No, I don't Shawn.  In the one that I originally had, I didn't need it. Is this
something that should go in the header area?
Jodi

Hi Jodi,

> I'm getting an error "Object Expected" using this:
> <a href="/contact/" title="Email"
> onmouseover="javascript:this.href=mailMe('homeschoolingonash
> oestring%23com','webmaster');"
> onfocus="javascript:this.href=mailMe('homeschoolingonashoest
> ring%23com','webmaster');">Email</a>

Do you have the javascript file that includes the mailMe() function
referenced somewhere in your code?

Regards,

Shawn K. Hall
http://ReliableAnswers.com/

'// ========================================================
    "What right does Congress have to go around making laws
     just because they deem it necessary?"
       -- M. Barry, Mayor of Washington, DC
     (See U.S. Constitution, Article 1, Section 8, Clause 17)

I'm getting an error "Object Expected" using this:

<a href="/contact/" title="Email"
   
onmouseover="javascript:this.href=mailMe('homeschoolingonashoestring%23com','web\
master');"
   
onfocus="javascript:this.href=mailMe('homeschoolingonashoestring%23com','webmast\
er');">Email</a>

It's in line 475, Char: 1, which is where the <a href is.

What am I missing?
Jodi

Hi Jodi,

> So Shawn, if I'm reading that correctly, then what I'm
> using is basically out of date? Here's what I'm using:
> ...
> var mailpart1 = "webmaster"
> var mailpart2 =
> "homeschoolingonashoestring.com?subject=Homeschooling
> %20On%20A%20Shoestring"

Pretty much, yes.

It uses some similar encoding methods, but since the domain still
appears as a simple string ([a-zA-Z0-9]*\.[a-zA-Z]{2,7}) and they're
essentially just pasted together, you will receive spam from bots that
collected your email through that code. I could see a regex parser
that used a replace pattern like ([^\s]*)['"][^'"]*['"]([^\s]*),
$1*$2, in order to strip out the variable names to simplify the code,
too. This would effectively turn that code into:

"webmaster*homeschoolingonashoestring.com?subject=Homeschooling%20On%2
0A%20Shoestring"
The quotes around the string would be stripped off directly in their
database. No protection.

The other major difference between your code and the code in the
article I just posted is that your code is essentially static. If you
have email links throughout your site, on every page (and who
doesn't?) it could be quite the chore to update all of them when you
decide to change something like the encoding algorithm you use or if
you want to separate the logic from the functionality (one of the core
design priniciples in programming). Using externally referenced files
for this cleans up the code a bit, too.

Regards,

Shawn K. Hall
http://ReliableAnswers.com/

'// ========================================================
     A government that is big enough to give you all you want
     is big enough to take it all away.
       -- Barry Goldwater

So Shawn, if I'm reading that correctly, then what I'm using is basically out of
date? Here's what I'm using:

<script language="JavaScript">
<!-- // Hide
var showtext = "Email"
var mailpart1 = "webmaster"
var mailpart2 =
"homeschoolingonashoestring.com?subject=Homeschooling%20On%20A%20Shoestring"
document.write("<a href=" + "mail" + "to:"
+ mailpart1 + "@" + mailpart2 + ">" + showtext + "</a>")
//-->
</script>

Jodi

Hello all,

I'm announcing a new article on my site which describes how to reduce
(if not eliminate) spambots collecting email addresses from your site.
   http://ReliableAnswers.com/js/mailme.asp

It provides scripting solutions for client-side javascript and
serverside asp and php to cloak addresses in such a way as to
gracefully degrade should the browser not have scripting enabled, and
also provides a long-winded explanation of why this method works where
others fail.

Regards,

Shawn K. Hall
http://ReliableAnswers.com/

'// ========================================================
     The law doth punish man or woman
     that steals the goose from off the common,
     but lets the greater felon loose,
     that steals the common from the goose.

Hello all,

I thought you may be interested to know that Yahoo has now provided an
ability to view the 'latest posts' to any group (you have rights to)
as an RSS feed.

http://rss.groups.yahoo.com/group/GROUPNAME/rss

Here's a few samples:
http://rss.groups.yahoo.com/group/hswm/rss
http://rss.groups.yahoo.com/group/xyg/rss
http://rss.groups.yahoo.com/group/designadvice/rss
http://rss.groups.yahoo.com/group/active-server-pages/rss

Note that HSWM does not provide the RSS feed - that is because the
'archive' for that group is set to 'members only' - not 'anyone.'

To 'enable' RSS feed for a group you control just change the "Archive
Options"/"Access" setting to "Anyone" (it WILL allow anyone on the
'net to read posts made to your group - but it does "cloak" the email
addresses as well - they will still have limited posting rights based
on the "Who can post" setting):
   http://groups.yahoo.com/group/GROUPNAME/settings?mode=15

Among the 'readers' for RSS feeds are The "My Yahoo" page (
http://my.yahoo.com/ ), DQSD ( http://www.dqsd.net/ - will include
this 'search' in the next release), and Trillian (
http://www.trillian.cc/ )... all of which I personally use **very**
regularly. You can also 'parse' an RSS feed yourself using script on
your server. If you would like sample code in either VBscript or
Javascript just say the word.

Regards,

Shawn K. Hall
http://ReliableAnswers.com/

'// ========================================================
    "No free government, or the blessings of liberty, can be
     preserved to any people, but by a firm adherence to
     justice, moderation, temperance, frugality and virtue,
     and by frequent recurrence to fundamental principles."
       -- George Mason

Hi Mary Ann,

> What is RSS? I looked at the page but don't understand
> what it does.

RSS is an RDF implementation that serves as a means of providing
'current' links to your most recent content. Most sites use it to
stream the last few articles for news sites to pick up and aggregate
with other sources. Other sites use it for ridiculous ways - like word
of the day or spell-check, but most use it as a means of promoting
their content to parties that understand  how to use it. I've become
obsessed with RSS ever since I started using Trillian
(www.trillian.cc) for my 'chat' program - there is an addin for it
that provides the ability to add your own RSS feeds to the menu, which
essentially provides you with real-time access to any news resource in
the world that publishes it's own RSS feed.

Here's an example of two 'views' of the same data, one via a form, and
one via RSS:
   http://ReliableAnswers.com/jobs/news.asp
   http://ReliableAnswers.com/jobs/news-rss.asp
The same data is presented from both, but the second one is easier for
robots and search engines to obtain and categorize the information.

As time permits we're going through every folder and categorizing
local and remote links within our article libraries so we can search
related links to provide the best content-sensitive stuff on our site
as possible.

More info on RSS here:
   http://ReliableAnswers.com/P/?/RSS

Regards,

Shawn K. Hall
http://ReliableAnswers.com/

'// ========================================================
    "It is easier to stay out than get out."
       -- Mark Twain (1835 - 1910)

Thanks Shawn,
Too late LOL!!  I have it already:
http://homeschoolingonashoestring.ipbhost.com/index.php
I don't know much about MS Word config screen - I have to use Word
at work, but at home I use Word Perfect.  Now my website (not the
forum) is hosted at GoDaddy.  That would be on their server, would
it not?
Jodi

What is RSS? I looked at the page but don't understand what it does.


Warm regards,

Mary Ann

Not everything that counts can be counted; and not everything that can be
counted counts. - Albert Einstein

maryann@...
http://www.thehomeschoolmom.com


TheHomeSchoolMom's Free Homeschool Resources Newsletter archives:
http://www.thehomeschoolmom.com/newsletter/archive.html


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Shawn,

Thanks for filling us in on what's going on behind the scenes.  Most of this
is way over my head and I find it hard to understand.

I've been sticking to trying to keep the content up to date on the website,
no easy task.  I've been adding about 20 - 30 new news articles daily on our
various news pages.

I'm very excited about the changes and think it will go a long way toward
improving our visibility.

Thanks for the update
~Annette

-----Original Message-----
From: Shawn K. Hall [mailto:shawn@...]

Hello all,

Over the last couple months I've done a major overhaul of my site. You
probably can't tell by looking at it, since most of the layout and
design is much the same, but behind the scenes - in the html and asp
code, and in our new data discovery service - a lot has changed. In
fact, very few pages are, codewise, what they were two months ago.

Why?

So we can get more people to see us, of course! If they don't know we
exist then what's the point of having a site?

One of the major draws for revising our site is to provide an RSS feed
for inclusion on search engines, content aggregators and other RSS
tools. You can now visit our RSS feed at:
   http://ReliableAnswers.com/rss.asp
It's got some great abilities, including the ability to filter based
on keywords, site section and others - but enough about that.

We've also included keywords and descriptions on every page of our
site (some are still being reviewed). Granted, not every search engine
or robot will use this information - but it makes generating the RSS
feed much easier, and will make it easier for those that do parse that
header information to make the best of it.

In addition to the above changes, we're also changing all email links
to only function via javascript through a obfuscation layer. This will
reduce the amount of spam we receive to the email addresses we post on
our site (including authors submitting works for inclusion) by making
automated robots incapable of correctly determining the email address.

Of the may changes we've made, we still do not have (will we ever?)
the circulation we want, but it's obvious by our logs that we *are*
seeing the results of adding this information to every page. I've
searched google news for terms to see if there were any clues in the
content of the pages linked for getting my site to appear in google
news. I've contacted MoreOver.com and submitted my RSS feed for
inclusion (MoreOver is the News Source for the MS NewsBot Service (
http://newsbot.msn.com ). They said it would be a week before they
would determine if our content was acceptable. With some of the other
stuff they publish, I can't imagine it would not be - but hey, who am
I to say?

Anyway, I'm wanting to know if anyone else has ever been on a mission
to do the same, and if so - what have you done to increase your
visibility? What headers, pages and other information is necessary for
the site to get broadest attention?

I'm researching PICS right now to see if that helps. I'll also be
adding a p3p file to my site soon, but it may be a while before I can
figure that out I think - the p3p specs are very - well, weird, IMO.

If I learn anything I'll be back to share.

Thanks,

Shawn K. Hall
http://ReliableAnswers.com/

'// ========================================================
    "If Thomas Edison invented electric light today, Dan
     Rather would report it on CBS News as "candle making
     industry threatened."
     -- Newt Gingrich, US Congressman and House Speaker, 1995

Hello all,

Over the last couple months I've done a major overhaul of my site. You
probably can't tell by looking at it, since most of the layout and
design is much the same, but behind the scenes - in the html and asp
code, and in our new data discovery service - a lot has changed. In
fact, very few pages are, codewise, what they were two months ago.

Why?

So we can get more people to see us, of course! If they don't know we
exist then what's the point of having a site?

One of the major draws for revising our site is to provide an RSS feed
for inclusion on search engines, content aggregators and other RSS
tools. You can now visit our RSS feed at:
   http://ReliableAnswers.com/rss.asp
It's got some great abilities, including the ability to filter based
on keywords, site section and others - but enough about that.

We've also included keywords and descriptions on every page of our
site (some are still being reviewed). Granted, not every search engine
or robot will use this information - but it makes generating the RSS
feed much easier, and will make it easier for those that do parse that
header information to make the best of it.

In addition to the above changes, we're also changing all email links
to only function via javascript through a obfuscation layer. This will
reduce the amount of spam we receive to the email addresses we post on
our site (including authors submitting works for inclusion) by making
automated robots incapable of correctly determining the email address.

Of the may changes we've made, we still do not have (will we ever?)
the circulation we want, but it's obvious by our logs that we *are*
seeing the results of adding this information to every page. I've
searched google news for terms to see if there were any clues in the
content of the pages linked for getting my site to appear in google
news. I've contacted MoreOver.com and submitted my RSS feed for
inclusion (MoreOver is the News Source for the MS NewsBot Service (
http://newsbot.msn.com ). They said it would be a week before they
would determine if our content was acceptable. With some of the other
stuff they publish, I can't imagine it would not be - but hey, who am
I to say?

Anyway, I'm wanting to know if anyone else has ever been on a mission
to do the same, and if so - what have you done to increase your
visibility? What headers, pages and other information is necessary for
the site to get broadest attention?

I'm researching PICS right now to see if that helps. I'll also be
adding a p3p file to my site soon, but it may be a while before I can
figure that out I think - the p3p specs are very - well, weird, IMO.

If I learn anything I'll be back to share.

Thanks,

Shawn K. Hall
http://ReliableAnswers.com/

'// ========================================================
    "If Thomas Edison invented electric light today, Dan
     Rather would report it on CBS News as "candle making
     industry threatened."
     -- Newt Gingrich, US Congressman and House Speaker, 1995

Hi Jodi,

I apologize for the belated response. :(

> Looking for advice.  I would like to start to break away
> from yahoo groups, and I also would like to move a forum.
> ...went with Invision...
> ...
> Can anyone take a look and advise me on this?
> http://homeschoolingonashoestring.ipbhost.com/index.php?
> Also, if anyone has any other critiques, they would be
> most welcome.

I personally am not fond of Invision. I don't like the risk associated
with running my site or service on anothers domain - because, if
anything happens to it I have absolutely no control. IPB does have the
option to download their source and play with it, but at that point
you might be better off using a CMS with a forum built in, like
phpNuke ( www.phpNuke.org ). Two months ago there were several major
security issues released regarding IPB as well, and I don't know if
they've been fixed yet.

You're running Linux, so you can't run my personal preferred forum
software, MegaBBS. MegaBBS uses ASP and runs on Windows servers. It's
free, too. http://www.pd9soft.com/megabbs/
I have a couple gripes about it, too, though. Skinning it isn't as
easy as it should be, and the extremely long filenames and urls it can
create (but not always) makes it difficult to share links in emails.
Aside from that though, it has awesome calendaring, forums, moderation
and quotes - and the control panel is easier to use than the config
screen for MS Word.

Regards,

Shawn K. Hall
http://ReliableAnswers.com/

'// ========================================================
    "Death cannot stop true love...All it can do is delay it
     for awhile."
       -- 'Man in Black', The Princess Bride

Hello,
Looking for advice.  I would like to start to break away from yahoo
groups, and I also would like to move a forum.  So, I thought having
my own forum would be good. I really am not sure what I am doing,
clueless with PHP, but went with Invision.  I'm trying to set it up
with categories, forums, etc.  But I cannot figure out how to do
anything with 'skins' or even adding a logo (right now it has
Invision's on it).  Can anyone take a look and advise me on this?
http://homeschoolingonashoestring.ipbhost.com/index.php?
I have not announced it to the groups yet, but I had been mentioning
it on one of them.  Also, if anyone has any other critiques, they
would be most welcome.
Thanks in advance,
Jodi

Hi Julie,

> I was wondering if I should do this in asp, which
> is something I know next to nothing about. I guess
> I could use a crash course in asp, especially
> anything that is Frontpage specific since that is
> what I'll be doing it in.

There's TONS of information on ASP out there. There's quite a bit
right here:
   http://ReliableAnswers.com/P/?/ASP


And if you need ASP-specific help, may I suggest this group (of which
I am both a moderator and quite active participant):
   http://groups.yahoo.com/group/active-server-pages
It's usually 5-10 messages a day, but has been as much as 50 (when
someone just didn't explain themselves well and everyone jumped in
asking the exact same questions). Even lurking will teach you quite a
bit.

Regards,

Shawn K. Hall
http://ReliableAnswers.com/

'// ========================================================
    "Hearing something like that really raises the shackles
     on my neck."

Hi Julie,

> I'm wanting to add an event calendar to a website
> I'll be building soon. ... Would I need to build
> this from scratch or is there asp code already
> available for an event calendar?

I use either of two frameworks for building calendars in ASP.

There's an example of one here:
http://californiahomeschool.net/legis/
(this one is likely to stop working soon when they switch their server
to linux, just a warning)

The other one is inside an asp-source product called MegaBBS, which
has some other awesome features as well, but the calendar is
hands-down the best calendar in any scripting language I've seen.
Here's a link to a calendar using it:
http://www.pd9soft.com/megabbs/calendar/calendar-view.asp?calendarid=1
And this is the MegaBBS home page:
   http://www.pd9soft.com/megabbs/

There are mods (add-ons, tools and 'features') available to make it
present just about any way you want it to... do a google for 'megabbs
calendar' and you'll see a ton of different implementations for it.


> If I use asp, do all the pages in my site have to
> end in .asp or just the few set up to use it?

They don't *have* to. It's better, on the design side, if you try to
stick with one file extension for several reasons, of them:
* You don't risk typing in a bad extension when writing an email
* Users have a much better chance of 'guessing' where pages are at
* Less hassle for you to remember which file(s) you were editing when
you open frontpage back up again - the extension is no longer
something to think about.


> What would be the advantages to using asp in this
> instance?

ASP is designed for ease of use and scripted functionality. Any
scripting language would work for creating a calendar. Most 'forum'
software out there doesn't usually include a calendar though - and
like I said, MegaBBS is the cream of the crop when it comes to forums.

I don't know if you've considered adding a forum to your site, but
doing so is a good gimmick to keep people coming back, while also
providing your site with a means to contact users later on. Let's say,
for example that your visitors register at your site for updates, the
forum can be setup to email them when a new article is posted into the
forums. It can also be setup to do polls and other neat features like
that.

When I finish the 3 sites I'm working on right now I'm going to
convert my site to use MegaBBS throughout. For my use, it'll be great
because I can have each piece of freeware and source code have a
comment section or a poll below it - so people would be able to take
someone else's word for it instead of just mine. Most sites that do
this type of thing have much higher follow-through on their downloads.
It also gives it that 'community' feeling.

Let me warn you in advance, however, that COPPA requires you to get
what equates to signed permission slips from parents before children
can submit any of their information online. So if your site caters to
children you need to make a much more concerted effort to obtain
permission and keep it clean. Otherwise you risk violating a federal
regulation or two. ;)

Regards,

Shawn K. Hall
http://ReliableAnswers.com/

'// ========================================================
    "Writing is not necessarily something to be ashamed of,
     but do it in private and wash your hands afterwards."
       -- Robert Heinlein

I'm wanting to add an event calendar to a website I'll be building soon. I was
wondering if I should do this in asp, which is something I know next to nothing
about. I guess I could use a crash course in asp, especially anything that is
Frontpage specific since that is what I'll be doing it in.

Would I need to build this from scratch or is there asp code already available
for an event calendar?

If I use asp, do all the pages in my site have to end in .asp or just the few
set up to use it?

What would be the advantages to using asp in this instance?

Julie Miller, julie@...
http://www.virtuallyjulie.com
--I started out with nothing... and I still have most of it left.




[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Hi Mary Ann,

> I am interested but price is a factor. I am paying
> $107/yr now; I would consider going up to $150. I
> can't pay any more than that.

I understand perfectly. We may be able to work something out, but
usually our plans run $200/yr and $400/yr.


> Is there an extra fee for MySQL or is it included?

Included in both plans.


> > "it is also possible to run components on the server"
>
> What does this mean?

It's possible to make your site do things that simply aren't possible
in script-code alone. Usually this is done by creating a component in
C++, VB, Java or another language that has the capabilities you want
and install that on the server. Then, when you site needs to do one of
those things, it 'creates' that object on the server and functions
just as if it had been executed directly.

IOW, it's a way to extend the capabilities of your site if you ever
need to.

There are hundreds, if not thousands, if pre-written components that
you could purchase instead of writing it yourself. Most of these solve
a specific need - like emailing _from_ the server, or FTP _from_ the
server, or building a menu system dynamically based on a database or
something, managing your advertisements... As I said, they fill just
about every need you could want. And, it's usually cheaper (as far as
time goes) to buy one off the shelf and install it - which has been
tested and is 'tried and true' - than to write it yourself.


> > "We're also moving our servers next week directly to our
> > bandwidth providers' space so we'll have redundant T3
> > access through their pipes."
>
> Where will they be? Are you renting secure space in a
> building with other servers or  in someone's home?

It's in Ann Arbor, MI, a few blocks away from Dave's house. The room
is secure, only people renting rackspace there are allowed entry - and
we are their first customers on this floor (they have two other floors
near full already) - so we'd have the only keys aside from the
bandwidth provider. We're also going to be doing our own co-location
services there (in case you ever wanted to just buy a server and have
us host it for you <wink />).


> This is all sort of over my head. What will you use
> for access with the new provider? Is it T1 or something
> else?

Cable access and terminal services when necessary, but the same could
be performed over an AOL account if it came down to it.


> DO you mean the new access provider has been doing
> this for 10 years?

Hosting and providing co-location services, yes.


> > "I've been nothing short of perfectly satisfied with
> > this host though."
>
> How long have you been with them?

About 6 months. Usually you can spot problems with a new host inside
the first month (at least, I always have). I have never been unable to
reach Dave, and my calls have *never* been for a problem with the
service at any level. How many hosts can you say that about?

I've recommended a number of people here before I worked with him,
just because it's the best hosting experience I have ever had.


> What is the difference between T3 & T1?

A T1 is a leased line directly from your provider to your server box.
It has the capability to push about 1.5mb/s reliably; and it also has
the added benefit (unlike using your cable internet access or similar)
of having 'business' requirements controlled by the FCC to provide
certain levels of service. The provider MUST (no question) account for
any downtime and have it corrected within 8 hours, according to the
FCC (IIRC). In 8 hours you can lose a lot of traffic - or - as Annette
will attest to trying to work on CHN's site when it goes down (as
regularly as it does), lose a lot of patience. The provider can make
other 'above and beyond' promises too, though, and ours has guaranteed
correction of any problems within an hour.

A T3 is roughly the same, except it has significantly more bandwidth.
A T3 has the potential to transfer 43mb/s reliably (about the same as
28 T1's), under the same guarantees. The "redundancy" means that
instead of one T3 we'll have more than one, usually 2 or 3, to provide
more than one path to the internet. I could do better drawing a
picture, but imagine a branch on a tree that connects 'the internet'
to every server in the world through splitting branches. The more
branches you have that touch the actual trunk of the tree (the
internet) the better, as that means that there's more than one path to
your server should somewhere along the branches from the trunk to your
'leaf' the cable breaks or someone reboots. The way the internet
works, this means that it is near impossible for your connectivity to
be lost.

Doing a Trace-Route ("tracert google.com" at a command prompt) will
show you the path to the provider that the internet will *most likely*
use in a transfer and identify every server it bounces through in the
way. Google, you'll probably see, has about 20 hoips from *your*
computer to *their* computer, and even though they have a server farm
of literally thousands of computers, you'll usually get the same path
returned (that of least resistance) unless one of those nodes goes out
(as simple as a reboot), to which 'the internet' will find the newest,
best path to the server. By design, the only time a redundant server
should be inaccessible is when the person trying to get *to* it has a
problem with their own internet connection (for example, your ISP lost
their connectivity or rebooted a 'gateway' system).


> Contact me offlist ... with the specifics of price and all.

Will do. It's going to be a couple days, Dave is off camping with his
kids this weekend and we haven't spent too much time discussing the
specifics of signing up new accounts.

Regards,

Shawn K. Hall
http://ReliableAnswers.com/

'// ========================================================
    "Homeschooling is the ultimate Declaration of
     Independence."
       -- Barry Farber, July 24, 2001

I've used www.parcom.net for several years and have had excellent service
along with great prices. Will have to compare them to Shawn's when he gives
us the link. ;-)

Julie Miller
julie@...
http://www.virtuallyjulie.com/one_stroke.htm
http://www.virtuallyjulie.com/wildlife_rehab.htm

" This is all sort of over my head.What will you use for access with the new
provider? Is it T1 or something else? DO you mean the new access provider has
been doing this for 10 years?"


>>> Hmmm... in rereading your original post in my reply I think you already
answered this and I missed it. What is the difference between T3 & T1?
Warm regards,

Mary Ann

Not everything that counts can be counted; and not everything that can be
counted counts. - Albert Einstein

maryann@...
http://www.thehomeschoolmom.com


TheHomeSchoolMom's Free Homeschool Resources Newsletter archives:
http://www.thehomeschoolmom.com/newsletter/archive.html


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

>>> Thanks Shawn. I am interested but price is a factor. I am paying $107/yr
now; I would consider going up to $150. I can't pay any more than that. We are
just too strapped with owning two houses in a high cost of living area. The site
is starting to earn money but not enough to commit to high costs for hosting or
other services. Is there an extra fee for MySQL or is it included?

"it is also possible to
run components on the server"

>>> What does this mean?
"We're also moving our servers next week directly to our bandwidth
providers' space so we'll have redundant T3 access through their
pipes."

>>> Where will they be? Are you renting secure space in a building with other
servers or  in someone's home?

"Our current
charges are going to drop about 30% (cause we're no longer paying for
a leased T1 line) and we'll still have 24/7 access to the systems in
case something goes wrong. Dave (my partner) has been hosting for 7
years on the same T1. Our bandwidth provider has been doing this stuff
for some 10 years."

>>> This is all sort of over my head.What will you use for access with the new
provider? Is it T1 or something else? DO you mean the new access provider has
been doing this for 10 years?

"I've been
nothing short of perfectly satisfied with this host though."

>>> How long have you been with them?

Contact me offlist at thehomeschoolmom@... with the specifics of price
and all. Thanks.

Warm regards,

Mary Ann

Not everything that counts can be counted; and not everything that can be
counted counts. - Albert Einstein

maryann@...
http://www.thehomeschoolmom.com


TheHomeSchoolMom's Free Homeschool Resources Newsletter archives:
http://www.thehomeschoolmom.com/newsletter/archive.html



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Hi Mary Ann,

> Care to pontificate here or on hswm?

Either or. I feel more able to 'evangelize' here though. <wink />


> I am trying to decide how to approach looking for a new
> host. I've been intrigued with ASP interface for awhile
> now and hearing Shawn and Annette talk about their database
> interface in ASP is appealing.
> ...
> Can I get those things with ASP too or is that a
> totally different server type?

I'm sure you're aware I love ASP. The thing about using IIS(Windows)
hosting is that it's usually a little more expensive than a comparable
Unix/Linux plan. The features are relatively the same though - as
almost all the software for linux is opens source/gpl'ed so it runs on
pretty much every platform.

My host, for example (who I just started working with last week -
meaning feed the family type stuff), supports asp, asp.net, perl, php,
cgi, 500mb space, 5 gb bandwidth, 10 ftp accounts, stats, 50 email
accounts (including webmail, pop, smtp, autoresponders, and
forwarding), mysql, access, msde and ms sql server. You also get
subdomains (maryann.thehomeschoolmom.com) and it is also possible to
run components on the server (I have to review the code first).

Yes, I'm selling this stuff - but it's well worth it (I wouldn't sell
anything I didn't believe in).


We also provide *personal* telephone (our telephones are duct-taped to
our heads), instant messaging (yahoo, msn, aim...) and email support
and would gladly call you back if you need assistance. Our server is
behind a firewall - which makes hacking it a major chore <wink />, but
also because security is one of our prime concerns (we're a Smoothwall
Firewall reseller, too).


In regards to security (which is the biggest argument against Windows
hosting Linux users offer)...
I've been party to the Windows/Linux wars a long time. I've seen and
heard all the claims to the effect that Linux hosting is "secure" and
Windows systems aren't. That's simply patently false. Most hosts
running linux (and you can check through www.netcraft.com ) are
running builds of linux, apache or components on top of it which are
themselves KNOWN to be buggy, insecure or out-of-date. Patches are
available but they're NOT installed.

It really is a full-time job to ensure that the server you use (be it
windows or linux) is secure. Vulnerabilities are released on a
day-to-day basis, and without knowing the vulnerability in advance
(nearly impossible) your best bet is to hope that your server admin
fixes your server as soon as a patch is released.

Our servers are patched - every fix is installed on them and not a
single web-user account has rights to a directory that is not their
own. This prevents other people on the server from being able to
access information (including the data from your database). It's not
enough though to have a secure server, since bugs and exploits are
discovered every day. We use a firewall to filter out invalid
requests, bad requests, and 'questionable' requests.

I'm a security guy - this is secure. Otherwise I wouldn't be here.
Security is important for a number of reasons... of them of course the
'data' in your website - but including your presentation - the email
accounts you use (which if the server was insecure you may find
yourself on the wrong end of porn-spamming to millions of people
through "mary@..."), or just the fact that an
insecure system can be RTBL'ed quickly, preventing your email from
ever being seen by your users.

We're also pro-active when it comes to problems or threats. If a
vulnerability *is* found - even if the firewall would otherwise
prevent it from doing any harm - we immediately block the potential
exploit from taking effect using filters or by disabling whatever
exploit mechanism it uses (often an exploit relies on a certain
extraneous server function that is simply not required to have the
machine function as it is intended), if possible, and apply the patch
as soon as it is available.

You have complete control of your account through a control panel,
which enables you to maintain just about every setting you could need
access to, and you are welcome to IM me at any moment if you want to
change or discuss anything else regarding the account.

Am I forgetting anything? Probably. The service is awesome. Aside from
rebooting the server to install patches (this usually takes at most a
couple minutes - usually thursdays at 4 or 5 am (EST) - before I go to
bed), the server has only been inaccessible once (about 4-6 hours) -
when one of our domains was being DoS attacked. Unfortunately, this
type of thing is also common.

We're also moving our servers next week directly to our bandwidth
providers' space so we'll have redundant T3 access through their
pipes.


The other argument you hear from people is price. I've never had free
hardware or free internet access that was worth it. I've tried the
'almost' free hosting on Linux ($68/yr) but it was worth far less. We
were down all the time. The claims they made as far as support and
components just didn't exist. The telephone support was like talking
to a politician after he already got your vote and the components were
'there' just all disabled (I guess that's a new skew on marketing). We
also had halfpricehosting for quite a while - you get used to a host
and just accept their faults. It's easier to stay with them than move
somewhere else. I made lots of excuses, but none of them were enough
to convince me that the 42 DAYS (over the course of 2 years) in
down-time on their servers was acceptable.

The thing is that every host has to pay the bills, just like you do.
If you don't get a host that's got the capabilities to sustain
themselves then you're asking for trouble. We host about 180 sites
right now, we've got a half-dozen servers and have never had a major
problem. We're moving the servers to a server-room where we're going
to take up quite a few server racks (we're probably going to use about
8 racks total just for our stuff after I get the rest of the servers
setup) but we're also reducing costs at the same time. Our current
charges are going to drop about 30% (cause we're no longer paying for
a leased T1 line) and we'll still have 24/7 access to the systems in
case something goes wrong. Dave (my partner) has been hosting for 7
years on the same T1. Our bandwidth provider has been doing this stuff
for some 10 years.

If they *don't* charge you for what you think you're getting - ask
yourself what you're going to miss out on on the other end. I've had
my share of bad experiences with cut-rate hosting providers. I've been
nothing short of perfectly satisfied with this host though. And it
beats the last few to their timely death, hands down.

Anyway - if this sounds like what you're interested in, contact me
off-list and I'll give you the particulars.
   Shawn@...
(Annette and I are actually redo-ing the website right now, so that's
why I didn't post a link - when I'm done it'll be linked in my sig,
and I'll post another response here)

> Thanks for any help you can give.

My pleasure.

Regards,

Shawn K. Hall
http://ReliableAnswers.com/

'// ========================================================
     Man's way leads to a hopeless end;
     God's way leads to an endless hope.

Hi Mary Ann,

I'm not an expert by any means...I can only say that we've had several
hosts, including one on Linex, it was a nightmare trying to convert our
website, so we switched back to windows after only a couple weeks.

We used to have half-price hosting, which is reasonably prices but I can
tell you, with that one, you get what you pay for.  It was always down.  It
drove me crazy because I like to work at night after my son is in bed so I
can concentrate.  Wouldn't you know it...every night about 1 am our server
would go down.

I am very happy with our current host.  It's only been down twice in the
several months that we have had it and those were for upgrades.  Shawn can
tell you more about it.

I don't know about all the technical stuff but I know CHN has trouble with
their host as well.  They are down more than they are up.  Reliability is my
priority.  I want the site up when visitors come calling and I want to be
able to work on my site when I can fit it into my schedule.  :)

~Annette M. Hall

http://ReliableAnswers.com/
*==========================================================*
Nothing is so firmly believed as what we least know. Michel de Montaigne



-----Original Message-----
From: thehomeschoolmom@... [mailto:thehomeschoolmom@...]
I am trying to decide how to approach looking for a new host. I've been
intrigued with ASP interface for awhile now and hearing Shawn and Annette
talk about their database interface in ASP is appealing.

Since I didn't know much about web design when I chose my first host, price
and storage (and front page extensions) were about all I considered. Now I
am learning more and must take more into consideration. I have to have CGI
and Perl for many of the applications on my site, and MySQL is needed as
well. Can I get those things with ASP too or is that a totally different
server type? It seems like on some of the hosts, ASP is Windows only and
MySQL & Perl are Unix only. Is there anywhere I can get all three?  I am not
so sure I understand the whole Windows/Unix issue and how it affects me. Can
someone elaborate for me? Thanks for any help you can give.
Warm regards,

Mary Ann

Not everything that counts can be counted; and not everything that can be
counted counts. - Albert Einstein

maryann@...
http://www.thehomeschoolmom.com


TheHomeSchoolMom's Free Homeschool Resources Newsletter archives:
http://www.thehomeschoolmom.com/newsletter/archive.html






[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



'// ========================================================
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  Group   : http://ReliableAnswers.com/YG/group?DesignAdvice
  Join    : http://ReliableAnswers.com/YG/sub?DesignAdvice
  Leave   : http://ReliableAnswers.com/YG/unsub?DesignAdvice
            Attachments Are Not Permitted
'// ========================================================


Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/

Care to pontificate here or on hswm?

I am trying to decide how to approach looking for a new host. I've been
intrigued with ASP interface for awhile now and hearing Shawn and Annette talk
about their database interface in ASP is appealing.

Since I didn't know much about web design when I chose my first host, price and
storage (and front page extensions) were about all I considered. Now I am
learning more and must take more into consideration. I have to have CGI and Perl
for many of the applications on my site, and MySQL is needed as well. Can I get
those things with ASP too or is that a totally different server type? It seems
like on some of the hosts, ASP is Windows only and MySQL & Perl are Unix only.
Is there anywhere I can get all three?  I am not so sure I understand the whole
Windows/Unix issue and how it affects me. Can someone elaborate for me? Thanks
for any help you can give.
Warm regards,

Mary Ann

Not everything that counts can be counted; and not everything that can be
counted counts. - Albert Einstein

maryann@...
http://www.thehomeschoolmom.com


TheHomeSchoolMom's Free Homeschool Resources Newsletter archives:
http://www.thehomeschoolmom.com/newsletter/archive.html






[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Is there anything else you know of that I should have Google
filtering?
>> That's the only one that comes to mind.

Warm regards,

Mary Ann

Not everything that counts can be counted; and not everything that can be
counted counts. - Albert Einstein

maryann@...
http://www.thehomeschoolmom.com


TheHomeSchoolMom's Free Homeschool Resources Newsletter archives:
http://www.thehomeschoolmom.com/newsletter/archive.html


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Hi Julie,

> Shawn can you take a look at my code and tell me where
> the problem lies? Any other helpful advice is
> appreciated.

Netscape was never as lenient about interpreting bad code as IE was.

First and foremost if you look in the source of your page the <body>
tag is malformed. Since that is where your background colors, image
and everything else is referenced - that's probably the problem.
   <body <topmar...
should be:
   <body topmar...

I'll come back and look at it more later.

Regards,

Shawn K. Hall
http://ReliableAnswers.com/

'// ========================================================
If you want to learn more about paranoids,
     ...follow them around.

Hi Mary Ann,

> I'll add it to my filter list.

Just filtered "thejubileeacademy.org" and "thegraceacacdemy.org"

Is there anything else you know of that I should have Google
filtering?

Regards,

Shawn K. Hall
http://ReliableAnswers.com/

'// ========================================================
     As a computer; I find your faith in technology amusing

I've been following the discussion on the hswm list on being careful to code for
most browsers the first time around, to save future work. I've been lazy on my
personal site and haven't done much to it in a while and frankly didn't bother
to see how it looked in netscape. I downloaded netscape today (a couple versions
actually) and checked out my site. It looks awful! My background is only showing
up on a couple of pages, not even the home page.

Shawn can you take a look at my code and tell me where the problem lies? Any
other helpful advice is appreciated.

Julie Miller
julie@...
http://www.virtuallyjulie.com


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Hi Mary Ann,

> Do you realize that Google is feeding in Jubilee Academy
> ads to your site (IE Grace Academy reincarnated)? Perhaps
> you are aware and it isn't a problem to you, but since
> their reputation is through the floor I thought I would
> check and see if you knew.

No, I didn't know that. Thank you! What's the domain? I'll add it to
my filter list.

Regards,

Shawn K. Hall
http://ReliableAnswers.com/

'// ========================================================
     Amish bumper sticker: Caution! Do not step in exhaust.

Shawn,

I was looking on your site to see what kind of web hosting recommendations you
have. Do you realize that Google is feeding in Jubilee Academy ads to your site
(IE Grace Academy reincarnated)? Perhaps you are aware and it isn't a problem to
you, but since their reputation is through the floor I thought I would check and
see if you knew.
Warm regards,

Mary Ann

Not everything that counts can be counted; and not everything that can be
counted counts. - Albert Einstein

maryann@...
http://www.thehomeschoolmom.com


TheHomeSchoolMom's Free Homeschool Resources Newsletter archives:
http://www.thehomeschoolmom.com/newsletter/archive.html




[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]