podcast about web hosts and web hosting topics
I have talked plenty of times with you before on free forum scripts you can easily setup and run from your web hosting account. By far, the most unique one I have seen is Vanilla. The Vanilla Forums script is a great open-source, standards compliant forum script. However, that is not what impresses me. The thing that impresses me the most is the fact that is stands out from the rest of the crowd and refreshes the idea of what a set of forums should look like.
Continue Reading →
When it comes to extensions, Firefox is king – with thousands upon thousands to choose from. However, Google Chrome is just now starting to gain ground with the idea of having an extendable interface, so how many good web development extensions are there for this alternative browser from Google? I did my search and found five of the best web development related extensions for the browser.
Need to take a screen shot of a web site to show off to somebody? By far, one of my favorite programs to take screenshots is WebShot. It is almost the perfect screenshot and web page thumbnail generator utility. How do you use it? You put the web site address you want to get the capture of in the URL text box, and then hit the button labeled, “Start”.
Diving deeper into the download you can also set it up to capture multiple URLs, a specific size image, edit the default browser sizes and more. For most people the free version should get the job done – however if you want even more features you might look into getting the personal or server edition.
To pick it up, or get more help on how to use it – go visit WebSiteScreenshots.com.
Good web site analyzer programs for Windows are hard to find. I have yet to find the perfect one myself that didn’t cost an arm and a leg. However, the next best thing is WebLog Expoert Lite. This is the free little brother of WebLog Expert – but I think has enough features to keep you happy.
After installing, all you have to do is grab your log files from your hosting account in question. WebLog Expert Lite supports IIS and Apache logs, can automatically detect the log format and can read GZ and ZIP compressed logs. It will then crunch away at the numbers and export an HTML page for you to view to see how your web page is doing stats-wise. You get numbers, links, stats and graphs. It is a beautiful thing.
The free version however should be sufficient for most personal web sites and provides a nice overview of general traffic activity.
If you want to see what you are missing out on, you can see a comparison list of the professional, standard and lite versions of the program here:
http://www.weblogexpert.com/comparison.htm
It might not have all the bells and whistles down, but WebLog Expert Lite has enough to keep me happy.
What is the best FTP client out there today? One word…
Now I have used my fair share of crappy FTP programs, and all of them seem to be lacking in one area or the next. FileZilla though, is almost perfect from head to toe. Here are some of the best features it provides:
So can I come up with anything negative to say about FileZilla? Well, if there was one thing that bugs me it is the fact it is not a very pretty program. Then again, just about every FTP client out there today is ugly as sin – so can’t fault it for too long there.
Want to try it yourself? They have versions for Macs, Windows and Linux – so pick the version that is right for you on filezilla-project.com. Know of an FTP client that is better than FileZilla? Go ahead and leave a comment.
I would love to be proved wrong.
How would you like to be able to gain a ton of information about a web site, right from the status bar in Firefox?
ShowIP, an add-on for the Firefox browser, will deliver you not only the current IP address of a web site but a lot more helpful tools as well. By left-clicking on the IP address in your status bar, you can select to:
Additionally you can copy the IP address to the clipboard. If you need a tool to help you work with IP addresses and locations (as I know many web hosting workers out there do) this might be a good extension for Firefox to try.
You can pick it up on the Firefox add-on’s web site (just search for ShowIP).
I often hear complaints from people that FTP programs are too hard to use. There are too many options, too many buttons and too many configurations you have to learn about. For those people out there looking for a simpler FTP program I offer to you DropUpLoad.
This program is a very light, simple yet robust utility which manages your uploads in the way of a spooler. It also is so small you can load it up on a USB device too. You don’t even have to worry about getting it installed. All you do is double click the .exe file and it is ready.
To use, just create or select a server you wish to connect to then drag and drop the file you wish to upload into the white box. You also have the option to zip each file you upload too. Another neat feature is that you can create a “locked” version of DropUpLoad, which limits connections to a single server and hides and encrypts login information inside the generated executable.
If you feel like you don’t need a full FTP program like Filezilla and the like to get the job done DropUpLoad is undoubtedly the simplest alternative program you could have in your web hosting tool belt.
Programs that promised to help me update my blog stopped being interesting the first time I tried one. Why? None of them seem to do it all. That was my point of view before I found Windows Live Writer and I have to say, I am happy that Microsoft was able to make me give this software genre another chance.
Windows Live Writer is great. All you do is plug in your WordPress (or any other CMS or blogging service you use) information, and it figures out and does that rest of the work for you. Then you can write you posts as you would in any other word processor-type program. You also can format images, save drafts, edit tags and categories and more.
Video: 2: Basic Authoring – Windows Live Writer
Download Windows Live Writer and give it a shot. The icing on the cake is the various previews you can generate. You can edit and write via the standard interface or via an interface that gives the appearance that you are writing there on your own web site. The Web Preview feature is also good to show you what the post’s format will look like once it goes live. This is by far one of the best software packages to come out of Microsoft.
Not every web host out there has a multi-million dollar budget to spend on software, so I have come up with a few free alternatives for you to pass around your office next time your searching for the right tool for the job.
Foxit Reader (for PDF viewing) – Out of all the PDF reader programs out there, Foxit gets the job done and is not half as annoying as Adobe is. If you want a PDF viewer that will not ask that you download updates for 20 other programs you do not have, Foxit is the best.
OpenOffice.org (for word processing, spreadsheets and more) – Microsoft Office is a program I have never really used. Why? I have always been a fan of the free alternative, OpenOffice.org. This bundle of a word processor, spreadsheet, drawing and more might even be better than the expensive Microsoft bundle.
AutoHotkey (for helping with those quick responses) – In my bag of tricks, AutoHotkey is most likely to be the most used one of them all. Thanks to a little simple script writing I can now type in a few characters instead of a two paragraphed e-mail each time I answer a customer’s question.
Thunderbird (for e-mail management) – I have tried a number of different e-mail clients and Mozilla’s Thunderbird wins out head over heels each and every time. Manage multiple e-mail accounts and with the add-ons, you can build onto the functionality of the product.
Google Calendar (for dates and appointments) – Can’t tell you what I did for a calendar before Google’s came around because Google was the one who turned me onto using it. Before Google Calendar I was stuck with ripped off sheets of paper with notes scribbled down. After Google Calendar, I can quickly click a date, add a note and I’m done.
Now sure, those big web hosts might have the thousands of dollars to spend on programs but the budget web hosts out there have to count their pennies. If you have any other suggestions feel free to leave a comment or drop me an e-mail.
Need a quick and easy way to do domain name lookups without the fuss of finding a good Online whois resource or domain name register? I have yet another solution to solve this problem (found via the FEGB) – and this one is for Firefox fans. The Domain Lookup addon for Firefox is a free tool to help Firefox users to find quality domain names. It works with all your favorite domain registers and TLDs (top level domains).
Once installed the addon to your browser gives you access to one click domain name searches at your favorite register. All you do is select some text in your Firefox window and hit the keyboard combination (Ctrl + Shift + D) or select it from the right-click menu. One of the really neat features of this extension is that it will strip out any non-standard characters and triggers for a domain search and also will work with GoDaddy, Moniker, Network Solutions and over 30 more.
Simply put, it is one of the best domain name lookup add-ons you can install for Firefox.
You can download this addon right from the developer’s web site at DomainLookup.org.
Subscribe to our e-mail newsletter to receive updates.
Mitch Keeler is nothing more than your average Joe trying to leave his mark on the world though both his professional work and his online projects, articles, podcasts and more.
