worked correctly, you should also be able to see the new child theme listed below. Clicking on “Activate” will send this theme live.

Keen observers, upon checking their website, will notice that there has been no change. The reason for this is because at this stage no actual modifications have been made to the theme. All that has happened is that a child theme has been created.

To make modifications to the child theme, you now only need to edit the style.css file that you originally created in a text editor, and then upload it via FTP again.

The wonderful thing about doing it in this way is that any changes that are made do not impact on the parent theme. This means that if a massive mistake is made, then, the parent theme can simply be reactivated in order to get the site back up and running again. At the same time, if there is a core code update, the child theme will be unaffected. Due to the fact that the site cannot be “damaged” in any way by using child themes, it also provides a great opportunity to experiment with code and develop some web design skills in a safe environment.

Creating a child theme for your WordPress blog takes just a matter of minutes, and after that, editing the child theme is, to use a pun, child’s play itself. In no time at all, you will be able to create unique looking sites that when built upon a good parent theme, will rival any commercially available themes for none of the cost.

Guest author Richard McMunn is founder of How2become.com, the UK’s leading training and recruitment website for public sector careers.  You can also find How2become on Facebook.

Useful links: Sexism defined, assholes moderated

Two posts that complement each other well caught my attention. I hope you’ll read both of them completely, they aren’t too long.

Yup. That's my man. In an apron, cooking japchae. :)

First there is What is sexism? by Lea Verou. Lea explains the idea in simple terms.

Both prejudice and gender-based discrimination are sexism. Prescriptive gender stereotypes are sexist (e.g. women have to be nurturing, men have to be tough) as they oppress the part of the population that doesn’t conform to them. Statistics aren’t sexist (e.g. “Many women are nurturing” isn’t a sexist statement, “Women are nurturing” or even worse “women should be nurturing” both are).

The second post, from Anil Dash, is If Your Website’s Full of Assholes, It’s Your Fault. Anil discusses a set of principles that will keep your website from turning into a morass of bad behavior. He introduces the principles with,

As it turns out, we have a way to prevent gangs of humans from acting like savage packs of animals. In fact, we’ve developed entire disciplines based around this goal over thousands of years. We just ignore most of the lessons that have been learned when we create our communities online. But, by simply learning from disciplines like urban planning, zoning regulations, crowd control, effective and humane policing, and the simple practices it takes to stage an effective public event, we can come up with a set of principles to prevent the overwhelming majority of the worst behaviors on the Internet.

Logical, clear-thinking words from two different sources that can help Internet communities that suffer from a plethora of assholes change to more productive and useful environments.

4 Good Places to Get Design Feedback

They say that two heads are better than one, and this can be especially true when it comes to the world of web design. Being able to get feedback from other skilled design professionals can help you obtain new perspectives, identify flaws in your work, and know when you’ve hit the nail on the head. You don’t have to have a network of designer friends to bounce your work off of. Several services exist today that allow you to share your work and get professional critiques. The following websites allow you to build new connections, get advice, and gain experience and expertise along the way.

Concept Feedback

Concept Feedback allows you to upload your design concepts and receive feedback from its design community for free. It’s not just you that will be getting critiqued, because in order to make the process fully interactive and functional, it requires you to give feedback on five other concepts before yours can be viewed by others in the group. The site also has a premium service that allows you to work with true experts in the field for a fee.

Five Second Test

This site is built on the premise that a great design should grab you in less than five seconds. Upload your design and it is shown to others for five seconds, and then they give you feedback on your work based on that super-quick view. It’s a great way to tweak your designs to be as attention-getting as possible in a short amount of time.

U Feed Me Back

Here’s an interesting concept: This invitation-only site allows designers to get feedback from specific top-level designers in the industry. It’s not free, though, and the fees can vary according to the talent you choose. The upside is that you know you’ll be getting high-quality critiques from leading designers and artists – and that advice can be priceless.

Please Critique Me

Upload your work in the hopes of being critiqued by a panel of experts. If your design is chosen, it will be showcased and critiqued by industry veterans at no charge. It’s the luck of the draw, so there’s no guarantee that your design will get picked to be critiqued. Meanwhile, you can check out their other critiques and reviews to learn more about what makes for great graphic design.

Where do you get design feedback? Let us know in the comments!

Author’s Bio: Brian Morris writes for the PsPrint Design & Printing Blog. PsPrint is an online commercial printing company. Follow PsPrint on Twitter @PsPrint and Facebook.

Blink

Blink is the big announcement of interest of the week for web designers. Blink is the rendering engine used by Chromium. It isn’t clear what the implications of Blink will be, but you need to be aware that it’s happening.

Useful Links: Accessibility Checklist, CSS Best Practice, hgroup out

The Ultimate Accessible HTML and CSS Checklist for Developers: part 1 is from access iQ. It may not be the ultimate list, but it is a new way of presenting the items in WCAG 2.0 in a reader friendly way.

At SitePoint, there’s an article about CSS Architectures: CSS Best Practices that has good code examples.

The hgroup element in HTML5 is kaput.