What I've Been Up To (Warning: kind of technical)
A week or so ago, I learned that our web host was discontinuing their services. If we wanted to keep our website (stevenmaelyn.com) along with our custom email addresses, we would need to find a new host.
Now, some of you will say, "you haven't updated your website in years! Do you really need to keep it?" Well, yes. Why you ask? Because Steven has an online presence that is worth keeping. Open a new window (or tab) in your browser. Go to Google, Yahoo or Bing. Type LDS harmonica music in the search bar. Look for Steven J. Hiatt's Harmonica Music Collection. It's there! Visitors to our web site for the last few years have been looking for harmonica music, not news about our insignificant family. The only other page on our site that gets much use is my children's customized home page, which only they use.
Plus there is the fact that I like having a personalized email address. I do have a gmail account as well, but the stevenmaelyn email address is the one that I use most.
Thus began a quest. There are literally thousands of web hosting possibilities out there! I needed to find something that
1. We can afford now and in the future (several had introductory rates that renew at a much higher regular rate).
2. Gave us the flexibility to transfer our domain name
3. Allowed us a sufficient number of email addresses (at least six, eventually)
4. Had additional features such as ftp uploading, flash support, a sufficient amount of disk space and band width, little down time, some tech support
5. Wouldn't put ads on our pages.
After reading reviews and researching over 30 different web hosts, (I know that is only a fraction of all that are actually out there, but how much free time do you think I actually have? I looked at reviews for hosts that people liked, and looked up those.) I finally came up with a short list of five hosts that seemed to have the features I needed, at a cost we could afford, and then I sent that list to Steven. He looked at them and got back to me with which one he preferred of the ones I sent him. Even better, this one had a 10 day trial period, so we could see if we really liked it before we totally committed.
So, I set up an account, and uploaded Steven's harmonica pages and the kids home page to the new host. I could use my own ftp program, and it seemed easier to use than the web connect thing we had with our previous host. I figured out how to set up the email accounts. I managed to transfer our domain name to the new server. I figured out how to access email, and then set up MS Outlook to send and receive email from that account. It all appears to be up and running now. I really hope that this works out and I don't have to do this again for many, many years. The plus side to all this is that now would be an excellent time to redesign the family website!
Now, some of you will say, "you haven't updated your website in years! Do you really need to keep it?" Well, yes. Why you ask? Because Steven has an online presence that is worth keeping. Open a new window (or tab) in your browser. Go to Google, Yahoo or Bing. Type LDS harmonica music in the search bar. Look for Steven J. Hiatt's Harmonica Music Collection. It's there! Visitors to our web site for the last few years have been looking for harmonica music, not news about our insignificant family. The only other page on our site that gets much use is my children's customized home page, which only they use.
Plus there is the fact that I like having a personalized email address. I do have a gmail account as well, but the stevenmaelyn email address is the one that I use most.
Thus began a quest. There are literally thousands of web hosting possibilities out there! I needed to find something that
1. We can afford now and in the future (several had introductory rates that renew at a much higher regular rate).
2. Gave us the flexibility to transfer our domain name
3. Allowed us a sufficient number of email addresses (at least six, eventually)
4. Had additional features such as ftp uploading, flash support, a sufficient amount of disk space and band width, little down time, some tech support
5. Wouldn't put ads on our pages.
After reading reviews and researching over 30 different web hosts, (I know that is only a fraction of all that are actually out there, but how much free time do you think I actually have? I looked at reviews for hosts that people liked, and looked up those.) I finally came up with a short list of five hosts that seemed to have the features I needed, at a cost we could afford, and then I sent that list to Steven. He looked at them and got back to me with which one he preferred of the ones I sent him. Even better, this one had a 10 day trial period, so we could see if we really liked it before we totally committed.
So, I set up an account, and uploaded Steven's harmonica pages and the kids home page to the new host. I could use my own ftp program, and it seemed easier to use than the web connect thing we had with our previous host. I figured out how to set up the email accounts. I managed to transfer our domain name to the new server. I figured out how to access email, and then set up MS Outlook to send and receive email from that account. It all appears to be up and running now. I really hope that this works out and I don't have to do this again for many, many years. The plus side to all this is that now would be an excellent time to redesign the family website!
(my brother John has a hosting service... ) Cool! I need to update my site, too lol.
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