Microsoft is not the company that comes to mind when you reckon in this area fantastic design. Apple, perhaps, but not Microsoft.

But that may be changing, which we learned when we looked back over 30 years of hardware designs from Microsoft. Although it took Redmond quite a while to get up to speed, its designs are starting to look pretty cool.

1980 – the Z80 SoftCard

Even though Microsoft’s hardware group wasn’t formed until 1982, the initially hardware from Microsoft was introduced in 1980.

The Z80 SoftCard was a co-processor card for the Apple II computer. With it, an Apple II could run software written for the CP/M OS, which, at the time, had a huge library of software. Titles like WordStar and dBase were suddenly available to Apple II users.

Picture courtesy of AppleLogic.org.

1983 – The Microsoft Mouse

The movie War Sports meeting premiered in 1983 as did Microsoft’s initially mouse. “Microsoft, the public who set the standard for software, have done it again with the Microsoft Mouse,” read the ad for the Microsoft Mouse.

Picture courtesy of VintageComputing.com.

Looking at the initially Microsoft Mouse today, we doubt many of you will feel that it was an example of fantastic design. But place it hostile to the initially Apple mouse, and suddenly it doesn’t look so terrible.

1994 – Microsoft Natural keyboard

Although it was not the initially ergonomic keyboard, it was the initially that was widely available and reasonably priced. In 1994, Microsoft unleashed the Natural Keyboard onto the world, and wrists everywhere breathed a sigh of relief.

1996 – Scroll wheel

Two years shortly, in 1996, Microsoft took another huge step in hardware design and added the scroll wheel to its mouse. It’s safe to say that the computer mouse has not been the same since, whether it has “Microsoft” stamped on it or not.

Picture from U.S. Patent 5,912,661.

1999 – Optical mouse

Still focused more on functionality than fantastic looks, Microsoft released the initially money-making optical mouse at the end of the century. This made the input diplomacy not just more right, but made them simpler to clean, as well.

2001 – Xbox

Some public feel the original Xbox still is much better looking than the shortly 360 versions, and many of us as Pingdom would agree with that. The huge and bold “X” featured heavily in all promotional material, and the design of the unit itself was rather striking.

2005 – Xbox 360

The follow-up to the Xbox from 2001 came in 2005 (isn’t it time Microsoft releases a new one?) It has iterated numerous times since then, with different models and designs.

2006 – Microsoft Zune

The Zune digital media player was introduced in 2006, and the whole line was killed off in 2011. We reckon the initially models may not have been that inspiring in terms of the design, but shortly models, like the Zune HD, matched the competition well in that specialty.

But why there was a Zune in chocolate brown affect we never understood.

2006 – Vista Industrial Design Toolkit

Who would have thought the words “Vista” and design would go well together, additional than with “terrible” thrown in there. In 2006, before it introduced Windows Vista, Microsoft released the ”Vista Industrial Design Toolkit.” The job of making the toolkit went to BMW Group Designworks USA, and its remit was to grant “PC designers with guidelines for making hardware that visually connects with the Windows Vista software experience.”

Some of the design concepts it came up with look pretty cool. We just wish more of them made it into the market as shipping products. Not that it would have done much to improve the mostly miserable Windows Vista experience much.

Strictly speaking, this is not Microsoft hardware design, but we included it anyhow because it shows what could have been.

2007 – The initially LifeCam webcam

The initially LifeCam was introduced in 2006 and it wasn’t much to look at. Though, the current models are quite stunning, like the LifeCam studio you can see above. Clever use of different materials for feeling, look, and functionality, as well as striking lines and shapes. Who knew a webcam could look so excellent?

2008 – Microsoft Courier

The Courier was a Booklet that Microsoft started to develop but shortly cancelled. It would have featured dual-touchscreens in a fold-up fashion as well as dual cameras. Considering that it was supposedly in development 2008-2010, it would be fascinating to find out what effect, if any, the initiation of Apple’s iPad in early 2010 had on the Courier project.

2010 – Microsoft Kin

The Kin was another ill-fated hardware project from Microsoft, which, like the Courier, had some pretty exciting design aspects to it. In contrast to the Courier, the Kin really made it to market, but it was pulled after in this area two months due to poor sales.

2010 – Kinect

The functionality of the Kinect may seem like magic but the design? Perhaps not so much.

2010 – Arc Touch mouse

In recent years, Microsoft seems to have started to combine cool looks with practicality and usability. The Arc Touch Mouse is a fantastic example of this. It not only looks fantastic, it also has some very innovative and clever solutions when it comes to functionality.

Metro

The pinnacle of Microsoft design may not be any piece of hardware it has ever place together, but the latest software it will introduce shortly this year: the Metro interface in Windows 8.

You may have noticed that we didn’t place a year next to Metro above, and that’s deliberate. At least some of the guidelines in Metro really saw the light of day in Microsoft’s Media Focal point as well as the Zune many years ago. Then in 2010 Windows Phone arrived, with Metro, but we reckon it’ll be with Windows 8, coming shortly this year, that Metro will be seen and used for the initially time by most users.

After all, Metro has been described as “a design revolution at Microsoft.”

Best Microsoft design yet to come?

Even though Microsoft has produced some stunning hardware designs it is as a software company it is best known.

There’s probably more Microsoft hardware, which we missed to include in this list.

What hardware can you reckon of that Microsoft has designed – cool looking or not – that we should have included?

This was a post from the guys at Pingdom, a site monitoring service that makes sure you’re the initially to know when your site is down. Check it out for free.

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Microsoft hardware design = cool?

Did you look at your website on the new iPad yet? We have browsed quite a few sites by now on that gorgeous 2048 by 1536 pixel show, and we can categorically disorder that the future has arrived.

But whether that future is all bright remains to be seen.

Early signs seem to indicate that we’ll have to endure more bloat, with the possibility that the average size of a web page balloons to nearly 5 MB from the 1.1 MB average today.

It will “wreak havoc on the web”

Brad Frost claimed that the new iPad will “wreak havoc on the web” in a recent blog post. It will do so because graphics have to be updated in order to really shine on the new show.

To take full advantage of all those pixels – four times as many as on the previous iPads – app developers as well as web designers will have to pack more pixels into the graphics used in apps and web pages.

But we’re not really talking in this area apps, for which Apple has by now raised the over-the-air download limit to 50 MB; we’re talking in this area web pages.

Apparently Apple has by now started to dish out graphics with twice the pledge to anyone browsing in to Apple.com using the new iPad. Jason Grigsby did some testing and found that the total size of the Apple.com page increases from 502 kB to 2.13 MB when the retina version of metaphors are loaded.

That’s an increase of a whopping 324%!

With the bloat we are by now suffering from, we wonder if this is precious bandwidth resources well spent.

Looking at the 1,000 most recent tests with the Pingdom Full Page Test Tool, the average page size is 1.1 MB, which is really a pretty excellent size for a web page.

With the same percentage growth as for Apple.com per Jason Grigsby’s test, the average size of a web page would then be 4.7 MB.

Yikes – the average web page could be nearly 5 MB!

Not a huge problem… yet

This is a bit like looking for Smart TVs in the access logs: there may not be much there yet, but we bet it’s coming.

On Facebook, some Pingdom fans suggested that they’d start converting graphics only when 2-3% of visitors to their sites use the new iPad.

Ad arrangement Chitika has stated that the new iPad on Development 30 by now accounted for 5.52% of all iPad traffic. What Chitika forgets or ignores to mention is, what slice of the overall traffic is iPad. We noted in November last year that iPad accounted for 88% of all worldwide tablet web traffic.

Now, will you run out and get yourself a new iPad (if you haven’t by now)?

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New iPad bloat could push average web page size to 5 MB

In this show we were joined by Jacob Gardiner, National Hosting Manager at Squiz. They develop a portfolio of products centered on an open source CMS called Matrix. Check out their Suite and Labs. We talked in this area a range of issues counting how to make money on open source, responsive web design, and much more.

In this area the show

Pingdom’s Podcast is a weekly show in this area Internet, web, wellbeing, app development, and additional mobile stuff. The show is hosted by Magnus at Pingdom. He’s joined every week by various guests from around the world. If you want to be a guest on the show, get in touch.

Listen to the show

Subscribe to the podcast’s RSS feed.

You can subscribe to the podcast in iTunes.

Listen using the SoundCloud player:

Pingdom Podcast by Pingdom

Picture via Shutterstock.

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Pingdom Podcast #15 – Squiz CMS and open source

Did your jaw drop when you initially saw the iPhone 4, which was rendered completely in CSS and JavaScript code?

According to the website where you can view the iPhone, it was produced with “no metaphors… just 3,395 lines of CSS code and 335 lines of JavaScript code.”

We talked to the creator of this very impressive project, Vasiliy Zubach, to find out more in this area him, and learn how he really made all the thousands of line of code work.

Q&A with Vasiliy

Pingdom: Tell us a bit in this area yourself.

Vasiliy: My name is Vasiliy Zubach, or TjRus, for small. I’m a web developer (mostly front-end) from Ukraine, effective at MacPaw. I was born in the small village of Vorokomle and grew up there with only one goal – to go to a house with fantastic opportunities. When I had just turned 13 years ancient, I started that journey by entering the Kiev Physics and Mathematics Lyceum. My main goal was to study to be able to get a excellent job. But that all changed at university, really during my second course, when I found a excellent job and became much less interested in studying. Though, I did end my master’s degree in in rank wellbeing in 2011.

Vasiliy “TjRus” Zubach

Pingdom: How did you get started with web development?

Vasiliy: When I was searching for my initially job I was just looking for vacancies and compared them with what I could do, what skills I had, and what I was interested in. It was very clear my main interest was web development. After studying HTML and CSS for in this area a month, I managed to get offered a job. So in Development of 2008 I started my front-end developer career and I’ve not questioned this even once since then.

Pingdom: How did you come up with the thought of making the iPhone 4 in CSS3?

Vasily: One day at my current job a coworker showed me some cool icons made entirely in CSS3. If you know anything in this area CSS, you would have been amazed just as I was, so when I saw that, I just said to myself “I can do that too and I can make it even better!” But I couldn’t just do the same thing, that didn’t make any senses. So I chose to go further. I chose to make a whole iPhone with icons and everything in CSS3. That was a real challenge, and as far as I knew, no one had done it before me.

Pingdom: How did you build it?

Vasiliy: I have some experience in making an interactive iPhone from before. In this area six months ago, we launched an iPhone wallpaper sharing service (ensoul.me). For this service I’ve by now developed an iPhone, so to speak, but with metaphors. But that meant that the main algorithm and how pieces of code would have to interact were in my head. From that I just started writing code. In fact, the thought was so strongly stuck in my head that I even thought in this area it every day, going back and forth to work. At work there were too many additional fascinating things to do, so the iPhone became something I did with my spare time.

Pingdom: How many hours, in total, did the project take?

Vasiliy: All in all it took in this area 35 hours. I worked on it for a period of time, in this area 1-2 hours every day after work and on weekends. That may not signal like a lot, and perhaps it isn’t, but my previous experience helped me know what needed to be done. That saved time, I reckon. It was all clear in my mind, and I did not have to redo anything once I had started. So that was the start of success.

Pingdom: What equipment (software and hardware) did you use?

Vasiliy: I worked with my personal notebook, an Apple MacBook Pro with 2.4 GHz Core i7 processor and 8 GB RAM. I’ve really tried my CSS3 creation on iPad and iPhone as well, and they run, but way too slow. In terms of software I use Espresso for HTML and CSS3 coding, and Coda for writing scripts. At one point I tried to use Adobe DreamWeaver, but it didn’t work very well with the FTP account I was using.

Pingdom: What was the most hard thing in this project?

Vasiliy: The most hard part was making the icons. Some icons are simple, with few lines of code, like Calendar and Clarification. Many others were very hard, like App Store, because of the huge amount of gradients and rotations. Though, when I had finished it all, I realized there were really no hard parts. I just had to learn a few more things, and all that I can now use in future projects. Drawing every part of the iPhone is simple. Now I can even paint pictures with CSS3! Just kidding.

Zoom in on the iPhone 4 and it reveals some of its incredible details.

Pingdom: Can you tell us if you have any future plans to build something else using the same or similar techniques?

Vasiliy: I don’t reckon that it would be excellent to tell you all my secrets but I can just say that in the  near future I will be revealing something just as cool as the iPhone. Also, an off shoot of the iPhone in CCS3 will be used in another project, to demonstrate an application that I’m effective on.

Pingdom: So you’re leaving us with a cliffhanger, that’s not very nice of you. But let’s go on. If a name else is considering starting a similar project, what advice or suggestions would you have for them?

Vasiliy: If you have any thoughts for things you want to make or apply, do not place them in the future. Just do it! If an thought appeared in your head, it’s worthy of implementing. Not all may become a full project, but you will learn something from each and every one. Often when I’ve had an thought I tell a name in this area it, they reckon I’m just kidding with them. Then I do something with it, like write a piece of code to try it out, and show the same person the result. Often they don’t believe me, saying that they didn’t reckon it was possible. Every thought should have a chance to come alive. Just do it!

Onto the next project

As we end our interview with Vasiliy, he’s by now on his way to the next project. He won’t tell us what it is, as you could read in the interview, but we’re sure it’ll be something really exciting. Vasiliy has though said that he’ll let us in on some of the cool things he’s effective on as soon as possible.

Are you effective on something cool and exciting for the web, the Internet, or just tech in general? We would be interested in featuring you here on Royal Pingdom.

To get in touch with us, you can leave a comment not more than or find us on Chirrup, Facebook, and Google+.

This was a post from the guys at Pingdom, a site monitoring service that makes sure you’re the initially to know when your site is down. Check it out for free.

From:
Inside the mind of the guy who rendered iPhone 4 with only CSS3 code (interview)

There can’t be much doubt that the mobile web is exploding in popularity. From the initially mobile web access offered commercially with the Nokia 9000 Communicator phone in Finland in 1996, things have stirred quick.

Today we’re seeing increased sales in smartphones and tablets, quicker mobile data connections, apps, and more. Basically, we’re accessing Internet services more and more from something that is not a PC.

We’ve place together some numbers to have a crack to show a picture of what the mobile web was like so far in 2011, how it is has developed, and perhaps take a peek into the future as well.

From trim and slim to media galore

Nokia 1100: best selling mobile phone ever (250 million units sold so far)

The mobile web used to mean trimmed-down web pages, accessed over WAP or additional slow connections, serving up mainly text-based content to mobile phones with small screens.

Displays were measured in hundreds of pixels or less and the main method of input was the excellent ancient numerical keypad present on most mobile phones.

Today we see smartphones on the rise larger and quicker, now even with HD displays and soon with quad-core processors. With 4G connections reaching into speeds of hundreds of megabits per second, even a feature-length movie can be downloaded in minutes or streamed live.

Add tablets to that mix, which are often powered by even more powerful processors and have displays of up to 10-inches, making them suitable for browsing regular web pages in their full glory.

By adopting these latest mobile diplomacy, users’ expectations have changed dramatically. Today mobile web users expect a site to load just as quick on their mobile device as it does on their desktop.

That means more work for you if you design and develop websites. But it also means tremendous opportunities for your business.

More and more smartphones

Apple iPhone 4: best selling smartphone ever (75 million units sold so far)

Although a smartphone is not required to access the mobile web it sure helps having the larger show with touch input, quicker processor, and more storage that a mobile phone usually offers.

And customers worldwide are picking up smartphones nearly quicker than manufacturers can make them, it seems.

• 5.9 billion – The estimated number of mobile subscriptions worldwide in 2011.
• 13% – The smartphone share of all mobile handsets in use worldwide.
• 78% – The percentage of worldwide mobile data traffic that is consumed by smartphones.
• 1.6 billion – Number of mobile diplomacy sold to end users in 2010, an increase of nearly 32% compared to the year before.
• 19% – The percentage of worldwide mobile diplomacy sold that were smartphones.
• 472 million – Number of smartphones estimated to be sold worldwide in 2011.
• 982 million – Estimated number of smartphones to be sold in 2015.
• 80% – The share of diplomacy accessing mobile websites that have a touchscreen.
• 50 million – The number of public worldwide who have a mobile phone but that do not have electricity at home. In additional words, mobile access has further reach than electricity.

movable data

Many smartphones and additional mobile diplomacy have support for Wi-Fi, but to be truly mobile they require some type of mobile data connection, such as 2G, 3G or 4G.

With quicker connections come higher demand for mobile data. Although that demand has gone up significantly in recent years, the expectation is that it will continue to rise for a long time to come:

It’s hard to find any data numbers specific to mobile web, but here are a few that we find fascinating:

• 21.1% – By 2015, Nokia Siemens projects that mobile users will use this much of their mobile data on “mobile web/additional data”.
• 400 PB (petabyte) – The amount of mobile data traffic per month in the second quarter of 2011.
• 20% – The amount of mobile data traffic generated by the top 1% of mobile data subscribers.
• 1.2 billion – The number of active mobile broadband subscriptions worldwide in 2011.

movable web browsing

Web browsing is one of the most common actions on smartphones and tablets, with many diplomacy being capable of showing the full, rich experience of a regular website. But the web browsing experience doesn’t just depend on what hardware you have, it also depends to a large extent on what mobile web browser you use.

In the latest StatCounter figures, Opera is still the leading mobile web browser with 22.5% market share, followed by movable Safari on iOS with just over 24%. That’s when we combine iPhone and iPod touch in the iOS number. iPhone on its own is just under 20%.

Additional in rank we’ve found related to mobile web browsing:

• 85% – Percentage of handsets shipped globally in 2011 that will include some form of web browser.
• 60 – The number of different types and versions of mobile web browsers in use on mobile handsets.
• 6,500 – Estimate of the number of distinct web-capable mobile device models out there.
• 3 – Spot of web browsing, behind messaging and apps, in a evaluation of share of active smartphone usage.
• 11.7% – Percentage of web users in China that exclusively use a mobile device to access the web.
• 140 million – Number of public that used the Opera Mini browser in October 2011.
• 86.2 billion – Number of pages served By Opera Mini.
• 12.7 petabytes – Amount of operator data that was compressed for Opera Mini users.
• 6.95% – movable’s share of global web browsing stats in November 2011.
• 2013 – Gartner predicted that the mobile web will be larger than the desktop web by then.
• 26x – Smartphones and tablet computers will increase mobile web traffic by this much during the next four years.
• 97.17% – Google’s share of all mobile search in November 2011.

movable-specific or general-purpose sites

It’s quite clear that for a large part of users accessing the mobile web regular web sites just won’t work. This could be because they’re too large (in terms of file size or pixel dimensions), they have scripting that is not supported by the mobile device, they don’t support graphics, or some additional reason.

But with the quick development in smartphones and tablets it’s also clear that many recent diplomacy have enough show size and processing power to deal with the regular versions of many websites.

• 96
  ]]> http://asterhost.info/the-mobile-web-in-numbers/feed/ 0 http://asterhost.info/basekit-introduces-new-powerful-tools-for-smes/ http://asterhost.info/basekit-introduces-new-powerful-tools-for-smes/#comments Thu, 15 Sep 2011 15:02:55 +0000 admin http://asterhost.info/basekit-introduces-new-powerful-tools-for-smes/

  (From Website Hosting)

  />

  The world’s most flexible and marvelous website builder, BaseKit, brings forth a new way to design advanced and powerful websites than ever. The unleashed power is fantastic for the novices who can now easily develop their own websites without hiring costly design services!

  The users can simply take complete control over designing and development of their websites without any coding, handling its hosting with fantastic ease! Using this innovative and highly powerful platform, nearly anyone can make and host incredible websites. Users can manifest, what is in their mind, into reality. A template that by now exists can also be manipulated to get the design desired.

  The Glaring Attributes of this tool include:

  • Integrating graphics from any outside resource via drag-and-drop
  • Simple, simple and readily usable editing, configuring and design features
  • Viewable on multi platforms, even on iPhones and iPads
  • There is nothing to be downloaded!

  Chris Winstanley, the VP of Marketing- BaseKit, says “This is a major enhancement for our customers, allowing them to make and manage professional websites easily. It can be very hard for start-ups and entrepreneurs to build quality websites without having to invest large sums of money in web design agencies and we aim to level the playing field. The design and editing tools we’re launching today add to our hugely successful web design platform. In our small history, our software has by now enabled over 100,000 individuals and businesses across the world to make, host and manage their websites.”

  The price plot of this tool is quite feasible. Prices, for packages, start from £6 (US$10) upward monthly counting boundless hosting, bandwidth, infinite access both to website editor and to millions of professional templates. Users can also delight in a free trial for some duration.

  Find out more here, BaseKit SMEs Solution. To download templates, click download.

  Related posts:

  1. Dotster Introduces Groundbreaking One-Page ‘Instant’ Website
  2. HostDime Introduces Windows VPS Packages
  3. Namesco Introduces Advanced SiteMaker

  Original: BaseKit Introduces New Powerful Tools for SMEs

  

  ]]> http://asterhost.info/basekit-introduces-new-powerful-tools-for-smes/feed/ 0 http://asterhost.info/using-drupal-cms-for-web-development/ http://asterhost.info/using-drupal-cms-for-web-development/#comments Mon, 22 Aug 2011 23:27:44 +0000 SeoLink http://asterhost.info/using-drupal-cms-for-web-development/

  As one of the leading open-source content management systems, Drupal is written in PHP and used in the back-end for nearly every website on the Internet. The software has become extremely well loved due to its availability, simple installation and usage, customization and search engine-friendliness. It is a system that powers millions of websites and applications while being supported by a large community of experts from around the world.

  For web development, professionals require specific perimeters when selecting a content management system. These include:

  • Cost-effectiveness
  • Flexibility
  • Customization
  • Dynamic web manipulation
  • Search engine-friendliness
  • Communication with support

  One of the best aspects of Drupal is the cost. The software does not charge licensing fees since it is open source. Therefore, for web developers this is a major attraction to the platform. They can develop incredible websites or applications without any cost which trickles down to the customer.

  Also, Drupal allows its users to develop and manage a variety of content types such as audio, video, polls, user management, blog, text, podcasts and revision controls. Therefore, users have the flexibility to make basically no matter what they want in a robust environment.

  In addition to the ability to develop a variety of content, customization of the platform is nearly endless. One of the best customizable features is the ability to make modules to streamline the in rank flow thus making it simpler on developers and additional users.

  Once a website has been designed, simple module modifications will allow the user to change any aspect they see fit. This confirms the robustness and vibrant nature of the software while giving the users complete control over every aspect of the design process.

  Furthermore, most web developers require search engine friendliness. Luckily Drupal provides exactly that and allows for development to ensure websites have a high search engine ranking. Once the website is produced, it can easily be managed through a user-friendly interface designed for those with basic programming knowledge.

  Finally, the platform provides simple access to support by asking help from the many Drupal experts. The experts are forum communities that are frequented by expert developers and additional users who can help with the question.

  Drupal is a fully-supported, search-engine friendly, customizable, robust and flexible content management system that is the exact solution for web developers. As the community continues to grow and produce enhancements to the software, the technology will improve and could ultimately become the leading platform in the world.

  ]]> http://asterhost.info/using-drupal-cms-for-web-development/feed/ 0 http://asterhost.info/how-to-increase-the-speed-of-your-website-safely-2/ http://asterhost.info/how-to-increase-the-speed-of-your-website-safely-2/#comments Sun, 26 Jun 2011 12:56:28 +0000 admin http://asterhost.info/how-to-increase-the-speed-of-your-website-safely-2/

  
  

  The most preferable internet website is one that loads quicker; hence the visitor does not have to wait for long periods of time for it to work. If a website is slow, it also suffers from the risk of losing valuable traffic, which will lower its potentiality. While listing sites, search engines like Google also take into account the loading time and if the time full is long, the site might get removed. So the question remains, will sites with slow loading time lose their spot?

  To get a clearer picture, check out the following example. If there are two websites offering somewhat same services, one that loads very quickly but has very small content, and another website has a wide range of videos and downloadable files which make it load slowly. The differences even if disregarded by viewers, will be considered by Google. Since there are a number of factors which help determine the site ranking than just speed, the sites’ relevance plays an vital part. But if the site is relevant and quick, it automatically gets top priority.

  Numerous things shape the speed of your internet connection. To get optimum results from arrangement:

  • Scan your computer with anti-spyware programs removing any viruses or malware in the system.
  • Temporary internet files takes up space, so only keep the ones you need.
  • Only use multimedia and graphics when needed.
  • Use WinZip to compress your files to lower the time full to send them.
  • The Microsoft Outlook’s cache exchange mode allows you to work even if you are offline.
  • Tabs take up memory, so close any unnecessary ones.
  • All the extensions which you need to gain access to internet for data on every site should be removed. Select just the vital add-ons.

  The increase in web traffic is qualified to the services which carefully direct in rank so providers like Akamia are very necessary. The function of Akamai is to direct the in rank from provider’s servers to the user’s desktop. This makes the content distribution extremely quick. Akamai’s web application firewall is very effective hostile to preventing harmful attacks before they enter the user’s infrastructure.

  The next thing to do is caching. Caching is a shortcut which saves you the trip to the main web server every time you require a resource. What it does instead it restores the files from a local system browser cache or proxy cache. By making your own cache policy for your website, you can set boundaries for the resources to improve the overall performance of your site. You can also question a web developer to make the policies and reduce the load on the administrator.

  By optimizing your graphics with Adobe Photoshop, the image size can be lowered as much as 75% with just a few options. Though, do not change the settings of the image to low otherwise the graphics will get blurred and unclear. Optimizing the graphics can help you lower the loading time. WordPress users have the option to optimize graphics directly without downloading any extra applications.

  Decreasing the number of components will speed up you HTTP requests significantly, so try to simplify the design of the web page. Go simple on the graphics, add only the relevant matter. If you choose to merge the numerous scripts into one, the HTTP request will be reduced and still support all the heavy graphics. A stylesheet can be used to integrate all the CSS into just one script.

  ]]> http://asterhost.info/how-to-increase-the-speed-of-your-website-safely-2/feed/ 0 http://asterhost.info/facebook-signs-deals-with-global-power/ http://asterhost.info/facebook-signs-deals-with-global-power/#comments Wed, 22 Jun 2011 22:43:26 +0000 admin http://asterhost.info/facebook-signs-deals-with-global-power/

  
  

  Global Power Supply, a provider of vital power equipment and complete incorporated power supplies for backup in case of emergency and primary power applications, got selected by Facebook to satisfy the power demand required by their new data focal point located in Prineville Oregon. Facebook started developing the data focal point with the aim of producing an environment friendly, energy saving computing infrastructure at very low prices.

  “Inspired by the model of open source software, we want to share the innovations in our data focal point for the entire industry to improve upon.”-Tom Furlong, Director of Operations at Facebook.

  The data centers of Facebook have been developed to be very energy efficient and cost-effectively signal systems. To do this, Facebook’s engineering team needed a custom built power system and backup generators which can meet all the requirements of their huge server loads. Global Power Supply also has been able to transport, hold and support all these desires by offering a vast array of products counting a vast range of customized services and support.

  “Global Power Supply has a unique vendor neutral approach that allows us to grant highly customized critical power solutions.” -Ron Zamir, CEO at Global Power Supply.

  Critical Power Infrastructure is crucial for the continuous function of Facebook’s ever increasing arrangement.

  “Having energy efficient software and servers means we can support more public on Facebook and offer them new and real time social experiences.”- Tom Furlong, Director of Operations at Facebook. Global Power Supply provides their clients with unique project management services to apply and oversee all aspects of their project through completion. “Global Power Supply takes a ‘Value Engineering’ approach to the design and implementation of their custom generator power systems in order to minimize costs and maximize reliability.”- Ron Zamir, CEO at Global Power Supply.

  The work on the Prineville data focal point started in January 2010, and is said to be completed in five years time. Global Power Supply plot to keep effective alongside Facebook’s engineering team to offer functional and testing support till the venture finishes.  “Global Power Supply has been a valuable member of our data focal point deployment team, their expertise in standby power applications as well as their competent and responsive project management approach has allowed us to meet our project goals.”-Jay Park, Director of Data Focal point Design and Construction at Facebook.

  In this area Global Power Supply:

  Global Power Supply is a well loved provider of equipment and technical solutions for vital project management and logistics. Global Power Supply provides solutions to basic services across the world, like purchasing, selling and servicing vital power equipment, curriculum management, restoration of data and technical consulting.

  In this area Facebook:

  Launched in 2004, Facebook has become one of the largest social networking sites available today. Facebook connects millions of public worldwide 24 hours a day. The organization is privately owned and is situated in Palo Alto, California.

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  Every person who is involved into developing web sites and blogs can agree that it is essential to reckon both in this area content and in this area design of web sites. Of course, content is extremely vital for any web site no matter whether it is your person web site where you share your thoughts and thoughts with additional Internet users or whether it is your professional web site which is used for promoting your business on the Internet.

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  One of the best tools intended for this purpose is WordPress. This platform allows you to add wonderful features to your web site so that it looks fascinating and attractive for its visitors. WordPress is very powerful software and at the same time it is quite simple to operate and use. To improve the design of your web site you need to apply WP theme. When you install WordPress on your computer you will find out that there are some pre-made templates of such kind there and you can always use them in developing your web site.

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  The popularity of WP theme is very high in the modern world and it also continues to grow because constantly new public find out in this area WordPress and they realize that they can make fascinating and attractive web sites or blogs easily. In most cases WP theme will be free for you. Though, if you need a truly unique and fascinating WP theme, then it is necessary to find a web site which sells themes of such kind. In this case you will know for sure that your web site will be unique and elegant and no additional web site will use this particular WP theme.

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