Oct 302008
 

hostingref

Ihostingrefn need of web hosting? Hosting Ref has updated their top 10 web hosting sites again. In Motion Hosting took the #1 spot.

Hosting Ref breaks down the web hosts in a simple side by side comparison comparing price, space and traffic, and a few additional items. In Motion Hosting cost $6.95 a month, offered unlimited traffic, and unlimited space. Sounds pretty good, but if you site hits it big, I would imagine some down time. Usually unlimited traffic, and a busy website are not good for hosting sites.

Each review Hosting Ref has done on the sites is fairly extensive. They have profiles for each site listed. The profiles have a basic description, list main features, email features, web design features, blog features, plugins, ecommerce informaiton, database stuff, and pretty much anything you would need to know before making a purchase.

Great way to compare hosting companies on the fly, and Hosting Ref has been around for a while so you know they offer some credible informaiton.

 

Today’s site review is about Upper Host. Upper Host reviews the best website hosting services, and they have been doing it since 1999. The site has a huge listing of host services, with all the basic details about them. Of course, they show the top ten on the home page.

Besides being a directory of hosting services, they have a great deal of articles about picking the right plan. They also have plenty of information about running a website in general. They start with the basics, getting a server, and work their way up through all the things you will most likely come across while running a web business.

Here are some of the key articles I found:

  • Creating your own business plan
  • Starting your own web business
  • Reliable web servers
  • Knowing how a web server works
  • Website monitoring services
  • Finding the value of your domain name

Basically the site is loaded with some good information, and that list is actually much longer than I reveal. If you are just looking for a great hosting company, no problem. It’s right there on the home page. The current leader as of Jan. 2008, is Bluehost according to Upper Host. I know I like the price, $6.95 a month.

Feb 202008
 

Yesterday, Jakob Nielson released his Top-10 Application Design Mistakes. His Bonus Mistake was the first issue I noticed today while reviewing sites. The use of a reset button on web forms.

What is Reset Button For?

Too often I find the reset button on forms, and I believe it is because most new webmasters just don’t know what it is for other than resetting the form. Well they are right. It resets the form, and clears all the data entered. Why would you want to do this though? Imagine you were signing up for a new service on a website, and the form requires you to enter all your contact information. Would you hit the reset button because you made a typo when entering your address? You might accidentally if the reset button was there, but otherwise no. There is no reason for it in this case. That would be a classic example of when not to include the reset button.

So when do you use it? An good example would be if the form was for repeated use by one visitor, such as entering contact information of all their friends. Even then, if done correctly, can be avoided. By simply having a link back to the form on the completed submission page should bring the visitor back to the form with cleared data. It is much faster to click a link than hit the back button.

Is there a reset button on your site?