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You can spend months building an amazing website only to let yourself down at the last stage with inadequate optimization or hosting.

Average page weight has reached 2,300KB and increases around 15% every year. The rise of projects such as Google Accelerated Mobile Pages, Facebook Instant Articles and ad-blockers highlight user frustration with the web we've created. Obese pages:

are slower to load and render

struggle on mobile networks and may cost users money

are less responsive on slower devices and smartphones

will affect your search engine rankings

are more difficult to update and maintain.

Few developers bother to optimize their sites so why should you?

The reason: there's no downside. Your search engine rankings improve. Your users benefit from a slicker experience. Your conversions increase. Your hosting charges drop. Unlike real life, the most drastic weight loss can be achieved with minimal effort…

Site Analysis Tools

Assess the scale of any problems before making changes. Several free tools are available which report the number of requests, file sizes and server response speed. Some provide improvement suggestions.

Alternatively, use the Network or Profiling tools in your browser's development tools to assess your site. Make a copy of the statistics so you can compare improvements later.

The following sections provide optimization suggestions starting with the easiest changes.

Find a Suitable Web Host

Your site may have taken considerable time and money to create. Should you really host it on a $5 per month service?

Take time to assess whether you need space on a shared server, your own private server or a cloud-based virtual server. Read hosting reviews at sites such as Hosting Facts and seek advice from others with similar requirements. At this moment, they're suggesting to use A2 Hosting or A Small Orange.

Use a Content Delivery Network (CDN)

Browsers limit HTTP requests to between four and eight simultaneous connections per domain. Loading 40 page assets at once is not possible – files are queued on each request thread.

In addition, your users may be located in a different geographical location to your server. A user in France would see a faster response from a UK-based server than similar hardware in Australia.

A CDN increases download speeds by distributing web site assets to other servers. Those machines can be physically closer to the user and run from different domains which more than doubles HTTP request limits.

CDNs have become simpler to use and many automatically handle assets once you've configured DNS settings. Popular options include:

Enable GZIP Compression

Around a third of websites do not enable Gzip compression yet it can drastically reduce the amount of data sent to the browser. Gzip compression is often set by your web host on the server – contact them for further advice.

Enable Caching

Caching ensures a browser downloads asset files once. The local version is retained until your website instructs it to fetch an update. The first page load won't be faster but subsequent page loads will be considerably improved.

There are plugins for Content Management Systems such as WordPress which make caching simple, e.g. W3 Total Cache or WP Super Cache.

Other systems can adopt technologies such as Expires, Last-Modified, Keep-Alive or Etag in the HTTP header. Your host may provide configuration options or you can define your own. For example, an Apache .htaccess setting to cache all images for one month:

<IfModule mod_expires.c> ExpiresActive On <FilesMatch "\.(jpg|jpeg|png|gif|svg)$"> ExpiresDefault "access plus 1 month" </FilesMatch> </IfModule> Optimize Your Media

Images account for more than 60% of page weight. The average page requests 55 separate images at 1,457KB, 126KB of fonts, 400KB of video and 45KB of Flash. This seems slightly preposterous given the current trend for simplistic, plain-colored flat-designs!

The first step: remove unnecessary assets. Do you need that background video, hero image, italic font or 300 icons few will ever see? Can you use a subset of a font? Could you replace some images with CSS3 effects such as gradients or borders?

Presuming an image is required, ensure you use the most efficient format. In general:

SVG is suitable for line diagrams

Web fonts may be an option for single-color icons

PNG or perhaps GIF is best for smaller images with clear color definitions such as icons, buttons and screenshots

JPG is best for photographs or anything where fine detail is less important.

If in doubt, experiment with different types until you find the best compromise between quality and file size.

Large images should be resized to reduce the resolution. An entry-level smartphone camera produces high-resolution photographs of several megabytes but you rarely need an image greater than 2,000 pixels wide for the best of today's screens.

Next: ensure your images are the optimal size. Few graphics packages remove all possible data and most will retain unnecessary colors or EXIF meta data such as dates, locations and camera settings. One-off compression tasks can be achieved using online tools such as TinyPNG/JPE or smush.it. Installable processing tools such as OptiPNG, PNGOUT, jpegtran and jpegoptim can bulk-compress images. You can introduce compression systems such as imagemin into your build process or CMS users have options such as WP Smush which automatically compress uploaded files.

Smaller images can be combined into a single image sprite to reduce the number of HTTP requests. This has less of an advantage in HTTP/2 but icons used on every page can still benefit from being combined.

Finally, consider Base64-encoded inline data URIs for smaller, regularly-used images, e.g.

.bullet { background-image: url("data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAABAAAAAQAQMAAAAlPW0iAAAABlBMVEUAAAD///+l2Z/dAAAAM0lEQVR4nGP4/5/h/1+G/58ZDrAz3D/McH8yw83NDDeNGe4Ug9C9zwz3gVLMDA/A6P9/AFGGFyjOXZtQAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC"); }

This reduces the number of requests although maintenance can be more difficult. Online tools such as DataURL.net and data:URI Generator are fine for one-off conversions. There may also be encoder plugins for your editor/IDE but the easiest solution is PostCSS Assets – a PostCSS plugin – which magically converts any image, e.g.

.inline { background-image: inline('image.png'); } Concatenate and Minify CSS and JavaScript

The average page loads 360KB of JavaScript distributed over 22 separate files and 76KB of CSS in 8 stylesheets. Some of these may be provided by third-party social media or advertising widgets but your own files can be:

Concatenated to join all code into a single file to reduce HTTP requests, and

Minified to remove unnecessary comments and whitespace. More extreme tools can rename variables and functions to shorter alternatives, e.g. launchWidget() becomes w().

For a simpler graphical interface, a tool such as Koala provides CSS and JavaScript compression options.

Pre-processors such as Sass, LESS and Stylus or build tools including cssnano for PostCSS can optimize CSS whenever you make a change.

JavaScript can be a little more difficult since source order will be critical. You could consider a system such as Browserify to bundle dependencies. I often use a simpler Gulp plugins including:

gulp-deporder to control dependencies. An optional comment at the top of each source file determines a suitable order, e.g. // requires: config.js, lib.js

gulp-concat to concatenate to a single file

gulp-strip-debug to remove console and debugger statements

gulp-uglify to minify.

HTTP/2 may make some of these techniques redundant if you use different CSS and JavaScript assets on each page but it should still be considered for files which change less frequently.

Remove Unnecessary Code

It is easier to add bulk than remove it but I suspect you could remove half the code from most sites without making a noticeable difference. The main culprits:

CMS Themes and Templates

Most themes are generic to appeal to a wide range of users. You may only use a fraction of the features so check whether a more lightweight alternative is available.

CMS Plugins

Avoid using plugins unless it's absolutely necessary. In general, front-end plugins such as carousels or widgets are the worst offenders since they often contain separate sets of CSS and JavaScript.

CSS Frameworks

Frameworks such as Bootstrap contains a range of styles – most of which you'll never use. Tools such as UnCSS can analyze your pages and identify unnecessary rules.

JavaScript Frameworks

Avoid using more than one framework and consider smaller or modular options where possible. You may be able to dump your framework altogether.

JavaScript Effects

Simple effects such as sliding and fading out can be implemented using lightweight CSS3 animations and transformations rather than less efficient JavaScript.

Social Media Widgets

That innocuous like button can carry half a megabyte of hidden code. They are rarely necessary – link is all you require.

Advertising

If you sign up to 57 advertising networks, each will provide their own chunk of code which slows your site. Assess your revenues and drop less profitable widgets.

Further Optimizations

The options above will make a noticeable difference to your website speed without time-consuming changes. Re-run your pages through the tools above to verify the savings and check whether usage and conversions have increased.

For more radical optimizations…

Adopt a Build Process

The most conscientious developer will forget to compress an image or concatenate CSS when it's a manual task. A build process can automate tedious tasks on the fly; it's easy to minify JavaScript when it's done for you whenever you make a change.

The two most popular options are Gulp and Grunt but there are solutions for most languages and systems. The initial set-up will take a little time but your improved workflow will save hours of effort later.

Simplify Your Design

Many modern websites and applications eschew complexity to provide a streamlined, customer-focused experience. Simplification can be difficult and it's often easier to start the project again. Question all feature requests or demand that a feature is removed for every one you add.

Consider a Static Site

A CMS is overkill for the majority of websites. Few receive more than a couple of updates a week yet a CMS remains running in the background churning out page content which rarely changes. An alternative is a static site generator. These offer many CMS benefits such as templates but generate a series of flat HTML files with better performance, security and reliability.

Change Your Development Lifestyle

There's little excuse for 2.3MB pages when content rarely exceeds several hundred words. It's easy to neglect performance when you're rapidly developing a site for minimal cost. But what is the point when the result is a slow, clunky product no one wants to use?

Plan performance from the start. Your clients may not appreciate the benefits immediately but the long-term rewards of higher rankings and improved engagement will help your project stand out. Consider:

limiting your connectivity. Access your site in an area with poor mobile coverage or on a crowded public network. Your frustration could be experienced by thousands of users every day.

assessing weight in every project and question every asset added to the page.

Web page obesity is an epidemic but it's evident few developers care. Create slimline pages to learn valuable skills which help you retain and gain new clients.Further reading:

Source: How to Improve Page Performance and Make the Most of Your Hosting

  May 31, 2016 --

New York, NY (PRWEB) May 31, 2016

Cloud Equity Group, a private equity investment firm specializing in the opportunistic web hosting arena, has completed five significant transactions, the firm announced today. The five transactions are: Beachcomber, Jiffynet, ServerRhino, Webolocity, and NetLink.

These five brands date back as far as 2003 and provide cPanel-based web hosting services to different types of end-users. In addition to providing shared hosting services as their core offerings, each of the companies offers different addon services to clients including virtual private servers, dedicated servers, domain names, and SSL certificates.

?We continue to see areas of promise in the current web hosting market and we believe these five transactions offer unique opportunities for Cloud Equity Group to add value and generate superior returns for our investors," said Sean Frank, Managing Partner at Cloud Equity Group. ?We are confident that bringing these new assets into our existing portfolio will allow us to continue building our scale. These acquisitions help bring critical mass to these markets, enhancing our global presence. Applying our operational processes to these assets and enhancing the customer experience will be the key to our success. We continue to identify potential acquisitions in our existing markets, while evaluating opportunities in new ones."

About Cloud Equity GroupCloud Equity Group is a strategically positioned investment management firm capitalizing on the rapidly expanding industries of web hosting and cloud-based infrastructure. The company's primary focus is leveraging investor capital in the acquisition of private lower middle market companies that possess high levels of unlevered free cash flow and/or significant opportunity for exponential growth.

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2016/06/prweb13451065.htm.

Related Keywords:

Source:PRWEB.COM Newswire. All Rights Reserved

Source: Cloud Equity Group Announces Five Hosting Provider Acquisitions

The event will be held at the Holston River Brewing Company, which is located at 2623 Volunteer Parkway. It kicks off at 5 p.m. and will include music, food, door prizes and more.

"Everybody come out and have a good time," said Donna Davidson, operations manager for SBK. "People can bring their dogs out. It's a pet-friendly event."

All proceeds will go toward the formation of a new shelter. The two current shelters are inadequate and efforts are currently underway to bring a consolidated shelter to the area.

Tickets for the event are $20 and will include two concerts, a T-shirt, Mardi Gras beads and entry in a raffle for prizes including a free trip to Destin, Florida, or Hilton Head Island in South Carolina.

Davidson said SBK staff members are working hard on raising funds for a new shelter and more events are planned for the future.

Anyone wishing to purchase tickets can do so at both the Kingsport Animal Shelter and the Blountville Animal Shelter or through the SBK website at www.sbkanimals.org.

Source: SBK hosting Mardi Growl fundraiser in June

HostForLIFE.eu, a leading web hosting provider, has leveraged its gold partner status with Microsoft to launch its latest Moodle 3.0.4 Hosting support.

London, United Kingdom, May 29, 2016 --(PR.com)-- HostForLIFE.eu, a leading Windows web hosting provider with innovative technology solutions and a dedicated professional services team, today announced the support for Moodle 3.0.4 Hosting plan due to high demand of Moodle users in Europe. The company has managed to build a strong client base in a very short period of time. It is known for offering ultra-fast, fully-managed and secured services in the competitive market.

HostForLIFE.eu hosts its servers in top class data centers that is located in Amsterdam (NL), London (UK), Paris (FR), Frankfurt (DE) and Seattle (US) to guarantee 99.9% network uptime. All data center feature redundancies in network connectivity, power, HVAC, security and fire suppression. All hosting plans from HostForLIFE.eu include 24×7 support and 30 days money back guarantee. HostForLIFE.eu Moodle 3.0.4 Hosting plan starts from just as low as €3.00/month only and this plan has supported ASP.NET 4.6, ASP.NET MVC 5/6 and SQL Server 2012/2014.

Moodle 3.0.4 is a learning platform designed to provide educators, administrators and learners with a single robust, secure and integrated system to create personalised learning environments. In this version, Assignment activity: Logging in as another user should not change the field "Last modified (submission)", Performance improvement in backups with logs, Database activity: "Save and add another" button should not pre-populate the form with data from previous entry, etc.

According to HostForLIFE.eu clients support team staff, they saying that the Moodle 3.0.4 brings a lot of exciting new features for teachers, students and administrators. Moodle 3.0.4 has released and now available in HostForLIFE.eu. Moodle 3.0.4 is an Open Source Course Management System (CMS), also known as a Learning Management System (LMS) or a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE), Open Source software package designed using sound pedagogical principles, to help ed ucators create effective online learning communities.

HostForLIFE's servers are optimized for PHP web applications such as Moodle 3.0.4 performance and the uptime of the hosting service are excellent and the features of the web hosting plan are even greater than what many hosting providers ask you to pay for. Further information and the full range of features Moodle 3.0.4 Hosting can be viewed here: http://hostforlife.eu/European-Moodle-304-Hosting

About HostForLIFE.eu

HostForLIFE.eu is an European Windows Hosting Provider which focuses on the Windows Platform only. HostForLIFE.eu deliver on-demand hosting solutions including Shared hosting, Reseller Hosting, Cloud Hosting, Dedicated Servers, and IT as a Service for companies of all sizes.

HostForLIFE.eu is awarded Top No. #1 SPOTLIGHT Recommended Hosting Partner by Microsoft (see http://hosting.asp.net/hosting/hostingprovider/details/953). Their service is ranked the highest top #1 spot in several European c ountries, such as: Germany, Italy, Netherlands, France, Belgium, United Kingdom, Sweden, Finland, Switzerland and other European countries. Besides this award, they have also won several awards from reputable organizations in the hosting industry and the detail can be found on their official website.

Source: HostForLIFE.eu Launches Moodle 3.0.4 Hosting

I'm sorry if this question sounds stupid, but I'm a recent graduate with a CSE degree & I'm thinking of making myself a portfolio that visitors can have a look at to find all the work I have done.I was thinking of making my portfolio initially on a free hosting site like Hostinger.in and then giving it a proper domain like ".com" or ".in" once I started getting recognized in my field.But someone told me it wouldn't look professional to have some "myname.xyz.en" as my portfolio website even as a fresher & that future employers might not even visit the site just seeing the name. Is that true?Do I really have to shell out 3K & get myself a ".com" or ".in" just to get noticed?

Thank You for your time!!

Source: Is it professional to make a portfolio on a free hosting site?

HostForLIFE.eu, a leading web hosting provider, has leveraged its gold partner status with Microsoft to launch its latest Moodle 3.0.4 Hosting support.

London, United Kingdom, May 29, 2016 --(PR.com)-- HostForLIFE.eu, a leading Windows web hosting provider with innovative technology solutions and a dedicated professional services team, today announced the support for Moodle 3.0.4 Hosting plan due to high demand of Moodle users in Europe. The company has managed to build a strong client base in a very short period of time. It is known for offering ultra-fast, fully-managed and secured services in the competitive market.

HostForLIFE.eu hosts its servers in top class data centers that is located in Amsterdam (NL), London (UK), Paris (FR), Frankfurt (DE) and Seattle (US) to guarantee 99.9% network uptime. All data center feature redundancies in network connectivity, power, HVAC, security and fire suppression. All hosting plans from HostForLIFE.eu include 24×7 support and 30 days money back guarantee. HostForLIFE.eu Moodle 3.0.4 Hosting plan starts from just as low as €3.00/month only and this plan has supported ASP.NET 4.6, ASP.NET MVC 5/6 and SQL Server 2012/2014.

Moodle 3.0.4 is a learning platform designed to provide educators, administrators and learners with a single robust, secure and integrated system to create personalised learning environments. In this version, Assignment activity: Logging in as another user should not change the field "Last modified (submission)", Performance improvement in backups with logs, Database activity: "Save and add another" button should not pre-populate the form with data from previous entry, etc.

According to HostForLIFE.eu clients support team staff, they saying that the Moodle 3.0.4 brings a lot of exciting new features for teachers, students and administrators. Moodle 3.0.4 has released and now available in HostForLIFE.eu. Moodle 3.0.4 is an Open Source Course Management System (CMS), also known as a Learning Management System (LMS) or a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE), Open Source software package designed using sound pedagogical principles, to help educators create effective online learning communities.

HostForLIFE's servers are optimized for PHP web applications such as Moodle 3.0.4 performance and the uptime of the hosting service are excellent and the features of the web hosting plan are even greater than what many hosting providers ask you to pay for. Further information and the full range of features Moodle 3.0.4 Hosting can be viewed here: http://hostforlife.eu/European-Moodle-304-Hosting

About HostForLIFE.eu

HostForLIFE.eu is an European Windows Hosting Provider which focuses on the Windows Platform only. HostForLIFE.eu deliver on-demand hosting solutions including Shared hosting, Reseller Hosting, Cloud Hosting, Dedicated Servers, and IT as a Service for companies of all sizes.

HostForLIFE.eu is awarded Top No. #1 SPOTLIGHT Recommended Hosting Partner by Microsoft (see http://hosting.asp.net/hosting/hostingprovider/details/953). Their service is ranked the highest top #1 spot in several Eur opean countries, such as: Germany, Italy, Netherlands, France, Belgium, United Kingdom, Sweden, Finland, Switzerland and other European countries. Besides this award, they have also won several awards from reputable organizations in the hosting industry and the detail can be found on their official website.

Contact Information:HostForLIFE.euBen Watson+441971332557Contact via Emailhttp://www.hostforlife.eu

Read the full story here: http://www.pr.com/press-release/673162

Press Release Distributed by PR.com

Copyright © 2016 PR.com and its licensors , source US Press Releases

Source: Microsoft : HostForLIFE.eu Launches Moodle 3.0.4 Hosting

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Pioneer Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Host Hotels and Resorts Inc (NYSE:HST) by 5.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 238,340 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 11,340 shares during the period. Pioneer Investment Management Inc.'s holdings in Host Hotels and Resorts were worth $3,656,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Nisa Investment Advisors boosted its stake in shares of Host Hotels and Resorts by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors now owns 189,109 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,901,000 after buying an additional 864 shares during the period. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Host Hotels and Resorts by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 266,989 shares of the company's stock worth $4,209,000 after buying an additional 1,803 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its stake in Host Hotels and Resorts by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 157,893 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,422,000 after buying an additional 1,872 shares during the last quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund raised its stake in Host Hotels and Resorts by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 112,998 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,733,000 after buying an additional 2,100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Farmers Trust Co. raised its stake in Host Hotels and Resorts by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Farmers Trust Co. now owns 208,466 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,198,000 after buying an additional 2,104 shares during the last quarter.

Shares of Host Hotels and Resorts Inc (NYSE:HST) traded up 0.66% during trading on Friday, reaching $15.30. 4,546,596 shares of the company were exchanged. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $15.67 and a 200 day moving average of $15.53. Host Hotels and Resorts Inc has a 52-week low of $12.17 and a 52-week high of $21.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.43 billion and a P/E ratio of 18.00.

Host Hotels and Resorts (NYSE:HST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 29th. The company reported $0.41 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the Thomson Reuters' consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.03. The company earned $1.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.35 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.35 earnings per share. Host Hotels and Resorts's revenue for the quarter was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Host Hotels and Resorts Inc will post $1.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. Raymond James upgraded shares of Host Hotels and Resorts from an "underperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 18th. Canaccord Genuity reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of Host Hotels and Resorts in a research note on Saturday, April 30th. TheStreet upgraded shares of Host Hotels and Resorts from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 31st. Stifel Nicolaus assumed coverage on shares of Host Hotels and Resorts in a research note on Tuesday, March 29th. They set a "buy" rating and a $19.00 target price for the company. Finally, Credit Suisse reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $16.00 target price (up previously from $15.00) on shares of Host Hotels and Resorts in a research note on Wednesday, March 23rd. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Host Hotels and Resorts has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $18.47.

In other news, SVP Brian G. Macnamara sold 5,000 shares of Host Hotels and Resorts stock in a transaction on Monday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.86, for a total value of $84,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 65,172 shares in the company, valued at $1,098,799.92. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc (Host Inc) operates as a self-managed and self-administered real estate investment trust (REIT). Host Inc owns properties and conducts operations through Host Hotels & Resorts, L.P. (Host L.P.) of which Host Inc is the sole general partner and in which it holds approximately 99% of the partnership interests (OP units) as of December 31, 2014.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding HST? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Host Hotels and Resorts Inc (NYSE:HST).

Receive News & Ratings for Host Hotels and Resorts Inc Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Host Hotels and Resorts Inc and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter.

Source: Host Hotels and Resorts Inc (HST) Position Increased by Pioneer Investment Management Inc.

Google is taking long strides forward in enabling virtual reality (VR) for the widest audience possible, and the latest effort includes enabling developers of non-VR apps to be able to include VR and 360-degree content. VRFocus maps out the information needed to embed VR view to ensure a speedy and simple process as outline by Google.

Why Embed VR View, and How?

VR view is a way to take VR or 360 experiences and embedding them in a way that those without VR can use and see, such as using a phone to tilt and see different angles, or clicking and dragging while using a computer so compensate for the head-mounted display (HMD).

The process to get this capability is relatively straight forward as long as there is the right support, specifications, media to capture and host, and correct embedding procedure. For Google's own example of this, check out the image below.

Which Platforms Are Supported?

All modern versions of Chrome, Safari, Firefox, and Internet Explorer 11 support and are compatible across iOS, Windows, Android, OSX, and Linux, respective to what the operating systems can handle themselves. For mobile devices, there is a need for iOS 8 and higher, or alternatively Android 4.4, Kit Kat, and higher.

What Are the Image and Video Specs?

Mono and Stereo 360 images and videos are supported, which both need to be stored in equirectangular-panoramic (equirect-pano) – a common format where multiple imaged stitched and mapped out in a panoramic view, and is widely supported.

For images: it is recommended that they are saved at jpeg files, but can also be stored as png or gif. Mono images should be at a 2:1 aspect ratio, and stereo at a 1:1.

Tip: dimensions should be either 2048 or 4096. So for example, mono is 4096 x 2048, and stereo is 4096 x 4096.

For video: it is recommended that they are saved as MP4, and encoded with h264 to ensure HD format. Mono and stereo should follow the same rules as image with aspect ratio, and it is recommended that for optimal compatibility mono should be 1920×1080 and stereo 2048×2048.

Tip: Most video editing programs should have the option for h264 when exporting the video.

Capturing and Hosting Media

VR view is user-friendly for developers, and is therefore intentionally independent as to let users choose what suits their needs, depending on if they want real world capture or CG capture, and what type of hosting they prefer.

Real World Capture: VR view can use images taken by any camera that supports equirect-pano. Google has suggested two solutions for users wanting to get started quickly and without hassle, which are the Cardboard Camera App, and Ricoh Theta.

CG Capture: this can be more tricky than real world capture, and so there are a range of different popular programs and solutions listed by Google: 360 Panorama Capture for Unity, Unreal, Domemaster3D for Maya, Renderman, and Rendering Omnidirectional Stereo Content.

In terms of hosting, Google recognises that most developers would most likely choose to host their VR view media on a web server through HTTP/HTTPS, for both Web and Native (mobile devices), and so if a URL can be provided, VR view can adapt. For native users, you can also use media packed with your app, which is ideal if you want to make sure users can access the media without internet connection.

VR View For the Web

Here comes the real technical section of the guide, but it is also the most important.

To embed a photosphere (what you created above) on your website you need to include an iframe that links to the VR view source and specifies which image or video to show.

Here is an example given by Google that was featured at the beginning of the guide:

<iframe width="100%" height="300px" allowfullscreen frameborder="0″ src="//storage.googleapis.com/vrview/index.html?image=//storage.googleapis.com/vrview/examples/coral.jpg&is_stereo=true"></iframe>

If there are a few points that you are not familiar with, here are some pointers for terms:

width="100%" = full-width frame

height="300px" = set height of frame

allowfullscreen = possibility to go into fullscreen mode

frameborder="0″ = no border around the frame

Tip: images and videos accessed this way must be available via cross-origin resource sharing (CORS), allowing specific data or media to be shared across many domains.

For CGI parameters determine what is presented and how it is displayed. Here are the main points to pay attention to when controlling these parameters:

image or video = {String} URL of image or video to load. (required)

is_stereo = {Boolean} true if content is in stacked stereo format. (optional, default false)

preview = {String} URL of still preview to load first. (optional, default none)

start_yaw = {Number} Initial yaw of viewer, in degrees. (optional, default 0)

is_yaw_only = {Boolean} true if motion is restricted to yaw only. (optional, default false)

Tip: Self-hosting is recommended to avoid several known issues: 360 videos not working on iOS due to forcing full screen playback of videos in browser; 360 images and videos on iOS Safari having incorrect orientation on different servers; images that are not power-of-two and square not displayed correctly in Chrome and Safari iOS 8.

With these steps you will have successfully embedded your own VR view image or video for web.

This article may contain links to online retail stores. If you click on one and buy the product we may receive a small commission. For more information, go here.

Source: Guide to Embedding VR View on Web Including Support, Specs & Hosting

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:) and Salesforce.com, Inc. (NYSE:) have strengthened their ties with a deal per which the latter will move a host of its services to Amazon Web Services (AWS). Salesforce will now use AWS across all of its core products, namely, Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, and App Cloud for parts of its international services.

Other Salesforce services which already run on AWS infrastructure are Heroku, Marketing Cloud Social Studio, SalesforceIQ, and the recently announced Salesforce IoTCloud.

Salesforce is the latest to join the long list of AWS users that include big names like Netflix (NASDAQ:), Expedia (NASDAQ:) and Adobe Systems (NASDAQ:).

Until now, Salesforce runs the majority of its workload in its own data centers, except for its app development platform Heroku and parts of its new Internet of Things Cloud service. With this move, it is clear that Salesforce is planning a shift from data centers to cloud, at least partially. The deal will help Salesforce to successfully expand international infrastructure.

The Win Deal

This is a big win for Amazon, which also recently helped Netflix move to cloud. While Amazon remains the largest online retailer with significant growth prospects, all the excitement in recent times has been about AWS.

Amazon's cloud infrastructure business, while making a single-digit contribution to revenues, generates nearly half its profit. Note that Salesforce's flagship CRM offering competes with Microsoft's Dynamics CRM. Microsoft ranks second in the IaaS segment, so Amazon (the market leader) is the best company that Salesforce could have gone to.

Cloud Opportunities

Cloud technology is being increasingly adopted by businesses to innovate and drive growth. Gartner predicts that around $677.0 billion may be spent on cloud services between 2013 and 2016.

Further, according to Centaur Partners, SaaS and cloud-based business applications are likely to grow from $13.5 billion in 2013 to $32.8 billion in 2016, reflecting a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 19.5%. Moreover, Computerworld forecasts that 42% of IT decision makers are planning to increase spending on cloud computing in 2015.

Amazon, with its solid portfolio and growing partnerships, should be able to tap this opportunity.

Bottom Line

Seattle, WA-based Amazon.com, Inc. is one of the largest online retailers, with extensive operations in North America and expanding operations across the globe. The e-commerce giant has emerged as a key player in the cloud computing space with its AWS, well ahead of Microsoft (NASDAQ:) and Alphabet (NASDAQ:) .

Revenues from the AWS segment have been growing strongly. In the recently reported first quarter of 2016, AWS revenues were $2.57 billion, taking the revenue runrate to over $10.2 billion. Even more encouraging is the fact that AWS generates much stronger margins than the traditional retail business, wh ich should help the company's profitability, going forward.

Currently, Amazon has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

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Source: Amazon Web Services To Host All Core Salesforce Products

Shares of Rackspace Hosting, Inc. (NYSE:RAX) have earned an average recommendation of "Hold" from the twenty-seven brokerages that are covering the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $27.37.

A number of research analysts have recently commented on RAX shares. Vetr cut Rackspace Hosting from a "sell" rating to a "strong sell" rating and set a $20.76 target price for the company. in a research note on Thursday, March 3rd. Goldman Sachs lowered their price objective on Rackspace Hosting from $27.00 to $24.00 in a research note on Monday, February 1st. Zacks Investment Research upgraded Rackspace Hosting from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Sunday, February 14th. Credit Agricole cut Rackspace Hosting from an "underperform" rating to a "sell" rating and set a $17.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Thursday, March 31st. Finally, Oppenheimer lowered their price objective on Rackspace Hosting from $43.00 to $30.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 17th.

Shares of Rackspace Hosting (NYSE:RAX) opened at 24.91 on Monday. Rackspace Hosting has a 52 week low of $15.05 and a 52 week high of $42.81. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $23.60 and a 200-day moving average price of $23.01. The company has a market capitalization of $3.13 billion and a PE ratio of 23.17.

Rackspace Hosting (NYSE:RAX) last released its earnings results on Monday, May 9th. The hosting company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, beating the Zacks' consensus estimate of $0.22 by $0.12. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.20 EPS. The firm earned $518 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $519.08 million. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Rackspace Hosting will post $1.09 EPS for the current year.

Several institutional investors have made changes to their positions in RAX. Janus Capital Management increased its position in shares of Rackspace Hosting by 1.6% in the third quarter. Janus Capital Management now owns 825,700 shares of the hosting company's stock valued at $20,378,000 after buying an additional 12,732 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in shares of Rackspace Hosting by 3,799.7% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 123,700 shares of the hosting company's stock valued at $3,132,000 after buying an additional 120,528 shares during the last quarter. Russell Frank Co increased its position in shares of Rackspace Hosting by 500.6% in the fourth quarter. Russell Frank Co now owns 597,020 shares of the hosting company's stock valued at $15,070,000 after buying an additional 497,608 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Acadian Asset Management increased its position in shares o f Rackspace Hosting by 3,208,917.7% in the fourth quarter. Acadian Asset Management now owns 1,989,591 shares of the hosting company's stock valued at $50,375,000 after buying an additional 1,989,529 shares during the last quarter.

Rackspace Hosting, Inc (Rackspace) operates in the managed cloud segment of the business information technology (IT) market. The Company offers a portfolio of integrated IT solutions for common business needs, including for e-commerce, Web content management, Website hosting, data services, office mail and collaboration, and private clouds.

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Source: Rackspace Hosting, Inc. (NYSE:RAX) Receives $27.37 Consensus Target Price from Brokerages

WordPress, one of the world's most popular content management systems, is the backbone for thousands of websites, both small and large. When a person or business decides to go the WordPress route, either a traditional installation or managed WordPress Web hosting, two factors must be considered: the website's appearance and its functionality. After all, who doesn't want an attractive, easy-to-navigate online presence? Fortunately, one of the simplest ways to tailor the WordPress experience to your liking is to install a WordPress theme.

WordPress Themes DefinedA WordPress theme is a set of files that create a graphical user interface (GUI) for WordPress-powered websites. The GUI doesn't alter the underlying software, so you can swap themes with relative ease, should you wish to give your site a visual refresh or add new functionality. WordPress.org hosts many free themes that were inspected for quality.

Yes, free themes. WordPress themes come in no-cost and premium varieties, with each type possessing pros and cons. Free WordPress themes are, well, free, but they typically come with sponsored links, limited customer service support (or none at all!), and very few security updates.

Premium WordPress themes, on the other hand, require a monetary exchange, but you'll typically receive a link-free installation, strong customer support, and frequent security updates. You should also expect updates to keep the theme current with the latest modifications to the WordPress software itself (which happen frequently). You can expect to pay a one-time fee of approximately $40 for a high-quality, single-use professional theme. You can expect to pay more than $1,000 for an extended license that grants you, or a client, a theme that you can sell to others. If you're serious about building a WordPress-powered website, a premium theme is an essential part of the process. And to find a premium WordPress theme, you must visit an online store, such as Envato's ThemeForest.

The Anatomy of a Good WordPress Theme"We have a review team that goes through and reviews every item," Will Herring, Business Development and Affiliates Manager at Envato, a WordPress themes marketplace told me. "We reject more items than we accept."

According to Herring, a worthwhile WordPress theme should include three important elements: A responsive design, a build that's compliant with search engine optimization (SEO) standards, and good technical support.

A WordPress theme with responsive design eliminates the need for a mobile version of your site, as it alters its form to fit screens of differing sizes. Most ThemeForest themes are responsive, but some are not; be sure to check a theme's description to see if it boasts a responsive design. Additionally, the WordPress theme should match basic SEO standards.

"If a theme is compatible with Yoast (a WordPress plug-in), you're good," said Herring. "Many of the top themes will promote that they are SEO-optimized."

You should also make sure that the theme you're interested in purchasing is compatible with all major Web browsers, including Chrome, Edge, and Firefox. Fortunately, you can check a theme's browser compatibility by firing up its demo in your browser. Any WordPress theme store worth its salt will let you try before you buy.

Your potential purchase should also offer technical support from the theme shop or theme developers, so that you can contact someone for assistance should you encounter any issues. Never underestimate the value of having someone walk you through the troubleshooting process. It helps. A lot.

How to Find WordPress ThemesBefore you buy a WordPress theme, you must first find one that best suits your needs. ThemeForest boasts dozens upon dozens of themes, but you don't have to slog through them all. You should look for a WordPress theme that boasts a high user rating, a large number of reviews, and significant sales, so that you get an accurate view.

"I would always start with the buyer rating and customer support," said Herring. "If it's 4.5 (out of 5) or higher, it gives the consumer confidence in the client. Go with something with at least 3,000 sales and 4.5-star rating."

Thankfully, ThemeForest lets you apply filters, so that you can perform a fast search to meet those criteria. There are lots of themes designed for personal and business needs that fall within that range, and a surprising number of deep cuts that are laser-focused on a particular market. For example, WordPress themes that are designed with stores in mind feature integrated online shopping carts.

Recommended WordPress ThemesThat's how to go about buying a WordPress theme! If you wish to get started with a WordPress theme without perusing the robust ThemeForest store, Will Herring has selected two business-focused and two consumer-focused products that will add value to your WordPress installation. The four handpicked themes meet the criteria established above; they're highly rated, responsive, SEO-friendly, and have been purchased thousands of times. Consider them must-have WordPress themes that you should download today.

BeThemeStarting at $59BeTheme is a WordPress theme that was crafted with designers in mind. It gives you the freedom to build hundreds of sites, each with its own particular visual style. BeTheme also contains hundreds of demos, and comes bundled with some of the highest selling plug-ins in the ThemeForest marketplace.

EnfoldStarting at $59Enfold is a business-centric WordPress theme with legs. It's a longtime ThemeForest bestseller that also doubles as the highest-rated theme in the marketplace. Enfold has numerous demos, outstanding support, and quality code.

KaliumStarting at $59A WordPress theme designed for nonbusiness use, Kalium is another popular ThemeForest product. Its lightweight, minimalist design works well with eye-catching photography and typography. Kalium's users often praise the theme's customization options and customer support.

RedwoodStarting at $39Redwood is a WordPress theme that's built for blogging or personal promotion. It contains several promotion boxes, custom widgets, and a large beautiful slider on the front page.

Source: How to Find the Best WordPress Themes for Your Website

MUMBAI, May 25, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

ResellerClub, the web hosting and domains provider, has entered the cloud based infrastructure segment with the launch of Cloud Hosting on their platform. Cloud has been quite the buzzword in recent years and owes its popularity to the high performance and unmatched flexibility that it offers. The cutting-edge tech of cloud always meant a simplified product was required to be able to catch the fancy of the masses and it appears that the shared hosting inspired cloud offering is aimed at that segment.

     (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130522/614177 )

ResellerClub's interpretation of Cloud Hosting claims to offer all the benefits of the cloud with the familiarity of a cPanel interface which has been the gold standard for shared hosting users for a while now. The Cloud Hosting product boasts of features such as one-click upgrades, varnish caching, easy-to-use performance dashboards, data mirroring and more.

ResellerClub launched Cloud Hosting early last wek and will roll it out in its glocalized markets by the end of the month. Speaking about the launch, Shridhar Luthria, General Manager and Business Head of ResellerClub said, "Our clients have waited with much anticipation for us to launch the product and we have left no stone unturned to make sure this meets their needs. The Cloud Hosting product is going to revolutionize entry-level hosting with double the speed, unmatched performance and high reliability. We wanted to ensure that cloud is accessible and usable to those who haven't tried it earlier - so simplicity and immense power make this a compelling option! We at ResellerClub, have integrated the familiar administrator dashboard - cPanel and architecture comparable to shared hosting while allowing for dynamic RAM allocation and upgradable CPU. We have seen fantastic uptake in the first week and are eager to roll this out to all our markets!"

Cloud Hosting is available at http://www.resellerclub.com/cloud-hosting.

About ResellerClub: 

The ResellerClub platform powers some of the world's most popular web hosts, domain resellers, web designers and technology consultants. ResellerClub provides scalable and secure shared hosting, reseller hosting, VPS Solutions as well as dedicated servers, in addition to a comprehensive suite of gTLDs, ccTLDs, new gTLDs and other essential web presence products.

Current Partners: Over 200,000

Domains Served: Over 5 Million

Server Locations: US, United Kingdom, India, Hong Kong, Turkey

Team Strength: 300+

Media Contact:Karthik Balachanderpr@resellerclub.com91-22-3079 7676Associate Manager, Marketing & CommunicationsResellerClub

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Source: ResellerClub Launches Cloud Hosting With the Simplicity of Shared Hosting and cPanel

One of the most important decisions that you need to make when choosing a web host for your website is whether to use a solid state drive (SSD) or hard disk drive (HDD). While each has its own advantages and disadvantages, many businesses eventually decide to go with HDD hosting due to its lower cost.

However, there is a growing body of evidence that a SSD cloud server is better for your website, and can actually benefit your whole business in the long run. It's important to look at the entire picture when weighing your options, and carefully consider all of the ways in which SSD is the better choice.

The Top 3 Reasons SSD Is Better

The advantages of SSD hosting fall into three major categories: Reliability and durability, performance, and environmental impact.

Reliability and Durability: While HDDs are currently the more popular choice, they are also quite sensitive and any sort of mishandling, even accidental, can lead to the loss of data. The slightest movement or temperature fluctuation can lead to irreversible damage and data loss. That's not even considering that HDDs have many moving parts that break down over time — it's not uncommon, for instance, for the rotating discs to lose stability and actually skip data during encryption or backups.

SSDs, on the other hand, are far more reliable and durable and less susceptible to damage or breakdown. That's because they do not have any moving parts, and are designed so that they do not generate any heat, which is often the culprit in HDD breakdowns. This isn't to say that HDDs are always unreliable and will always lead to data loss, downtime, and high replacement costs, but on the whole, SSDs are more reliable and will last longer than HDDs.

Performance: On average, SSDs offer performance that is anywhere from 30 to 1000 percent faster than that of HDDs. This is due in large part to the same aspects that make them more reliable than HDDs. Whenever visitors access your website, the HDD must spin to access the specific data being requested. While this usually only takes a tiny fraction of a second and isn't generally noticeable to the average visitor, during periods of heavy traffic it becomes more noticeable as the drive must spin more to access all of the information being requested.

With an SSD, though, no mechanical movement is necessary to access website data, so it can perform much faster. This is especially important if you operate an e-commerce website. Slow website speeds are to blame for a significant percentage of abandoned carts, so improving your site speed can improve your sales as well. In addition, the increased reliability of SSDs also improves your site's uptime, which can help support your SEO and search performance strategy and keep visitors happy with your site.

Environmental Impact: Many companies are concerned about their environmental impact these days, given that many consumers will actively seek out to do business with companies that make going green a priority. SSDs help support your environmental efforts because not only do you need to replace them less often than HDDs, but they are designed to use less power than other drives.

But What About the Cost?

Even with all of the clear benefits of SSDs, many businesses are still reluctant to invest in SSD hosting because of the cost. Depending on the provider, SSD hosting can cost as much as 50 percent more than HDD hosting; usually, the costs are not that much different than those of a typical virtual private server. However, when you consider the potential for increased profits due to faster website performance and more reliable uptime, the cost may be worth the investment — and in some cases, may even reduce costs.

As you compare potential website hosts, do not automatically dismiss SSD hosting because of cost concerns. When you take into account the ability to handle more website traffic, increase site loading speed, the positive affect faster speeds can have on your SEO, and the overall reliability and reduced environmental impact, going SSD makes perfect sense. In the long run, your business will benefit, and you will have less stress and worry about your site's speed and reliability.

Source: Why SSD cloud hosting is better for your website and your business

Peoples desire to move on another web hosting services provider because of many reasons. More likely to be not having enough data space/bandwidth, or it could be due to unresponsive tech customer support, or lack of advanced technologies. It could be any of them the thing is moving to a new host is a hectic job in most cases.

This is a bit tedious but not that complex. If you follow the right path you can shift your hosting smoothing. You must keep in mind a few things which are as under,

1-Don't cancel previous hosting instantaneously:-

Unless you have completed all the steps, it is highly recommended that you don't cut up your previous web hosting account. Don't even tell the hosts that you are replacing them. If you do this than they might abandon you current account immediately. Causing a large downtime to your website. Keeping the previous account till the complete transition will make sure that your website and websites email accounts will be remain functional during the transfer.

2-Decide on the new web hosting services:-

Must Consider:

Finalize the Operating System (Linux vs. Windows) - It is completely dependent on the type of coding or scripting you have done for building the website. For example, if you require ASP, SQL, MS Access or another Microsoft-specific tools, then you will be requiring a windows operating platform. And if you need MySQL or PHP then Linux would be suitable for you.

Analyze your data storage needs accordingly select the Bandwidth and Disk Space.

Keep in mind All the Vital Considerations before choosing a web host, then finalize accordingly.

3-Backup All Your Data from previous account:-

Data should sequentially downloaded in the form of tree structure as it needs to be uploaded to new account shortly. Point out the files which needs additional settings like CHMOD permissions. This is simple just use File Transfer Protocol (FTP) to fulfil all this.

Occasionally, some free web hosting agencies never offer FTP. Like if you are using free Flash/drag & drop website creating service (wix, weebly etc.).

In this particular scenario, you won't be able to download previous Data Files and will have to re-create all new web data. Look on free website creator if your new web hosting provider is offering or not.

Next time must select a host giving you FTP Access And prefer Linux Shared Web Hosting as it will provide you with additional features likeTCP (transmission control protocol) and CGI (common gateway protocol).

4-Install the Same Email Address:-

To make sure that all E-Mails are rightly received, it is compulsory to have the exact E-Mail addresses, even email aliases and forwarders must be same. These new email accounts will not run until changing the DNS (domain name server) data but it must be done before to remain ahead of time. So when the DNS information is replaced your lost E-Mails could be minimized.

5-Change DNS Records:-

As soon as you have saved your web data to the present web hosting server and re-established your emails, you can move further and make the compulsory domain name server (DNS) transmutation.

DNS is mostly found as you have signed up with a web hosting server. You will require to change your present DNS settings with the new settings - domain management panel (your domain registrar) performs all this function.

The Latest DNS will take 24-48 hours to re-active, therefore the previous web hosting will be functional for website and E-Mails in this period of time. That is why you must cancel the previous hosting account at the last.

6-Now cancel the old web hosting account:-

As soon as, your new web hosting account is live and your website and E-Mails at your latest web hosting account are properly functioning, you can cancel your old web hosting account.

Conclusion: Get Rid of All the Dubious Hosts, Right Now!

Switching to a new web hosting provider can be a painful time, but it surely saves you when you are stuck with a bad web hosting provider. If you want smooth and stable running a website in the long term bases, you should never have fears of such transmutations. As, it is just the common backup/download/upload work that you are already doing on regular basis.

Source: How to change your web hosting smoothly

To define working procedure of web hosting company, you have to understand it is simply a service that provides a good web hosting solution to small, mid-sized, and large organizations who have the online business network. Web hosting solution is really good for them, because with the help of this anyone can manage their web [ ]

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Source: Web Hosting Company And Its Specifications

London, United Kingdom, May 22, 2016 --(PR.com)-- HostForLIFE.eu, a leading Windows web hosting provider with innovative technology solutions and a dedicated professional services team, today announced the support for PrestaShop 1.6.1.5 Hosting plan. HostForLIFE.eu hosts its servers in top class data centers that is located in Amsterdam, London and Seattle (US) to guarantee 99.9% network uptime. All data centers feature redundancies in network connectivity, power, HVAC, security, and fire suppression. All hosting plans from HostForLIFE.eu include 24×7 support and 30 days money back guarantee.

PrestaShop 1.6.1.5 is a free and open-source e-commerce web application, committed to providing the best shopping cart experience for both merchants and customers. It is written in PHP, is highly customizable, supports all the major payment services, is translated in many languages and localized for many countries, is fully responsive (both front- and back-office), etc. PrestaShop come s packed with over 275 features out-the-box, and features are improving and increasing with every new version.

According to HostForLIFE.eu clients support team staff, they are saying that the PrestaShop 1.6.1.5 presents a comprehensive, intuitive user administration panel, and gives you hundreds of standard functions that can be adapted or personalized in order to respond to all of customer needs. The front office template on PrestaShop 1.6.1.5 is now mobile responsive, allowing customer online shop to display perfectly when accessed from a mobile and tablet device.

PrestaShop v1.6.1.5 is the most reliable and flexible Open-source eCommerce software. Since 2007, PrestaShop has revolutionized the industry by providing features that engage shoppers and increase online sales. The PrestaTeam consists of over 70 passionate individuals and more than 500 000 community members dedicated to innovated technology.

Further information and the full range of features PrestaShop 1.6.1.5 Hosting can be viewed here http://hostforlife.eu/European-PrestaShop-1615-Hosting

About HostForLIFEHostForLIFE.eu is European Windows Hosting Provider which focuses on Windows Platform only. HostForLIFE.eu delivers on-demand hosting solutions including shared hosting, Reseller Hosting, Cloud Hosting, Dedicated Servers, and IT as a Service for companies of all sizes.

HostForLIFE.eu is awarded Top No#1 SPOTLIGHT Recommended Hosting Partner by Microsoft (see http://hosting.asp.net/hosting/hostingprovider/details/953 ). Their service is ranked the highest top #1 spot in several European countries, such as: Germany, Italy, Netherlands, France, Belgium, United Kingdom, Sweden, Finland, Switzerland and other European countries.

Contact Information:HostForLIFE.euBen Watson+441971332557Contact via Emailhttp://www.hostforlife.eu

Click here to read the full story: http://www.pr.com/press-release/672117

Press Release Distributed by PR.com

Source: HostForLIFE.eu Launches PrestaShop 1.6.1.5 Hosting

12:00 21 May 2016

Tom Dare

Weebly's Dion McKenzie at the Tech City networking event (Picture: Elyse Marks)

Archant

In an ever changing world of retail, getting online is now more important than ever. Whether it's to sell your products or to promote your brand, without an online presence few companies can make it in today's day and age.

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With that in mind, website builders Weebly brought their "Grow Your Own" business road show to TechCity last week, to help young entrepreneurs take the first step toward creating an online presence.

"I think its one of the first things people think about when they're starting a business, it's the first kind of hurdle," Dion McKenzie, UK manager for Weebly, told the Gazette.

"To be online shows credibility and provides that access point. It's your online retail shop, and I think that is irreplaceable in today's age, especially when we spend more time on our mobile devices and our desktops than we do actually talking or chatting to people outside."

Founded in San Francisco in 2007, Weebly launched in the UK in October of last year, with the aim of adding more users to its already existing base of 30 million worldwide. It now has 2 million unique users in the UK, and hosted its recent event in Tech City to help the already thriving hub of entrepreneurs from the area establish themselves online.

"Really it was about meeting the entrepreneurs, small and medium businesses, people who are really thinking about getting their own businesses started, and helping them bring that online," said Dion.

And Dion sees establishing your business online as the best way forward for any start ups today; "I think when you think of businesses now, you really need to have different and new elements. I know a lot of traditional retailers who are not around anymore because they haven't moved online, and their business has suffered because of it."

The Weebly road-show has been touring the country for just over a week, pulling up at events in London, Bristol, Birmingham and Manchester. Tech City, Dion tells us, was the obvious starting point for the tour, given its emergence as the main technology hub for the UK.

"I think that everything that's happening in Tech City in general has been great for the UK. I think all the innovation that's happening here really has opened people's eyes to what's actually possible, and how people can help them start their own business and become their own boss," he said.

And is it really as easy as A B C? "I remember in the past if you wanted to start a website you'd have to ask a friend who could code, or a developer, and it would literally cost thousands and thousands. Now it cost less than a meal," claimed Dion.

As part of their road-show Weebly have been showcasing their success stories to budding entrepreneurs, having them speak at the events and answer questions from the public. One of these is Whistle and Bango, a bespoke jewellery retailer who got started with Weebly two years ago.

"They really helped us as a company get off the ground" Ania Kubow, co-founder of the company, told the Gazette. "We knew how important it was to get online, but it was just a very complicated process."

"A lot of the people I spoke to had a very similar set up to us in that they wanted to sell personalised products and were trying to figure out how to do that online. And they all knew that the sooner they could do that the better."

The shift toward online operating, while gaining momentum over the past year, has certainly been occurring for some time now. Dion thinks that this technological revolution can't come soon enough; "I think that everything has changed. I think the fact that kids are coming out of uni and looking to start their own thing, instead of become a banker or consultant, is great. And we see our company as a great opportunity for anyone that's thinking of starting a business."

For more information on how to get your business online with Weebly, visit weebly.com

Source: Tech City: Web hosting site Weebly wants to help entrepreneurs get their businesses online

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Raleigh, NC (PRWEB) May 20, 2016

Tranquil Hosting announces the launch of its newest data center in Chennai, India. The company's latest addition offers customers entry into India and surrounding countries in Southern Asia. It is available to its customers now.

Chennai, formerly known as Madras, is located on the Coromandel Coast, off the Bay of Bengal. This location not only offers entry to the growing number of Indian internet users, tech companies and related enterprises, but the rest of Asia with Tier 1 connectivity. Carriers with connectivity to Tranquil Hosting's Chennai data center include TATA/VSNL, Reliance, and Bharti (Airtel). Peering agreements with NIXI offer low-latency access in the country and in South Asia.

"We are very excited to offer our customers access into India," Mark Price, CEO of Tranquil Hosting, said. "Our customer can now deploy servers into the booming economy of India, with its emerging tech and industrial companies. With a very savvy population and a vast user base that's getting online in incredible rates, means our customers will be able to better serve India and the surrounding emerging markets."

Price added that Tranquil Hosting will continue to its aggressive launches of data centers, allowing users to deploy bare metal or cloud platforms and services.

--About Tranquil Hosting:

Since its inception in 2002, Tranquil Hosting has strived to ensure the success of its customers by providing zealous commitment to customer service and delivering the most efficient IT solutions. From small businesses and start-ups to the most demanding applications, our highly experienced engineers at Tranquil Hosting can help you design, implement, and scale your Web presence. For more information, visit https://www.tqhosting.com.

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2016/05/prweb13429513.htm

Source: Tranquil Hosting Opens Its First Indian Data Center in Chennai

Many people think of WordPress as a simple blogging platform, but this flexible content management system (CMS) has a deep catalog of free and premium themes and plug-ins that make it the backbone supporting millions of websites, including high-profiles ones like CNN, Grantland, and TED, as well as small business sites and even personal blogs. If you've thought about creating a WordPress-powered site for business or personal use, you should consider going the managed WordPress Web hosting route.

Managed WordPress Web Hosting ExplainedManaged WordPress hosting uses a platform that's designed specifically for WordPress. In fact, the CMS comes preinstalled—you don't have to download and set up a WordPress installation as you'd do when using a traditional Web hosting environment. Managed WordPress hosting behaves very much like any other self-hosted WordPress installation, giving you the freedom to install nearly any theme or plug-in. That said, some managed WordPress hosts have a short list of restricted plug-ins that may negatively affect your site's performance or duplicate features already built into the managed setup.

Please understand that not every Web host offers managed WordPress hosting—it isn't a ubiquitous feature. For example, Dreamhost boasts managed WordPress hosting, while HostMonster does not.

Managed WordPress hosting prices are all over the map. Entry-level plans will cost roughly that of shared Web hosting, but higher-tier plans can scale upward to around $60 per month. The upside? Your WordPress installation should run more smoothly in a managed WordPress environment than in a traditional hosting environment. In addition, going the managed WordPress route may save you money, as you don't need to pay for a system administrator to perform the same job. This is particularly beneficial to small businesses.

Dozens of companies offer managed WordPress hosting, including traditional Web hosts like DreamHost and Media Temple. Other companies, such as Pagely and Pressable, base their entire business models on managing WordPress installations.

Companies that offer managed WordPress Web hosting provide daily website backups, automatic plug-in updates, page caching for faster site load times, malware detection and removal, and—last but not least—WordPress-centric security options. Security is critically important. As one of the world's largest content management systems, Wordpress is a high-profile target.

In short, a managed WordPress installation gives you a few less things to worry about when creating content or reaching out to potential customers.

The Features You NeedBefore you sign up for a managed WordPress Web hosting service, you should look for these attractive—and possibly essential—features. Ideally, you'll want to invest in a managed WordPress host that provides unlimited monthly data transfers, email, storage, and 24/7 support. There are quite a few managed WordPress Web hosts that place caps on those features; WP Engine, for example, limits sites to 400,000 visitors and a paltry 30GB of storage. If you expect lots of site growth, you'll want a host that can properly accommodate your website's future expansion.

Additionally, you'll want a service that offers Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) if you plan to sell products. Ever see a green padlock in your browser's address bar while you're on your bank's website? That's the symbol that tells visitors that SSL is in place. It's a symbol of trustworthiness.

An SSL connection encrypts the data that travels between your site and users' Web browsers, thus safeguarding the transmission of purchasing information. All the managed WordPress hosting services in this roundup offer SSL certificates, but the prices vary from company to company. Some companies include a free SSL certificate when you sign up for a hosting plan, while others charge close to $100.

You'll also need to consider how long you'll need managed WordPress Web hosting. If it's a short-term project—say, less than a month or two—you'll typically receive a refund should you cancel your hosting within 60 days. Some companies offer 30-day money-back guarantees, while others offer 90-day money-back guarantees. Once again, it's beneficial to do your homework.

Naturally, your Web hosting needs will differ from the next person's, but keep these features in mind if you want a silky smooth managed WordPress experience.

Uptime ImportanceThe aforementioned features are valuable to the Web hosting experience, but none matches the importance of site uptime. If your site is down, clients or customers will be unable to find you or access your blog or your products or services.

We've added uptime monitoring to our review process, and the results show that the most Web hosts do an excellent job of keeping sites up and running. Web hosts with uptime issues cannot qualify for inclusion among the best services in the field, no matter how solid their rest of their offering is.

Do You Need Managed WordPress Hosting?Managed WordPress hosting isn't a one-size-fits-all option. If you're a system administrator, or someone who's familiar with the ins and outs of WordPress, you can manage a WordPress installation yourself. That's important to note, because some of the managed WordPress Web hosts we've reviewed are significantly more expensive than non-managed WordPress Web hosting. It's wise to shop around.

Also, a managed WordPress environment won't allow you to set up a non-WordPress site—that's something else to keep in mind, especially if you have a site in mind that will rely on specific Microsoft frameworks, for example. In such instances, you'll want to go build your site on shared, VPS, or dedicated Web hosting services.

Still, if you'd rather just create posts, pages, and galleries, managed WordPress hosting is an attractive option. We've reviewed many managed WordPress hosting services and included the best of the bunch in this guide. The chart above, which includes traditional Web hosts that offer managed WordPress hosting and dedicated managed WordPress services, gives you a quick overview of the features you can find with each service. If you want a more in-depth look at managed WordPress hosting services, take a look at the blurbs—and links to full reviews—below.

FEATURED IN THIS ROUNDUP
Source: The Best Managed WordPress Web Hosting Services for 2016

Every business—and that includes small businesses, enterprises, and sole-proprietorships—needs a website, but the monthly costs can mean the difference between a full-blown ecommerce presence or a static page listing your hours and location. Cost is a critically important consideration when selecting a Web host. But while it's a truism that you get what you pay for, it's also true that every penny counts and that there are some great Web hosting deals to be had.

What Is a Cheap Web Host?First, let's define Web hosts in general. A Web host is a company with servers that you use to store and deliver the files that make up your website. Large businesses can spend hundreds of dollars each year on dedicated Web hosting or virtual private server (VPS) hosting, but there are plenty of Web hosts designed specifically for very small businesses, too.

That's exactly what the services collected here focus on—these are good, functional Web hosting companies that will get your website online with the least amount of damage to your wallet. That's something that we can all appreciate. But how cheap?

Pricing in our list of cheap Web hosts is based on the regular monthly prices, with no discounts applied for the starter plans. If the host offers monthly plans, that's the price we use, even though many of them work out to be cheaper on a per-month basis if you pay upfront for the annual plan. If you're buying on price, you might not want to pay the full year up front, even if it means saving a bit on the back end. Some budgets really are that tight, and some projects may not last a year. Our cutoff for inclusion in this table is that a provider must charge $8 per month or less. Yes, that's an arbitrary number. We chose $8 per month because that means you can have Web hosting for less than $100 per year.

The Features You'll NeedSetting up a website with your own domain is easy, and most importantly, it doesn't have to be expensive. Do you need email, blogging software, email marketing, e-commerce, and file sharing?

Also worth highlighting is the service's customer support. While it's nice to have FAQs and forums, when it's 3 a.m. and your website is inexplicably down, you want someone available right away. Look for 24/7 customer support.

What Cheap Web Hosting Gets YouCheap Web hosting excludes the powerful and relatively pricey dedicated and VPS hosting options. Instead, you'll need to pick a Shared or managed WordPress hosting plan.

Shared hosting is a setup in which the hosting company runs multiple websites on a server along with your site. Don't let the "shared" bit worry you, though, since you can't peek into anyone else's files and no one else can touch yours. The benefit? Sharing the server space translates to cheap prices for everyone. The downside? Neighboring sites that consume too many resources may cause your site to run at less than peak performance. They might even crash it from time to time.

Managed WordPress hosting services let you set up and run a WordPress blog with minimum fuss. If your business website's primary function is to be a blog, then do your wallet a favor and don't bother with shared hosting plans or other types of Web hosting.

One thing we learned while reviewing Web hosting services is that reading the fine print matters, especially if you are concerned about keeping prices low. Many Web hosts have several tiers of service, with introductory features in starter packages and expanded offerings in higher-priced plans. Don't get swayed by the big fonts touting the monthly fee: Make sure that a particular tier actually offers what you need.

Some hosts charge extra for the tools you might use to design your website. Other hosts require you to commit to a three-year hosting agreement in order to get that low per-month price. Or the price is an introductory one, and after a month, you will revert to a higher price. Until you know what features you need and how quickly you plan to grow, don't commit to annual plans.

Uptime Is ImportantThe aforementioned features are valuable to the Web hosting experience, but none match the importance of site uptime. If your site is down, clients or customers will be unable to find you or access your products or services. Every customer turned away is a potential sale lost and traffic not monetized.

We've recently added uptime monitoring to our review process, and the results show that most Web hosts do an excellent job of keeping sites up and running. Even if they excel at all other facets of hosting, services with uptime issues can't qualify as top services.

You Don't Have to DIYIf your primary goal is cheap service, and your needs are modest, you do have an alternative to the Web hosts listed in this table: website builders. For those who just want a good-looking without any extras—a brochure-ware site, for example—you can skip traditional Web hosting and check out website builder services such as Weebly and DudaOne.

If you don't care about having your own domain and don't want to do a lot of behind-the-scenes tweaking, you should really consider one of these online website builders, as they let you create surprisingly attractive yet functional sites hosted under their domains. Furthermore, these services can be incredibly cheap: Some offer free plans, though that generally means you'll have branding on your site for the website builder's company. You can often pay to get your own domain, and that generally removes the branding as well. But if you need some control over your domain and need a little bit more functionality, Web hosting is the way to go.

So What's Cheap?As you can see from the above table, not all cheap Web hosts are created equal. Some have data transfer allotment and storage caps. Read the fine print for the unlimited offerings, however, as there are sometimes gotchas that might sneak up on you later. Other services limit what applications you can use. Some require you to upgrade to a higher tier just to get a particular feature. And then there are the bare-bones services offering just space and no built-in tools to make the process of building and maintaining a site easier. If you're a skilled coder, that might be fine. Which Web host you select depends entirely on how you plan to use it—and your budget. If you are ready to select a great Web hosting service that's also cheap, click the links below to check out our in-depth reviews of the best names in the space.

FEATURED IN THIS ROUNDUP
Source: The Best Cheap Web Hosting Services of 2016

Online truly expanded promotion code . A company that does not have web existence is said to be outdated. Practically everyone right from mom and pop stores tocorporations, everyone has a web site. If promotion strategies have changed, so have web hosting companies. A few years ago all that you for a website with hosting support you had to pay a lot of money. Not anymore because a lot of firms have started giving out discounts that can be used for a variety of purposes including website shared hosting, vps, wordpress hosting, dedicated servers etc.If you are looking for heavy discount coupons then Bluehost is undoubtedly one of the most popular choices. You can save a lot of cash, with the help of Bluehost discounts . If you are in the process of looking to reduce costs, while still having a quality host, try using a Bluehost discount.

All that's' needed is the correct Bluehost promotion code or coupon that suits you best. Of course the most atrractive Bluehost coupon that's available online is the one for those looking to subscribe with Bluehost. You can use this Bluehost promotion rule to preserve up to $50 on the hosting upfront fee. There is another desired variety promotion rule that assures 5 life-time 100 % free sector users. There is also another desire variety promotion rule that offers 4 life 100 % free time sector signing up and 1 life-time IP address for 100 % free. Also checkout http://www.bluehostcouponsandreview.com for the best offers.

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Source: Hosting options

In this day and age, it's nearly impossible for a small business to succeed without establishing some sort of digital presence. Unfortunately, not every would-be entrepreneur is a digital guru — and not every start-up can afford to spend money on a shiny, new website.

Thankfully, there are plenty of free website builders out there designed to arm small business owners with all the basic tools they need to get up-and-running and turn a few heads online.

In 2010, Small Business Trends compiled a list of its top seven website building platforms. But a lot has changed since then, and so, here's an update, a listing of 2016's top 20 free website builders.

1. Weebly

Weebly has been around for a while, and so it's definitely one of the most popular website builders out there. There are no hidden costs involved in constructing a new website — and although premium and ecommerce versions do exist, a vast majority of small businesses are unlikely to need them. Weebly's top feature is its intuitive, drag-and-drop interface that makes Web creation dead simple for even the most IT-challenged individuals.

2. Wix

Wix boasts a similarly easy-to-use interface, and is immensely popular because the site offers users hundreds and hundreds of free design templates to choose from. It doesn't matter what industry you're operating in. Chances are, Wix will have a free template that caters specifically to your needs. After selecting a template, the site's drag-and-drop feature makes drafting your first website a quick and painless process.

3. Webs

Webs is an ideal website builder for small businesses because it offers an unrivalled level of SEO functionality. Built-in search indicators can help you to optimize your new website so that your small business starts to generate organic traffic quicker. The platform's themes are well-designed. Changes can be made instantly and all of the layouts are relatively intuitive.

4. DudaOne

DudaOne is an innovative website builder that focuses largely on producing responsive mobile sites. It has a clear interface, intelligent social media integration and a great built-in analytics system. By setting up a free site, small business owners gain a fast, natively responsive website, Web hosting on Amazon Cloud and crucial community support. From there, users can upgrade to various business and ecommerce packages that come with multi-language sites, push notifications and unlimited product categories for online stores.

5. SiteBuilder

SiteBuilder is still one of the simplest and most intuitive website design tools available online. Its platform is incredibly user-friendly, and comes with all of the tools you'll need to get a dynamic small business website immediately live. SiteBuilder also includes basic ecommerce features and premium plans with a wide range of custom design tools.

6. Squarespace

Squarespace is a professional website building platform designed largely for those operating within  creative industries. The site has loads of high-caliber templates geared at photographers, musicians, writers and art venues. Squarespace's templates are extremely visual-based — and although they aren't quite as customizable as the templates some other platforms may offer, small business websites built on Squarespace are some of the Web's most clean and responsive.

7. WordPress

WordPress is still a small business favorite, and for good reason. WordPress is one of the easiest building platforms for beginners, and it offers some of the Web's most well-designed free templates. WordPress also comes with a wide selection of free analytics and SEO tools that make it fairly simple to keep track of how your site is performing. Bearing all that in mind, it's little wonder around one in five sites on the Internet are now constructed using WordPress.

8. Yola

Yola is a Web-based tool that makes life easy for small business owners who are after a simple, code-free way of producing a professional commercial website. Yola operates a drag-and-drop interface with fully-integrated social features and quite a few handy widgets. It's worth pointing out that Yola's free accounts don't include access to the platform's useful blogging tool — and so small business owners may ultimately need to go premium in order to unlock Yola's full potential.

9. IM Creator

IM Creator is another simple drag-and-drop system that offers a wide range of professionally-designed Web templates that are hugely responsive. With IM Creator's free package, users can take advantage of a second level domain and a respectable 50MB of storage. The platform also updates its selection of templates on a regular basis — meaning it's a relatively quick and painless process to give your small business website a complete makeover.

10. Sitey

Sitey is an intuitive platform that offers small business owners incredibly professional-looking websites in the blink of an eye. With each free account, you'll receive 50MB storage, 5MB file upload and 1GB worth of bandwidth. Better yet, you'll gain access to Sitey's database of excellent templates, image galleries and simple social media integration.

11. Jimdo

Jimdo is another well-established website builder, and is quite useful for those who are a little bit more comfortable with coding. Jimdo enables users to create free, mobile-friendly HTML5 sites. The platform's top strength is its free online store  as most website builders tend to charge an arm and a leg for this feature. Jimdo also offers a generous 500MB of storage and great customer support.

12. WebStarts

WebStarts provides a rapid solution for small business owners who need a website quick. The platform's templates boast intelligent layouts, and its design interface is extremely easy-to-use. That said, those in need of a large website or more integrated features will most likely need to upgrade to a premium plan. WebStarts' free version includes just 10MB of storage for a five page website.

13. Moonfruit

Moonfruit is home to some of the Web's most creative design templates. The platform's free version enables small business owners to create a website of up to 15 pages on a second level domain. But Moonfruit does a whole lot more than host a few free templates. It also enables you to create an optimized mobile version of your site, and can be fully integrated with your company's social media profiles.

14. DoodleKit

DoodleKit offers some of the best editing functionality of any free website builder. Although its free version is limited, it does enable you to create a site up to five pages in under five minutes. You can also take advantage of the site's free blogging platform, which is an immensely useful tool in order to expand your brand's digital profile. DoodleKit includes a range of great design templates and hosts a useful forum that can help to inspire you when constructing your own site.

15. Voog

Established site Edicy has recently relaunched under the name 'Voog', but it's still a fast and simple website builder that will help you to establish an online presence in the blink of an eye. Voog doesn't come with the most all-encompassing user experience, but its free trial version does offer free lifetime hosting, generous storage space and allows you to register more than one editor in order to manage the site.

16. ezweb123

ezweb123 is an award-winner website builder that offers a wide array of package options for small business owners. The site's free package will enable you to create a website of up to 15 pages that's hosted on a second-level domain. ezweb123's biggest draw is convenience. From a design point-of-view, the platform is extremely basic and very easy to use.

17. Webnode

Webnode offers a dynamic solution for small businesses in need of a simple, online store. The platform's free ecommerce package includes 1GB bandwidth, 10MB storage space and enables you to sell up to 10 products. In order to expand that store, you'll need to upgrade to one of Webnode's premium packages — but its free offerings are ideal for a part-time micro-business.

18. emyspot

emyspot is an all-encompassing website builder with an attractive range of free features. A small business site on emyspot has got no page limit, and enjoys use of a blog and unlimited bandwidth. Meanwhile, the platform's free version offers a generous 250MB worth of storage. Dynamic ecommerce templates are available for an additional fee.

19. GoDaddy

GoDaddy might be better known for its hosting services, but the company also offers a user-friendly website construction platform. GoDaddy users enjoy quite generous storage limits, and a clear, drag-and-drop interface. The platform also includes decent photo editing software. That being said, users will need to go premium in order to take advantage of GoDaddy's ecommerce, mobile and blog features.

20. Zoho Sites

Zoho Sites is another useful drag-and-drop editor. It's a crystal clear building tool, and includes an ecommerce upgrade that is fully integrated with PayPal. The platform's top feature is definitely its form builder. Users can take advantage of an unprecedented level of fields. Including drop-downs, URLs and file uploads.

Before committing to a website builder, you should always do your homework. After all, no two businesses are alike, and so you've got to come up with an idea of what it is you're after in a website. But once you've figured that out, it doesn't matter what industry you're operating in or how comfortable you are with the Web.  There's definitely a website builder out there that's perfect for you and your small business.

Web Construction Illustration via Shutterstock

Source: 20 Free Website Builders For Small Business