The Web Hosting Control Panel Explained

A web hosting control panel is an application that provides an interface for you to control and manage your website, web hosting account, email, and more. Simply put, it helps you manage almost anything on your web server, via one easy interface.

Since this is the most visible part of a web hosting plan, its capabilities and functions will largely influence your user experience with a web host. Most web hosting plans will come with a control panel included – sometimes even offering a choice between a few brands. 

The web hosting control panel eases administrative tasks the same way a website builder eases building websites.

Why the Need for a Web Hosting Control Panel

The answer is simple – a web hosting control panel makes web server management easier.

Although you can access your web hosting account and server via direct-command tools like Secure Shell (SSH), you’ll soon realize that this is more cumbersome. Without a web hosting control panel, you have to learn – and remember – the commands and syntax of each operating system you use.

The configuration of many common web server applications may also have to be done manually. With a control panel, you’ll find it much easier to navigate a graphical interface and work gets done faster. 

For example, when you want to change DNS records manually on a Linux-based web hosting plan, you will need to find and edit a particular file. With a web hosting control panel, you can just click an icon to access the configuration screen.

Additionally, using a control panel helps to potentially reduce server configuration errors. When you make a change in the control panel, you are less likely to make a mistake than if you used the command lines directly. 

What Web Hosting Control Panels Can Do

Although various brands of control panels organize tools in their unique way and offer slightly different approaches to managing your web server, they typically accomplish many of the same tasks. 

This generally includes:

Account Administration

This involves typical account management tasks which include your billing profile, plan renewal, updating of your password, and others. You have to make sure that your software version is regularly updated for security purposes, as payment is handled by this portion. 

Domain Management

Although the tasks here are not frequently done, they are one of the more complex yet crucial things you have to do. So, it is best you understand how your control panel handles this part. Activities under this area include:

• DNS editing
• Domain forwarding
• Subdomain management

And more.

One-Click Installation

If your web host provides this feature, you’ll be able to install most popular web applications via a one-click installer. This makes life much easier as all you need to do is look up the product you want and click ‘Install’. The installer will handle the rest.

For example, you want to install WordPress. With this one-click installer, you will not need to manually download a copy of the WordPress, then upload it via FTP to your website’s server. This saves time and is more convenient.

Email Management

Your control panel helps to reduce hefty administrative tasks related to your email. You’ll be able to:

• Set up mail accounts
• Set up email forwarders
• Set up email spam filters
• Manage email accounts
• Delete email accounts

File Management

This function is common to most control panels but can be labeled differently. Your control panel makes your file management tasks much easier, without the need for an FTP client. They allow file modifications via a browser-based drag-and-drop interface.  

Database Management

In all web hosting, you’ll need a database to manage your data. Your control panel helps you manage your database. Most web hosting packages come with MySQL databases and in most cases, this is sufficient. 

Your control panel should allow you handle things like:

• Database additions and modifications
• Database maintenance
• Database Users

Backups

Your control panel is where you should go to create backups and access them. You can also restore a backup. Almost all control panels come with a built-in file backup utility that runs regularly. Having backups is a good practice as you never know when you may find having one handy in future.

Choosing the Right Web Hosting Control Panel

Typically speaking, there’s no real right or wrong choice in this. There are some who are happy to just get the job done while other more advanced users may want specific things which they can only get from a particular control panel.
Many users may be under the influence of the masses and join the debate of Plesk vs cPanel. The reality though, is that there are many other strong options besides these two. If you’re lucky enough to be able to choose your web hosting control panel, here are some of the best ones around:

cPanel/WHM

cPanel is the industry leader when it comes to control panels for web servers. It is most popularly used for Unix-based web servers, such as CentOS, CloudLinux, RHEL 7, Amazon Linux and FreeBSD. 

Being in the market since 1996, cPanel offers tons of features along with years of documentation and discussions available to help you.

Through cPanel, your applications and tools are categorized into easy-to-find groups, namely Files, Databases and Software. This makes the interface clearer and easier to use. Additionally, icons in each group can be moved around via drag and drop. 

The functionality is typically split into:

• cPanel – an interface for you to manage your hosting account
• Web Host Manager (WHM) – a web server administration interface used by the web hosting provider

While cPanel is full-featured and popularly used, some of its features are not organized in the most intuitive manner. Its extensive interface can also be difficult for inexperienced users. 

Plesk

Although cPanel is the most widely used web hosting control panel, Plesk comes in a close second. Newer than cPanel, Plesk came about in 2001. If you are running a Windows Server, utilizing Plesk may be one of the best options available. Plesk is the primary control panel on Windows-based servers, although it has Linux versions as well. 

Plesk supports Debian, CentOS, FreeBSD, Ubuntu, SUSE, Red Hat Linux, Cloud Linux, Amazon Linux, Virtuozzo Linux, Windows Server 2008 R2 SP, Windows Server 2016, and Windows Server 2019. Resembling the Windows interface, eases entry for those familiar with this operating system. 

Plesk offers an easy-to-use interface along with the usual features you’d look for in a web server control panel; managing DNS entries, email management, IP address allocations to file management, FTP user creation and more. More than 100 Plesk extensions allow you to easily add features and also integrate with third-party tools.

Unlike cPanel, Plesk is generally considered to have a better and more organized intuitive interface. In general, Plesk offers everything cPanel does and at a cheaper price. 

sPanel

Although SPanel is relatively limited in distribution it comes up strongly thanks to one very distinct characteristic. Due to it being free and 100% cPanel compatible, SPanel offers users a unique opportunity to migrate away and avoid increasing cPanel licensing fees.

It is also a great control panel for first-time users with a neat user interface. You’ll find that each section is self-explanatory and intuitive. cPanel is known to run best with Apache but SPanel is considered by some as being more versatile.

It supports Apache, Nginx, LiteSpeed Enterprise and OpenLiteSpeed web servers with the last two being claimed as the fastest in the world.

An all-in-one solution, SPanel provides a single interface, through which you’ll have control over your entire account, from email management to handling DNS configuration matters and others. Also, there are advanced features that are worth highlighting:

• SShield – a real-time cyber security solution. Integrated in SPanel, it is claimed to stop 99.998% of website attacks, at no additional cost.
• SWordPress Manager – a handy utility that helps WordPress users manage their sites; installation, uninstallation, admin tasks, editing, cloning, staging etc. 

Webmin

Webmin is a server sysadmin tool for managing servers. It is an open-source web hosting control panel and is complemented by Usermin, that allows user-level server admin tasks. It supports more than 100 Unix flavored Operating Systems (OS). 

Like most, it behaves as the interface to the underlying applications on servers, including configuring applications like FTP, SSH, email, web server, databases, and more.

Webmin is module-based, which makes it easy to add new functionality and customize it. Although Webmin supports mainly Unix based systems, it can now support Windows servers as well. Webmin is more popular among smaller hosting providers and resellers. 

Although Webmin is overall not as well-organized or intuitive as Plesk, but in terms of features, it is just as capable.

DirectAdmin

Released in 2003, DirectAdmin is a great control panel option with a multilingual interface. It is an open source web hosting control panel, that helps manage websites, email accounts and more. It typically has three default access levels:

• Admin – DNS administration and clustering, IP management, user management, software upgrade, and others.
• Resellers – account and package management, user communication management, system info features.
• Users –  file and database management, email administration, FTP management, site backup, and others.

DirectAdmin is deemed to be a highly stable control panel option for Linux users.

Conclusion

As you know now, you’ll benefit from having a control panel to help manage your web hosting accounts. Handling web servers isn’t an easy task if you need to search for and learn command parameters one by one.

Regardless of whichever web hosting option you choose, control panels are a crucial part of your website management, so be sure to pick the option that best fits your needs, both in terms of features and preferences.

The post Choosing the Right Web Hosting Control Panel appeared first on WebHostFace Hosting & Design Blog.

Is there a website platform that is most vulnerable some may ask?

Based on statistics of 40,000+ WordPress Websites in Alexa Top 1 Million, the result is that more than 70% of WordPress installations are vulnerable to hacker attacks. All of us have wondered why WordPress is such a popular target for malicious hackers. The answer is simple – WordPress is the most widely used website building tool powering more than 32% of the Internet. In numbers, the results are massive as the number of total active websites is estimated at over 1.3 billion according to a survey published by Netcraft, which means that around 455,000,000 websites are using WordPress right now.

Having these numbers in fact and getting back to the 70% hacked websites in the beginning plus adding our own experience as one of the leading web hosting companies in the world we believe that security is a major problem of all websites hosted nowadays.

No matter if you have a website built with WordPress or any PHP application you might be at risk as technologies are constantly evolving, thus making you and your website`s developers hard to follow every single exploit that appears. Having this in mind, we put together our years of experience hosting and fixing vulnerable websites into a good cause and we created a state-of-the-art inhouse built Premium malware scanning tool.

WebHostFace Protection and Detection – Premium malware scanning tool

As a hosting provider, we’re aware that many sites are being exploited globaly on daily basis. Thus we decided to implement a security scanner that actually works and is updated with the newest vulnerabilities.

There are other scanners available, like the cPanel default scanner or some plugins for WordPress sites. So – what’s different here?

Our Protection and Detection tool will run with customized malware databases. We’ve tested the tool with over 1000 infected sites, ranging from WordPress to Laravel and custom written in PHP ones, to make sure that any malware present in the account will be detected.

The tool that you can have does NOT use your cPanel account’s resources – it uses server resources to run and scan your account. If you use a plugin like WordFence to scan your account you might find your cPanel account hitting its limits in regards to CPU or I/O. This can cause downtime to your site or other sites that you host in your account. The tool ensures NO downtime experienced due to resource limits.

Our team will be automatically notified if there are infected files present in your cPanel account. In this case, we can provide further guidance on what can be done and insight about how your site was exploited. This will help to fix the issue permanently.

In summary:

• Custom Malware Database – Guaranteed Malware Detection
• Does not use your cPanel account’s resources
• Automatic Notifications once per week
• Reputation Loss Prevention

We will cover all benefits one by one as the devil hides in the details.

Custom Malware Databases

All scanning tools require large databases with virus definitions, vulnerabilities and all kinds of website exploits listed. In order for a malware scanner to work successfully, all these databases should be updated on a regular basis and to be monitored by expert staff that knows what they do. Once the databases are accurate our scanning tool performs scans of your websites and detects and protects your files. The scanning tool relies solely on the newest available malware databases over the internet thus ensuring superb results, speed and scanning results.

Server Resources Usage

All websites are hosted on some kind of server environment. Especially new website or websites that are starting from scratch or even small to medium business websites may rely on shared hosting account where the resources are limited. Most of the malware scanners that are available online use the resources allocated to your web hosting account and this might cause you trouble with your hosting provider. You may be contacted that your site takes too many resources and you need to upgrade to a higher hosting solution, however, the real reason is that some third-party applications may be eating up your resources.

Our state of the art tool uses more allocated resources from the main server, not your own account thus ensures speed, performance and fast results for the scan. Also, your website will not experience any downtime due to account limitations.

Automatic notifications – Instant action and reaction

The WebHostFace Protection and Detection – Premium malware scanning tool runs on a schedule every single week and ensures your site gets covered even when you sleep. Our system checks your files in the most convenient time – when the server is not loaded and it has enough power to fulfill the requests brilliantly. After this we receive notifications that tell us if the websites hosted on our servers are vulnerable. If the tool has found malicious files, we notify our customers with easy to follow step by step guidance on how to have the issues fixed. This will allow immediate reaction against the threat and to “nip it in the bud” before it develops into a more serious issue. This tool is implemented and customized so that it provides both the users and us, as a hosting provider, with an additional layer of safety.

Prevention

The biggest problem when the client has malware is the loss of reputation with visitors and Google. Google can flag the website and domain, delist it, and deindex it. Hackers can penetrate and deface the website. If infected or hacked, your site will get demoted. This tool catches the malware before it can cause such damage and prevents visitors and Google from even knowing that there was malware on the account. Moreover, the PD also helps detect the origin of the malware – a file uploaded through a plugin or a form submission on the site – which makes it possible to permanently remove the vulnerability and solve the problem.

Summary

We have tested thousands of websites for the past few weeks. We performed more than 10 000 security checks on different websites written in PHP and more specifically WordPress and we are proud to present a WORKING premium malware tool that really does its job. We compared our results with the competitors and the WebHostFace Protection and Detection tools had a rate of almost 100% finding all the newest threats for any website created on PHP.

Your online project and you as a website owner deserve a tool that can prevent, detect and protect your hard work!

Contact our 24/7 customer service department to help you activate your Premium malware scanning tool – WebHostFace Protection and Detection.

The post Premium malware scanning tool – WebHostFace Protection and Detection appeared first on WebHostFace Hosting & Design Blog.

As you might have guessed, a lot of the most popular websites in the world have whole development teams behind them. They have to make sure that the site will be able to handle very high traffic demands, run fast and provide an excellent user experience. So often they have to employ advanced, custom-built technologies to do the job.

Surprisingly, some very popular brands and organizations still stick to well-known frameworks and CMS softwares (with heavy customization, of course). Let’s take a look at 7 of the best examples…plus 1 bonus, just for you

1. Sony Music

The global music conglomerate is showcased by a very stylish and smooth website. In the world of music first impressions are crucial and Sony Music certainly makes a good one. But what do we see under the hood? Turns out that this site, like numerous others from the most popular websites in the world, relies on WordPress for their online portfolio. News, Careers, Videos…this is a great example of what WordPress is really capable of.

Do you want to see how WordPress websites are performing on our server and using our WordPress Hosting Services? Come to our 24/7 live chat and our assistants will help you.

2. Mozilla Blog

WordPress has proven time and time again that there are no boundaries to its potential, but just a decade ago it was only known as a blog CMS. This is what they did best and this is what skyrocketed them among the most popular website building apps.

Naturally, many big brands are aware of that and trust WordPress with their high traffic blogs. Mozilla is one of those brands with a community so vast that speed and uptime are crucial. Good thing WordPress seems very capable for that tough job.

Start your online project and get your website up and working in a matter of minutes – now our shared hosting packages come with a great price with 80% oFF!

3. Forbes Magazine

When you think of respected business media, Forbes is probably right there at the top of your list. The prominent magazine covers everything notable in business, politics, technology, science, and their lists (like the Top 50 Richest People) are anticipated with the same thrill as the Oscars.

Forbes Magazine actually has a commercial use for their website – subscriptions and books can be easily purchased with a couple of mouse clicks. How do they do that? OpenCart! Might come as a shock, but the e-commerce platform is performing flawless and can handle online shops of any size.

Check our OpenCart hosting packages and start selling products right away!

4. Intel

„High demands” is underrated when it comes to Intel. The multinational technology giant is visited by a ton of people at any point of the day and needs them all to have a perfect experience. This is why they have chosen Magento for their online shop section. Proven efficiency for big websites, advanced customization, smooth navigation – all seems well with the relationship between Intel and Magento.

Want to start your Magento store, we can help! Check our Magento hosting packages and get going right away.

5. iTickets

Ticket portals often experience high traffic spikes. After all, the more events you have available, the more resources you would need to handle the growing number of visitors. iTickets had an interesting solution to that problem – Laravel. More and more people come and ask if our shared hosting packages support it and it seems that even novice users are starting to get the hang of it. If iTickets can do it, why can’t you?

Start your Laravel project in minutes – easy Laravel deploy, fast and reliable Laravel Set up and SSD server – all this comes with our Laravel Hosting Packages!

6. Linux

Linux might be a non-profit organization, but that doesn’t mean they don’t need a fast and cool website. A huge community like that requires a constantly updated stream of information plus easy means of communication with each other. Linux chose Joomla and Drupal for that. The Joomla CMS has lost some of its shine in recent years but some of the most popular websites in the world still employ it for their needs. Drupal is steady in its performance and has no spikes nor lows and has attracted some very large companies and they use it for their websites

Either you are a Joomla fan or Drupal fan, we have the right hosting packages for you! Check our Joomla hosting and Drupal hosting packages that now come on great prices!

7. Harvard

One of the best and most desired colleges in the world is also fond of Drupal. Well that, and a bit of custom development in the mix. Over 25000 students and staff use the Harvard website on a daily basis, heck, you all remember where Mark Zuckerberg started from. If such an establishment believes that Drupal can satisfy its needs, then why shouldn’t you?

8. Your Website

Here is your promised bonus! The above list might contain some of the most popular websites in the world but they all started somewhere. This is why WebHostFace is so excited to offer you a starting deal that should definitely attract your attention – 90% off on all Shared Hosting plans! This means that your new website can cost less than a cup of coffee. And who knows…it might become the next Sony, Intel or Linux!

Ready to start today? Our Support can help you and be there every step of the way!

The post 7+1 Most popular websites in the World – How are they built? appeared first on WebHostFace Hosting & Design Blog.

And after a long and extensive testing period in search of the web server to provide the most lightning-fast, secure, and smooth web performance, our system administrators appointed  LiteSpeed as the absolute winner.

Why LiteSpeed?

There are many components which set LiteSpeed apart from competitive technologies, but probably the most important one is its efficient event-driven architecture. It allows it to serve all connections on a few processes, which significantly reduces resource consumption. This means that you can serve many more connections much faster and with next to no overhead.

Unlike most web servers, LiteSpeed uses asynchronous input/output processing, which means that it permits processes to begin before an ongoing transmission is finished, thus reducing the waiting period for an execution. That additionally cuts the time for processes to complete, which means your site will execute requests much faster.

On top of that, LiteSpeed significantly improves the efficiency of the server caching layer. Instead of starting a new PHP process each time, the web server uses a  fork() system call, which allows an efficient use of opcode cache.

LiteSpeed impresses in terms of security and stability as well. It brings game-changing DDoS mitigation technology built within the web server, which allows for its better utilization. With its per-IP connection, bandwidth throttling, and mod_security compatibility, LiteSpeed effectively shields the server against Brute Force and XSS attacks, SQL injections and other threats.

What are the benefits for the user?

Thanks to its full compatibility with the technology on the servers, client websites will only stand to benefit from the LiteSpeed integration. The advantages for users on the US shared environment are numerous – from reduced resources consumption to a significant jump in speed. LiteSpeed has the capability of handling a huge amount of clients at the same time with only a fraction of the memory and CPU required with most other web servers. That is also valid for the number of simultaneous visitors on your website, which means that on the LiteSpeed server, you can handle more visitors without any extra cost. It also has the capacity to handle sudden spikes of traffic without the need to upgrade resources.

And who doesn’t want a blazing-fast website? On the LiteSpeed platform, online projects reduce response time and measurably boost in speed. This leads to your visitors being happy with the experience they get each time they visit your website, which will undoubtedly turn a huge chunk of them into clients and increase your profits. With LiteSpeed’s caching solution for most popular website applications, like WordPress and WooCommerce, Joomla!, Magento, PrestaShop, you can additionally accelerate your business.

Currently, LiteSpeed web server is only available on our US shared hosting packages. We plan to implement it on all locations, so stand by for an update! In the meantime, sign up for a new hosting account to take full advantage of all the benefits of this state-of-the-art technology and start the new year with an online project ready to skyrocket!

The post WebHostFace US Shared Servers Powered by LiteSpeed appeared first on WebHostFace Hosting & Design Blog.

This is the next major release since 5.1 and it will receive bug fixes for the next two years and security fixes for the next three. The new version requires PHP 7+, which in itself is sure to decrease CPU consumption and speed up performance up to twice. Make sure you use PHP 7 on your hosting account before installing the new version or upgrading. If you are already using Laravel 5.4, upgrading to 5.5 should be easy as you are already using PHP 7. So…

What is new in Laravel 5.5?

Responsable Interface

This new simple interface will help you structure big controller files by converting objects returned from controllers with actions or routes with closures into HTTP responses. This happens by implementing a toResponse() method. Before sending the response, the route class checks for this method and sends it accordingly. This also allows you to provide a layer with additional functionality by adding transitional code to the response. You can check the commit on GitHub and read detailed examples from the Laravel post.

Dump and “Dump and die” Methods in Collections

That new feature will make debugging faster and easier. Instead of assigning a variable to a particular connection and then dumping it whenever changing the collection, now you can now call both methods on a collection directly. When you debug a collection and want to check each transformation in the chain, you can set dump() to output the result and continue the process or dd() to dump and stop the whole process.
You can start using these methods thanks to Collection Macros – a 3rd party package, developed by the Belgian agency Spatie.

Data Return from the Validator

On Laravel 5.5 you can create an object directly from the validated data. You have to make sure to define all the fields as otherwise any attribute not it the validate method will not have a value. To be sure, simply pass the object with all its attributes through the validation method even if they do not require validation. You can see examples on the Laravel website.

Blade::if() Directives

You can now exclude repetitive checks from your blade templates to optimize structure and readability. This is done through the via the boot method in the AppServiceProvider class. You also have the option to make your checks more dynamic by passing arguments with Blade::if(). For more information, watch the official Laracast tutorial.

Mailables rendering and themes

On Laravel 5.5 you can display HTML emails in the browser directly from a route. The Mailable class now implements a render() method from the Renderable contract. This will help you see what your emails look like before actually sending them and edit the browser view right away.

Laravel 5.5 comes with another update in the Mailable class – selecting which email theme to use. You could design your own branded theme for emails in Laravel 5.4, but now you can easily deploy it as well.

Front End Presets

Previous Laravel versions had Bootstrap and Vue installed by default to help with the front end. Now, if you do not want to use them, you can remove those front end interfaces with command php artisan preset none. Also now you can use the React Preset by typing command php artisan preset react. You can see details and examples in the official Laravel post.

Migrate:fresh

Until now, Laravel had only the option to rebuild the database by rolling back and rerunning all your migrations via command migrate:refresh. Laravel 5.5 introduces command migrate:fresh which drops all the tables, then runs the existing migrations again.

What has changed in Laravel 5.5?

Whoops is back!

Whoops is a PHP error handles, which used to come with Laravel 4, but was removed on 5. Now, Whoops is back in the picture to make debugging much easier. Every time there is an error, Whoops displays the line of code, which caused it as a screenshot, together with the error message.

Provider Prompt for vendor:publish

In Laravel 5.5 running command vendor:publish without a flag will require you to choose a provider so that you only publish what you want. To avoid this prompt, you can use either the --all or --provider flag.

Custom Exceptions report method

The handling of exceptions in older Laravel versions was made by writing a code in the report method of the App\Exceptions\Handler class. However, in the event of multiple exceptions, this could make your application messy and hard to read. In the newest version, you can create a report() method inside the exception itself, specifying how it should be handled.

Other improvements in the new LTS Laravel version include better design of the error pages, easier creating and updating of pivot models, custom validator rules, and more. For a full list and descriptions of the new stuff in Laravel 5.5, visit their news website. You can also check out the video introducing the new features:

The new Laravel 5.5 is fully supported on all WebHostFace packages. For more information about our services, contact us via our 24/7 live chat!

The post Laravel 5.5 Released: What is New? appeared first on WebHostFace Hosting & Design Blog.

Website Optimization Services

Our long years of experience in the management and optimization of thousands of WordPress websites have provided us with the unique chance of interaction with numerous different WordPress instances, each with its own template, plugins, and content. Thus we have bumped into all sorts of WordPress related problems which sometimes required individual and out-of-the-box solutions. As a team driven by the constant challenge that the contemporary online world represents, we are never satisfied with what we know and achieve and every new WordPress dare represents a strong motivator for all of us. Namely, this philosophy has brought our level of WordPress expertise to a level that allows us to solve complex and unusual WordPress tasks much faster than expected.

In today’s world just having a website is far from sufficient for a successful online business. Since the competition is fierce and everyone is constantly stepping up their game, the requirements for a website to become more popular are multiplying. Search engines are becoming more and more demanding and a good content only is far from sufficient for a good position. Therefore website owners have a handful of new actions that need to be taken in order to succeed in their online endeavors. This task, however, is time-consuming and requires a lot of constant reading as trends are being changed steadily. That is why we have crafted special WordPress Optimization Service packages that will save website owners a lot of time and money.

Performance audit

This service is designed for all types of WordPress websites – from a personal blog, through a business website to a big online store. Nowadays the good speed and performance of a website are as important as the good SEO optimization. People are browsing through a variety of different devices and a website owner should make sure that their site is running equally smooth and fast on each of them. There are many factors that determine the quality of a website including neatness of the source code, the presence of several types of compression and caching, image optimization, succession of scripts etc. Some of the criteria are rather complex and require a deeper understanding of the structure and behavior of a WordPress site. We, however, have tons of experience with WordPress websites and we will make sure that every single factor is carefully checked and described. The analyzed parameters will include:

• Gzip compression
• Minification of HTML
• Minification of JavaScript
• Minification of CSS
• Server Response Time
• Landing page redirects
• Prioritization of visible content
• Optimization of images
• Render-blocking JavaScript and CSS
• Mobile friendliness
• Usage of CDN
• Combination of external JavaScript
• Combination of external CSS
• Downloads across hostnames
• Minimization of DNS lookups
• Browser caching usage
• Minimization of request size
• Minimization of redirects
• Accept-Encoding Header
• Keep-Alive
• Cache validator
• Image dimensions specification
• Expires Headers
• Minimization of HTTP requests
• Configuration of ETags
• and more.

After the Performance Audit is prepared and sent to the website owner, they can choose 2 key components that will be optimized by us as a courtesy. We will also make our suggestions on the particular measured factors that we think will lead to the greatest impact on the performance of the analyzed website.

SEO audit

Every website should meet a number of Search Engine requirements in order to be indexed and considered Search Engine friendly. Apart from the unique and useful/interesting content it offers to its visitors, it should also include a number of onsite optimizations that will make it easier for the Search Engines like Google to recognize and better position its content. An SEO audit demands a deeper look at the technical structure of the website in order for it to be visible and more competitive in its listings. With a good Search Engine Optimization, your website will be higher ranked, will get more traffic and eventually will convert better profit. In our audit, we will provide you with a detailed analysis of the following SEO factors:

• Meta Titles

* Long meta titles
* Duplicate meta titles
* Short meta titles

• Meta Descriptions

* Long meta descriptions
* Duplicate meta descriptions
* Short meta descriptions

• Heading tags

* H1 tags missing
* Too many H1 tags
* Irrelevant H1 tags
* Irrelevant H1 tags
* H2 tags missing
* Too many H2 tags
* Irrelevant H2 tags
* Duplicate H2 tags

• Meta Robots
• Proper Sitemap
• Image Alt tags
• Flash Usage
• Inline Code Usage
• Open graph tags
• Twitter card tags
• Social links
• URL structure
• Canonical URL
• SEF URLs
• Keyword Consistency and Density
• Text to HTML ratio
• Broken Links
• Copied content check
• Duplicate content check
• Server Error pages

After the SEO Audit is prepared and sent to the website owner, they can choose up to two pages that will be optimized by us as a courtesy.

We launch these services at a special price with 30% off discount. See more about our  Website Optimization service or contact us to order!

The post Website Optimization by WebHostFace Performance and SEO Experts! appeared first on WebHostFace Hosting & Design Blog.

PHP Frameworks are an easy way to use PHP Increase efficiency and security, shorten development time, and make code lightweight, which will make it run faster. Also, you have functionalities like CRUD created automatically so you won’t waste time on base structure. Moreover, PHP Frameworks let you recycle your code for future uses where you will only need to make slight modifications, instead of starting all over again.

However, here comes the tricky part: how to choose the right framework? We have developed a comprehensive infographic to help you through the process of selecting the best framework for your needs.

Here is a short description of the mentioned frameworks:

Symfony, along with being one of the most used PHP frameworks, is also a community of developers who maintain and expand the project pro-actively. One of its advantages is that it is built in a way which compels you to use best practices such as having an organized structure for your files and folders. That makes the code easy to maintain and readable to others. The framework is also very modular – there are many functionalities that can be added to the ones you get out of the box.

Laravel is perhaps the most used PHP framework in 2017 so far. One of the main reasons why it’s so popular is that in addition to being very simple it’s documentation is very well structured which eases the learning process. It’s Eloquent ORM is very handy as it almost removes the need for SQL language. By default, it comes with many included functionalities and it is partially built using Symfony. It also uses Blade templating engine which simplifies the code syntax and makes it very convenient to work with.

CodeIgniter is a lightweight PHP framework which doesn’t have many dependencies. It’s been around for more than 10 years and has very good documentation, making it easy for beginners. It does provide great performance and is very well suited for shared hosting.  Rather than query strings, CodeIgniter uses clean and search-engine-
friendly URLs.

YII is one of the fastest PHP frameworks due to its usage of lazy loading technique. It also has layered caching scheme which caches dynamic pages and data. Released initially in 2008 and being completely rewritten in 2014, it has extensive documentation. YII’s developers and contributors provide great support to its community. It comes with jQuery integration and many AJAX features. It also has compatibility with other frameworks like Zend and Pear.

Phalcon is considered the fastest PHP framework which consumes very little resources and has low overhead. It’s written in C and C++ and comes as C extension, optimized to deliver performance while it’s functionality is exposed as ready-to-use PHP classes. Phalcon will allow your project to do more for its visitors as they’ll have to wait for less for each request which also makes it very efficient.

CakePHP is one of the first PHP frameworks and thanks to that have amassed a great community. It doesn’t require XML or YAML files for its setup which indirectly eases the development process. With Cake, you’ll be able to create prototypes and reusable code rapidly and it also comes with a templating system which is highly customizable.

Zend is a very robust, widely used, and well-developed PHP framework. Among the other PHP frameworks, it’s the most popular when it comes to enterprise software for big businesses. It is developed by the people who maintain the PHP language themselves and as such is sure to stay on top for a long time.

Ready to get started with your new PHP project? WebHostFace supports all these frameworks even on Shared Hosting! Get started now!

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What is WannaCry?

WannaCry (also known as WannaCrypt or WanaCrypt0r 2.0) falls under the category of the so-called ransomware attacks – an infection, which encrypts all data until a ransom is paid. In this case, the ransom required by the perpetrators is $300 in bitcoins in the first three days and then $600 in the next seven. If the ransom is still not paid, all data on the infected device is deleted. It affects exclusively the  Microsoft Windows operating system as it is believed to have started through a vulnerability in the network defenses or through a phishing attack. It can infiltrate your computer through a Trojan horse virus if you click on a malicious script or download it on your computer. It scans your discs and identifies the files you use the most and encrypts them so you cannot access them in any way.

Who can be affected?

WannaCry ransomware exploits vulnerabilities on Windows devices, which either use older versions of the operating system or an outdated newer version. The particular vulnerability used by WannCry was found in March and a patch for it was applied to all following Windows updates. All Windows devices which have not been updated since before the patch was released are under a potential threat. For detailed information about the severity of threats on different Windows versions, visit the Microsoft Security bulletin.

How to prevent getting hacked?

First and foremost – update your Windows system to at least Windows 8 (or Windows Server 2008) and apply the latest update of the release. We strongly recommend that you consider switching to Windows 10 for your computer if you haven’t already done that. Make sure that your automatic updates are turned on whether you are on Windows 10 or older. Some prominent security analysts also recommend that you close TCP port 445 if your system is still not updated.

Also, you should always be extra cautious when you download files, especially if it is an installation file for a program or application. Only open files from trusted sources and run a virus scan whenever you can.

What to do if your computer has been infected?

One of the most popular questions is whether or not you should pay the wanted ransom if your computer has been infected by WannaCry. UK Nation Security Cyber Center advises people to not give in to the extortion, especially provided that even if after paying the amount your files do get decrypted (for which there are absolutely no guarantees), that would not remove the malware, so you might be requested to pay again. There are several guides online on how to remove the ransomware through paid anti-virus software, which you might want to try out. However, there hasn’t been a proven solution to the issue once your computer is infected.

What if I am a client of WebHostFace?

If you are a customer of ours, you will not be affected by the cyberattack. All of our servers use highly secure Linux-based technology. However, if you use a Windows device at home, we strongly recommend that you run a scan and update your system as soon as possible.

The post What is WannaCry ransomware and how to protect your computer? appeared first on WebHostFace Hosting & Design Blog.

What is Managed WordPress Hosting?

Before going into details about the WebHostFace Managed WordPress plan, let’s define what exactly is managed WordPress hosting and clear some common misconceptions about the term.

If you research hosting providers, you will notice that most of them feature a “WordPress Hosting” page on their websites. This, however, doesn’t always mean Managed WordPress hosting, but rather a regular shared hosting plan, which can also accommodate WordPress, is not necessarily any different than the basic hosting account, and also doesn’t include support, covering more than the regular hosting-related questions.

We understand Managed WordPress differently. The hosting package should be not only suitable to maintain WordPress websites but created especially to get the best out of the application’s performance, while at the same time avoiding potential vulnerabilities. Managed WordPress is a hosting package created entirely for WordPress by people who know it inside and out, who have experienced first-hand its functionality, mechanisms, and potential problems and use this knowledge to help you build, maintain and squeeze the best out of your websites.

What are the benefits of managed WordPress hosting?

A good managed WordPress hosting provider can contribute enormously to the success of your websites. First and foremost, relying on a team, who is proficient in all things WordPress and at your disposal, will save you the time to search online for answers and the money to hire a third-party WordPress specialist. This means that you can focus all your efforts on creating your content and handling your business.

WordPress is popular with its optimization and ability to work on various server setups. However, the application comes with certain unique characteristics. When you host your website on an environment specially created for WordPress, you are sure to increase your performance, security, and speed. In the current day and age, where loading speed is essential for visitor and client count, as well as Google’s ranking, this is a benefit you need to definitely consider.

The huge number of WordPress-powered websites on the internet makes the application a target of exploits, which are specific for the software. That is why, in order to get maximum protection for your website, you need an environment, which is secured against these specific WordPress exploits. Chances are, standard hosting accounts cover only some of those, but an ultimate managed WordPress hosting package should include both server-side and account-level patches for vulnerabilities unique to WordPress.

Do I need Managed WordPress Hosting?

Every WordPress user can benefit from hosting their site on a managed WordPress package, regardless of whether they start a new site or maintain a fully functional one. If you are new to WordPress, the personal management by trained and experienced professional will help you build your site times faster than if you had to look through thousands of tutorials. Whenever you come across a bump in the road, you can rely on competent answers and advice which is just a ticket away, instead of browsing through google searches and countless forums. This will help you learn faster and launch your project ahead of schedule.

If you already have your WordPress site up and running, the switch to WebHostFace managed WordPress hosting will boost your performance, security, and reliability as you will rely on a platform designed specifically for the application and able to handle much more than a regular hosting account.

Let’s not forget WordPress-oriented designers and developers. Unlike other types of hosting, WordPress managed hosting includes and is optimized to handle specific tools, created to smooth your workflow. This facilitates the development process and makes potential mishaps easily reversible.

How is WebHostFace Managed WordPress Hosting different?

We at WebHostFace have always prioritized our customer and technical support service, with a commitment to go beyond the hosting-related questions and provide efficiency and optimal customer experience. WebHostFace Managed WordPress hosting takes this commitment a step further by designating a personal WP assistant for each user. Every customer on the managed package is assigned a real-life WordPress professional, whose job is to know the specifics of your website and help you through any particular requirements and questions you might have. This unique service includes not only basic troubleshooting, but devoted guidance, manual security audits, and help with your search engine optimizations.

If you move from another host, your WordPress assistant will manually transfer your website. Unlike transfers performed with a WordPress migration plugin, hands-on relocation by a professional will personally ensure all your data and settings are transmitted correctly and any potential discrepancies are smoothed over right away.

The majority of managed WordPress hosting packages on the market limit your control in order to ensure security and performance. Thanks to our one-of-a-kind server setup we can deliver reliability and speed without limiting your control or sacrificing your site’s extended functionality. While most managed WordPress providers will limit the plugins you can use, we give you the complete freedom to install any plugin you wish. What is more, WebHostFace clients get discounts on premium plugins and themes, courtesy of our trusted WordPress partners.

Another convenience which sets apart WebHostFace Managed WordPress hosting from similar packages is that you can manage your account through cPanel. Unlike most providers, that restrict you to a limited custom management page, with us, you can take advantage of the convenience and abundant features of the most popular hosting control panel on the hosting market. Add or remove free SSL or CDN, create unlimited number of FTP accounts, manage your databases, add or remove new domains – all this is just a click or two away.

And what is a successful online project without an email or a contact form? Our managed WordPress hosting plans come with the opportunity to create an unlimited number of email accounts with your domains, so you can establish professional communication with your visitors and clients.

The benefits of using the most popular application to build your website are countless in every aspect – from ease-of-use to optimization for search engines. But in order to take full advantage of them, you need a hosting solution, which will squeeze all these benefits out of WordPress, and enforce them in a way that will skyrocket your project.

I hope this article was useful to you, feel free to check our Managed WordPress hosting solution, ask a question or a leave your thoughts in the comments below, and share it with people who might take advantage of the benefits Managed WordPress can provide.

The post WebHostFace Managed WordPress Hosting Is Released! appeared first on WebHostFace Hosting & Design Blog.

Laravel Dusk

 This is the new end-to-end browser simulating tool for Laravel 5.4, which, unlike its predecessor Symfony BrowserKit component, works on JavaScript enabled applications. Dusk is utilizing ChromeDriver which saves you the trouble of installing Selenium or Java Development Kit (although it can work with any Selenium browser), and according to Laravel creator Taylor Otwell, Dusk works faster than Selenium.
Dusk also comes with loginAs option, which will allow your tests to go to an authenticated URL, so you won’t have to go through a login page each time. Your failed tests will also be automatically saved as screenshots, so you can follow your progress. Dusk also, allows you to test on multiple browser windows, so you can interact with one window and see the changes on the other.

Higher Order Messaging (HOM) for Collections

 Inspired by a similar feature in Ruby, higher order messaging is implemented in Laravel 5.4 to help avoid loop pattern. By allowing messages to have other messages as arguments, it will allow a query or update of all the objects in a collection with just a single HOM.

Components and Slots Can Be Added to Blade Templates

 Blade is the web template engine, which comes with Laravel and provides a fast and simple syntax, as well as an easy way to reuse or split templates. It complies views in plain PHP and caches them so as to contribute virtually no overhead to your application. Now that you can add components and slots to the template engine, you can easily build and define HTML elements within component slot variables.

JSON Based Language Files

In older versions of Laravel, if you wanted to work on multilingual projects, you had to manage translation keys. This proved to be an issue with larger projects with many translation keys, as they would be hard to remember.
In Laravel 5.4, the new JSON based files allow you to use plain text, so you would not have to manage all translation keys later. The team at Laravel justify the usage of JSON with it’s easy readability, which they claim, will allow package developers to create better application translation tools.

Automatic Facade

Facade is a software design pattern, used to provide easier readability to complex libraries. In Laravel, the facade is a class, which serves as a static proxy to the underlying application service containers, making their code-writing cleaner. With Laravel 5.4 you will be able to use any class as a facade on the fly (without stopping the application).

Two New Middleware

One of the new Middleware in Laravel 5.4 is Trim Strings, which will trim all the unnecessary spaces in your application forms.

The other Middleware Convert Empty Strings To Null works in the same way but will convert blank fields into // null.

Other useful changes to the new Laravel 5.4 include improvements in route caching, email Markdown system for creating templates and upgrade of the automated string concatenation Laravel Elixir to Laravel Mix, which is build on Webpack (unlike Elixir which is built on Gulp).

Once Laravel 5.4 has been officially released, you can use it on your WebHostFace hosting account!

References

http://scg.unibe.ch/archive/papers/Weih05aHigherOrderMessagingOOPSLA2005.pdf

http://natpryce.com/articles/000535.html

https://laravel-news.com/category/laravel-5.4

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