Vandelay Design Blog » Hosting

25 Beautifully Minimalist Websites – Part 5

Vandelay Website Design — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 02:58:32 +0000

Over the past year and a half, I have published four collections of inspirational websites with a minimalist approach to the design. Since more great websites of this style keep appearing, and since readers continue to show an interest in this style, here is the fifth edition. You can see the first four parts here:

If you appreciate websites with a minimalist design style, you’ll love our new gallery site Minimal Exhibit.

Netlings

Distrop

This is Aaron’s Life

Maxvoltar

Monty Lounge Industries

Finely Sliced

For more design inspiration, see:

My First Impressions of Amazon S3

Vandelay Website Design — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 00:08:10 +0000

A few months ago I was looking into a variety of hosting options before launching DesignM.ag and Amazon S3 stood out as an attractive option for hosting the images used on the site. If you’re not familiar with Amazon’s Simple Storage Service (S3), it “is designed to make web-scale computing easier for developers.”

A growing number of websites and blogs are using S3 to host media files and for server backups, and ultimately I felt that it was a great way to reduce the burden on the server of the host by storing images on a separate server. S3 is an attractive option because it is low cost (particularly in comparison to hosting overage charges) and very flexible. Once you open an account you can upload as little or as much as you want, and you only pay for what you use.

Here are the prices provided at Amazon:

United States

Storage
$0.15 per GB-Month of storage used

Data Transfer
$0.100 per GB – all data transfer in

$0.170 per GB – first 10 TB / month data transfer out
$0.130 per GB – next 40 TB / month data transfer out
$0.110 per GB – next 100 TB / month data transfer out
$0.100 per GB – data transfer out / month over 150 TB

Requests
$0.01 per 1,000 PUT, POST, or LIST requests
$0.01 per 10,000 GET and all other requests*
* No charge for delete requests

Europe

Storage
$0.18 per GB-Month of storage used

Data Transfer
$0.100 per GB – all data transfer in

Requests
$0.012 per 1,000 PUT, POST, or LIST requests
$0.012 per 10,000 GET and all other requests*
* No charge for delete requests

Although there are plenty of reasons to use S3, it’s not a perfect service. My biggest frustration at first was just figuring out how to use the service, something that you would think would be well-documented by Amazon. Unfortunately there’s no simple way to use the service at this point without messing with the API or use some type of third-party resource.

Fortunately, I came across a post on Coding Horror that looks at the process in good detail, and it links to an extremely useful Firefox Add-on, S3Fox Organizer. There’s really only a few necessary actions that you’ll need to do with S3 if you’re just using it for image hosting, which only makes it more frustrating that Amazon doesn’t make the process simpler. However, with S3Fox Organizer you can be up-and-running in minutes. Once you enter the details of your S3 account you can easily upload new images and work with the “buckets”, where you will be storing your images. Uploading images is relatively similar to using the FTP function in Dreamweaver (or some other FTP program) and there’s almost nothing complicated about the S3Fox Add-on.

The Pros and Cons of My First Month with Amazon S3

Although I was looking for an option for DesignM.ag, I wound up using S3 to host images from this blog as well. Just last week I got the bill for my first month and the total came to $53. While that may seem like a high hosting price tag to some readers (although that doesn’t include the price of MediaTemple’s hosting), keep in mind that the price is for two websites, both are relatively high traffic, and both include a number of posts with lots of images. Although I did expect the price to wind up being a bit lower, the main servers have been given a bit of relief by using S3, and some overage charges with MediaTemple were avoided.

The Pros of S3

Reduced Server Load – As I mentioned earlier, the biggest factor for me in choosing to use S3 was the fact that I could take some pressure off of the main server and hopefully increase the performance of the site. In this area I’m pretty pleased with S3. I have noticed faster loading of posts that have lots of images, compared to how posts on this blog used to load when all images were hosted on the main server (I didn’t go back and move the images on older posts to S3, they’re still on MediaTemple’s servers. That could be done in the future).

Flexible Pricing – If your website or blog doesn’t currently use a lot of resources, there’s no need to avoid using S3 because of price. You’ll only be charged for what you use, even if that is only $1 a month.

Can Be Used for Multiple Sites – I have both of my sites on one account and that makes things a little simpler, in my opinion. The only reasons I could see for not using the same account would be 1) for organization (I use the bucket system to keep the two sites separate) 2) if you’re planning to sell one of your sites. If this is the case you’d be better off with multiple accounts for when the site is sold.

Lots of Potential – Image hosting is really just a fraction of what you can do with S3, although it seems to be one of the more popular uses.

The S3Fox Organizer Add-on – Although it’s not provided by Amazon, the S3Fox Add-on has had a huge impact on my experience with S3. Although there are a few other options for doing the same tasks, I didn’t find any of them to be as straightforward as S3Fox Organizer.

The Cons of S3

No Easy Way to Use the Service – Unless you’re using third-party resources, like the Firefox add-on, you’ll have to deal with the API to use the service. Personally, I think this is a big negative. I don’t see why Amazon couldn’t create something on their own to make it easier to use the service.

Downtime Has Been an Issue – Although the service has been pretty reliable overall, a few significant issues have happened, and that has led to high-profile sites (like this article at ReadWriteWeb) to question the service.

Conclusion:

Overall, I’m happy with S3 so far. It has helped to reduce the load on the main servers of both websites, and that’s what I wanted. I do recommend S3 to other website owners and bloggers, but I encourage you to do your own research before deciding on any hosting option, whether it’s just for media files or for your entire website. The flexible pricing is a great feature that will let you grow into the service without ever having a price tag that’s higher than it’s worth.

If you’re interested in reading more about S3, here are some additional resources:

Using Amazon S3 as an Image Hosting Service – Coding Horror
More Amazon S3 Downtime: How Much is Too Much? – ReadWriteWeb
The S3Fox Organizer for Amazon – Firefox Add-on
Jungle Disk – Resource for Working with S3
StartUps Embracing Amazon S3 – GigaOM
Replacing My Home Backup Server with Amazon’s S3 – Zawodny.com
Use Amazon S3 and Firefox to Serve Static Files – NETTUTS
How to Use Amazon S3 and PHP to Dynamically Store and Manage Files with Ease – NETTUTS
Bulletproof Server Backups with Amazon S3 – Paul Stamatiou

Review of Host Gator’s Web Hosting Services

wpcoder — Sun, 03 Jun 2007 20:56:44 +0000

Every business that maintains a website is faced with the challenge of finding reliable website hosting at an affordable price. There are so many competitors in the hosting industry and so many different options that sorting it all out can be overwhelming. Sometimes the most helpful information is to find out how a host’s customers feel about the service. Vandelay Website Design uses HostGator, so we thought some of our readers and visitors might like to know our opinion of HostGator’s service.

HostGator has a number of features that led us to choose them over all of the other companies out there. Each hosting company will have its own unique features and its own strengths and weaknesses. No hosting company will be the right fit for all types of customers. The best approach is to have a list of features that you want from your web host and try to find one that matches your needs.

It’s likely that many of the features offered will not apply to your situation. Stay focused on what’s relevant and make sure your decision is based on your particular situation.

Some of the features that make HostGator stand out from the crowd are:

Low Price – There are several different plans to choose from based on your needs. All options are very competitively prices. While there are other hosting companies that offer slightly cheaper services, HostGator’s service and features make the price almost unbeatable.

Host Unlimited Domains – For as low as $9.99 per month you can host an unlimited number of domains. This can be a great cost-saving feature that opens up new opportunities to market your business.

Disk Space – The file size of your website will determine how much disk space you need. Each of HostGator’s plans provides a generous amount of disk space that beats almost any competitor.

Bandwidth – The amount of bandwidth needed is determined by how many visitors you have and what they are downloading. Audio and video take up a large amount of bandwidth. HostGator’s plans also provide more bandwidth than most companies.

24-Hour Customer Service – One of the benefits of using a larger web hosting company like Host Gator is the hours of customer service. Some smaller hosting companies only provide support during standard business hours, which can be frustrating if you need help at any other time. HostGator provides customer service by phone, email and online chat.

No Contract – Some hosting companies will require customers to commit to a one-year contract, which means if there service is not satisfactory you will either have to wait until the end of your contract or pay an early termination fee. With HostGator you are free to leave at any time.

30 Day Money Back Guarantee – If you sign up for HostGator’s service and you are not satisfied, they offer a 30 day money back guarantee.

Fantastico – HostGator uses Fantistico to offer its customers with easy installations of blogs (including WordPress), forums and discussion boards, e-commerce, mailing lists, wikis and more.

These are just a few of the features that HostGator offers. For a complete list visit HostGator.com.

If you are interested in using HostGator’s services, please visit HostGator.com

UPDATE: This site is no longer hosted with Host Gator. We still recommend them to many of our clients and they have a great product unless you expect high traffic volume.

Choosing a Website Hosting Company

wpcoder — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 23:30:45 +0000

There are a number of important factors to consider when deciding on a web hosting company.

1 – Price – Web hosting services come in all different prices, including free. While free hosting may sound tempting, it’s not a good idea for any business that takes its website seriously. Using a free hosting service will typically result in slow loading pages, limited disk space and bandwidth, very slow support (if any) when you need help, and sometimes outside advertisements on your site.

On the contrary, many hosting services are overpriced when compared to the competition. The best approach is to compare several hosting services to find the one that provides the best service with the most features at the lowest price.

2 – Contracts/Commitments – Most hosting services will require you to commit to using their service for a specified length of time, usually one year. Agreeing to a contract can sometimes reduce the monthly fee, but it also prohibits you from leaving if you are not satisfied with the service.

If you are not committed for a certain amount of time you are likely to receive a better product with better service in order to keep you as a customer. If you are going to choose a hosting provider that requires you to agree to a contract, be sure to find out what fees are involved if you decide to end the contract early and go to another service.

3 – Support – Inevitably at some point you will need support from your hosting provider. You may need help setting it up or dealing with an issue down the road. If service hours are limited or if service is only available via email, it may be difficult to get the help you need.

If you do use email support, how long will it take to get a response? It is a good idea to call before signing up for the service. This lets you see how difficult or easy it is to talk to a real person that can help you solve your problems.

4 – Disk space and bandwidth – Each hosting company will limit you to a specified amount of disk space and bandwidth. Disk space will determine the maximum size of your website. Always allow enough space for future additions to your site. Remember that audio and video files take up much more space than plain html files.

Bandwidth will determine how much traffic your site will be able to handle. Again, remember that visitors downloading audio and video will use up a lot of bandwidth. There is a very broad range of disk space and bandwidth provided by different web hosts, and most companies will offer multiple packages to choose from.

5 – Downtime – Every web hosting service will at some time experience difficulties. Even just updating their servers can occasionally cause your website to be momentarily inaccessible. The amount of downtime should be a significant factor in your decision. Your website does no good when it is not functioning, and it can even leave a customer with a bad impression of your business.

Always look for a hosting company that provides statistics on their downtime. The most trustworthy statistics will be provided by an independent 3rd party. An example of this type of report is the one provided by NewWebsite.com.

6 – Email address – Your web hosting service provider will give you email addresses at your domain name. The number of email addresses will vary greatly from one host to the next. Determine how many email addresses you will need and be sure that you choose a hosting plan that will provide enough to meet your needs.

7 – Statistics – Tracking the visitors to your website is a significant contributor to having a successful website. Almost every hosting company will provide you with a statistics program. If not, there are several free programs (including AwStats) that you can use.

A statistics program should at a minimum provide you with: the number of unique visitors, the number of visitors for each page, the length of time that visitors were on your website, which site sent the most visitors to your site (search engines and inbound links), what search terms people used to find your site, and what pages visitors exited your site from. You should also be able to organize the data by day, week, month, or year. Without this information it is impossible to know much of anything about your visitors.

8 – Extras – Along with the basics of the web hosting service, you will also get other extras that will add value to the service. Because each hosting company will have its own set of features, it is a good idea to compare and make sure that you are getting the features that are most important for you.

Some common extras include: contact form creators (allows your visitors to contact you by filling out a form on your website), polls and surveys, email forwarders, auto responders, mailing list managers, forums and blogs. Some of these features will be more important to you than others. If any of them are critical to what you are trying to accomplish, you should be certain that any hosting service you are considering will provide these features.

9 – Multiple Domains – some hosting services allow you to host multiple websites (domains) on one account at one price. Without multiple domain hosting, adding new websites can be very costly. Having more than one website may help you to reach more people and to funnel traffic to your main site. Creating additional websites can help to promote specific products or services.

10 – Upgrade/Downgrade Options – If your hosting provider offers several different packages, you should ideally be able to upgrade or downgrade at any time. If you are under a contract this may not be possible.

11 – What do their clients say about their service? – Be sure to read testimonials provided by the web hosting company and consult any friends or colleagues that use the service.