Moving to a new hosting provider

I’ve moved to a new hosting provider, so if there’s any quirks over the next few days, that’s probably why. I’m also getting around to doing a UI overhaul that I’d been meaning to do for months.

Until recently, my site was hosted by iWebserv However, last December their main servers had a massive hard disk failure. During this process, the operator of iWebserv revealed that he didn’t have a fucking clue about how to handle dissatisfied customers, or even to provide good feedback – case in point, their support site still had a notice about the disk failure from 7 Dec the last time I checked it out in April.

I told myself then that I wouldn’t be renewing my contract with iWebserv, but I also wasn’t really prepared to jump ship until I’d actually used the contract up; after all, if I left with 5 months to go, then I’d just be saving the guy money. So it’s now June, my contract is due for renewal, and I’ve gone to Alternative.net instead. While still cheap, they seem to be pretty clued in, and there’s been good feedback in a few user forums (such as Whirlpool). Now I’m just hoping that getting my DNS name redirected is smooth (there was a minor problem, due to the fact that I’d bought the name through iWebserv, but Planetdomain.com helped me sort that out – now I just have to wait for the changes to propagate). If you’re reading this, then you can assume the name change got through okay. 🙂

As for the UI changes – well, as a direct result of the big disk crash, I lost my old site layout. I couldn’t get the files recovered because iWebserv’s “backup” process, well, wasn’t. I managed to dig up most of my articles from a site backup I’d done about a week before (by coincidence), but the database was hosed, and the templates were in the database (along with lots of comments, etc). So, to cut a long story short: I’ve been living with the default MT layout, and now I want a new one.

There will be some fluctuation in how the site looks for a while. I’m also explicitly not going to support older browsers; I suggest you use FireFox, but I will also make sure that the site works well with IE 6 and Safari. Readers stuck on older browsers should probably try reading the RSS feed through an aggregator instead.

Author: Robert Watkins

My name is Robert Watkins. I am a software developer and have been for over 20 years now. I currently work for people, but my opinions here are in no way endorsed by them (which is cool; their opinions aren’t endorsed by me either). My main professional interests are in Java development, using Agile methods, with a historical focus on building web based applications. I’m also a Mac-fan and love my iPhone, which I’m currently learning how to code for. I live and work in Brisbane, Australia, but I grew up in the Northern Territory, and still find Brisbane too cold (after 22 years here). I’m married, with two children and one cat. My politics are socialist in tendency, my religious affiliation is atheist (aka “none of the above”), my attitude is condescending and my moral standing is lying down. View all posts by Robert Watkins