bethohio3

Hi! A little introduction to XML might be in order. XML is a markup language (as is HTML), but there is a key difference. XML is used to *describe* data. HTML is used to *format* and *display* data. Basically XML is a tagged database. XML is used to store and share data; you create your own tags to describe that data. A hosting service doesn't "support" or "not support" XML, because XML files are simply files with tags in them that describe data. In order to *use* XML files, someone needs to create a method of reading and displaying that data--that can be done in a scripting language. (I haven't done this, btw--I haven't had any need of XML) You might find this site of interest: http://www.w3schools.com/xml/default.asp --Beth

Thanks for the advice, everyone! I've managed to get some weather stuff working, although it's still in trial mode: www.bweiss.com/Trials/weather.htm and www.bweiss.com/Trials/weather2.htm I even got the promo info deleted from the image, although I intend to put a single one at the bottom of the page to credit them. (I just didn't want two per city!) I'm still playing with news (www.bweiss.com/Trials/portal.htm and newsportals.htm) I started looking at the JavaScript for morenover.com, and it needs some polishing--the generated code offended my sensibilities. --Beth

I would like to have multiple domains under 1 account as well. My solution is to have multiple domains, but it'd be very convenient to be able to administer them under a single account. Actually, none of the domains are very big, but I don't want to just use forwarding, because I want email addresses under each of the domains. I do understand that there is a big difference between a single domain with a maximum disk size and bandwidth and multiple domains with those same limits. Your load balancing can assume that not all of the accounts are going to reach their maximums. But if there are 4 domains sharing the limit, even if they're small, that means that they are using more bandwidth than 1 account would be and you can't average them out the same way. But, if there was an option that let us order multiple domains under the same account, just to be able to administer them easily, that would be convenient. --Beth (seeing both sides)

I would like to build my own "my.yahoo" like page, so I can customize it completely the way I want and not have any ads. Am I dreaming? :-) I want to do several different types of things, but headlines news is one of them. I've looked at NewsClipper, and that's the sort of thing I'm thinking of. http://www.newsclipper.com An example of the output I'm thinking of would be at: http://www.newsclipper.com/Examples/yahoot...topstories.html I found some ASP code on-line, but Has anyone done anything like this? Any suggestions or ideas? --Beth

I'm trying to customize SpamAssassin a bit. I'm getting some false positives--and it's missing some. I've been pretty careful with my eddresses though, so I have a couple of eddresses that *never* get spam. I'd like, if possible, to have those eddresses not checked by SpamAssassin. Is that possible? What tailoring have other people done of SpamAssassin to make it more effective for them? Thanks! --Beth (I hate SPAM!)

Actually, Bill, I think that you *aren't* concerned about that 1%--and shouldn't be. That 1% you can't please are the spammers and people selling counterfeit ID cards--and you don't want to please them--you want them to go away. --Beth

On yourhostsucks.com, there's a discussion about my previous host (which does suck). There's also a forum where you can post about hosts that don't suck. This is my reply to someone who asked about my recommendation of TotalChoice: This is about my TotalChoice experience (and I am *not* am employee of TotalChoice) Because I was so burned by FeaturePrice and their non-customer service, I was quite concerned about customer service/tech support for wherever I moved my hosting to. Before signing on with them, I went to their website to check out their customer service. I tried to "chat" but it said the on-line tech wasn't available, leave a message. So I left one, asking some lame question (like "Do you support FP2002 extensions?". I got a reply ("Yes") in less than 2 hours. I tried it again another time (a different day) when the on-line tech was available, and got a response immediately. (less than 30 seconds connect time, and then an immediate "what can I help you with?" I asked some other basic question--I was really just checking to see if they were really available. And they were. (That was in the middle of the night, I think.) I can't tell you for certain how quickly I got a "you're signed up" email, but I know it was fast enough that I didn't think about it. (under 6 hours certainly) After I signed up, I uploaded my site using the IP address before the domain name change had propogated. Unfortunately FP didn't deal well with that, and screwed everything up. I did an on-line chat with the tech guy (*immediate* response). He offered to reset my site, so I could upload again starting fresh when the domain name had propogated. For that, he asked that I submit a ticket. I did, and with an hour or two, had an email response saying it had been reset, *and* he included the server output so I could see exactly what was done. When I had questions about how SpamAssassin worked, the tech guy didn't give me quite as precise answers as I had hoped for, but he was *there*. Somehow, I screwed up my default mailing address catcher. For that one, the chat tech did ask if I could check back later. He was helping 9 people who had critical issues. About 2 hours later, I checked back with the chat tech guy, who walked me through what was there--and resetting it. (Trivial to do, but I didn't realize it was broken.) I asked one of the chat techs if he could recommend a PHP/MySQL reference. He said he wasn't able ot recommend a good reference, but that he knew a couple of the other techs were more familiar with it, and if I posted to the forum, one of them would answer. I did post--and he was right. I set up two other domains with them--both were set up within a couple of hours. I had SPAMCOP bounce an email I sent, saying it had come from an IP that had too high of a spam rating. I IMd the Yahoo! tech right away, sent him the SpamCop URL, and said "I'm on it". You can see the results of them identifying that spammer on their reviews on findmyhosting.com--they cancelled the guy's account, and he gave them a bad review. (He'd sent over 45,000 mail messages in one day) You're right--there's no toll-free #. But FP has one--and we all know how useless it is. But you don't have to believe me--just check out their chat techs--ask a few questions. Send them an email and see how long it takes to get a response. Read the on-line forums--which you can *see* that their techs answer questions and participate. Go to findmyhosting.com and read their reviews. This is the way hosting ought to be. --Beth (www.bweiss.com)

I am new to PHP and MySQL and have some ideas for a few personal databases I'd like to build. I am looking for advice for a "getting started" book. I already know how to program, and understand databases. So, I'm looking for a book geared towards someone learning a new database system and scripting language, not one for people who don't understand tables or selection statements yet. I'd appreciate any suggetions someone might be able to offer. Thanks! --Beth