Here’s a Unique and very Original gift… this year give mom her own Website and Hosting plan, something she’s never received on any other Mother’s Day before.  A great way for mom to communicate with Family, Friends, Grand-kids and more.  Perhaps mom is runs a home based business, or has a passion for photography or even a flair for artwork… having a website would be a great idea for any mom and the possibilities are endless.

Today and all week, you’ve the opportunity at great savings!  Not just one hot special but two FANTASTIC deals you don’t want to miss out on.  Don’t just take our word though… continue on below and see for yourselves!

Save 20% on ALL Hosting Plans

Mom means so much to us, she’s our whole reason for being and Foxyhare Web Services wants to give away a small thanks to all the wonderful women out there who have given life to all these beautiful people.

Right now when you register with any of our Premium Hosting Plans (Standard, Business, Premium) you can use the limited time coupon code “MOMH2010” to receive an additional 20% off your total cost.  This is a 1 time offer and would serve most beneficial for long-term subscriptions (ie, Semi-Annual and Annual) although this special offer is not limited to any specific subscription term.

If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us.

This offer is available exclusively to Foxyhare Web Services pre-existing and new clients and a limited time special for 1 week (Mothers Day to May 17th, 2010).

Need help with signing up for a Hosting Plan?  We’ve designed a step-by-step guide to help with “New Account Registrations“.

Domain Name Registrations

For only a limited time, you’ve the opportunity of purchasing and registering your new Domain Names with Foxyhare Web Services and saving $5.00 per new domain Registration!  This offer is only available for New Domain Names registered between Mothers Day 2010 and May 17th, 2010.

Save on EVERY new Domain Name Registration!

Use the coupon code “MOMD2010” to validate this Special Offer.

* Once you’ve selected your desired Domain Name, you must complete a registration form and before completing your payment you’ll be asked if there is a COUPON CODE available.  This is where you would type in the code “MOMD2010” and your invoice total will be adjusted accordingly.

* Domain Names are non-refundable once you’ve completed your purchase.  Domains are an annual (yearly) cost and this offer will only apply with first year new registrations and only for a limited time.

A Tribute to Mother

On Mothers Day, pay your most humble tribute to Mother!

Mothers are everything for us when we are small…our lives revolve around her. For everything that we need we call mother. To protect us from all perceivable dangers we want her around us. To take us out we hold her arms. To kiss away our wounds we run to her. And for a warm hug and love we look for her. She is the focal point of our lives, the greatest human being in the world or should we say divinity on earth. On the special occasion of Mothers Day pay tribute to your mother – the greatest blessing of God on you.

On Mothers Day Thank your Mother

There is simply no way we can ever really thank mother for all she has done for us. She is the one who will be awake all night when we are sick. Praying to God to make us well and be ever ready to bear the pain that we may be experiencing. She is the one to wake up early in the morning to make the nicest tiffin and endure all our tantrums. Mothers are the ones who would forever complain that we are not eating enough or not eating right. They would cook all sorts of things so that we be strong and healthy. Mothers infact, worry more for our examinations than we must. They would take pains to complete our school projects leaving all other works behind while we play around with friends or just while away time watching movies.

On Mothers Day Apologise to your Mother

Mothers are the one on whom we put all the blame for our failures. We would not hesitate once to point her single faux pas though she would not miss even a slightest opportunity to praise us. Isn’t it tough to imagine how she must have borne our temper tantrums when we were teenagers. And how hard we must have made her life by behaving so rude and difficult. And yet she was so astonishingly cool. It it easy for the kids to be so demanding from parents, specially mothers as we take her affection and care so much for granted. Most often to the extent of selfishness. Mothers Day is the right time to apologise for all the troubles that we gave to our moms, without even realizing at most times how troublesome we must have been to her.

Celebrate Mothers Day with your Dear Mother

Mothers Day is the perfect day to celebrate the joys of having a mother. It is the time to make amends for not being able to spend quality time with her. So turn your wrongs right by making all efforts to give a perfect Mothers Day to your mother. Think about her likes and dislikes about gifts and idea on celebration and act accordingly. Strive to make Mothers Day absolutely hassle free for your mother and take the responsibilities on yourself for a day. Pamper her a little on this special day of hers just as she pampers you all the year round. Give her a warm hug and a big kiss as you wish her a Happy Mothers Day!

Thanks to “Mothers Day Celebration” for the above wonderful article.

Once you make changes to your domain with the registrar you purchased your domain from, the changes will first have to be uploaded to the registry, which will then update its DNS servers with the new information. ISPs DNS resolvers can then pick up this information through a sequence of stages, a simplified version of which is as follows:

• the DNS resolver queries the DNS root servers for the registry’s DNS server information
• it then queries the registrar’s DNS servers for the domain’s own DNS server information
• finally, it queries the domain’s own DNS servers (which are typically run either by or on behalf of the domain’s owners, often by the domain registrar that issued domain) for the domain’s detailed DNS information

In practice, this process may involve several extra more cascades of DNS lookups than are described here, but the effect is ultimately roughly the same as the above.

Once an ISP’s DNS resolvers have obtained your DNS record information, they then cache it for a period which may vary from ISP to ISP. This time is generally controlled by the TTL field of each DNS record, but some ISPs may hold the data for a longer or shorter period, depending on the particular software and settings they are using on their DNS resolvers.

As a result, it may take several days for changes to a domain’s DNS records to propagate throughout the Internet; firstly the information must propagate from your registrar to the registry, secondly the registry must update its own DNS servers, and thirdly the ISPs recursive resolvers must forget their cached copies of any previous settings.

Article source is: Wikipedia – Domain Propagation.

This is Step #2 in our Guide > Step 1 is “Signing-up for Hosting“.

This tutorial can be used by everyone but is specifically designed for first time users / clients building their first websites and making use of their first Hosting services offered here at Foxyhare Web Services.

A commonly asked question directed to our Technical Support is “what do I do next?” and that is a very good question to be asking and a very loaded question at that. There are so many different routes a Webmaster can take when building and managing their websites; here we will describe only a few.

Upon completing your Payment, you were sent information to your email account (the email address you used to register with), an email titled “New Account Information” and this will contain all the necessary details to using your Hosting Account at Foxyhare Web Services.

Included in that email will be both your “Login Username” and “Password“, along with temporary Website Access information so you can work on your Website while the domain names propagate.

This temporary Website Access URL / Link will look similar to an IP address, this is the IP address for your site and for the meantime you can use this information and the URL provided to access and work on your website.

Once your domain name has propagated (usually within 24-48 hrs of registration) you will be able to access your website through the domain name you registered using the same information provided within this instructional email.  (Not sure what Domain Propagation is?  Learn more here.)

—

Now the fun part. Accessing your cPanel.

The cPanel is where a Webmaster administrates their websites. Here you will find all the necessary tools for building, managing and maintaining your websites on a day-to-day basis and with ease too.

Using your cPanel access provided in the email, login with your Username and Password.

Once you’ve logged into your cPanel you will notice there are many different “icons” and features available to you. Feel free to scroll down and browse the list of items available.

To the left you will notice a side-bar with various account information that flows downwards, while to the right of the side-bar content you will find the main body of our cPanel and which would be the many options available to you.

The left side bar contains Statistics called “Stats” and beneath it is information that pertains to your specific Hosting Services at Foxyhare.com – Looking at these statistics you can see what options are available to your account such as “Disk Space, Bandwidth Usage, Databases, Subdomains, FTP Accounts, Email Accounts, etc.” all which are manageable right from within your cPanel.

Now looking to the right and the body of the cPanel, you will notice a variety of icons, each labeled and categorized accordingly. They all serve different purposes, while not all these tools will be necessarily needed, they are available if you do require them at some point.

To someone building their first website, this may become a little overwhelming to you, “what the heck is all this stuff? Why do I need it?” and this too is a good question; let us try and explain some of their uses and functions.

In order (top of page to bottom when viewing your cPanel page):

Preferences

• Getting Started Wizard:
  First time in cPanel? This is a great place to start. This will give you an in-depth explanation to what Hosting Services provide you and a bit about your cPanel.
• Video Tutorials:
  These tutorials are made available to use in relation to cPanel and its different functions. These are basic tutorials that will break down using features like mySQL databases, changing your cPanel appearance, cPanel shortcuts, creating Subdomains, making Backups, FTP use and much more.
• Change Password:
  The password sent to you upon registration is encouraged to being used as it is a strong encrypted password, however, if you want to change this password at any time you can use this area to do so.
• Update Contact Info:
  Update your Website contact preferences.
• Change Style:
  Change the appearance for your cPanel.
• Branding Editor:
  Is only available to limited accounts. This is a reseller feature.
• Change Language:
  You can edit the cPanel default language to your language if necessary / different.
• Shortcuts:
  Drag and drop shortcut links.
• RVSkin Theme Changer:
  You can change the Theme used on your cPanel.

Mail Management

• Email Accounts:
  Manage your email accounts.
• Box Trapper:
  A method of Spam Protection.
• Spam Assassin:
  Another method of Spam Protection.
• Forwarders:
  Create email Forwards. Anything sent to one email is forwarded to another.
• Auto Responders:
  Going on Vacation? Set an away response. Create confirmation messages and etc.
• Default Address:
  Is your “Catch-All” email account for this website.
• Mailing Lists:
  Create mailing lists with Subscriptions and Subscribers.
• User Level Filtering:
  Manage email account filters. Useful for those giving out email accounts.
• Account Level Filtering:
  Manage the filters for your main account.
• Email Delivery Route:
  Allows you to track how an email is delivered. Useful for correcting issues.
• Import Addresses / Forwarders:
  This feature allows you to use 2 types of files to create multiple email address or email forwarders for your account simultaneously.
• Email Authentication:
  Is the effort to equip messages of the email transport system with enough verifiable information so recipients can recognize the nature of each incoming message automatically. Enabling email authentication will help fight the spread of spam.
• MX Entry Maintenance:
  An MX (Mail Exchanger) entry tells a client which server receives mail sent to a domain name.

Files and Management

• Backups:
  This is where you would create and restore backups. This is an important area.
• Backup Wizard: Will automatically generate a Backup for your website with a step by step process.
• File Manager:
  Is where you manage the server files directly. Something you will use often unless you make use of one of the various FTP programs available online (free or paid).
• Legacy File Manager:
  An alternative File Manager to the previously mentioned. In some aspects better than the first, although each serves the same purpose and that is to edit, upload, download and manage your website contents.
• Web Disk Accounts:
  The Web Disk allows you to easily drag and drop files to your hosting account. You can create a Web Disk login and access with this feature.
• Disk Space Usage:
  This will give you a breakdown of which folders are being used and how much space they are occupying. It will not show you the disk space taken by individual files, but rather directories and folders themselves.
• FTP Accounts:
  This is for managing your FTP accounts for yourself and others (Learn more about FTP from our Blog).
• FTP Session Control:
  See who is logged in through FTP access, manage, edit and disconnect connections.

Logs

• Latest Visitors:
  View detailed information about your latest visitors.
• Bandwidth:
  Monitor your Bandwidth usage.
• Raw Access Logs:
  Monitor your Access Logs.
• Error Logs:
  Monitor your website errors.
• Choose Log Programs:
  Available only to specific accounts.
• Awstats:
  In-depth detail about visitors coming and leaving your websites.

Security

• Password Protect Directories:
  Protect the various Website Directories with Password security.
• IP Deny Manager:
  Deny a specific IP address from accessing your websites.
• SSL / TLS Manager:
  Only available by request. SSL certificates are required for this feature.
• Hotlink Protection:
  Stop others from stealing your images.
• Leech Protect:
  Protect directories from Leeching.
• GnuPG Keys:
  Is a publicly available encryptions scheme that uses the “Public Key” approach. With GnuPG, messages are encrypted using a public key however, they can only be decrypted by a “private key”, which is retained by the intended recipient of the message.

Domains

• Subdomains:
  Are URLs for different sections of your website. They use your main domain name and a prefix (example is sub.yourdomain.com) – Here is where you would create and manage your Subdomains.
• Addon Domains:
  Here you can manage your Addon Domains. This allows you to host multiple domains within your one hosting account. A very useful feature for those who manage multiple websites and do not wish to pay for multiple hosting accounts.
• Parked Domains:
  Do you have a domain that re-directs to another website? Perhaps you own a variety of the domain TLD’s (Top Level Domains, example: .com, .net, .ca, .org, etc) and wish for them all to direct to one website URL, this is how you’d do it. You can also “park domains” waiting to be designed / created.
• Redirects:
  Create Redirections for your websites. If you want a page to redirect to a specific area within your website or even outside your website, this is where you’d manage these features.
• Simple DNS Zone Editor:
  If necessary, you can edit your DNS Zones. Thread lightly within this area it is suggested you’re experienced with this before editing these settings.

Databases

• MySQL Databases:
  Here is where you would create, manage and maintain your Databases and Users.
• MySQL Database Wizard:
  This is a fantastic help-wizard for setting up and understanding your Databases.
• phpMyAdmin:
  Used in managing your Database tables.
• Remote MySQL:
  Setup a remote SQL connection with the server.

Software / Services

• CGI Center:
  This is a collection of “Pre-Installed CGI scripts” available for your use.
• Site Software:
  Activate whether or not you want to be informed of software upgrades and updates.
• Perl Modules:
  More for experienced users. Perl modules are collections of functions that allow you to perform tasks in Perl. You will need to install a Perl module before you can use it inside a Perl program.
• PHP PEAR Packages:
  More for experienced users. PEAR packages are collections of functions that allow you to perform tasks in PHP. You will need to install a PEAR package before you can use it inside a PHP program.
• PHP Configuration:
  For the experienced users, here are some available PHP configurations. If required you can contact Support for additional information.
• RV Site Builder:
  This is our Premium Website Builder program that can assist you in designing your websites. You can find more information about this program using the “Features” menu, or clicking here. Included with this website builder is over 700+ pre-installed and ready to use Website Templates.
• Softaculous:
  Is a program that contains over 160+ Pre-Installed scripts readily available for your use at anytime. It makes installing programs and applications like WordPress, Joomla, majority of all major CMS’s (Content Management Systems) an ease. It can be done with just a few steps and your off and running within minutes. You can learn more about this under “Features” or by clicking here.
• Fantastico De Luxe:
  Much like Softaculous, although an alternative pre-installer as some of our clients prefer this over the other. Although by choice, both offer amazing pre-installed scripts readily available for your use. You can learn more about Fantastico De Luxe under our “Features” or by clicking here.
• Master Reseller CP:
  This is only available for certain hosting plans (ie, Reseller accounts).

Advanced

• Apache Handlers:
  For the experienced crowd. These will allow you to control what Apache will do with certain file types. When Apache sees a file, it has an action built in for that file type, and will perform that action. If you wish Apache to do a different action, you will need to make a handler telling Apache how to handle and perform that action.
• Image Manager:
  The image manager will allow you to view and modify the images in your account. You can change the size of your images, convert their file type, or just view them with the Image Manager and make the according edits if necessary.
• Index Manager:
  The index manager allows you to customize the way a directory will be viewed on the web. You can select between a default style, no indexes, or two types of indexing. If you do not wish people to be able to see files in your directory, choose the now indexing feature.
• Error Pages:
  This gives you the ability to create Custom Error Pages (view our Blog for more HTTP Error Codes). An error page informs a visitor when there is a problem accessing your website. Each type of problem has its own code. For example, a visitor who enteres a nonexistent URL will see a 404 error, while an unauthorized user trying to access a restricted area of your site will see a 401 error page.
• Cron Jobs:
  For the more advanced users, Cron jobs allow you to automate certain commands or scripts on your site. You can set a command or script to run at a specific time every day, week, etc. For example, you could set a cron job to delete temporary files every week so that your disk space is not being used up by those files.
• Front Page Extensions:
  Frontpage extensions allow you to publish your site directly from FrontPage application. This means that you will not have to upload files through FTP or any other method.
• Network Tools:
  This allows a user to find out information about any domain, or to trace the route from the server your site is on to the computer you are accessing cPanel from. Finding out information about the domain can be useful in making sure your DNS is setup properly as you will find out information about your IP address as well as your DNS.
• Submit a Support Request:
  This is an alternative method of submitting a request for support, while at the same time you can also visit our Clients Area and submit your support tickets there.
• Virus Scanner:
  Our servers do come with high security and this is not a necessary task for you, but if you believe there was something missed and perhaps a virus is contained within your website files, this is a great place to start your searches as it will scan the directories selected to see if there are any conflicts or viruses.
• MIME Types:
  For the more experienced clients, MIME types tell browsers how to handle specific extensions. For example, the text/html MIME text equates to .htm, .html, and .shtml extensions on most servers, and this tells your browser to interpret all files with those extensions as HTML files.

Now that you’re somewhat familiar with your cPanel and its features, its time you start constructing your website. Now as mentioned above, the Webmaster has many options available and its impossible for us to list all the methods in which you can use in creating your websites. However, we can suggest a few options that could be helpful for you in designing your websites and these will be discussed in our next Step-by-Step Guide to be published soon.

It can sometimes be overwhelming when first signing up with a new Hosting company. Each company has its own unique process for setting up hosting accounts and we’d like to just take a moment and walk through how simple it really is to sign up at Foxyhare Web Services.

1.) First you will need to select your desired hosting plan and you can do this by visiting our “Hosting” link at the top of the page or by clicking here. There you will find details to our available hosting packages at which point you can select which hosting package is best suited for you.

2.) The next step is configuring your Domain Name options.  You are given 3 options to select from:

1. I want Foxyhare Web Services to register a new domain name for me.
   This means you do not currently have a domain name and would like to register a new domain name with Foxyhare Web Services.
2. I want to transfer my domain to Foxyhare Web Services.
   If you already own and manage a domain name elsewhere, but interested in transferring it to us, this would be your desired selection.
3. I will update my name servers on an existing domain or I will register a new domain elsewhere.
   You already own a domain name and would like to continue hosting it where its currently at. This is OK. You can point the Domain Name to our servers which all the appropriate information for this would then be emailed to you upon completing your registration.

3.) Once you’ve selected your desired choice you’ll load a new page with Product / Service information for the desired package. Here you will also find the option to select your “Billing Cycle” (ie, Monthly, Semi-Annually, Annually). After you’ve made your selection click “Update“.

4.) This new page will load a “Shopping Cart” review page. You will see listed the items you’ve selected for your Hosting Package, including the Domain Name if you’ve opted to purchase one.

At this time, if you have available a “Coupon Code” you would then enter it and click the “Validate Code” button. If the coupon code you’re using is valid the cost of your total will be adjusted accordingly.

At this point you would then click “Checkout“.

5.) Now you’re ready to fill in your “Client Details” which will remain private and only for our personal records. This information is not shared with any third-party clients / partners and is strictly for the use of Foxyhare Web Services only.

Once you have completed filling in your Client Details, there is the “Payment Method” available near the bottom. You can select at this time “PayPal” or “Google Checkout“. If necessary we can arrange other payment methods but you will be required to contact us in regards to these.

At this point you can add Additional Notes for us if there are any and if not you can proceed with clicking “Complete Order“. Be sure to check the “Agreement” box above this complete order button as this is a requirement by Foxyhare Web Services and our Hosting Terms and Conditions.

Once you have completed the order you will be provided an “Invoice” and will receive emails with details to both your Client Account and instructions on how to complete the payment for the services selected.

As soon as your payment is completed the account will automatically be setup, there is no wait-time for your account setup. However, new domain registrations do take anywhere from 24-48 hours to propagate and you can find more information about Domain Propagation’s in our blog.

It’s that easy but if you’ve any questions please do not hesitate to Contact Us or leave a comment beneath this post.

We do hope this Step-by-Step guide has been of some use to you.

Kind regards,
Foxyhare Staff

Continue on to our next Step-by-Step tutorial:
“What Next? – Exploring your cPanel.”

She and 42 others had commented on our Hosting Contest page as required by the contest and entered for a chance to win an entire years worth of free hosting services compliments of Foxyhare Web Services (www.foxyhare.com).

Her prize winnings will include:

500 Mb’s of Storage
5000 Mb’s of Bandwidth

Other features mentioned on the Contest details page.

Thank you so much everyone for participating in our Hosting Contest and we can assure you all in the near future we’ll be doing other promotions and contests for more opportunities at winning various prizes offered by Foxyhare.com.

We’ll update when we can with our winners website link once available.

Kind regards,
Foxyhare Staff

We’re quite certain a good percentage of you have come across many of these messages while browsing the Internet.  Some more than others but certainly you’ve seen the most common such as “404 errors” that you receive when visiting a website that no-longer exists or has moved its location elsewhere leaving behind a dead (broken) link.

When a request is made to your server for a page on your site (for instance, when a user accesses your page in a browser or when Googlebot crawls the page), your server returns an HTTP status code in response to the request.

This status code provides information about the status of the request. This status code gives Googlebot information about your site and the requested page.

Some common status codes are:

• 200 – the server successfully returned the page
• 404 – the requested page doesn’t exist
• 503 – the server is temporarily unavailable

A complete list of HTTP status codes is below. You can also visit the W3C page on HTTP status codes for more information.

1xx (Provisional response)

Status codes that indicate a provisional response and require the requestor to take action to continue.

2xx (Successful)

Status codes that indicate that the server successfully processed the request.

3xx (Redirected)

Further action is needed to fulfill the request. Often, these status codes are used for redirection. Google recommends that you use fewer than five redirects for each request. You can use Webmaster Tools to see if Googlebot is having trouble crawling your redirected pages. The Crawl errors page under Diagnostics lists URLs that Googlebot was unable to crawl due to redirect errors.

4xx (Request error)

These status codes indicate that there was likely an error in the request which prevented the server from being able to process it.

5xx (Server error)

These status codes indicate that the server had an internal error when trying to process the request. These errors tend to be with the server itself, not with the request.

Resource for this Article is: Google Webmaster Tools

What is FTP?

Dating back to at least April 1971 the File Transfer Protocol is one of the oldest protocols supporting the internet, and is more common than many people know. FTP clients are programs that reside on a PC and enable fast bulk file transfers between the PC and a server. They connect using File Transfer Protocol via different ports. They are very useful when you need to download or transfer more than a few files, and are an essential tool for website management.

Below we have compiled a list of FTP programs that are of usefulness to majority of our fellow webmasters. With each listed program we’ve provided a brief review of both its interface and functionality, as well providing you with screen-shot views.

Our collection of Reviewed FTP Programs:

1.) FTP Commander – is a favoured FTP client for us at Foxyhare.com.  This program offers its users a simple and very easy to understand interface.  In reality it’s bare minimum with no extra frills or thrills, but its direct and very efficient in performing its tasks.  To its users, it offers a no-nonsense interface consisting of two side-by-side local computer and FTP server panels with easy drag and drop execution.  With the ability to setup multiple access to FTP accounts, you can easily navigate between accounts you have and/or need.  Features included are:  FTP connection profiles, Built-in Compression, ASCII or Binary, Auto-detect transfers, CHMOD, SSL, Edit and Manage directories and files, as well much more.

2.) CoffeeCup Free FTP – is another no frills or thrills FTP program.  Alike to FTP Commander, it offers all the necessary features and options necessary in an FTP program.  Easy to use for uploads, downloads and transfers.  It connects to any FTP server and is capable of maintaining connections to multiple server profiles.  It by far is not the best looking program, but it does accomplish all your needs in the interest of uploading, downloading and maintaining your websites.  Features included are:  SFTP, drag and drop, file management, ASCII or Binary, CHMOD and more.

3.) FireFTP – is an add-on driven by the FireFox / Mozilla community.  Do not be fooled by its simplicity though.  It has many of the same features presented in other FTP programs.  FireFTP advanced features include: directory comparison, syncing directories while navigating, SSL encryption, search/filtering, integrity checks, remote editing, drag & drop, file hashing, and more. With this robust feature set, its ease of use and browser integration, FireFTP should now serve the needs of all but the heaviest power user.

4.) FileZilla – This is probably the most popular free FTP program available. It has a large following, in part due to it being an open source program. That certainly isn’t the only reason though. FileZilla is not as nice to look at, but is very fast and efficient. The program uses very little resources and provides all the typical functionality required in an FTP program. It boasts features like drag & drop, transfer queues, resume, large file transfers, and many more. If you don’t care about the appearance and you just want a fast, easy, and full featured program, this is your program.

5.) GoFTP – This program presents itself as the fastest multi-threaded FTP program available, working 314% faster than its competitors.  Speed and ease of use are the biggest sellers for this program and will also perform “on the fly compressions,” as well as instant connections and directories through its proprietary technology.  Easy integrations with your favourite HTML editors make File Transfers extremely simple. And for our International clients, this FTP program supports the use of multiple languages.  Let’s not forget to mention it also includes the common features like drag and drop, site management, uploads and downloads and much more!

6.) Cyberduck – For Mac OS users, a reader has suggested Cyberduck. Cyberduck is an open source FTP, SFTP, WebDAV and Amazon S3 browser licenced under the GPL. With an easy to use interface, integration with external editors and support for many Mac OS X system technologies such as Spotlight, Bonjour, QuickLook and the Keychain.  We have not yet been able to test run this ourselves and if you have a review we’d love to hear it.

7.) WinSCP – is an easy to use FTP program that offers a semi-friendly user interface very much similar to the one offered in FTP Commander, but also similar to that interface in CoreFTP (very crowded interface). One thing that does separate it from the others is that it offers you two options for layouts which can allow users the ability to change to what suits them best. Offering its users pretty much the most common features like, drag and drop, uploads and downloads, file functions / management and much more.

8.) CoreFTP Lite – is another no frills or thrills FTP program, but does offer its users a very simple interface that allows the most commonly needed functions like drag and drop, multiple FTP transfers on various servers / sites, session save, uploading and downloading, as well as file management.  As for its interface we believe it to be a little more complex than they’d like to say it is.  Very crowded with buttons and features that do not explain themselves well although, once a user gets familiar with its layout and functions it’s quite the useful program.  The biggest down to this FTP is that you will so-often get a popup nagging you to upgrade to the commercial version of this FTP program.

As time permits us, we’ll do our best to create tutorials that will help you in using these FTP programs. If by chance we come across some already useful tutorials we’ll be sure to include them as well if we can receive permission from their authors.

If we’ve left out any FTP programs you think are worthy additions, please leave a comment and we’ll revise our list to include these new items. We are very excited to hear what you’ve to add to these, whether it be from personal experience or additional information / reviews to include with our collection of useful FTP programs.

Also a reminder to our hosting clients:

Inside your cPanels is a fully functional File Manager that can assist you in both uploading and downloading files to and from your desktop and servers.  This File Manager does not include the drag and drop features as many FTP desktop programs do, but does allow the client to select where they want the downloads to be stored and vice-versa for the uploads to the server. Super friendly interface makes managing your website very simple.  Features include: editing files, HTML editors, code editors, download and upload management, CHMOD, Backups, Packing / Un-packing and much more.

In this Photoshop web design tutorial, we’re going to learn how to create a slick and minimal-looking website layout. We will use the 960 Grid System as a template to make it easy to align the design elements on the layout.

Preview

Here’s a preview of what we’ll be creating together, click the image to enlarge.

Create a new Photoshop document

1.) We’ll be using the 960 Grid System (download it at http://960s/) as a starting template. Once downloaded, ppen up the file called 960_grid_12_col.psd and then hide the group called 12_col_grid.

Creating the background

2.) First of all, right-click on the Background layer in the Layers Panel and then choose Layer From Background. This will unlock the Background layer so that it’s editable. I named the Background layer as bg.

3.) Now select the Gradient Tool (G), set your Foreground color to #efefef and your background color to #cacaca. Select Radial Gradient as the type of gradient in the Options bar. Drag the gradient onto the canvas so that you have something similar to this:

Designing the header section

4.) We’ll add a new horizontal guide at the 50px mark from the top of the document to set our top borders. This will mark the location of the layout’s header section.

5.) We’ll start adding our title and slogan; select the Horizontal Type Tool (T) and type your site’s name and your slogan. Here are the font settings I used in the layout:

“YourName”

• Font family: Nilland font (get it from dafont.com)
• Font size: 33pt
• Font weight: Bold
• Anti-aliasing setting: Strong
• Color: #525252

“some awesome slogan”

• Font family: Arial
• Font size: 14pt
• Font weight: Regular
• Anti-aliasing setting: Strong
• Color: #207687

6.) Align the fonts on the left top, using your guides for accurate placement.

Creating our navigation

7.) Select the Horizontal Type Tool (T) and type the navigation text (home, about us, services, portfolio, and contact) using the following font settings:

• Font family: Arial
• Font size: 17pt
• Font weight: Regular
• Anti-aliasing setting: Strong
• Color: #525252

8.) Use the document’s guides to align the navigation link text like the following image:

Creating the search bar

9.) Now it’s time to create the search bar that’s situated on the right of the navigation links. Select Rounded Rectangle Tool (U), set the Radius option value to 5px, and then draw the rounded layer shape onto the canvas such that it has 155px width and 20px height, and located at the right of the navigation links.

10.) Add an Inner Shadow layer style by double-clicking on the rounded rectangle shape layer in the Layers Panel to open up the Layer Styles dialog box. Use the following settings below for the layer style settings:

11.) Let’s create the GO button now. Create a new rounded rectangle shape with the same height (20px) and Radius option value (5px), but with a width of 30px.

12.) Apply a vertical (90 degrees) Linear Gradient layer style onto the Go button, with the left color stop being #2fa9c1 and the right color stop being #207687.

13.) And then write any text like “search…” using the Horizontal Type Tool (T) on top of the search bar; use a white color (#ffffff).

14.) Using the Custom Shape Tool (U), create a white arrow and align it to the center. I used the custom shape called Arrow 2, which comes standard in Photoshop CS versions. Look for it in the Shape option dropdown menu in the Options bar.

Our search bar should be looking like this:

15.) Before we move to the next step, just make sure that everything is well-organized in our document. Here’s a screen grab of my Layers Panel as I was developing the layout:

Creating the separating lines

16.) Using the Line Tool (U), Create two 1px lines on top of each other, with the following color values:

Note: There are many ways to set the colors of the line shapes. The first is by setting the Color option in the Options bar before drawing the lines. The other way, if you already drew the lines, is to use a Color Overlay layer style. I’ll let you decide how to do this.

Adding the sub-navigation

17.) Type your sub-navigation text using the Horizontal Type Tool (T) using the following settings:

• Font family: Arial
• Font size: 17pt
• Font weight: Regular
• Anti-aliasing setting: Strong
• Color: #787878

18.) Make sure that the separating line is centrally aligned between the main and sub-navigation. Here’s how it should look:

Creating the featured designs area

19.) We’ll start creating the place where the image of a featured design would be, so we’ll select Rounded Rectangle Tool (U), and we’ll create a rectangle of 335px width and 128px height, and a Radius option set to 5px.

20.) Apply a gradient Stroke layer style to it by setting the Fill Type option to Gradient. Modify the gradient colors so that it starts at #31aeca and ends at #2b9ab2.

21.) Call this newly created layer photo_holder.

22.) Well, let’s add an image of a featured design by going to File > Place. This will open up the Place dialog box where you can select an image to place on our canvas. Pick an image, and then press the Place button when you’re done.

23.) Make sure that the layer of the image is above the photo_holder layer; if it isn’t, move it. Right-click on the image layer and choose Create Clipping Mask.

24.) Modify the size of the image to fit; you can use Free Transform (Ctrl/Cmd + T). When you’re happy with the size, Make sure that your image is aligned according to the image above, flushed to the right of the layout design.

Add some content to the design

25.) Let’s add some content to our design, but before we do that, we have to set our boundaries for our content. To do that, drag two horizontal guides like in the following image.

Add a title and a category

26.) Use the following settings for the title and category.

Title (in my case it was “Handstand!”)

• Font family: Arial
• Font size: 20pt
• Font weight: Regular
• Anti-aliasing setting: Strong
• Color: #2197b1

Category (in my case it was “Photoshop design”):

• Font family: Arial
• Font size: 17pt
• Font weight: Regular
• Anti-aliasing option: Strong
• Color: #313131

Paragraph content

27.) Add your paragraph text, using the following image for reference.

28.) Choose the Move Tool (V) in the Tools Panel and select our three text layers in the Layer Panel (hold down Ctrl/Cmd while clicking on them to select all of them).

29.) Give them equal spacing using the Distribute top edges option.

Create the slider control

30.) It’s time to create the slider control. Start by duplicating the two lines we’ve created for the navigation, and then resizing them (you can use Free Transform to do this). We’ll make the dark line darker, giving it a color value of #777575.

31.) Then create a small box rectangle shape using the Rectangle Tool (15px wide and 15px high) and apply a Gradient Overlay layer style to it.

32.) Before we move to the next step, we have to organize our layers. Use the following reference image to make sure the layers are in proper order.

Creating the content boxes

33.) First off, we need to set our boundaries. Drag a horizontal guide and put it on the slider line. Leave a 50px gap, and then add another horizontal guide.

34.) Now select the Round Rectangle Tool (U). Create a rectangle of 260px width and 170px height and a color of #d0d0d0. Call this layer bg_1.

35.) Align the rectangle like the following reference image, using the Move Tool (V) to position them accurately.

36.) Right-click on the bg_1 layer in the Layers Panel and choose Create Layer Mask from the contextual menu.

37.) Select the Gradient Tool (G), set your foreground and background color to Black and White (press D to automatically reset the colors). With a linear gradient, drag from top to bottom until you’re satisfied with the look.

38.) Now let’s create the shadow. Duplicate the bg_1 layer. Name the duplicated layer shadow. Place the layer beneath the bg_1 layer. Then apply a Color Overlay layer style with a dark gray color (#3e3e3e).

39.) While having the shadow layer selected, go Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur. Set the Blur Radius to 5.0px.

40.) Using Gradient Tool (G), adjust the layer mask until you have something like this:

41.) Add some content to the box. Below, you’ll see what I ended up with.

42.) Group the content layers that you created into a group called content.

43.) Now we want to align it. Select the content group, hold down the Ctrl/Cmd key, and select the bg_1 layer in the Layers Panel. Choose the Move Tool (V), and click on the Align horizontal centers option and the Align vertical centers option to position them.

44.) Now make two copies of this box by duplicating the layers of the original content box we just created. Align them, change the content, and don’t forget to add a horizontal guide at the bottom.

45.) Let’s check back and make sure that all of our layers are organized; use the screenshot of my layers as reference.

Creating the main content area

46.) Leave a 50px gap and drag a new horizontal guide. Start adding your content and align it according to the following image.

47.) Let’s make it look a bit better. We’ll select Rectangular Marquee Tool (M). In the Style option, choose Fixed Size with a fixed width of 15px and a fixed height of 30px. Set your foreground color to #12197b and fill the rectangular marquee selection with the color (Press Ctrl/Cmd + Backspace to fill).

48.) Using the same settings, you can add some content in the right side.

49.) Drag a new horizontal guide at the bottom. Add a separating line; use the following image for reference.

50.) Check back to see all your layers are organized, using the following image as reference.

Creating footer area

51.) We’ll start with the footer area creation by (again) creating a new horizontal Guide. Leave a 50px gap between the guide above, and drag a new horizontal guide!

52.) Select the Single Row Marquee Tool (M). Set your foreground color to white (#ffffff). Click on the canvas to create the marquee selection. Then press Ctrl/Cmd + Backspace to fill it. Call this layer 1px_upper_line.

53.) Select Rectangular Marquee Tool (M) and create a rectangle of 1020px width (it spans the entire width of the canvas, and 160px height. This will be the background of the footer area. Fill it with any color. Apply a Gradient Overlay layer style to it using the following settings.

54.) Duplicate the 1px_upper_line layer and move it to the bottom of the footer, call it whatever name you want, but I’ve called mine 1px_down_line. Here’s how it looks.

55.) Start adding some content; use the following images for reference:

56.) You can download the social media icons from deviantART – they’re called Aquaticus.Social by Junwei.

57.) Align them like in the following image:

Creating the small footer

58.) Drag a new horizontal guide at the bottom of the big (brown footer), leave a 50px gap, then add a new horizontal guide.

59.) Then write your footer navigation text like so:

60.) Write the copyright text and align it to the right, add a final horizontal guide.

Adjusting the canvas size

61.) Finally, we need to leave another 50px gap between the footer navigation, copyright text and the borders in order to do that, we’ll adjust our canvas size.

Conclusion

And there we have it! We’ve created a clean and minimal layout design!

Download source file

You want a PSD copy don’t you? Here’s a ZIP archive that contains a PSD, and a JPG preview, get it now!

• slick-minimal-layout.zip (4.97MB, ZIP)

About the Author:

Mahmoud Khaled a web and graphics designer from Egypt. He’s also a blogger and tutorial writer. At a young age of 15, he already shows skills equivalent to his much older counterparts. Send him a tweet @MahmoudKhaled, connect with him on Facebook, and visit his site and blog called mkhaled.com.

Original Source to this Article:  SixRevisions.com

Speaking on the topic, a spokesperson for Microsoft said, “IE9 requires the modern graphics and security underpinnings that have come since 2001.”

The statement clearly indicated towards XP that appeared that year.

IE9, which will not be available for at least a year, will come up with new Web technologies and standard. It will support HTML5 video and include a new JavaScript engine that will allow it to deliver sites precisely.

The company also claimed that IE9 will speed up user’s browsing experience by improving the performance of Web-based applications. In addition, it will improve support for CSS3, a visual formatting standard for websites.

In the past few years rival web browsers such as Chrome and Firefox have played a vital role in dragging Microsoft IE’s market shares down.

Article source: Top News

It’s been quite a successful year for Foxyhare Web Services and we owe it all to our faithful Clients, Fans and Supporters. It was you [the Client] who has encouraged our growth by entrusting Foxyhare Web Services to host and monitor your websites (a great honour we might also add!)

It was you [Client and Fans] that have helped us in advertising and promoting our services and we cannot thank you enough for those recommendations and the continued support. By being a Fanpage member of our Facebook Fanpage, you help us Promote our website and our services and its you that has contributed most in making us what we are.

Now that we’ve said our thanks, we’d like to show it by offering everyone within our Fanpage, as well those members to join during our contest a chance to participate in an opportunity to win absolutely 100% free hosting services for one full entire year.

That’s right, 365 days of FREE hosting services and it requires no cost on your part to enter for a chance to win. There are a few requirements though and these will be discussed below.

Contest Rules / Details:

To qualify for a chance you must:
1.) Be a Facebook Fanpage member of Foxyhare Webhost (http://www.facebook.com/Foxyhare).
2.) Be at least 16 years old or older to enter / receive this prize.
3.) Comment / Leave a response on our Blog contest page (this page).
4.) Must own a domain name or is required to purchase one.
5.) Link back to Foxyhare.com within your Footer / Website required (text or graphic).

Note: In our previous contest, we had difficulties contacting our winners due to the fact they joined Foxyhare Webhost simply because of a friends invite and did not necessary need to win any Hosting Services since they’ve already hosting elsewhere (or just simply wasn‘t interested for there was no need). To prevent this from happening, we ask those interested in partaking in our Hosting Contest to post a response to our Blog post concerning the Contest Details.

When posting a response, be sure to include your Full Name and REAL email address. This will be the email address our winner is contacted with. They will also be contacted on Facebook through our Fanpage, so you MUST be a member to QUALIFY for our Hosting Contest.

Your email address will NOT be revealed to anyone but Foxyhare Web Services and your Name is to verify your user account as a Fanpage member of our Facebook Fanpage Foxyhare Webhost so please do your best to use the same name as your Facebook.

Contest Prize Details:

At random, using a Random Number Generator, Foxyhare Web Services will select a winner who met our contest requirements by both being a Fanpage member and posting a comment to our Foxyhare.com website.

The winner will receive Free Hosting Services compliments of Foxyhare Web Services. Your hosting plan will include the following details:

Package Name: 2010-May-Contest
Contest Starts: Immediately
Contest Ends: May 1st 2010

Package Costs: $5.00 a month CAD
Year End Save: $60.00 in Hosting Services is what you SAVE!!

Storage Capacity: 500 Mb’s
Transfer Capacity: 5000 Mb’s

Features Included will be:

Website Builder (Pro Edition and includes 700+ Website Templates)
100 Email Accounts (Forwards, Auto-Responders, Spam Filters)
1 mySQL Database (make use of it for anything you’d like)
1 FTP Username / Access
1 Hosted Domain Name (Only one hosted Domain Name allowed)
0 Parked Domain Names
0 Addon Domain Names
Unlimited access to cPanel
Unlimited access to Fantastico
Unlimited access to Softaculous
Unlimited access to FTP
24/7 365 days a year Technical Support
To review more about our Feature, checkout the “Features” page.

** Foxyhare Web Services “Terms of Service” do apply to this contest package.

This is the perfect hosting account for basically anything you’d like. Whether it be a Personal Blog, Photo Gallery / Album, Business Website, News Portal or etc., this package should cover almost all your needs when it comes to managing and building your own website.

Some contest PERKS:

Our Fanpage currently has 140 Fanpage Members. For every 100 members this number goes up by, Foxyhare Web Services will include an extra 100 MB’s storage until we’ve capped at 1000 MB’s storage capacity for the contest winner.

If by some miracle our Fanpage does reach 740+ Fanpage members we’ll throw in a Free Domain Name Registration of your choice and just to show our gratitude for your support we’ll double the Bandwidth to a monthly Bandwidth of 10,000 MB’s (that’s 10 Gb’s)!

Now *if this happens our winner will then receive:
1000 Mb’s Storage & 10 Gb’s of Bandwidth – Wow!

If our winner is OK with it, we’ll also provide them with FREE advertisement on Foxyhare.com for an entire month, as well a blog entry announcing their win and website (if OK).

Some FAQs:

1.) Can clients partake in this contest?
Answer: Yes and if you win we’ll credit 365 days to your hosting account!

2.) Are there any catches to this hosting contest?
Answer: Other than the simple request of a link within your website Footer or somewhere inside your website, we have no catches to this contest.  You’re not even required to purchase your domain name from Foxyhare.com if you’re the winner.  It’s up to you and we’ll accept your decisions.

*Questions asked more than 3 times will be included in this list.

Questions and concerns can be submitted to our comments area below.  Comments acting as “Entries” for our contest will be held private as they contain details we do not want released.  Comments that do not require being private will not be held but rather posted to the website for others to see and read.

With that said, best of luck to all those who enter and again we appreciate all your continued support at Foxyhare Web Services.

Kind regards,
Foxyhare Staff

http://www.facebook.com/Foxyhare
Join today and comment here to enter for our contest! ITS FREE!