Sunday, September 19, 2010

URI Naming Conventions For Your Project Web Site

Background
Once you have agreed on the purpose(s) of your project Web site(s) [1] you will need to choose a domain name for your Web site and conventions for URIs. It is necessary to do this since this can affect (a) The memorability of the Web site and the ease with which it can be cited; (b) The ease with which resources can be indexed by search engines and (c) The ease with which resources can be managed and repurposed.

Domain Name
You may wish to make use of a separate domain name for your project Web site. If you wish to use a .ac.uk domain name you will need to ask UKERNA. You should first check the UKERNA rules [2]. A separate domain name has advantages (memorability, ease of indexing and repurposing, etc) but t his may not be appropriate, especially for short-term projects. Your organisation may prefer to use an existing Web site domain.

URI Naming Conventions
You should develop a policy for URIs for your Web site which may include:
  • Conventions on use of case (e.g. specifying that all resources should be in lower case), separators (e.g. a hyphen should be used to separate components of a URI) and permitted characters (e.g. spaces should not be used in URIs).
  • Conventions on the directory structure. The directory structure may be based on the main functions provided by your Web site.
  • Conventions on dates and version control. You may wish to agree on a convention for including dates in URIs. You may also wish to agree on a convention for version control (which could make use of date information).
  • Conventions for file names and formats.
Issues
Grouping Of Resources
It is strongly recommended that you make use of directories to group related resources. This is particularly important for the project Web site itself and for key areas of the Web site. The entry point for the Web site and key areas should be contained in the directory itself: e.g. use http://www.foo.ac.uk/bar/ to refer to project BAR and not http://www.foo.ac.uk/bar.html) as this allows the bar/ directory to be processed in its entirety, independently or other directories. Without this approach automated tools such as indexing software, and tools for auditing, mirroring, preservation, etc. would process other directories.

URI Persistency
You should seek to ensure that URIs are persistent. If you reorganise your Web site you are likely to find that internal links may be broken, that external links and bookmarks to your resources are broken, that citations to resources case to work. Y ou way wish to provide a policy on the persistency of URIs on your Web site.

File Names and Formats
Ideally the address of a resource (the URI) will be independent of the format of the resource. Using appropriate Web server configuration options it is possible to cite resources in a way which is independent of the format of the resource. This should allow easy of migration to new formats (e.g. HTML to XHTML) and, using a technology known as Transparent Content Negotiation [3] provide access to alternative formats (e.g. HTML or PDF) or even alternative language versions.

File Names and Server-Side Technologies
Ideally URIs will be independent of the technology used to provide access to the resource. If server-side scripting technologies are given in the file extension for URIs (e.g. use of .asp, .jsp, .php, .cfm, etc. extensions) changing the server-side scripting technology would probably require changing URIs. This may also make mirroring and repurposing of resources more difficult.

Static URIs Or Query Strings?
Ideally URIs will be memorable and allow resources to be easily indexed and repurposed. However use of Content Management Systems or databases to store resources often necessitates use of URIs which contain query strings containing input parameters to server-side applications. As described above this can cause problems.

Possible Solutions
You should consider the following approaches which address some of the concerns:
  • Using file extensions: e.g. foo refers to foo.html or foo.asp
  • Using directory defaults: e.g. foo/ refers to foo/intro.html or foo/intro.asp
  • Rewriting dynamic URIs to static URIs

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

How to Get Free Student Web Hosting

Nowadays there are many companies offering free student web hosting service. You might be curious, what is the intention of those companies? Is there any catch? Let's discuss this more.

Help Students Gain First Experience

Free student web hosting can be a great way to experience real life as a webmaster. You can observe many features that you had never seen before. Few colleges actually provide this service for IT student just like my college. You just need to contact the IT department and they will give you, your user name and passwords.

Recruiting People
Several IT companies also offer free hosting service to student in an effort to introduce their companies, or as a way to recruit those students once they graduate. With the increasing demand for IT staff in recent years this is smart move to spot hidden talent.

Getting Revenue From Advertising

Have you noticed that your free hosting pages include advertising that you never put there? Some companies make money from this advertising. Whenever people click or open your website, they will be paid. This is win-win solution because the company will make money and you get your free hosting.

Free Ads Hosting

Even though it is rare, I have noticed companies that offer free ads hosting for no charge. It later turns out to be a promotion for upgraded package. Unless you need more server capacity or features, you don't need to pay any fee at all which is a good thing for you.

You can experiment a bit on online world, and who know you will invent another Facebook someday. At that time you sure can afford to pay for advanced package.

Capacity

Many companies and colleges offer free hosting with different capacity. If you are trying to develop complex website with complex database manipulation, 50MG server capacity may not enough for you, so you need to search for another free hosting that will give you more capacity.

Fortunately, there are few companies that offer 350MG hosting capacity with MySql features, which is enough capacities to do your school task.

Backup Your File

I would suggest that you back up your files often because this is free service obviously you can't complain if something happens such as the server crash or the files accidentally erased. Backup your files at least once a week.

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Why the Domain Yahoo is Still in the News

The domain yahoo is one of the most popular in the world and it has become a market leader by providing the much needed access to many services for the customers. The first thing you can benefit from it is the establishment of an email ID which will go long way in launching you into a world where communication can happens with ease. You can open your communication links through the yahoo messenger and other benefits are having your own space for albums and have your file storage in which you can review them from any place. You can get a domain from yahoo and begin the process of having your own web site.

The domain name yahoo has therefore brought and continues to bring a world of difference by providing the free services. Through domain yahoo you will get to see all the products that provided and above the mentioned products are yahoo widgets, yahoo travel, yahoo tool bar, yahoo small business, yahoo shopping, yahoo search, yahoo real estate, yahoo photos, yahoo music, yahoo mobile, yahoo message board, yahoo local, yahoo groups, yahoo finance, yahoo bookmarks, yahoo autos, yahoo 360 and so many other products. Yahoo also provides another vital service pertaining to domains. Domain locking is the prevention of unauthorized transfers to another registrar. Domains that are registered through yahoo can access this service.

You can get access to so much more information through domain yahoo and some of the most common questions that are asked are on how to lock and unlock your domain and the effects of locking. People also want to know how to create a domain name and yahoo has all the information for you to read. Firstly, a good domain name according to yahoo should be clear and simple.

People should not have trouble remembering it and, it should show the kind of business you do. Domain names are therefore very vital and to come up with a unique address, you need to spend some time and make sure you have the right name. Remember that domains should contain letters, numbers and hyphens.

You are advised to re angle your domain name if you find that it is already in use. It is also good to think of where you register the domain and make sure that it serves your purpose. At domain yahoo, you will find a private domain registration which will help you safeguard your personal information from the public. This is because many domain owners have their contact details exposed to the public because the information is required by the internet governing body. But, yahoo will make sure that before people access your information, you are first alerted by their business partner Melbourne IT. You will be overwhelmed by the possibilities domain yahoo has to offer. Take sometime and read about the domain and discover so much more, you will find a service you are looking for with ease. The name will continue to break new grounds as it becomes more and more popular to many customers

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Website Hosting Basics, just two step Process

Hosting a website is a two step process. Steps being:

1. Registering a Domain Name
2. Purchasing a Hosting Package


At times same company can offer you both services, or you may choose to register your domain through some other vendor and host them on some other company’s servers.

1. Domain Registration: This is the basic step that you need to identify a unique name for your business’s online representation. To make sure it remains unique, we have to get it registered, this registration process is called Domain Name Registration.

Since domain name registration is a straightforward process, so usually its price is same for all companies.

2. Website Hosting: Your website will of course be composed of some files, or at least index.html page. And there must be a place where you can put them so that everyone (your visitors) can see them, and files are served to them even if your personal computer is not turned on.

For this purpose we need a Disk Space or Hosting Space on a computer (Server) that remains available 24 / 7 / 365. That is exactly what we do when we get a website hosting space.

Since everything comes with a cost, and same is true for website hosting.

Hosting price packages by different companies varies largely based on period for hosting, quality of hosting (less downtimes), features provided etc. You need to research a bit to find a cost effective solution for your needs. we found WebHostingPad.com to be the best so far.

If both domain name and hosting packages are acquired from same company, then you are saved from some extra effort of linking these two.

Your registered Domain Name, needs to know, from where this website pages are served. Thus they need to know a Domain Name Server’s address (DNS). When hosting separately, you need to get DNS from Website Hosting company and pass it to Domain Name Registrar.

Usually Hosting companies provide two DNSs, DNS 1 and DNS 2, to ensure site’s availability.

I just registered a new domain name. How long until I can use it?

New domains and changes to domains may take up to 4-8 hours for .COM and .NET domains to become effective, and about 24-48 hours for all other domain extensions. This is due to the number of networks involved, and the fact that several different agencies control those networks. This delay applies to all domains and all registrars.

Please allow for this delay when planning Web sites or configuring a domain to work with your email.

Changing the Registrant Account for a Domain Name. Choosing Effective Domain Names

Domain names are no longer a web address these days. Many profitable companies have been built around their domain name making it the brand and the company. Choosing the right domain should be as important as naming your product. Given that status, here are some pointers how to find a name that will see you through it all.

Branding vs. Keywords

This is probably the most difficult to determine. Yet, should be the first place to start because the rest of the considerations will one way or another relate to this. There are two schools of thought. One group believes you should have your keywords in the domain so that search engines pick up on the keywords and rank you better. To what extent this really affects your search engine ranking is not clearly known or proven. Consider why you are putting the website up in the first place. Most likely it’s for your customers or visitors. So choose a domain that also puts your audience first.

The other group believes a webmaster should go for brand. Most successful companies start off with a brand, including online companies. Brands make the product memorable, create differentiation and encourage loyalty. In the early days of the Internet, everyone wanted a generic domain like searchengine.com, books.com, auctions.com and the likes. Today, very few of those are truly successful sites that rival Google, Amazon and eBay.

A branded domain also ensures consistency throughout your marketing efforts. As one web user describes, “Every time the company tells me to visit their generic website, they lose the opportunity to reinforce their brand name in my mind”.

Whether you use keywords or brand for your domain depends much on what you aim to do. If you plan to build a business or website that is going to have staying power, branded domains are a better choice. It might not be easy or cheap to build a brand but there are no shortcuts when it comes to branding either. It’s a slow process that can be very rewarding if done right.

Don’t choose a domain simply because of its keywords. First class content, links in and clever optimization are more important to good ranking than anything else. Having said that, a brand name made up of keywords could be best, and you would have the best of both worlds – literally. Take CancerComforts.com. Owner Kathy Browning chose the domain because of its keywords. But apart from being keyword rich, CancerComforts.com is also very marketable and can be a strong brand.

If you are building a resource website, a website for affiliate programs or one that’s temporary in nature, keyword rich and generic domains would be a better choice. Finally, there is no harm in buying both branded and keyword domains that point to the same site. Just make sure you only use one for submissions, directory listings, link exchanges and promotion. This way you build your link popularity.

You should also, make sure the site title or name matches your domain. If your domain is ExtremeBiking.com and your site name is Smith Brothers Biking Tours this makes visitors and directory editors wonder if this is the correct website. It also causes confusion. People who know you tend to look for a domain that reflects your brand and not extreme biking. If you have yet to establish a company name or a site name, it might be a good idea to name it after you find a domain name. This is sensible, consistent marketing.

Company Name

This is the most common because in today’s increasingly small and competitive world, businesses tend to have rather creative and catchy names. On the other hand, if your business name is very nondescript such as The Smith Brothers, you might want to take the approach that combines part of your company name and a keyword. Although the importance of brand name was emphasized earlier, here the situation is slightly different. Non-descriptive company names aren’t particularly helpful to audiences. Someone looking for you would find it difficult to differentiate your company and the other company with a similar name. In this case, keywords tied to your name are worth considering.

Domain Length

Short domains are supposed to be best but it’s increasingly difficult to find one without paying someone a lot of money to take over the domain. There are alternatives though, such as expired domains which we will explore a little later on.

Just because a domain is a little longer doesn’t make it bad. For example, TrashToTreasure.com is meaningful, to the point and memorable even though it is rather long. On the other hand, ThisIsAnExampleOfAVeryLongDomain.com is too long, difficult to remember and prone to errors. The other extreme is needless abbreviation. TTT.com is meaningless because TrashToTreasure.com works much butter. Aim for some balance while taking into account ease of use.

.Com, .Net, .Info

Most people will agree a .com is best. A web user told us, “Whenever I can’t remember the domain name but I know the site name, brand or company, I’ll try for a .com first”. If you have no good .com alternative, start with .net and .org first. Also, be sure to consistently promote your website as a .net or .org whatever you may choose.

Hyphens, Suffixes and Prefixes

Hyphens aren’t necessarily evil especially if it’s in your brand name or is the correct way to write a word. However, they are difficult to remember, type and prone to user input mistakes. Avoid them as much as you can.

Suffixes and prefixes are i’s, e’s, the’s and numbers usually suggested by domain search tools when your desired domain is unavailable. If you choose such a domain, be very consistent in your promotion. Promote the domain as a whole, do not leave out the suffix or prefix. You might also want to avoid domains with very little difference between them. These are usually between plurals and singulars. Aim for singular names whenever possible. For example, petfood.com and petfoods.com; If petfood.com is taken, resist the temptation to opt for petfoods.com because people tend to leave out the ‘s’.

Can You Say It?

This isn’t always a top consideration but it makes sense you should have a domain name that can be verbally communicated. Take your list of chosen domains and tell it to someone. Does it confuse them? Do you find yourself having to constantly repeat it or spell it? If that is so, move on or go back to the drawing board.

Copyrights and Trademarks

In this day and age, many companies particularly those with strong brand names are increasingly protective of their trademarks. Avoid the trouble and expense of a lawsuit by spending some time to research your chosen name. Start by looking up the name with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (http://www.uspto.gov/) and your state’s trademark database. A More in depth look at this issue can be found here (http://www.bcentral.com/articles/legal/109.asp).

Expiring Domains

Anyone who has looked for a domain name finds out soon enough more than half the desired names are taken. If you cannot find a suitable one despite numerous searches, why not explore expired domains? Expired domains are those whose original registrant fails to renew commonly are due to website closings or companies going out of business. Within the list of expired domains are some real gems. There are many services that allow you to monitor expired and soon to expire domains for a fee. Before you sign up for them, a good place to start researching for free is DeletedDomains.com (http://www.deleteddomains.com).

Some believe recently expired domains with good traffic and rankings allow you to benefit from someone else’s hard work and give your site a head start. Theoretically, that may be true. Realistically, you shouldn’t expect that to last. People consistently return to a website for a reason. If your topic is very different from the original site, visitors will stop coming back because the information or resource they previously had access to is no longer there. If you assume such a domain and want to convert as many visitors as possible, make sure your content is very closely related or similar to that of the old site. You might want to also check that the old site has completely ceased operations. If the previous site still exists under a different domain, loyalists eventually find their way back there; Word gets around among them and could create a negative image on the old domain that’s now yours.

Ownership

When you do register as domain, have it registered under your name or your company. If you are registering through your host, remember a lot can happen within a short space of time. Companies go out of business or you change hosts, scams, scandals and more. Making sure you own the domain reduces the risk of losing your domain name in the future. Check your host’s domain registration policy. If there are unnecessary expenses to transfer your domain, try to register it yourself instead. Registering a domain is a very simple and straightforward affair. Some good registrars to try are Enom (http://www.enom.com/) and GoDaddy (http://www.godaddy.com).

Finally, when you do find the best available domain, get it immediately. Any delays no matter how minor may cost you. Finding the right domain is not easy. It takes a lot of brainstorming, patience and creativity. Once you find it, don’t let it slip.

How to find a web host

These are the points to find the web host:
  • Web host is company that provides you space to host your files on the internet.
  • Your files are important the must be at a safe place.
  • Your fines are needed to be accessible 24hrs a day 7 days a week.
  • Your files must be accessible very fast
  • Your web site files should be virus free and safe from hackers
  • You need to have ample space and ample transfer so an unlimited number of visitors can come to you and enjoy your web site.
  • Your need to be in a neighborhood where all good people are.

How to chose a web hosting company

When choosing a web hosting company, you need to first find what style website it is that you plan to host: This very  fact will directly affect how you go about choosing a web hosting provider. For example, do you plan to make a small, personal website that consists of only a few web pages about your self or just an intro of your company, or do you need a larger site with a lot of pages with every of your business? The size of the website you plan to design will have a direct effect on the web hosting provider that you chose because you will need to choose a web hosting provider that can provide you with the amount of storage space, bandwidth, and additional features that you may require to develop your site.
Secondly, when choosing a web hosting company, you should take a look at the various packages that are offered by web hosting providers in your reach. It is wise to take your time and research a number of different web hosting providers: compare packages and prices when you research web hosting providers.
Alternatively, for the same reason that you should not choose the first web hosting provider you find, you should not necessarily choose a web hosting provider simply because they provide free services. Frequently, the free web hosting services offered by a web hosting provider comes with strings attached; in other words, you will find that the number of pages you are able to design is extremely limited, that you are limited in the file size and type you can upload, or that you are required to display advertisements on the site hosted by the web hosting provider.
Finally, when looking for choosing a web hosting provider make absolutely sure that you read the terms and conditions provided by the web hosting provider. Rules and regulations will vary from one web hosting provider to another and you wouldn’t want to encounter unexpected hassles down the road because you did not carefully review the terms offered by the web hosting provider before you signed up for hosting. In the end, with careful comparative shopping and a firm knowledge about what it is you plan to design, you will have no difficulty successfully choosing a web hosting provider.

Information about Domain Names

It’s been two years since John started his online business. He is very much satisfied with his current web host whose services he acquired one year ago. Today John is relaxing in his chair and thinking about the initial days when he spent many hours on the Internet collecting information related to web hosting. Like him there are many John’s out there who are in search of information everyday, visiting this and that website hoping to find the most illuminating advice. The problem is that common topics of interest can be found on most of the websites whereas other relevant issues are not dealt with everywhere. This article is going to touch on one of those areas: various concerns related with domain names.

What is multiple domain hosting?
Many times you will see that a web host offers multiple domain hosting. In simpler words it means that on buying an account you will have the ability to get multiple websites. For instance, if the plan provides you with five domain names, you can use one domain for your website and you will still have four domain names leftover to use. The advantage of this scenario is that you can resell these four domain names to your clients.

What is Domain Parking?
If you are planning to build up a website and have decided on a name for it you then must purchase that domain name from a domain registrar: i.e. your domain name gets placed on a name server so that you can use it later on. This is known as domain parking. Even if your website content is not ready, it’s better to park your desired domain name. Otherwise, it might be possible that in future somebody else acquires that particular domain name.

What are sub domains?
Sub domains are ‘third level’ domains in the sense that they are used solely to organize your website content. They are simply folders under your root directory, but to access them a special URL is used.
For instance, http://www.m6.net is a regular URL without a sub domain.
http://features.m6.net is an URL with the sub domain name: "features".
Here the:
.net: is the first level domain,
m6: is the second level domain,
features: is the third level domain

For how long does a domain name belong to you?

Generally when you register a domain name it is registered for a minimum of one year. However, you can register it for more years, as there is no hard and fast rule as such.

What is Domain Renewal?

After one year you need to renew your domain name so that your website doesn’t get lost. Generally when your domain is about to expire your domain registrar will send you a reminder mail regarding the domain renewal.

What happens when your domain name expires?
When your domain name expires you can renew it within one month. If you don’t renew it in this period it goes into a redemption phase. It stays in this redemption phase for 15 to 30 days before it is then available for purchase again at a normal price. Getting a domain name out of redemption phase is like buying fifty domains as it can cost around $200!

How to find out the owner of a domain name?
To find out the owner of a domain name, use the WhoIs search tool on the Internet .For E.g. Go to http://centralops.net/co/ and type the domain name under Domain Dossier. It will show you the name of the registrant/domain’s owner/web host.

What is WhoIs record?
WhoIS record is a domain name search engine/Internet program where users can enter an Internet entity (e.g. a domain, a network, some hosts) and it will give detailed information on the domain registrar, the owner of the domain, and respective DNS records.


By
Priyanka Agarwal
Hosting evangelist

Web Hosting Tips & Tools

When you're novel to the field of SEO web hosting for your site promotion purpose, all of the latest information and deliberations canister be rather irresistible. This is why it's cooperative to have a small number of web hosting tips and web hosting tools to turn to as you preparation, assemble, and sustain your web site. Through a few effortless suggestions and pieces of suggestion, your mission into the web hosting world will be much easier in the online world market of web hosting.

At 1-Tuch, we desire your evolution into the online society to be an even as potential. Underneath, you'll locate numerous web hosting tips and tools that we consider will help you in your endeavors. These tips plaster a multiplicity of topics commencing startup basics such as securing a new domain name to more superior subjects like how to enhance your site's traffic. We expect these web hosting tips and tools will assist you and your site on your way to achievement.

Getting Started
There are various web hosting tips that you should maintain in mind when preparation your web site and looking for a hosting supplier.

1.        Decide and register a domain name that is mutually effective and applicable to your site. When it moves towards to domain names for success, simple is superior because you wish for customers to be able to consider your site's address.

2.        When feasible, set up an e-mail account intended for each staff member. Choose a standard layout pro naming accounts and stick through it.

3.        Think what features you require prior to preferring a web hosting plan for personal sites. For instance, ensure you know how much bandwidth and disk storage space you'll require as well as the kinds of database and scripting support you necessitate. In this way, you canister find a good hosting package that meets all of your precise requirements.

Increase Traffic
Once your web site is developed and established with best articles and attractive theme, you'll almost certainly want to know how you canister enhance your site's traffic and keep on a number of customers coming back from all over the world. By employing a few web hosting tools and subsequent a few tips, you canister enjoy outstanding results.

1.        The Search engine optimization (SEO) -- by make sure that your site is fully well-matched among search engines, you'll protected a higher search engine ranking and, consequently, will enjoy improved awareness and improved traffic.

2.        Advertise your site with most relevant tools, modern products, and better services. This canister is done in several ways. Some better ways to promote your site comprise banner advertisements, holding competition, and distributing online newsletters in all over the world by using the improved SEO tools.

3.        Build up exterior links to your site on other sites. Whether you perform this throughout link exchanges or by creating links to your site in two ways one of them news items, and second is blogs, or society forms, superiority and relevant external links will magnetize more targeted traffic to your site and advance your search engine ranking.

4.        Always maintain your site's modern content and current information regarding to your site. Stale and obsolete information may stop customers commencing returning to your site next time.

5.        Ensure your site's content is customer-oriented. Accomplish research to make sure that you understand the wants and preferences of your customer base subsequently that your site will magnetize and appeal to targeted visitors from all over the world.

Free Web Hosting Tools
Making exercise of free web hosting tools is a great and most attractive way to insert extra features to your site devoid of breaking your account. There are many such tools are obtainable online, particularly for hosting plans that sustain My SQL and PHP in all over the online market. These free of cost web hosting tools permit you to include on proficient features such as good blogs, most excellent FAQ builders in the business, and many more available in the 1-tuhc’s services.