One fine day, I strolled into the office of one of my friends to find him on AOL. I asked him that when we are paying tens or thousands of dollars for the technologies and the programs that we have today, why he is still using AOL. His response was just a sly smile and he got back to what he was doing.

Tony Giudice is the CEO of Stellar Concepts and Design, one of South East Florida’s premier Marketing and Design firms and my mentor in online social media networking. Tony, always a fun-loving and a smiling guy, has quickly made a new name for his company. Over the last decade, breaking into new territories to include products for their clients on Social Media Reputation Repair, Search Engine Optimization and entire lines of web based solutions; they have become one of the foremost Design and Search Engine Optimization solutions companies in the country. Stellar’s clients include over 1000 of the country’s leading medium and boutique businesses.

During our conversation, Stellar’s Business Genius slowly reveals the tricks of the trade. He begins, “here is one of the tricks that are important to the young or start- up businesses to grow bigger: keep your AOL account live and active and you will be continuing to build your contact list as the program automatically populates itself whenever you receive an email.”

No big deal as my Outlook account does the same thing so that sounds pretty boring.

Well, here is the deal and the reason Tony smiles at me is that he has the finest newest programs available on AOL.

He goes on, “whenever you set up a new user account in the ongoing exploration of social media, your new territory is only as strong as the contacts you are able to populate it with. The thousands of people I know are on my Outlook, secure private and just non accessible. On the contrary, the larger your AOL account file the faster you can populate your Social Media sites. AOL is the common denominator. The address book feature is easily accessed by all Social Media sites as soon as you register and sign up for the very first time. The ‘mantra’ is, allow the contacts page on the social media sites to use your AOL email i.d. and then post that email i.d. on these sites as a contact email i.d. And, whenever someone contacts you through the new Social Media site; it will be automatically updated in your AOL address book. The fun is whenever you register to a new social media site, an invitation to join this site will, automatically, be sent to all those old and new addresses from AOL database.

AOL LLC (formerly America Online) is an American global Internet services and media company. AOL allows millions of customers around the world to access the world’s largest “walled garden” online community and eventually reach out to the internet as a whole.

Tony’s expertise in this is simply unmatched and these little tricks of the trade are priceless. So for all those executives who are trying to develop online reputations, “Get back to AOL.”

For more information on Stellar Concept’s scope of services, visit http://stellarconcepts.com.

About Stellar Concepts:

Stellar Concepts &Design, one of the leading design, printing, mail house and multimedia firms specializing in all areas of marketing which include commercial printing, video production, web site design, full service mail facility, SEO (Search Engine Optimization), SERM (Search Engine Reputation Management), Graphic Design, 350,000 Promotional Products and many more services, is only a few weeks away from a grand launch of its new website in Ruby on Rails programming language. The new site will allow Stellar Concepts to expand its reach as well as showcase its growing expertise in Web development and online marketing.

Contact:

Anthony Giudice, President

954.489.2250

Ruby expressions would be shocking for the uninitiated or those who are shifting form other programming languages. If you have experience with Perl or Python, then you’re in luck for they won’t send you packing up and running in fear. The term “regular expression” is used to have a program check if it looks like something else in terms of similar characters or spacing, length or a myriad of other things that you may think of. The table form summarizes all the Ruby expressions and elements. Regular expressions are used for matching certain patterns such that if you’d want to check for a digit you use the \d expression or to match a space character, you use the \s expression to match a space character.

The caret “^” and the “&” operators are used for matching the beginning of a string, and also for the end of a string shown below:

matching =/[a-e]$/

The script would look for similar letters between “a” and “e” respectively including the end of the string. To search for a letter inside a string:

[A-Z] all uppercase letters

[a-z] all lowercase letters

[0-9] all digits(numbers)

To restrict the range, say to look for only the letters between “a” and “e”, you write it as [a-e] combined with the caret operator shown below:

[^A-Z] all other characters except uppercase letters

[^a-z] all other characters except lowercase letters

[^A-Za-z] no letters, whether upper or lower case

Since you are just starting, and you are curious, you can gain a lot from Ruby on Rails. You can basically inscribe your individual cookie-cutter Web 2.0 application a lot vigorously and you can do it in no time compared to other languages or network. Codes and the like really takes up a lot of time, and simple mistakes can make you go crazy. But using Ruby on Rails is actually no pain at all. It is easy to use and saves a lot of time. It will just make you feel so blessed you live in this century, people decades ago would have died for Ruby on Rails.

Codes, codes, codes… There has been a reason why the 1-2 code ages ago were put away, how can you read a message out of only two numbers, 1 and 2? Thanks to technology’s non-stop improvisation and development, everything is made easier and produces solutions to problems, faster. This is Rails goal: write less code, get done more in less time. Little framework does much more. And why not opt for Rails? It is integrated with AJAX functions and object-oriented database handling. Most companies trust Rails which means, it is something you can really rely on. So that’s why not.

Because of its success, popularity and functionality, Ruby on Rails performs with an extensive variety of web servers and databases. Recommended for web servers would have to be Apache, lighttpd or nginx in place of Mongrel or it can be by means of FastCGI. Meanwhile, for database, the following have been suggested to be utilized: MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQLite, Oracle, SQL Server, DB2 and a lot more of servers that Ruby on Rails support and work well with. There is no limitation or strictly recommended on which operating system to use, but the best to make use of is a ‘nix-based one for deployment.

When it comes to infrastructure, Ruby on Rails is all over it. From start-ups to non-profits for venture projects of businesses, Rails can handle it. It is the best tool for almost whichever kind of web application (software collaboration, community, e-commerce, content management, statistics, management, etc). Shopify, Yellow Pages , Backpack, Github and Twitter are only some of web sites that uses Ruby on Rails. These web sites have trusted Ruby on Rails do manage their web applications that is made easy to use for people browsing, customers and people in need of the information provided by the web site.

I recently had the opportunity to develop a small online booking system. This time round I was determined to make use of some development framework. Not for me the slow slog of writing all my code from scratch - surely we have moved beyond that now in web development?

The big question was - which framework to use? Since the advent of Ruby on Rails, development frameworks have become quite the flavour d’jour and there are now, well, maybe not thousands of them, but quite a few! The last time I heard there are about 80 development frameworks out there. I am not 100% user of this number, it could be a bit higher, it could be a bit more conservative (on this site you can find about 40 PHP frameworks listed - http://www.phpwact.org/php/mvc_frameworks). The point is, the web developer is now really spoilt for choice. Which is a problem in itself, since having too much choice can leave you dithering between different options.

This article is therefore about how I made my choice, which was CakePHP, and which factors I took into consideration.

Obviously and certainly I will get bombarded with “Why don’t you try X framework, it is really much simpler to use…” type responses. That is quite OK, to each his own! But this is the choice I made and I am sticking to it. Frankly, the idea of going through another learning curve gives me the heeby-jeeby’s….

I found that the selection criteria were not independent. In other words, once I’ve ruled out some frameworks due to some specific criteria, other factors came into play. It was therefore more a process of elimination than judging all the frameworks off a predefined set of criteria.

The first major selection point was: Ruby on Rails or not.

Obviously there is the attraction of using a brand new, hip, buzz-word hyped framework. You can’t go wrong with something that is getting so much attention… or can you?

Let’s look at some of the selection criteria that filtered out Ruby on Rails”

1. Ease of installation and ability to run on shared hosting

The problem is that most of my clients make use of a shared hosting environment. Can Ruby on Rails run on common-or garden variety type shared hosting? The answer was, I soon discovered - no. One needs to either have access your own private servers or run on a shared hosting environment that has Ruby on Rails pre-installed. Admittedly, there are a couple of them now starting up. A comprehensive list of hosting providers that offer Ruby On Rails hosting can be found on the RoR Wiki - http://wiki.rubyonrails.org/rails/pages/RailsWebHosts.

2. Minimize the learning curve

Even though I knew that any new framework will involve a steep learning curve, I really didn’t have the guts to go through TWO learning curves - one for the language itself and one for the framework. I might still have been prepared to go through the learning curve though if it wasn’t for the fact that RoR requires special hosting.

So basically the decision was: Not RoR. And based on criterion 2, I decided to stick to a PHP framework, and not go for something else based on Perl or something else since I’ve been developing in PHP for the past two, almost three years. Having said this, it is all very well to say that CakePHP allows you to use your PHP skills - because it is an object oriented framework/MVC based framework it has its own rich language infrastructure. You still need to learn the CakePHP terminology and the learning curve is pretty steep!

3. Ability to run on PHP 4

Although PHP 5 offers more object oriented features, once again, not all shared hosts offer PHP 5 out of the box. I decided that I wanted to stick to a framework that will offer backwards compatibility and enable me to run on most of the servers that I, as well as my clients, host on.

My further criteria came down to:

4. Must have good documentation

Under good documentation I count the following:

- User manual

- Examples and code snippets

- Screen casts and videos - although I do not see these as essential

5. Good support by the user community

This, in combination with formal documentation is absolutely essential. All of these frameworks are pretty young and the documentation is also constantly evolving. Some documentation might be patchy in details. This is where the user support in terms of the community comes in. How active are the forums? Is there a bug tracker? Any other informal tutorials, write-ups, comments, blogs and other support?

6. Regular upgrades and bug fixes

..but not so close to each other that the software becomes unstable and unusable. Backward compatibility is also important.

Version number of the software can be used to indicate maturity.

Working off the following list (http://www.phpit.net/article/ten-different-php-frameworks/) one can see that the list has narrowed down to the following frameworks:

- CakePHP

- Seagull Framework

- WACT - ‘disqualified’ since the latest version now requires PHP 5

- Zoop

- CodeIgniter

The next step was a bit less scientific - but still fitted in with point 5 - how well is this Framework regarded? How much support does it generate in the ‘community’.

I scouted through forums and followed links and surfed the net and tried to get a general feel - and overall, CakePHP did seem to come out tops. A similar check that one can do is the following - do a Google search for each of the frameworks and see how many results are returned. This will give you a good idea of the general support, number of tutorials, number of forum posts and general ‘talked about’ factor for the specific framework. The results for this exercise can be seen here: http://www.tm4y.co.za/cakephp/ruby-on-rails-popularity-for-web-development.html

In summary therefore, the support for Ruby on Rails and the amount of information available for it is astounding and you will probably not go wrong if you decide to go this route. But if you want to stick with a PHP framework - CakePHP seems to be the route to go!

Fantastico Deluxe makes new website creation quick and easy. With over 50 pre-installed scripts to choose from webmasters are only limited by their imagination and creativity.

What Is Fantastico

Netenberg the inventor of Fantastico Deluxe, formerly Cpanelthemes.com is a division of kosmopolis Inc. LLC located in Wilmington Delaware.

They have succeeded in creating one of the most widely used auto installers on the web with over one million users worldwide.

Fantastico Deluxe is a web application included free by many web hosting providers. It contains a collection/library of scripts. Fantastico will auto install the script of your choice on demand.

The task of Installing Content Managers like Word press, Joomla, Drupal, Mambo, and Xoops can be reduced to a few minutes. Furthermore, it is no longer necessary to upload 100’s of files through an ftp client taking 20 Minutes or more.

If you use picture galleries then you will quickly take advantage of Coppermine a full feature photo gallery written in PHP and included with Fantastico.

The Fantastico dashboard is divided into sections with each section having its own category and collection of scripts.

The Primary categories are:

1. Blogs

2. Content Management

3. Customer Relationship (support services, chat and help services)

4. Ecommerce (shopping carts)

5. Discussion Boards

6. Frequently asked questions

7. Billing

8. Image Galleries

9. Polls and Surveys

10. Project Management

11. Wiki

12. Other Scripts

Multiple scripts can be installed to different directories. It is possible to Host one or many websites simultaneously on one account. You are only limited by the amount of web space and bandwidth purchased.

Selecting a web hosting service that provides free Fantastico can save you time and money especially if you plan to host multiple sites on one account. It is not uncommon for some providers to charge a yearly fee of $9 or more to access just one of these pre-installed scripts. Installing all of these scripts without Fantastico can run upwards of $360 year on top of hosting fees.

But one word of caution, some web host do not properly upgrade scripts with current versions, which can be a security risk. With programs like Wordpress this may not be a problem if you add the automatic upgrade plug-in when installing the sortware.So before buying make sure scripts are updated frequently.

Fantastico Deluxe provides endless opportunities to get website feedback through live chat, surveys and polls. Develop free website content through discussion boards that help to improve ranking and increase search engine traffic.

Hosts that offer free Fantastico De Luxe

• Hostmonster

• BlueHost

• LunarPages

• Hostgator

• FastDomain

Features

Hostmonster

• $4.95-$6.95 per month

• Quad Processor Performance Servers

• Linux operating system

• Apache Server

• UPS Power Backup/Back-p generator

• OC-48 Backbone connection

• Courtesy Site Backups

• Free Domain

• Unlimited Domain Hosting

• Multimedia Support

• CronJobs

• Ruby On Rails

• Founded 1996

• Location Utah

BlueHost

• $6.95 per month

• Quad Processor Performance Servers

• Linux operating system

• Apache Server

• UPS Power Backup

• Diesel Generator Backup Power

• OC-48 Backbone connection

• Courtesy Site Backups

• Multimedia Features

• Host Unlimited Domains

• Location Utah

LunarPages

• $4.95 per month

• 2000 Mbit Connectivity

• Ddos Protection

• Tape Backup

• Power Generator

• Multimedia Features

• Ruby On Rails

• Dreamweaver Compatible

• MySql Databases Unlimited

• Email Accounts Unlimited

• Email Auto Responders Unlimited

• 4 Data Centers

• Location California

• 100+ Staff Members

HostGator

• $4.95 per month

• Unlimited Disk Space

• Unlimited Bandwidth

• Free Setup

• CronJobs

• Ruby On Rails

• Unlimited Disk Space

• Unlimited Bandwidth

• Host 1 Domain

• Location Texas and Brazil

FastDomain

• $5.95 per month

• Quad Processor Performance Servers

• Linux operating system

• Apache Server

• UPS Power Backup/Back-p generator

• OC-48 Backbone connection

• Courtesy Site Backups

• CronJobs

• Multimedia Features

• Free Domain

• Founded In 2005

• Unlimited Hosting Space

• Unlimited File Transfer

• Unlimited Domains

Glossary

Linux- like Windows XP, 95 is an operating system. Created by Linus Torvalds from the University of Helsinki in Finland 1991. Unlike Windows Linux is free open source software created under the GNU (General Public License).

Apache- is a web server used to display web pages on the World Wide Web.

UPS- called an uninterrupted power supply better known as a battery back-up.

CronJobs- is an automated program allowing the user to repeatedly run a scheduled task on a specific date and time.

OC-48- A fiber optic backbone used in large networks OC stands for optical carrier. The speed of an OC-48 is equivalent to 1344 T1 lines or 43 T3’s.

Ddos Attack- stands for distributed denial of service.

Ddos- Attacks are can be initiated by Trojans that search out and install themselves on computers with outdated virus protection and patches. These computers collectively form a network of systems that can execute an attack on an a website by sending massive amounts of traffic which overload bandwith rendering the site unusable to visitors who try to access the site or service.

Ddos- attacks can also be exploited by software bugs.

Hosts with Ddos Protection

1. Lunar Pages

2. HostICan

3. Host Department

In Summary

This list of features is by no means exhaustive. It is recommended that you visit each webhost for a complete list of products included with each web hosting account and any reduce pricing associated with special offers.

The obvious need today is to go with the flow of technology as aggressive web applications are being produced here and there. Ruby on Rails has been identified as the best interface software that programmers look forward to today since it simple yet great output makes the world of programming all the more simpler.

You can really install it on any software even on your Windows XP or Vista. With all the ideas of new developmental software up in the air, you can just imagine how many programs from people can be seen after some time especially once they have settled in and mastered this program.

There are several alternative implementations and completion of the Ruby language as of 2008 including JRuby, Rubinius, IronRuby and YARV. Each of them has different approach especially that JRuby provides just-in-time compilation functionality. JIT or just-in-time compilation is also known as Dynamic Translation. In computing, it is a system and a technique for improving runtime performance of a computer program. It has two earlier ideas in run-time environments such as dynamic compilation and bytecode compilation. Its advantage over statically compiling the code at development time is that it can recompile the code and its ability to enforce security guarantees. Hence it can merge a few of the advantages of interpretation and static compilation.

JRuby, YARV, Rubinius, and IronRuby are some of the alternative implementation of the Ruby language as of 2008 with each of them taking a diverge approach.

• JRuby - One of the strong features of JRuby is its capacity to invoke the classes of the Java Platform considering that it is a Java implementation of the Ruby and is closely incorporated with Java.

• YARV - an acronym for Yet Another Ruby VM, it is a bytecode interpreter developed for the Ruby programming language with the goal of trimming down the execution time of Ruby programs

• Rubinius - it is clean, understandable code that is easy for users to comprehend and extend. It is a virtual machine and compiler for Ruby.

• IronRuby - an approaching implementation of the Ruby programming language that targets Microsoft .Net framework

One of the Ruby on Rails fundamental principle is “convention over configuration.” It aims to reduce the number of decisions that developers need to make as it gains simplicity but not losing flexibility. The simple phrase implies that a developer only needs to indicate alternative aspects of the application. When the convention implemented by the tool you are utilizing equals your desired behavior, you take pleasure in the gains not even having to write configuration files. When your desired behavior digresses from the implemented convention, then you configure your desired behavior. The programmer can work at a higher level of abstraction with all this configuration free approach to programming.

Also known as Single Point of Truth, “don’t repeat yourself” or DRY is a process philosophy seeking to reduce duplication especially in computing. This philosophy stress on that information should not be duplicated because it makes the change more difficult, it can lessen clarity and may lead to inconsistency. DRY is from Andy Hunt’s and Dave Thomas’ principle in the book of Pragmatic Programmer. A revision of any single element of a system does not alter other logically-unrelated elements when the DRY principle is effectively applied. Moreover, elements are kept in sync because elements that are logically related all change predictably and evenly.

While Stellar Concepts &Design awaits a few more weeks for a grand launch of its new website in Ruby on Rails programming language, it has recently launched its new blog called ‘stellar-shines’

http://stellar-shines.blogspot.com

“The IT revolution and web 2.0 concepts have made Blogging an excellent medium to connect with the people as well as engaging them in your business by allowing comments and feedbacks. According to Internet World Stats’ July 2008 data, approximately 1,463,632,361 people use the Internet across the globe. A global Internet information provider, comScore (March 2008), estimates that 346,000,000 number of people globally read blogs. Research also shows that 77% of ‘active’ Internet users read blogs. That’s absolutely wonderful,” rejoices Anthony Guidice, Stellar Concepts and Design president and founder.

Stellar Concepts and Design is one of the leading design, printing, mail house and multimedia firms specializing in all areas of marketing which include commercial printing, video production, web site design, full service mail facility, SEO (Search Engine Optimization), SERM (Search Engine Reputation Management), Graphic Design, 350,000 Promotional Products and many more services.

“We, the Stellar team pride in ourselves for understanding the information technology’s changing environment and accordingly we adapt it to serve the customers in a best possible way. When blogs are so much the talk of the town, there’s no reason that we would not go blogging. We’ve updated our blog with our published Press Releases, tips, articles on social media optimization’s contemporary pillars like online marketing, video websites, SEO, SERM, link building activity to name a few. However, since this is our starting phase, we need constant feedback and comments from our readers to serve them better,” informs Giudice.

About Stellar Concepts:

Since its inception in 1997, Stellar Concepts and Design has been providing marketing, printing, website design, over 350,000 promotional products, various kinds of innovative and effective advertising campaigns and a complete Search Engine Optimization (SEO) services for over 10,000 clients nationwide.

For more information on Stellar Concept’s scope of services, visit http://stellarconcepts.com

Contact:

Anthony Giudice, President

954.489.2250

Information technology (IT) is one of the most booming sectors of the world economy. Indeed, the well-being of this sector is crucial to the performance of the economy as a whole, with swings in the sector greatly affecting the economic well-being all over the world. IT-related services can be broadly divided into different, specific disciplines. One of the most important of such IT service is web development.

Web development service can be defined as any activity undertaken by professional web designers, in order to create a web page. The web page is meant for publication on the World Wide Web (i.e., the Internet). However, there is a technical difference between web development and web designing services. While the latter involves all the design and layout aspects of a web page, writing codes and generating markups form important tasks under web development.

Website development services are required for a wide range of IT-relate services. Some of the important fields that involve web development include e-commerce, business development, generation of content for the web, web server configuration and client-side (or, server-side) scripting.

While the web development teams of large companies can comprise of a large number of developers, it is not uncommon for smaller business to have a single contracting webmaster. It should also be understood that, although web development requires specialised skills, it is usually a collaborative effort of the different departments of a company that make it a success.

The web development process is a comprehensive one, and can be broadly divided into different, smaller sections. In order to understand the mechanism of web development, one needs to look at the hierarchy of a typical such system. In general, any web development process can comprise of the following sections:

a) Client Side Coding — This component of web development includes the usage of various computer languages. Such languages include:

i) AJAX — involving an up-gradation of Javascript or PHP (or, any similar languages). The focus is on enhancement of the end-user experience.

ii) CSS — involving usage of stylesheets,

iii) Flash — Commonly used as the Adobe Flash Player, this provides a platform on the client side,

iv) JavaScript — The programming language and different forms of coding,

v) Microsoft SilverLight — This, however, works only with the latest win9x versions,

vi) XHTML — This is used as a substitute for HTML 4. With the acceptance of HTML 5 by the international browser community, this would gain more in popularity.

b) Server Side Coding — A wide range of computer languages can be used in the server side coding component of a web development process. Some of them are:

i) ASP — this is proprietary product from Microsoft,

ii) Coldfusion — also known as Macromedia (its formal official name),

iii) Perl and/or CGI — an open source programming language,

iv) Java — including J2EE and/or WebObjects,

v) PHP — another open source language,

vi) Lotus Domino,

vii) Dot Net ( .NET) — a proprietory language from Microsoft,

viii) Websphere — owned by IBM,

ix) SSJS (a server-side JavaScript) — including Aptana Jaxer and Mozilla Rhino,

x) Smalltalk — including Seaside and AIDA/Web,

xi) Ruby — comprising of Ruby on Rails,

xii) Python — this has web framework called Django.

The client side coding is mainly related to the layout and designing of web pages. On the other hand, server side coding ensures that that all back end systems work properly, and the functionality of the website is correct. These two areas of coding need to be combined in a professional, expert manner in order to make web development an effective process.

Website development is rapidly gaining in popularity all over the world, in the IT sector. In this context, Australia, and in particular, Sydney, deserves a special mention. There are quite a number of Sydney web development companies. Web development in Sydney is an extremely well-known service and the developers from this area are thorough experts in this field.

When you have any website development work, you should always turn to Sigma Info Tech for the best results. Depend on this web development Sydney Company for the best results.

Buddystumbler is a new, revolutionary way to make friends based on existing IM networks, today announced its production launch.

Buddystumbler.com is the only social networking site on the web based on instant messaging across existing networks: AOL, Yahoo, MSN or Google. Users can meet people online across AOL, Yahoo, MSN and Google for free online chat. Being a frequent user of instant messaging (IM), founder Han-Shen Yuan decided to create a social network that allowed more people to interact with each other, in communicating online. By developing Buddystumbler, he found a way to enable free online chat in a new and more personal level.

Users create their own profiles that include their photos, descriptions and interests to show others what they like. Furthermore, Buddystumbler provides a powerful interface to enable search to meet people online based user profile, interest and location. Not only do you choose who to chat with, but can have the ability to find others with similar interests or within your area.

“There are millions of users on existing IM networks chatting with known friends, colleagues and family members. Until buddystumbler.com there wasn’t an easy way for these users to find other like-minded people to chat with.” said Han, founder of buddystumbler.com.

“One of the biggest differences between us and other social networking sites is that you don’t have to log onto the website constantly to meet new people. You simply create a profile and make new friends using your existing IM client.” said Han.

Buddystumbler has enabled more comprehensive profiles, as users can now include the latest blog entries from Xanga, Myspace, LiveJournal or Blogger. A RSS feed enables users to broadcast their own blogs into their profiles. The Buddystumbler interface leverages the Web 2.0 paradigm and is built using the Ruby on Rails development framework. Yim, UI architect and co-founder of Buddystumbler, has refined the interface based on feedback during months of beta testing by thousands of users.

“The production launch is a milestone for the whole team and we hope to continue helping others make connections through instant messaging. Our motto is “I search therefore IM”, enabling you to search and instant message others to find new connections. Happy Stumbling” said Han.

contact

info@buddystumbler.com

Web site development is a very big business these days. Almost every company in the world is trying to make their make on the web. However creating a nice looking, functional web site is not very easy to achieve unless you have the right tools to help you.

The need for web development tools has led many different companies to produce very sophisticated programs to help programmers and even non-programmers create and deploy great looking and very functional web sites. Some of the tools available for people to use for web development are Macromedia’s Dreamweaver, Microsoft’s Front Page, Microsoft’s Visual Studio, and Ruby on Rails.

The first two programs are used mostly to design and create visually attractive web sites, but they do not offer great database support. However the last two programs are fully developed web frameworks that allow programmers to create a fully functional web site using one program. Ruby on Rails is the only one of these programs that offers a full version that does not cost a thing. The best thing about Ruby on Rails is that it is open source, so it is constantly being worked on and improved by programmers to make it much better and much easier to use.

Also creating web sites with Visual Studio only allows you to use some of its functions if you deploy on a Windows server, while Ruby on Rails is more tailored to run on a Linux or Unix environment. Ruby on Rails is the only open source web development framework that can offer some of the same functionality that can be found in many of the more expensive software that is available.

Ruby on Rails also allows more agile development than PHP or some other technologies that are available right now. I believe that everyone should look into Ruby on Rails if they do not have a large development budget or they need to rapidly develop a robust web application.

Bluehost is a web hosting company founded by Matt Heaton and it is based in Provo, Utah. They run large data center which is based in Orem but their offices have moved south a mile to Provo. Bluehost has grown rapidly and is now one of the biggest providers of shared web hosting. They have a no frills one plan fits all offering. Bluehost is just about shared hosting as Matt Heaton has often explained. They want to just focus on this one offering and do that well. Depending on the period for which you decide to order web hosting from Bluehost you pay between 9.95 monthly or 6.95 depending on the ordering cycle you enter. The longer the duration of your hosting contract the cheaper the monthly rate you have to pay.  The standard shared hosting package comes with all the features you would expect from such a plan including cpanel. You can login easily into your cpanel from the bluehost main page and start your web venture from scratch in there. If you are familiar with this control panel it is no different from other hosts although Bluehost does allow a more liberal scripting environment. For instance you can edit your php.ini at the account level and they also support more programming languages than other shared web hosting plans like Python and Ruby on Rails.  Installing new scripts is no problem because their cpanel features the fantastico script installer package and it is by and large pretty up to date with the latest versions. Some of the most popular scripts in this package include wordpress, phpbb, phplist, drupal, and joomla.  Support at Bluehost is provided via phone, email and live chat. The two I have relied on were email and live chat. With both live chat and email if you bump into a level 1 technician it may be wise if he can’t resolve your query straight away to try again and get a higher level engineer as they are usually very good. All in all Bluehost is a host that provides a very good shared hosting package at a fair price and offers good support.

Bluehost is a web hosting company founded by Matt Heaton and it is based in Provo, Utah. They run large data center which is based in Orem but their offices have moved south a mile to Provo. Bluehost has grown rapidly and is now one of the biggest providers of shared web hosting. They have a no frills one plan fits all offering. Bluehost is just about shared hosting as Matt Heaton has often explained. They want to just focus on this one offering and do that well. Depending on the period for which you decide to order web hosting from Bluehost you pay between 9.95 monthly or 6.95 depending on the ordering cycle you enter. The longer the duration of your hosting contract the cheaper the monthly rate you have to pay. 

The standard shared hosting package comes with all the features you would expect from such a plan including cpanel. You can login easily into your cpanel from the bluehost main page and start your web venture from scratch in there. If you are familiar with this control panel it is no different from other hosts although Bluehost does allow a more liberal scripting environment. For instance you can edit your php.ini at the account level and they also support more programming languages than other shared web hosting plans like Python and Ruby on Rails. 

Installing new scripts is no problem because their cpanel features the fantastico script installer package and it is by and large pretty up to date with the latest versions. Some of the most popular scripts in this package include wordpress, phpbb, phplist, drupal, and joomla. 

Support at Bluehost is provided via phone, email and live chat. The two I have relied on were email and live chat. With both live chat and email if you bump into a level 1 technician it may be wise if he can’t resolve your query straight away to try again and get a higher level engineer as they are usually very good. All in all Bluehost is a host that provides a very good shared hosting package at a fair price and offers good support.