Rant Mode on..
“Google it” is probably one of the most used phrases in daily use today, when the results are displayed and you click a link to go to a web page, you probably don’t realise what it’s taken to put that page on the Internet. I remember making my first web page in 1995, it was made using Netscape, one of the first popular web browsers, I didn’t own a domain name at the time and I uploaded it to a free account at Force9 (now Plusnet),
In late 1999, I bought my first domain name, www.foxvideo.co.uk, I produced several versions of a website using different WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) authoring packages over the years, Microsoft had Front Page, Adobe had DreamWeaver which they bought from Macromedia and over the following years, as website authoring became easier, many different software (and online) packages became available.
In 2011 there was an offer for a web authoring software package called Rapidweaver 4 by RealMac, this usually occurs when a new version is due to be released and the software company hopes you’ll use the free version, like it and then buy the new version.
I did get on with the program and I bought the new version along with some extras included in a package deal price. I’ve since produced websites using RapidWeaver for around 12 other people or organisations, and I still continue to update and service some of those websites.
Producing a website is a bit like using desktop publishing software, you have an initial idea for the layout and then you start to populate the ‘page’ with text and images, when you’re happy with the way it looks and works along with any links you’ve made, the site gets uploaded to a server where you’ve bought hosting. You then use a variety of online tools to get your website ‘indexed’ by the major search engines and, hopefully people will start to visit the site.
In 2011 this was a reasonably easy process, screen sizes (and resolutions) were limited, there were really only 2 popular computer systems, PC’s with Windows and Apple Mac’s, with only a handful of website browsers available, so the toils of your authoring would (usually!) look good when you uploaded and tested the website.
Come forward a few years and Smartphones, then tablets were the new thing, websites now had to be authored so they worked (and looked good) on a small phone screen or on a tablet, websites also had to be ‘secure’ using HTTPS (the little green padlock in your browser address bar), HD video needed to work within the web page, any downloads on the page had to work across operating systems and devices, the list goes on....
So, where am I going with all this? In my Inbox this morning, was an email from www.one.com, my hosting company, to renew hosting for one of the charity web sites I originally produced and still support with ongoing website updates www.globalpassion.uk. Last year this was £62.00, the renewal for the coming year has gone up to £84.00, a 37% increase with no obvious additional benefits or features for me to justify the increased cost to the Charity.
Two years ago, the same thing happened, one.com drastically increased the hosting charge for my own Foxvideo site, so I moved it to HostingUK and halved my costs. Based on the email from One.com this morning, I’m now moving GlobalPassion to HostingUK at a cost of £68.00 for TWO years and I’ll look to move any remaining sites with One.com to HostingUK as soon as they come up for renewal - Rant mode off!
UPDATE:
After contacting one.com, I received a reply offering a new renewal increase of 7.7% - £62 to £67 instead, (why didn't they do that in the first place?)…… I declined!
(Disclaimer - Yes, HostingUK have a referral/affiliate program - I am NOT part of it and I receive NO remuneration of any kind from them)
In 2011 there was an offer for a web authoring software package called Rapidweaver 4 by RealMac, this usually occurs when a new version is due to be released and the software company hopes you’ll use the free version, like it and then buy the new version.
I did get on with the program and I bought the new version along with some extras included in a package deal price. I’ve since produced websites using RapidWeaver for around 12 other people or organisations, and I still continue to update and service some of those websites.
Producing a website is a bit like using desktop publishing software, you have an initial idea for the layout and then you start to populate the ‘page’ with text and images, when you’re happy with the way it looks and works along with any links you’ve made, the site gets uploaded to a server where you’ve bought hosting. You then use a variety of online tools to get your website ‘indexed’ by the major search engines and, hopefully people will start to visit the site.
In 2011 this was a reasonably easy process, screen sizes (and resolutions) were limited, there were really only 2 popular computer systems, PC’s with Windows and Apple Mac’s, with only a handful of website browsers available, so the toils of your authoring would (usually!) look good when you uploaded and tested the website.
Come forward a few years and Smartphones, then tablets were the new thing, websites now had to be authored so they worked (and looked good) on a small phone screen or on a tablet, websites also had to be ‘secure’ using HTTPS (the little green padlock in your browser address bar), HD video needed to work within the web page, any downloads on the page had to work across operating systems and devices, the list goes on....
So, where am I going with all this? In my Inbox this morning, was an email from www.one.com, my hosting company, to renew hosting for one of the charity web sites I originally produced and still support with ongoing website updates www.globalpassion.uk. Last year this was £62.00, the renewal for the coming year has gone up to £84.00, a 37% increase with no obvious additional benefits or features for me to justify the increased cost to the Charity.
Two years ago, the same thing happened, one.com drastically increased the hosting charge for my own Foxvideo site, so I moved it to HostingUK and halved my costs. Based on the email from One.com this morning, I’m now moving GlobalPassion to HostingUK at a cost of £68.00 for TWO years and I’ll look to move any remaining sites with One.com to HostingUK as soon as they come up for renewal - Rant mode off!
UPDATE:
After contacting one.com, I received a reply offering a new renewal increase of 7.7% - £62 to £67 instead, (why didn't they do that in the first place?)…… I declined!
(Disclaimer - Yes, HostingUK have a referral/affiliate program - I am NOT part of it and I receive NO remuneration of any kind from them)
