Sunday, April 15, 2007

Changes are in the wind...and coming to a browser near you!

As some of you may have noticed, our business name has been slowly changing to simply "Hello World Web." The complete conversion will be done in phases, to coincide with the *final* (read: at-long-last, isn't-it-about-damn-time) completion of OUR business website. As a client said to me Friday, "The shoemaker finally gets new shoes!"


When I first started in the web design business is 2002, I did only web design, hence the name Hello World Web Design. In 2003 I started hosting on a small scale, a scale which has grown considerably in the last two years. Gradually the "and Hosting" was added, because I didn't want my hosting clients to feel like an after-thought, making the informal business name "Hello World Web Design and Hosting."

Say that five times fast. No really...I dare you! Better yet, type it a few dozen times a day. Not only was it too long, it was waaaaay too long. A few years ago the domain helloworldweb.com became available, and I registered it thinking we could use it for nameservers. But the more I look at it, the better I like it. Short, sweet, memorable, and 6 keystrokes shorter than typing "@helloworldwebdesign.com."

Why "Hello World!"? What's that all about?

Even if you're not a computer programmer, you've likely seen that phrase all over the Internet, and thought it was some goofy inside joke among geeks. That's close :) It's been the standard for newbie programmers when learning a new (computer) language, the first thing you do is learn how to print / produce "Hello World!" using your newly learned language skills. It's a small test program, like a programmer's version of "Can you hear me now?" It's best to keep it simple at first, so if the program errors or doesn't compile, it's easy to dissect it to find why. In theory, in any case :)

A new phone number, as well.
We've changed to a new service plan with much more options, including a toll free number and the option to route support calls as needed. This change is effective immediately, please make note of the new number. (Email addresses are still the same, and when the new ones are used as the default, there will still be plenty of "overlap.")

1.888.637.8651

One last change...in reviewing the billing system log, I noticed that the system is sending each client 3 emails a month. One 15 days prior to the due date when the invoice is generated, one just prior to the billing due date, and one when the billing is processed. I feel this is excessive and annoying...am I right? Feedback is welcome on this.

I've changed the settings to only send a receipt/copy of the invoice after the invoice payment has been processed, which will result in only one billing email a month. The only difference would be if you aren't on automated billing (and if you aren't, I'll be talking to you soon to change that).

We're busy working on many new, wondrous, and very, very COOL features for hosting clients, which will be implemented...as soon as they're done. Some changes have already been put in place, such as nightly backups are now done of the entire server onto a separate disk. We are working towards full redundancy in all areas that affect clients' websites and business operations. More information on upcoming changes as they happen.

*sanitycheck is a function in programming that verifies the code is correct and does not contain errors.