Although the following is a sponsored review, as always I strive to provide an honest opinion of the product reviewed.
One of the most complicated things to do for the first time is build a web site. Most people don’t even know what the HTML acronym stands for, much less how to turn hundreds or thousands of lines of HTML into a web site. And let’s be honest. Your first web site is usually hideous just like mine was. One way around this is to hire a website developer to create your site. An alternative for those without a huge web development budget is a site like the free website maker reviewed here.
(viewing a photo in my new site’s photo gallery)
How uCoz.com Works
The idea behind uCoz is pretty simple. They provide a web site that helps you create your own website online. From choosing a site name and design template to installing and configuring even the small details of what they call site modules, the whole process is done without the need for any real skill, an HTML book, Photoshop, or even a paid hosting account because uCoz hosts the site for free.
(one of the many configuration panels)
When you build a website, you’ll get a control panel, and this is where all the magic happens. From the control panel, you can change basic site settings, languages and wording, and add, edit, and remove pages as well as view stats on individual pages. Becoming familiar with how everything works in the control panel is the first order of business that you should attend to. This was pretty easy with help along the way, but there were a couple areas that took a little longer to comprehend. In general, most processes were easy to follow and accomplish, but there is a lot to play with.
The uCoz.com Web Top
The part that surprised me a little was the uCoz Web Top. The Web Top is a web interface that looks and acts remarkably like Windows. With everything from background configuration and even its own programs, the Web Top is your gateway to your websites. This is because they let you have more than just one free site. At first glance, the Web Top looked like a very over-done way of providing simple access to your multiple sites, but after playing, I realized that it offers a lot more than that. It has games, which I think is fun but counter-productive. More importantly, it has applications built right in. Beyond the simple Calculator and Task Manager are much more useful applications like the code development program and Pixlr, the image editor with lots of great features.
(creating images is easy with the Pixlr image editor)
I develop complex websites all day long in PHP and the tools I use the most are Photoshop for design and Zend for code editing. The offering of similar tools from within the Web Top makes this a much more viable web development and hosting platform for those with a little more skill and creativity.
Features and Modules
After you’ve created a basic web site you can add and configure a number of site sections or modules such as forums, photo galleries, a guest book, online games, a blog, polls, classified ads, and files. Each module is pretty configurable and most of them include user interaction like being able to give a photo anywhere from one to five stars. The sites also allow for user registration so that users can log in to interact. Behind the scenes, as an admin, you can block users, set up groups and permissions, and the list really does go on.
One of the cooler features I came across was the use of content tokens. A simple token I used was for an image. I uploaded an image to use with content and the system generated a token $IMAGE1$ for displaying the image. I copied that token to the spot in content where I wanted the image to appear and it showed up there. A more useful example was the widget token that was created when I generated a Twitter widget. I then just used the token in the same way I had used the image token and the Twitter feed widget appeared in the site.
Conclusions
uCoz.com looks great, but hides some really cool features behind your user login. I had no idea about Web Top until I was already using it. Other than the occasional broken image in the interface, everything was very intuitive and I had a basic site with some fun features up pretty quickly. The only area I felt needed some attention is the selection of templates. There’s a few nice templates to choose from (and you can modify any of them or make your own), but the selection is pretty slim. The non-commercial limitation is the only thing that should scare away those looking for a site on a shoe-string budget, but for a personal site, I don’t know of a better free solution. If you need a personal site, this should be your first stop.
As most of my regular readers are probably aware, JoeTech.com is hosted on a dedicated server with Codero. I’ve been with Codero since before they announced their Phoenix data center and will probably have a dedicated server there for many more years. When I learned of that data center, I was excited not only because I’d be in a local data center, but also because it reminded me that Codero is constantly working to improve on their service offerings. This week, I learned that they’ve taken another step to improve upon their customer interaction as well with a web site refresh:
The new web site refresh is just one thing that resulted from their spending the past few months meeting with customers about what they do well and what could be done better. While I liked the old site, I’ve noticed that it’s just a little easier to shop for services and get information in general with the refresh. I’ve always liked the design, and that carries through to the latest incarnation as well. In the end, though, I’m just one person, and frankly, I already have services with Codero, so I’m curious what everyone else thinks. Here’s the questions Codero is asking on their blog.
1. What do you look for on a website when evaluating a hosting partner?
2. Do you have a checklist of things that you look for, or is it more about the overall experience?
Here’s my responses:
1. For me, I look for pricing and server stats first and foremost. In addition, I’ll look for things like customer testimonials or a client list. If I knew, for example, that a well-trafficked site was hosted on the base server plan, it builds my confidence in the product.
2. I generally have a checklist. It may just be in my head, but I know what I’m looking for and sometimes will even add to my checklist when on a site that offers information I hadn’t thought of. A great example of this is Codero’s Price Match Challenge. If you ask my wife, it’s all about the experience. She wants the information to be easy to find, and if the site doesn’t work, she’s on to the competition. The is especially true for any shopping cart experience.
What about you? What do you look for from a hosting provider’s web site?
This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of broadbandgenie.co.uk. All opinions are 100% mine.
I don’t move much, but when I do, one of the important things I look at is what broadband solutions will be available to me. I need my high speed access. Just last weekend, my mom, who has lived in the same house for years, got new broadband internet access. She called me for help with figuring out what all this stuff meant and which provider to use, but what if I didn’t know?
This is where a site like Broadband Genie comes in. They offer comparisons of broadband (and other) services along with guides, news, tools, etc. Here’s what they have to say about why you might want to use their site:
* Save time and money. We spend loads of time gathering and checking all the price and package data from all the top providers, so you don’t have to.
* Be a sheep, make your life easy. If you don’t want to trawl through the comparison tables looking for that special deal, see what our experienced editors and users recommend.
* Get an education. If you want to learn all about broadband internet, how it works and how to compare it, then let us translate it all into plain-English for you. We’ve got help guides, blogs, daily news, and loads of places you can ask questions or just have a good moan.
For those in the U.S., the site won’t be much help in regards to comparing services. Non-UK readers still have plenty of reasons to visit, though, so keep reading.
Compare Broadband Providers
In the interest of the review, I pretended I was in Staffordshire and used Google to find an address where I could pretend to live. This yielded much better results from Broadband Genie, which returned a list of broadband providers in order of suggested use. The list displayed the initial setup cost, monthly cost, contract length, speed, and download caps as seen below.
I was able to sort by any of the columns I mentioned above and more information was a click away, taking me to a page loaded with information specific to the provider. The provider page included service highlights, an overview of different packages, a “road test” widget showing overall user ratings, and customer reviews. This page proved to be a pretty good snapshot of what the provider has to offer.
Compare Mobile Services and More
This site goes beyond just home/office broadband to also compare mobile phone services, pay as you go mobile broadband, and even deals that give you a laptop (with a contract for the mobile broadband). These work in the same way, providing a sortable ordered list and detail pages.
Tools and Guides
Before buying any services, it’s helpful to get educated. Broadband Genie starts with a broadband guide right on the home page to answer questions like “What is broadband?” and “What are modems, routers & dongles?”. Additional guides help you determine compatibility, understand broadband speeds, and even help guide you through setting it all up. Along with the guides, the newsletter, frequently updated News section, forums, and “Ask the Genie” form seem to make sure you’ll find the answers you’re looking for.
Once you’ve learned all about broadband speeds, you can test your own to get an idea of what your needs might be. The first time I ran the speed test, it actually crashed Firefox. When I loaded it up again, it worked great, so I can’t say if that’s a bug or my browser was just having one of its fits. I’ve since tried on another computer in Firefox, and Chrome with no crashing problems, but I’m not sure the results are reliable. They seemed much lower than I had expected, so I headed to another site that returned vastly different numbers which were very close to my expectations.
Conclusions
The speed test didn’t impress me at all, but it was a small bump in a very smooth and freshly paved road to broadband knowledge. Broadband Genie had what I expected. Then it had more and more and even more. I still feel like I left some stones unturned on this site and can only imagine other features I’ve missed. It really only needs two things to be perfect, a U.S. sister site and maybe a better speed test (assuming it’s actually inaccurate).
Also, for those in Australia, Broadband Genie has an Australian site too, which also compares mobile broadband and broadband deals.
