I ultimately chose ixwebhosting.  Two years later, I’m not sure why.  I’m pretty sure I read reviews and determined that they would be a reliable host.  That estimate turned out to be… dead wrong.

In the first year, I experienced a lot of issues with ixwebhosting.  Despite a “99.9%” uptime guarantee, there were times when a problem with the sql server rendered my sites (all database driven) completely inaccessible.  In my second year, these issues seem to have been worked out, but that first year left a real sour taste in my mouth.

Then, over the past year, I’ve been battling various infections to my website.  At first, they were iframe injections that would periodically crop up.  For a time, I wasn’t maintaining any of these sites (although they were still getting a trickle of traffic), and the iframe injection got me blacklisted from Google.  Eugh.

After I sorted that out, I got hit with something like a gumblar infection.  The research I did suggested that this was a local issue – that my computer was compromised and that some kind of trojan was sending my ftp information to a remote server, which then injected script elements into my website.  I cleaned everything up, cleared my ftp information out of filezilla, and then used the web-based control panel with ixwebhosting to change my ftp password.  Still, these script elements kept coming up.  I also put a fresh install of Windows 7 (which I love, btw) onto my desktop.  If there was some kind of local infection, this would have wiped it out – and it didn’t stop the problem.

By this time, I was convinced that something was wrong at ixwebhosting.  They told me that my computer was compromised and that this led to the injections, but it just doesn’t add up.  I tried several different virus/malware scans, and nothing was found.  I changed my ftp password (and never used it in my ftp client).  I even put a fresh install of Windows on the machine.  There’s no way it’s a problem on my side.

This month, my hosting account with ixwebhosting ran out, and I dumped ‘em.  I switched to HostGator and paid for 6-months up front.  So far, I’ve got no complaints.  But it’s only been a week, so I’m not quite ready to pass judgement on them just yet.

As for IXwebhosting?  I’m ready to pass judgement on them.  They suck.  Stay away.  I signed up for two years when I bought my hosting from them, and within a few months I regretted it.  If I hadn’t been locked in for two years, I would have dumped them long ago and switched to a new host.

Initially, I had problems with iframes popping up on my pages. I cleared the themes and deleted the iframes, and periodically they would re-appear. This was annoying, and it was also damaging to my sites (although not a huge concern, since I didn’t update them regularly anymore and I wasn’t really expecting to earn much profit/traffic from them). Then, I noticed that script tags were appearing in the pages, and the whole situation got even more aggravating.

I would remove all of the script tags and clean up the entire server (replacing three wordpress installations and cleaning up three wordpress templates). A few days later, the script tags would be back.

What the heck? I eventually found some reading on the topic – start with this post about Gumblar and then look around Unmasked Parasites. I repeatedly scanned my computer with different virus programs, but I was unable to find any kind of parasite that would transmit my ftp information to a remote server.

Nonetheless, I decided that something like this had to be the problem. I again cleaned up the server, replacing all three wordpress installations and cleaning up the templates. I then cleared all of the passwords out of my FTP client (Filezilla). Finally, I went to my hosting account through my web browser and changed my FTP password to something new and never used it in Filezilla.

So far, so good. It’s been a week or so, and the virus hasn’t cropped back up. Oh, I hope it stays away…

In the meantime, I’ve still been fiddling around a bit with Education Tax Credits.  I also created a blog on WordPress to track any work that I do on mini sites like Education Tax Credits.  I probably won’t have time to start any new sites this month, but come May and/or June I’ve got a couple of ideas brewing that should be fun.

To the right, you’ll see a screenshot of what the site looked like before these latest changes.
 

Changes You’ll Notice

Smaller Logos. The logos have shrunk somewhat (about 70 pixels tall) and they’ve been moved out of the “header” area. Now, they appear kind of on top of the screen.

RSS Subscribe Moved. The “Subscribe to RSS” button used to be just above the Search box. Now, it’s been moved to the very top of the screen.

Header Section Shrunk. The old “header” section (where the colored bars are) has shrunk from 160px to 70px tall. This is partially due to the fact that the giant logo is no longer in that area.

Prominent Location for About, Contact, and Blogroll. The new, smaller header section contains more prominent links for the About, Contact, and Blogroll pages. The original theme kind of neglected these important aspects to the website, but now it is quite easy for a new reader to find them.

Why the Changes?

There are a couple of reasons I made these changes.

First, I wanted to give a more prominent location to the About, Contact, and Blogroll pages. I initially started re-designing a few weeks ago to include these pages (they didn’t exist at all). Once I made them, I realized there was no spot in the old theme to put them.

By redesigning a little bit, I gave them pride of place without using up too much real estate.

That brings me to the second reason – making more efficient use of prime real estate. The old theme had a huge header section which wasted a lot of space. The logo only used 1/3 to 1/2 of the space alotted, leaving a lot of blank space.

By shrinking the logo and adding the small buttons in the header section, I’m using the space a lot more efficiently. Instead of just a logo, it now contains a logo, an RSS subscription button, and a link to four key parts of the site.

The sidebar section moved up quite a bit, too, since the RSS button is now in the header. This allows more of the sidebar to be seen above the fold.

Finally, this opens up some more possibilities for advertising down the road. A lot of sites I’ve seen like to include half banners in the header section. I can easily move the RSS button back to where it was and include a small banner there instead.

I’m not going to do this right away, but it is an option for the future.

Comments? Concerns?

Was the change a good move? A bad move? Notice something wildly wrong?

I’m always open to suggestions, so feel free to leave a comment.

Today I took a stab at it, and I think I’m just about done. I like the concept a lot, but I might tweak the icons I use in the navigation area.

Each of the sub-sites will have it’s own logo, just like “Teach Them Well” looks now. I’ll probably use a different set of icons (to match the color scheme) for each section. I also plan on converting the “Life of Brian” category to the blue theme, since I’m no longer using it for a home improvement section.

Before I finish this, I’m also going to have to make a contact page – since one of the links in the new navigation area is to a contact page. That’ll also accomplish my last major goal for this break (as far as the blog goes).

Now if only I could be this productive in planning what my class is going to do for the next couple weeks…

Advertising. If you look to the righthand side of the page, you may notice a square advertisement. There’s another ad (a horizontal banner) near the footer. These generate a small amount of income for the site.

If you see the phrase “Ads by Google,” then I only make money if you click on it. If you don’t want me to make money, just don’t click on it! Otherwise, if you see something interesting, click through and see what it is. But understand that they are ads, not links that I added to the site.

If you see an advertisement (probably an image or animation) that doesn’t include the phrase “Ads by Google,” then I probably get paid per impression for that advertisement. I made a fraction of a penny just because you loaded the page. Hah! Can’t stop me now.

Links to Amazon.com. I’m a member of the Amazon Associates program. If I mention something that’s sold on Amazon – like a book or a DVD – I’ll probably include a link to it. If you were to follow that link and purchase the item, I’d get a small commission.

If you don’t want me to benefit from this, feel free to open a new window, navigate to Amazon.com, and search for the item I’m discussing. But as I see it, it’s a mutually beneficial arrangement.

When I’m discussing something like a book, it would be helpful if I linked to a page with more information on it (i.e. Amazon). Even though I don’t stand a good chance of making money from the Associates links, they give me an incentive to include the links. Otherwise, I might find it bothersome and include links willy nilly.

The monetary incentive, no matter how little or unlikely, ensures that I provide a quality service to you the reader.

Other affiliate programs. There aren’t any at the moment. At some point, I may get involved with promoting some other products (like Keurig coffee machines and K-Cups or Netflix). If I do, rest assured that it’s something I’ve personally tried and something I loved.

Chances are you probably won’t see this stuff in one of the category-specific feeds. Coffee makers have little to do with education (although they’d be perfect for the teacher”s lounge!), so I won’t be mentioning it much there. Any posts that are more review-y and sales-y in nature will be secluded to the “Life of Brian” category. They’re meant to be search engine bait more than fare for the regular reader.

As I sign up for any other affiliate programs, I’ll keep a list here. That way you can be sure to foil my attempts to put a bit of bread in my jar.

Since I made over the site’s theme last week, I’ve been meaning to write up some About pages. A comment I received on that post – from a fellow teacher blogger, no less – added just a bit of incentive.

Tonight, the task is done, at least for now.

I’ve written up four separate About pages, one to match each of the site’s topics.  The Life of Brian category contains a general About page, while the other three are tailored specifically for the topics.

The most in depth one is certainly the About page for Teach Them Well. I want to make sure the reader has an idea of where I’m coming from as a teacher, since the environment in which we teach makes a lot of difference in the way we perceive things.

The short version: I teach in an urban high school in New Jersey. The long version: go read the About page.

I’m sure I’ll have to go back and re-write these in the future. Aside from the Teach Them Well page, they don’t seem 100% polished. But heck, I don’t know if you can ever expect an About page to be done. Things change, and so does your description.

Let’s consider them works in progress.

If you’re looking for the About pages, try the “About” link in the menu bar. It’s chosen (through a bit of PHP server side scripting) to match the category that you’re currently browsing.

There’s also a link to the general about page in the footer, anchored with the text “Who’s Brian?”

I’d already gotten a taste of WordPress 2.7 with my classroom blogs at wordpress.com, and I knew I liked the new dashboard. It seemed silly to upgrade to the latest version just to upgrade again a few days later.

Last night, I upgraded to WordPress Coltrane (2.7), and the process was pretty smooth.  After backing up the database, I started uploading the new files and it was over in about five minutes.

Changes in Coltrane

I’ve only been using the new version for a day or so, so I haven’t fully explored all of the new features. It certainly looks different -and better.

The first thing you’ll notice is the new dashboard. It’s a pretty radical change from the previous admin style, and I like it. You can customize what appears on the dashboard, and everything is drag-and-droppable to suit your tastes. I’m definitely going to have to take some time and customize it this weekend.

Something else I’m excited about is automatic updates. I always found it a bit irritating that I had to download WordPress and its plug-ins and then re-upload them to the server to upgrade. Now it’s all built in to the WordPress admin area. That’ll probably help me keep up to date with stuff because I used to be a bit lazy about it…

If you’ve got your own WordPress blog, I’d suggest you head over and upgrade. You can also take a look at the introductory video at the WordPress development blog to see some of the changes.

The original theme was pretty close to the Xplosive Reloaded theme by Jai at BlogOhBlog. I started with the theme he developed, made a few minor modifications, and slapped in a couple graphics.

At first I liked it, but a few things quickly started to grate on me. The thin sidebars didn’t seem very user-friendly, and I didn’t like the gray background near the top of the content/sidebar.

So… time to switch things up. I stumbled on the blog at Addicott Web, and I liked the general feel of it. I kept a few of the things I liked about Jai’s theme, added the things I really liked from the Addicott page, and voila: the current theme.

What I Didn’t Like

After looking at the site on a daily basis for the last month or so, a few things started to annoy me.

Thin Sidebars. Originally, I opted for these in order to accomodate advertising. The thin sidebar allowed me to include both sidebar information and a skyscraper ad above the fold.

I pretty quickly got annoyed at the limited width, tho. It seemed to me to limit the readability of the recent posts/recent comments. Thin is ok for categories, but little else will fit into those 160 pixels.

In the new theme, I used one wider sidebar (about 350px), and instead of the skyscraper banner I included a 300×250 square advertisement below the fold. Seemed to be a good compromise.

Gray Background. The original theme had a gray gradient image at the top of the content and sidebar. I like gradients, but this effectively made the background of the first paragraph or so grayish instead of white.

Like Chris at CSS-Tricks, I found that this didn’t look good with images. A lot of stock images have a white background, so there was a clear contrast between the image and the post background.

The new theme boxes in the content and gives the actual post area a pure white background. There’s still a gray gradient, but it’s much shorter, so it won’t ever reach the first block of text (and the first image).

What I Plan On Doing Next

This seems good for now, but I’ll be making a few more changes in the next few weeks. Probably when I have some free time over Christmas break.

About and Contact. I was reading through Steve’s “30 Days to Being a Better Blogger” at Teach42 and I realized I had neither a contact form nor an About page. Oops.

For the moment, I’ll chalk that up to my original theme. I kind of overlooked theme, and I wasn’t sure where to put them. In the normal “Page” list area, I had instead listed the various sub-parts of this site (Nerds at Play, Nerds at Work, etc).

To remedy that, I think I’ll adapt some more of the Addicott theme. I’ll shrink the header (where the logo is currently), and add a series of icons/links to important pages.

I’ll probably shift the actual logo up top, too, the way that Addicott has it. If I move the big “Subscribe” button up top, as well, that will free up some space in the sidebar and move a little bit more above the fold. Seems like a better use of space, all in all.

Finish the Logos. When I started, I made a logo for three of the sub-sites – Nerds at Play, Nerds at Work, and My Old House. Ironically, I’ve been spending almost all my time posting in Teach Them Well… and there’s no logo.

Along with the changes outlined above, I’ll probably simplify the logos of the other parts and add a logo for both the Life of Brian category and the Teach Them Well category. Since I’ve posted almost nothing in My Old House, I’m probably going to drop that category altogether, roll it into “Life of Brian,” and make that section blue.

That’ll leave me with four distinct parts to the site, each with its own color scheme and header logo. Hopefully.

Comments and Suggestions?

If you’ve got any comments or suggestions on how to make the site better, I’d love to hear them.

For some reason I never seem to be able to come up with good ideas re: designing sites. If I don’t see something elsewhere and get inspiration, I have a hard time creating a polished site.

I suppose I’m just more inclined to work on the back end programming things or in the front end writing things. I’d be happy to let someone else to the prett-ifying part.

National Blog Posting Month. You might think it’s only one month out of the year. Turns out it’s every month.

I read about it at Tech Savvy Educator.  I originally thought it was a one month thing – help you commit to blogging daily for a month to establish a rhythm. Turns out it repeats every month, with an optional theme, and you’re still expected to blog daily.

NaBloPoMo is also a social networking tool of sorts. By signing up, you get a blog there… seems kind of strange for a community of bloggers.

Anyhow, I’ve found a somewhat useful purpose for it. At one of the Tech blogs I read (Chris Hope’s LAMP Blog), the author does a weekly and monthly round-up of all the posts that he writes and some statistics about his site. Seems like a good way to reflect on what’s working, what isn’t, and what you may not notice is going wrong.

I’m not sure if that type of thing would appeal to the average reader, so for now I’m writing those weekly/monthly posts over at my NaBloPoMo blog. If you’re interested in some random thoughts and reflections on my posts for the week, head over there. Otherwise, there’s not much you’ll find interesting.

NaBloPomo itself may be of interest though. Check it out.