Wow, the time has just flown by!!! Sorry for the lack of recent code and wordpress goodness.

Firstly, I am glad to see that my WP Post Columns Plugin is still going strong!!! Although it has not been updated since 2009 it seems that it is still working (for most people at least) and the comments keep flooding in!

Many of my WordPress plugins, themes and code tutorials are now unfortunately un-supported. But they are still free, and many people add solutions and answers as well as questions in the comments. I am still working with WordPress every day, but can no longer spare the time to provide free support for free plugins and tutorials.

I have had quite a few comments from people saying that they find it hard to read white text on a black background. Some of these comments have been so strongly worded that I was unable to publish them on the site! If you really can't stand it then you could always try getting firebug addon for firefox and changing the colours however you want (yellow text on a pink background looks quite good). I probably won't be changing my theme in the near future. Also, it's probably a good idea not to get into server administration like linux / apache stuff if you don't like light text on a dark background...

Some new wordpress tutorials and goodies coming soon I promise!

As a web designer one of the most frequent questions I get asked is : who shall I host my site with? With so many potential  web hosts out there the answer is not always that simple.

If I am building them a site through my web design company 76 Creative, I would always recommend that they use our fully managed hosting service, as it requires no work or knowledge on their part. However, the 76 Creative managed service is reserved for clients of 76 Creative only. You can only get it if 76 are designing and building your site for you.

For many private clients, and friends who are looking to get started with creating their own site or hosting a WordPress blog, I have recommended 1 and 1 hosting. I myself host with 1 and 1 and find that their prices, customer service and the range of web services available through their hosting control panel make them a good choice.

The main factors that people seem to be attracted to in a web host are price and amount of server space allocated. These 2 factors are often used as a means by which to compare different offers and packages available. I guess this makes sense in a way, as they are both very tangible factors that can easily be compared. However, most websites take up less than 100MB of space on the server, so is server space really the most important factor?

Other factors that are often compared are the server's uptime and connection speed.

Two factors I find most important which seem to get less attention are the quality of customer service, and the quality of the hosts control panel. If a host doesn't offer any kind of control panel for you to manage your websites, email accounts etc. then I wouldn't reccomend them.

Many hosts offer the cPanel control panel which is packed with features and easy to use. Other hosts offer more bespoke control panels which range from extremely good to absoluteley useless. I won't name any names, but I have seen control panels from some hosts that offer absolutely nothing, you have to email them every time you want to create a new email address or anything.

Here is my list of factors to consider when chosing your web host in order of importance:

1. Hosting Platform (Microsoft or Linux / Apache)
2. Server uptime
3. Monthly traffic permitted
4. Firewall
5. FTP Access
6. Other software (PHP version etc.)
7. Amount of server space allocated
8. Quality of control panel
9. Quality of customer support by phone
10. SSI  (Server Side Includes)  supported?
11. Password protected directories  supported?
12. Number of IMAP/POP3 email accounts
13. Spam filtering
14. Number of mySQL databases

Notice that I didn't include price in my list. The reason for this is that I would compare price against all these factors together. Price is obviously the most important factor in getting a good deal, but you also need a web hosting package that will suit your needs.

1&1 Hosting and Domains. 99.9% Uptime Guarantee, 25 GBit Connectivity & 24/7 Support! www.1and1.co.uk