By Jessica Hupp

As a web developer, you probably assume that your work is pretty environmentally friendly, and for the most part, you’re right. But despite all of your paper saving and working at home, your work, specifically your websites, still contributes to rising CO2 levels. Check out this collection to find tools and resources that will help you minimize your impact on the environment in web development and beyond.

Tools

With these tools, you can measure and reduce your impact on the environment.

1. Blackle: This black screen version of Google consumes less monitor energy than the regular white one.
2. Emergy-C: Use this color pallete to reduce the energy usage of your site.
3. CarbonFund: Most small businesses generate about 70 tons of CO2 each year, and you can purchase an offset from this organization.
4. YourMPG: In this service from fueleconomy.gov, you can monitor your MPG and compare it with other users.
5. The Green Data Project: This project encourages slimming down your unnecessary data for greener servers and more.
6. SURVEYER: Manage the power of your PC with this tool.
7. 41Pounds: Use this resource to cut your waste by getting off of junk mail lists.
8. GuideMeGreen: Learn how to make your development operation more eco-friendly with this guide.
9. LessWatts.org: Create a more energy efficient Linux machine using this site.

Apps

Use these applications to work just a little bit greener.

10. Carbonetworks: Use a Carbonetworks app to manage your emissions.
11. Google Transit: Chart your trip by public transportation using this app from Google.
12. Zoho Office Suite: Use Zoho Office’s Zoho Meeting to eliminate face-to-face meetings and collaborate online instead.
13. CO2Stats: Determine the carbon footprint of your site or blog based on traffic with this app.
14. Box: Use Box to upload client files instead of printing or sending a CD.
15. FreshBooks: With FreshBooks, you can bill completely online, with the option to email bills instead of sending paper invoices.
16. TaskPower 3: Wrangle your computer’s services, tasks, and more with this app that lets you reduce the power your system uses.
17. Skype: Use Skype to conduct virtual meetings and avoid wasteful transportation.
18. GreenPrint: GreenPrint offers an easy way to prevent the printing of extraneous information like banner ads, URLs, and legal disclaimers.
19. Breeze: Eliminate paper bulk mailers by sending out email campaigns with Breeze instead.
20. MyFax: Use MyFax to send and receive virtual faxes.
21. My Mile Marker: This slick MPG app will let your record your miles, view reports, and even access the app from your mobile device.
22. Spamato: Cut down on power-sucking spam with this app that will keep junk mail from hitting your inbox.

Networks & Directories

Check out these directories to find goods, services, and people that are environmentally friendly.

23. Green Deals Daily: Find and vote for bargains on green products with this site.
24. Greeopolis: Connect with other greenies, discuss tips, and more on Greenopolis.
25. Greenforgood: In this business directory, you’ll find highly reviewed green products and services.
26. MakeMeSustainable: Calculate your development’s carbon emissions and learn how to reduce them in this green social network.
27. BuyGreen.com: Use this shopping portal to find eco-friendly products that disclose material sources, manufacturing, usage, and disposal.
28. Riverwired: Learn how to make your development more eco-friendly on this social network that offers lots of resources and advice.
29. Greenzer: Find green products, and learn what exactly makes the products green with this eco-friendly e-commerce portal.

Hosts

Check out these hosts that offer web hosting without damage to the environment.

30. Rackspace: This carbon neutral host offsets its energy usage with the International Tree Foundation, which plants a tree for each Rackspace server.
31. TigerTech: TigerTech uses only EnergyStar products, fluorescent lights, and donates to the CarbonFund yearly.
32. GreenestHost: This host was designed with eco-friendly storage in mind, offering solar power, low power servers, and more efficient management that allows the company to operate with fewer servers.
33. Iron Mountain: Just like GreenestHost, Iron Mountain is solar powered, making their energy usage clean and renewable.
34. Sustainable Hosting: Sustainable Hosting’s facility is powered in part by wind, saving approximately more than 32,000 pounds of CO2.
35. Affordable Internet Services Online: AISO is 100% solar powered, making this host an excellent green choice.
36. HostPapa: Go with HostPapa for their investments in clean technology.
37. Ilisys: Ilisys uses renewable wind and solar power sources, and dontes to the CarbonNeutral program, which plants trees to offset their emissions.
38. Coreix: This hosting center offsets their carbon footprint by partnering with the World Land Trust, which repairs degraded Ecuadorian forests.
39. ThinkHost: ThinkHost uses wind power, and encourages telecommuting for their employees so they can keep extra cars off the road.
40. DreamHost: DreamHost operates on energy efficient servers, and purchases carbon emmission offsets for their servers and office waste.

Guides

For even more information and guidance on green computing and web development, check out these guides.

41. How to Green Your Work: Make your development business more eco-friendly with this guide.
42. Ten Tips for Donating a Computer: Ready to upgrade? Learn how to donate a computer for repurposing in this article.
43. The Green Entrepreneur’s Toolbox: 100 Networking Resources, Guides, and Links: Check out this guide to find helpful green resources like blogs, tools, and organizations.
44. 29 Simple Ways to Become a More Environmentally Friendly Freelancer: This article offers lots of general ways web developers and other freelancers can become more environmentally friendly.
45. Green Computing Guide: This document from the University of Colorado offers lots of tips for greener computing.
46. How to Green Your Electricity: Learn how to reduce the impact of your own computer and more in this guide.
47. Build a Green Datacenter: This article offers advice for creating a green datacenter of your own.
48. 101 Things Designers Can Do to Save The Earth: Aimed at all sorts of designers, this blog offers more than 100 tips and tricks for reducing your impact.
49. Saving Power on Idle PCs: Get an extremely in-depth look at PC energy conservation with this guide.
50. Print Friendly Website: This guide will show you how to create a print friendly website so that your visitors don’t waste paper and ink.

By Laura Milligan

Creating your own comic strip is now easier than ever, thanks to online resources like Web hosting systems, webcomic communities and support networks and collections of design tools and tutorials. To help you get started, we’ve organized 50 of the best resources on the Web. Read below for inspiring examples, sites that offer free fonts, design tips and more.

Useful Guides

To get an overview of the typical webcomic start up process, read these useful guides that provide tips on starting your own online series.

1. Create Your Own Webcomic: This article provides readers with ideas for coming up with plot lines, characters, design themes and more.

2. How I Make a Webcomic: This “investigative report” explores the different strategies webcomic artist Jonathan Requesens uses to create his comic OshKosh and Josh.

3. How to Make Your Own Webcomic in 3 Steps: This simple post on the Megatokyo Forums gives tips on drawing, editing, uploading and more.

4. How to Make Webcomics: The artists behind Player Vs. Player strongly recommend checking out this book, which includes “a guided tour of everything you need to know to make, post and profit from your own online comics.”

5. Fleen: This popular webcomics blog posts articles about industry news, tips on making your webcomic a money-making machine and lots more.

6. Hyatt Art Webcomic Forums: Participate in the chats on Hyatt Art to share tips with other artists and learn what’s new in the webcomics world.

7. Manga Punk: Even if your webcomic won’t be in the style of manga or anime, this site has lots of valuable tutorials for drawing people, eyes and more.

8. A Guide for the Novice Webcomic Artist: From plot to production, Ghastly’s Ghastly Journal offers up great tips for beginner webcomic designers.

9. The gURL Guide to Making a Comic: This guide to making comics is completely accessible even for beginners. Get tips on coming up with a story line and choosing your style, read about the history of comics and more.

10. Mega Online Comic Manual: Create, Share and Profit from Webcomics: Posted by Danogo.com, this tutorial provides a detailed introduction to starting your own webcomics and links to sites that make designing, managing and hosting much easier.

Fonts and Text

From advice to creating your own fonts to websites that provide them ready-made, check out the resources below for making your words pop right off the screen.

11. Blambot: If you’re having trouble designing your own fonts or dialogue balloons, try out Blambot, a site that offers all kinds of designs to artists.

12. Lettering on the Computer: Cymbrele’s Webcomic Tutorial posts this article about making your own lettering for computer projects.

13. Text and Balloons: 6 Advanced Techniques: This post from the blog Your Webcomic Can Still be Saved goes over tips for overlapping balloons, creating different-sized text within the same frame and more.

14. 1001 Free Fonts: Score tons of free fonts from this website, which also provides Web hosting and fonts especially for Mac users.

15. UrbanFonts.com: Browse fonts in categories like Comic, Asian, Rounded and more to give your comic a unique edge.

16. How to Make Your Own Fonts: If you’d rather create your own fonts, try out this tutorial from Chank! to help get you started.

17. Fontifier: To bring more of your personal artistry into your webcomics project, use Fontifier, an online program that creates a font based on your own handwriting.

Hosting and Management Tools

To help you choose the right hosting services for your webcomic, we’ve put together this list of management tools and sites that will keep your projects organized.

18. StripCreator.com: Create an account on StripCreator.com to design and organize your own webcomic, visit with other artists on the forums and more.

19. Drunk Duck!: This online community of webcomic artists and enthusiasts hosts comic strips for signed-in users.

20. Wordpress.com: Many webcomic veterans suggest maintaining a blog along with your comic so that your readers feel more connected to you and your characters. The resources at Wordpress are some of the most straightforward in the blogging world.

21. Comic Genesis: This “free webhosting provider for webcomics” also lets visitors check out different comics by searching categories like Sci-Fi, Romance, Horror and Manga.

22. Smack Jeeves: This popular Web hosting and online comic management service is also free.

23. Transplant Comics: Sign up with Transplant Comics to create and upload your webcomic for free. Members can also benefit from the site’s forums and community-oriented atmosphere.

24. CUSP: CUSP software, or Comic Update Script for PHP, “allows a cartoonist to take full control over his website while automating much of its tedious day to day maintenance.” Features include easy upload management, daily news updates and the ability to support all sizes of comic strips.

25. The Newbsoft Network: Another system that provides free webcomics hosting, The Newbsoft Network welcomes all kinds of artists and designs.

26. Webcomics Nation: Join this community of webcomics designers to expose yourself to a broad audience.

Finding Inspiration

If you’re suffering from designer’s block, check out these comics and resources to get you back in the game.

27. Ask Dr. Eldritch Webcomic: This webcomic creator has devoted his entire website to the comic. Different pages introduce characters, host a comic archive and even support an online gift shop.

28. A Softer World: Designer Emily Horne and writer Joey Comeau create their webcomic out of subtle but intriguing photographs.

29. DrawingBoard.org: Members post their designs onto this message board to share ideas, network with other artists and perfect their craft.

30. A Lesson is Learned but the Damage is Irreversible: The artists of this innovative comic are taking a temporary time-out, but check out their archives for award-winning design and images.

31. Raina Telgemeier’s Comics: This collection of artist Raina Telgemeier’s comics on WebComicsNation.com demonstrates how she is “a representative of the new breed of creators who move easily between print and Web,” according to The Webcomics Examiner.

Online Resources

These online resources provide tools and tips for creating your own webcomics. Save them to the site or e-mail them to all your friends to increase your audience.

32. Weblog Tools Collection: Turn to this list of articles when you have questions or need support figuring out the more technical side of your online creation.

33. StripGenerator.com: The Stripgenerator v1.0.3 combines blogging and webcomics so that users can easily create their own stories and designs and link up with other artists.

34. Make-O Your Own Stinko!: If you’re not too serious about uploading your comics, or if you think you need a little more practice designing frames before you go public, try out the Make-O Your Own Stinko! game. Players can choose backgrounds, characters, props and more to create a basic webcomic all their own.

35. Charlotte’s Web: Make-Your-Own Comics: This fun little children’s game sets up templates so that users can create their own comics related to the Charlotte’s Web story. It’s also great practice if you want a safe space to play around before going solo.

36. ToonDoo: ToonDoo is “the online comic, cartoon strip creator.” After you use ToonDoo’s resources for starting your own webcomic, check to see if it’s made it into the Editor’s Pick or Most Popular categories. You can also enter contests hosted by the site or organize your favorite comics and designs into an online gallery.

37. Make Beliefs Comix!: kid-friendly site instructs beginners on how to create their own webcomics by using simple one-click tools to move images around the template, print and e-mail finished creations and more.

38. PikiStrips: If cartoon characters aren’t your thing, sign up with PikiStrips to create webcomics out of your digital photos.

Design Tips and Tools

Even the most experienced Web artists could use a few more tips on designing their webcomics. Check out these tutorials for new ideas.

39. 10 Tips for Webcomics: This list of dos and don’ts includes minimizing major changes to your design or story line, forgetting to self-promote and more.

40. The Webcomic List: This website serves as an online news source and forum for webcomics. Get updates on your favorite comics, check out other artists for design inspiration and find out which comics have recently received press or won awards.

41. Online Comics: Image Size and Layout: This post gives basic guidelines for artists who need to determine appropriate image size and layout for their strip.

42. Webcomics: Tools and Techniques for Digital Cartooning: This book, available at Amazon.com, is a helpful resource for artists looking to improve their designs.

43. Graphic Design Tools Reviewed: CNET provides this list of links and reviews of graphic design tools like Adobe Flash Professional and iClone Studio Edition.

Distribution and Promotion

Once you’ve created and uploaded your webcomic, you need to figure out an online marketing strategy to attract an audience. Read below for tips and resources on how to promote your project.

44. Webcomic$: This blog has lots of postings and resources to help artists make money from their webcomics. Recent posts include “Ad Management Systems” and “Big Companies WILL Pay for Your Webcomic.”

45. I Want My Ten Dollars!: This post from Fleen doles out creative ideas for getting your readers and fans to pay up.

46. deviantART: This community of artists allows members to upload and share their creations with other users.

47. OnlineComics.net: Submit your webcomics to this site so that other members can view, comment on and send them on to friends.

48. Webbed Comics: Register your comic here to let other members vote on your creation. The top 30 make it to the homepage.

49. How to Promote Your Webcomic for Free: This series has lots of ideas for getting the word out about your webcomic.

50. How to Promote Your Webcomic by NOT Promoting Your Webcomic: This list of alternative marketing strategies may help boost your readership.

By Christina Laun

Many Web employees work from the comfort of their own home and don’t even have to get out of their comfy PJs to go to work if they don’t feel like it. But that doesn’t mean working on the Web isn’t stressful from time to time. Online projects pile up and deadlines loom just like they do for those working in an office. They’ve also got the added stress of sometimes unreliable Web hosting and no IT department to fix a troublesome PC. So how can you beat the stress of day-to-day Web work? The following are 50 ways you can become happier and healthier by reducing the stress in your life.

1. Get organized. Nothing will stress you out faster than having to sort through mounds of paperwork or hundreds of emails to find important documents and files. The few hours you spend getting things in order will protect you from those gray hairs when you can’t find key information.
2. Respect your internal rhythms. Everyone has high and low productivity points of the day. If you force yourself to work through your worst parts of the day you may become frustrated when you’re not moving as fast as you’d like to be. Try to save your hardest and most demanding work for your highest productivity points of the day so you can breeze through it.
3. Don’t worry about the what-ifs. Like anything in life, with work there are tons of things that can go wrong at any point. You’ll only make yourself crazy imagining all the possible outcomes. Simply do your best, and deal with the eventualities when they arrive.
4. Invest in your health. A half hour of exercise a day may not seem like much, but it could be enough to prevent you from having some serious health problems. Not only that, but exercise is also a great stress reliever. So when you’re feeling bogged down, take a trip to the gym and work out that stress.
5. Take breaks. It may seem counterintuitive, but taking regular breaks can actually help you get more work done. By giving your mind, body and eyes a rest from sitting at the computer you’ll be refreshed and ready to come back when you return and can look at things with fresh eyes.
6. Eat right. The only saying is true, we really are what we eat. Cramming frozen pizza and chips into your mouth might be the quickest way to accomplish eating a meal, but you’ll get much more out of eating a balanced diet and have more energy and focus to concentrate on what you’ve got to get done. Try out whole grains, blueberries and even chocolate for some great stress busting.
7. Rest your eyes.Staring at a computer screen all day can take quite a toll on your eyes day after day. Make sure to give your eyes a break every now and again so they won’t get as stressed out as the rest of you.
8. Schedule your time. Keep your stress in check by planning out your day in advance. Schedule time for projects, breaks, household chores and anything else that might come up throughout the day so that you’ll never have to wonder what you need to tend to next.
9. Minimize interruptions. Constantly being interrupted by a ringing phone or IMs can destroy your concentration not to mention ride your last nerve making the stress of your impending deadline even worse. Turn off your instant messenger and unplug your phone for a few hours a day so you can get some real work done.
10. Stay positive. With so much to do it can be hard to maintain a positive outlook on getting everything done. Do you best to keep your chin up and a smile on your face. Even in your worst moments, take a break to find something funny or give yourself a treat so you won’t be tempted to wallow.
11. Simplify. Often there are things we feel like we must get done that in reality aren’t that important. Evaluate your tasks and see if there aren’t a few less important ones that you can eliminate from your task list.
12. Take time to disconnect. The Internet can be a tempting and demanding mistress. Make sure you’re not letting it rule your life, even if it is your job. Don’t spend your break time on the Internet or too much of your off-time.
13. Make lists. Don’t let important tasks slip your mind. Create small lists of different types of tasks that you need to get done or jot ideas down as you think of them so you won’t forget about them later. Try an online list maker like Ta-Da List.
14. Stop and think. Sometimes work, whether it’s online or in an office, can be so overwhelming that we forget to stop and think and even take a breath. Take a step back from your work to reevaluate what’s really important and whether or not it’s worth being so stressed over.
15. Say no. While it can be difficult to turn down great projects or fun side work, there comes a time when you really just have to say no to maintain your sanity. If you’ve already got too much on your plate, don’t try to take on anything more, even if others try to guilt you into it.
16. Take it one step at a time. When you look at the amount of work that you have to do it can seem to be incredibly overwhelming. Breaking it up into smaller chunks and taking it one part at a time can help it seem like less of an obstacle and more like something that you can actually do.
17. Delegate. For some Web workers, delegating isn’t really an option. But if you do have others you’re working with, don’t be afraid to ask for help if you really need it. You can also ask family and friends to help pick up the slack around the house as well, until you get through your next big project.
18. Renegotiate. If you find yourself feeling stressed out more often than not then perhaps it’s time to renegotiate your priorities. Owning your own Internet based business or working for one can be time consuming, but make sure that that is how your time is best being spent.
19. Spend time with family and pets. One easy way to reduce stress is to spend some time with the people and animals that matter most to you. Watch a movie with a friend, take a walk with your dog, or just spend some time with a loved one. A little time connecting goes a long way in reducing stress, and will get your butt off of the Internet.
20. Reward yourself. If you’ve just completed a project ahead of schedule or gotten some great feedback from clients make sure to reward yourself. After all, all that hard work shouldn’t be for nothing and if nothing else taking a little break for some ice cream or to play a new video game will help you to relax.
21. Incorporate home tasks. Managing to take care of both work and home tasks can be difficult when they are one in the same. Work often takes over and household chores can pile up, surrounding you with clutter which can be visually distracting and stressful. Make sure to leave yourself a few minutes each day to work in some of these tasks so that they don’t get out of hand and you get a chance to do something other than sit in your desk chair.
22. Limit work hours. When you work at home, work hours tend to blend into personal time as there is no definitive transition between the two. Reduce your on the job stress by making setting hours when you’ll be at work and when you won’t. Even if you have to work overtime to finish a project, make sure you’re keeping a balance otherwise you’ll be headed for a burnout.
23. Make your personal life a priority. While things like grabbing a drink with your friends or seeing a movie may not seem like big priorities when you have work that needs to get done, in reality you should try to put just as much value on your personal life as you do work. After all, if you have no personal life, what is all that work good for?
24. Define your daily tasks. One way to overcome the stress of having too much to do is by creating a list of three or four things that you must get done every day. By only putting a few things on your list and clearly defining that these must get done, you’ll have a better chance of checking them off of your list and maybe even have time to get to something you hadn’t planned on.
25. Do the hard work first. Everyone knows what it’s like to have that one totally unpleasant task hanging over your head. It can even cause you to extend other projects just to avoid facing it. If you just get it out of the way you’ll eliminate the stress of worrying about it altogether and feel better for the rest of the day.
26. Slow down. It might seem to make sense to speed up to get more work done, but the faster you go the more likely you are to make errors which will cost you more time in the long run. So, take your time, slow down, and make sure you get it right the first time around. You’ll save yourself loads of stress later on.
27. Be firm. Remember that your time is just as important as anyone else’s, and that when you say no, it means no. Set firm limits on your time and how much you’re willing to take on so you won’t get overworked in the first place .
28. Block out your time. One method of time management is to schedule blocks of time for each kind of task every day. You will then know that part of your day is dedicated to working on certain parts of projects, part for management and so on.
29. Brainstorm. Often, stress can be a result of a creative blockage. It’s hard to move forward on designing a webpage when you haven’t got the foggiest idea of where to begin. Luckily there are loads of resources on the internet that can help you to work on brainstorming and drawing all those great ideas out of hiding.
30. Take care of email. Email can be a great friend but it can also very quickly turn into a monster if you let it get out of control. Set aside some time each day to tend to responding and filing your email so that it never gets a chance to overwhelm you. If you need a free program to manage your email try out Thunderbird.
31. Review what you’ve done. Feel like you aren’t accomplishing a thing? Take a look back at all the things you’ve gotten done each day. It will help you put everything in perspective and see that you are actually making progress, however slowly it may be.
32. Streamline. There are many tasks that we do every day that take much longer than they should. Take a look at what you’re doing and see if you can’t automate or pare down the steps it takes to get something done. A few minutes each day may not seem like much, but over the course of the week they add up.
33. Create clear agendas. One of the biggest wasters of time is phone calls and meetings that are entered into without a clear agenda at the outset. Make sure you know what you want to accomplish when you enter into either of these so that you won’t be stuck rolling your eyes as things spiral out of control.
34. Decide what’s important. So you’ve got a million things to get done today, how do you know where to start? You can begin by prioritizing your tasks. Focus on those things that are the most important and give yourself some slack on the others.
35. Be flexible. Not everything has to be done the way you first planned it and sometimes a little compromise is completely acceptable if it makes your life considerably easier.
36. Learn to focus. It’s easy to become distracted when you work at home or on the Internet, both are full of things that are likely a lot more fun that what you’re supposed to be working on. Figure out what it takes to get you focused, whether it’s listening to music, shutting the door to your office or unplugging your computer from the Internet and work on making it happen on a daily basis. You might find out you can get a lot more done in a lot less time than you thought.
37. Keep communications succinct. Unless you have a reason to have a lengthy phone or email conversation, try to limit the length of your conversations. It isn’t meant to be rude, just to save you time which you could be used to get more pressing things done.
38. Have clear boundaries. Whether it’s clients or family, some people just don’t respect boundaries and will bother you regardless of what you’re doing. Eliminate the stress of constantly having to multitask or switch between modes by setting clear boundaries of when you’re available for personal and business matters and sticking to them.
39. Ask yourself why. If you find yourself with far too much on your plate, take a step back and ask yourself why you’re doing what you’re doing. If you can’t answer or don’t really have a good reason, perhaps it isn’t as important as you at first thought.
40. Create a routine. Routines aren’t just for cubicle jockeys, they can work well for those working on the Web as well. Try to stick to times when you get up and start working and when you will stop each day. This will help you figure out how much work you need to get done in a given day and space out big projects, making them considerably less stressful in the long run.
41. Get some sleep. Not sleeping might allow you more time to work on projects, but you won’t be at your best. A few nights without adequate sleep can start to add up and really take a toll on your health. You’ll be better able to cope with your workload, clients, and everyone else when you’re not cranky from lack of sleep.
42. Personalize your workspace. Make your workspace a much more cheerful place to be in with a little personalization. Hang up a photo of your beloved pet, get a plant, or paper it in photos of your favorite celebrities; whatever makes you feel most at home and happy.
43. Create a not to do list. While to-do lists are important, it can be equally important to create a not to do list. It can include such distractions as updating your Netflix queue or doing the laundry, whatever you want to prevent yourself from doing or that could help you procrastinate and increase your stress. Best of all, you won’t even have to check anything off because you won’t be doing it.
44. Get outside. Taking a break to get outside can be just the boost you need to help reduce your stress levels. Sunlight can help raise levels of vitamin D which in turn boost levels of the mood enhancing serotonin
45. Put it in perspective. Chances are pretty good that it won’t be the end of the world if you don’t get everything done you had set to get done in a day. Remember this the next time you feel too stressed by what you’ve got going on.
46. Take it out. Everyone gets stressed, the key is to find a healthy way to release that stress, and preferably away from the Internet. Take a kickboxing class, take a shower, do a bit of painting, or whatever helps you calm down after a stressful day.
47. Find humor. Even the worst and most disparaging situations have a lighter side. When you reach your wit’s end try stepping back and having a laugh at it all. Chances are, it isn’t nearly as bad as you thought.
48. Be realistic. There are some things that just don’t need to be done perfectly and some that just aren’t going to get done no matter how much sleep you lose. Be realistic in your expectations of yourself and you’ll find it much easier to relax.
49. Stop procrastinating. It’s easier said than done, but procrastination is one of the biggest creators of stress. With so much fun stuff on the Internet it’s incredibly tempting to surf the Web instead of sticking to your work schedule. If you can’t do it on your own, try using a program like MeeTimer to curb your surfing urges and force yourself to get to work.
50. Don’t put up with things that don’t work right. Whether it’s an alarm clock, a blog host, or an email system, don’t put up with systems and objects that don’t work right. These add to stress and slow you down.

By Christina Laun

For those just getting started in Web development, the options and information out there can seem overwhelming. While this may be so, it’s truly an asset to be able to have access to limitless choices. You will, however, need to choose a place to begin learning all the things you don’t know. Whether you have a basic knowledge of Web development or are a complete newbie, here are 50 guides that can help you to learn and expand your knowledge so that you can build more successful and accessible sites.

Programming Languages

While the Web may have started out primarily in HTML, the number of programming languages out there today has grown considerably. Here are some guides to help you learn the most popular.

1. Complete CSS Guide: Learn the basics of CSS with this guide. You’ll discover the reasons why you should use CSS and everything you’ll need to know about coding from the basics to the advanced.
2. Bare Bones Guide to HTML: For those seeking an HTML guide, this one will help you learn the basics to get started. It contains all the essential codes that you’ll need, as well as links to other sites with additional information you might need as you learn.
3. XHTML Tutorial: Not sure what the difference between HTML and XHTML is? Not to worry, this guide will help you to learn, as well as teach you about the basics of XHTML syntax and how you can use it in your Web design.
4. 30 AJAX Tutorials: Here you’ll find a list of 30 different tutorials on AJAX that can help you learn everything from creating rounded corners to how to make an AJAX website in less than 10 minutes.
5. Java Tutorial for Beginners: For those new to programming websites in Java, this guide can help you learn the basics. You’ll also find helpful resources on the site for source code and applets.
6. Writing Your First PHP Script: PHP can be a great way to program your pages, and this tutorial can help you get started. It provides an example of how to program a feedback form, but the site also contains dozens of other tutorials and guides to help you make the most of PHP.
7. Learn All About Ruby on Rails: Ruby on Rails is fast becomming a programming language of choice due to its clean syntax. With the informtion on this site, you can become a Rails expert. You’ll find links to books and manuals as well as numerous tutorials to get you started.
8. Beginner’s Guide to CGI Scripting with Perl: Designed for the novice, this guide will help in learning the basic elements of the Perl programming language. You can read the guide online or download it for reading when you’re not online.
9. Beginner’s Guide to Python: Python is a free and versatle programming language and you can learn to use it whether you have previous programming experience or not. Check out the resources on this site for tutorials of all levels and examples to help you learn.
10. Introduction to Web Programming: If you’ve got a little programming knowledge under your belt, then check out this four part class on what you’ll need to know to get starting programming on the Web, including CGI and Java basics.
11. Firebug Tutorial: Firebug can help you to make sure that your sites are bug free before you open them up to users or even live from the Web. Here you’ll find a tutorial on how to get started with Firebug so you can improve your coding with less effort.
12. Ultimate Web Development Cheat Sheet: Make your life a little easier with this cheat sheet. You’ll find quick references for CSS, Java, HTML, colors and much more.

Usability and Optimization

Make sure your site is as easy-to-use and user friendly as possible with these guides that will help you design and program a great site.

13. Usability.gov: This government website gives step-by-step instructions and suggestions on how to design user friendly websites. It will take you through everything you need to think about before designing your next site.
14. Designing More Usable Websites: Everything you ever wanted to know about usability you’ll find on this great site. You’ll find tools, guides, and tons of links to studies and websites on making your website accessible to everyone, even those with disabilities.
15. Weblog Usability: Top Ten Design Mistakes: Beginning bloggers often make some key design mistakes that can make their pages hard or even painful for visitors to use. Here you’ll find instructions on how to avoid common design mistakes.
16. Best Practices for Speeding Up Your Website: Here you’ll find 14 ways that you can help your website to load faster and perform better to make it easier for visitors to use.
17. 11 Ways to Improve Landing Pages: Landing pages are the first things users see when they visit your site, so make sure yours will draw in users to make purchases or subscribe to your site. These 11 tips can help you get started on making better landing pages.
18. Dive Into Accessibility: This online book can help you learn how to design a site to work with color blindness, cognitive diasbilities, and those with other visual diabilities or impairments.
19. 5 Ways to Optimize Your Design: If you’re new to the web design game, then these basics will help you get on the right track. Neil Patel gives advice on design, content, and navigation to help you make the most of your site.
20. The 10 Commandments of Site Navigation: While innovation is nice, it’s also nice not to confuse visitors to your site with complication navigation. These 10 rules can help you design navigation that’s easy-to-use and won’t frustrate visitors.
21. The Eyes Have It: Part of making your new site usable is working with the way users will view it, and you can get a leg up on that by reading about eye tracking studies. This article will give you some helpful tips on how to incorporate the results of these studies into your design.
22. UITest: In order to make sure your site is as accessible as possible, use this site to give it a quick check. You’ll find out whether or not your site will work for the colorblind, what your load time is, and whether or not your code could use some tweaking.

Design and Content

Your site won’t go too far without a great layout and some interesting content. Learn how to improve both with these guides and articles.

23. The Elements of Typographic Style Applied to the Web: Typography is an important part of print design, and the same holds true for Web design. The online text will teach you how to use typography from choosing fonts to laying out your text to improve the look of your webpages.
24. Web Style Guide: Make sure your sites are easy to use and attractive by reading up on these style basics. You’ll get a chance to learn about graphics, text, multimedia and more.
25. All Graphic Design: Make sure your page looks good by paying attention to not only your coding but your graphics, buttons and photos as well. On this site you’ll find numerous tutorials, resources and tips on everything from graphic design basics to fonts, graphics and more.
26. Basics of Web Design: There are lots of things that go into creating a great website. Here you’ll find links to numerous resources that can help you to develop every aspect of your design.
27. Understanding Web Design: It can be difficult sometimes even for the best designers to make the leap from print to Web design. This article can help give you some background on designing for the Web, and things you’ll need to consider when you are designing your site.
28. Whitespace: Sometimes what you don’t include can have just as big of an impact as what you do. Find out all you need to know about how to use whitespace effectively on your page to achieve the desired effect and appearance.
29. Improving Content: Making a page that looks good is important, no doubt, but don’t forget about what your page says. At the end of the day, that’s what users will be focusing on. Get advice on making your content as intruging as possible with this article from Devlounge.
30. A Web Developers Guide to Writing Great Web Content: Whether you’re selling a product from your site or just writing about your day-to-day life, you can benefit from the suggestions in this guide to improve your writing.
31. How to Write Great Copy: Unless you’re selling something that practically sells itself you’re going to need to write some great copy to move your product. Here you’ll find guidelines on how to create copy that works on the Web.
32. Web Design: 15 Important Research Findings You Should Know: Science doesn’t just help to develop new drugs and less wasteful cars, it can also help you to design a better webpage. Check out these research findings to see how you can use them to improve the design of your page.
33. Copywriting 101: Learn the basics of copywriting from Copyblogger with this ten-step writing tutorial. Additionally, you’ll find resources on writing for search engines and how to create great headlines.

General

If you’re just starting out the amount of things you don’t know can far exceed what you do. These sites cover a wide variety of topics to help you get a little information on a lot of topics.

34. SmartWebby: Need to learn how to do pretty much everything involved with Web development? Then SmartWebby will be a great resource, with articles and how-tos on topics ranging from help with Dreamweaver to learning to use different CSS styles.
35. WebDev How-To: Here you’ll find a step-by-step guide to building a website from the purchase of a domain name to creating great content and bringing users to your site.
36. Philip and Alex’s Guide to Web Publishing: Learn how to do just about everything you’ll need to do to get your site up and running from user tracking to choosing a good Web host.
37. Web Page Design for Designers: Whether you’re more of a designer or programmer, you’ll find loads of tutorials and guides on this site. Learn how to improve your CSS, build a better blog, or even the basics of color theory.
38. Web Developer’s Virtual Library: This site contains an incredibly conprehensive collection of tutorials, forums, and articles on every aspect of Web development from programming to choosing the right software for the job.
39. Webmonkey: Need to know how to get your e-business started or a reference guide for Java? You’ll find both and much more on this resource-laden site.
40. Web Developer’s Handbook: You’ll find an almost overwhelming abundance of resources on this site. From the creative side of development to usability resources, this site has it all.
41. W3 Schools Web Tutorials: This site has loads of tutorials on just about every topic imaginable from HTML to CSS to ASP. You’ll also find a “try it yourself” editor that lets you edit sample code and view the results immediately to see if you’re getting the hang of it.
42. Web Design Bits: For the beginner, this site can be a great resource. There are tutorials on topics ranging from programming languages to internet marketing and Web hosting to help you learn everything you need to know to be a great Web developer.
43. The Site Wizard: Chances are pretty good that if you have a question about Web development, Site Wizard has an article or tutorial that will answer it. Beginners will benefit from the A-Z Guide to Starting Your Own Website and articles about Web development basics concerning design and revenue.

Promotion and Marketing

You could just sit back and let your site market itself, but then you probably wouldn’t have nearly as much success running a site. Here are some resources to help you get your website’s name out there.

44. Web Site Promotion Guide: Bring in more traffic to your site with the articles on this site from Charlie and Bruce Morris. You’ll find information on how to work with search engines, promote your site, and help build traffic.
45. A Promotion Guide: New to the whole Web promotion thing? Learn the basics with this simple free tutorial that will help you learn to list your site in directories, search engines and more.
46. The Web Marketing Checklist: Learn what you need to do to get your site the traffic it deserves with these 32 tips from Web Marketing Today.
47. A Beginner’s Guide to Search Engine Optimization: Part of being a great Web developer is getting your site out there so potential visitors can find it. This guide can help you make the most of search engines to bring in more traffic to your site.
48. 10 Quick Ways to Increase Conversions: Turn those idle visitors on your site into customers or subscribers with these 10 tips. You’ll bring in more revenue by doing simple things like including contact info, fixing errors, and more.
49. Less Obvious Ways of Promoting Your Website: Why not take the road less traveled and promote your website in a less common way? In this article you’ll find several different methods of promotion you might not have thought of.
50. How to Attract Links and Increase Traffic: There isn’t much point in having a website if no one visits it. Beginners can learn the basics and even advanced web developers can learn a few tricks from this article.

By Christina Laun

Open source software has a lot to offer the business world. Aside from the fact that they’re generally free, many open source programs are more secure, reliable and customizable than their proprietary counterparts. In fact, many large companies, including big names like Amazon, Google, and Yahoo, run their servers with Linux rather than Windows. Open source software is often some of the best software for the job, even when cost is no consideration. So how can you make open source software work for your business? Here are 50 apps that can help your office get on track to join the growing numbers of businesses that have made the switch to open source.

Desktop and Server Distributions

1. Ubuntu Ubuntu is a free, Linux-based operating system that can be used for both desktop systems and servers. It contains everything you need for the office, including a web browser, software for presentation, document and spreadsheets, as well as instant messaging. It has regular updates, new releases, and a reputation for being user friendly and easy to install.
2. Linspire Unlike Ubuntu, Linspire is not free, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t check it out as an option for desktop systems. Linspire focuses on making open source software easy to use for even the technically un-savvy with its Click’n'Run software. It comes complete with applications for multimedia, office productivity, browsers and instant messaging.
3. Fedora Fedora is another free Linux-based OS, though it’s not designed with the novice user in mind, and accordingly, is better suited to current Linux users that want to stay on the cutting edge. The system comes with OpenOffice, Firefox, Thunderbird and a number of other open source applications pre-loaded, giving you access to just about anything you need to get work done.
4. SUSE Linux Suse Linux is enterprise-focused software created and sponsored by Novell. It is designed to be especially stable and reliable as well as meet the special needs of business owners. It comes in both desktop and server versions, which come complete with office suites, desktop search, and virus protection. While not free, it does have the benefit of a dedicated support team if you ever have any problems.
5. Debian Debian is a free Linux-based OS known for its abundance of software options. There are currently almost 18,000 software packages for eleven different computer architectures, making it highly versatile and customizable to your needs. Software available for the OS includes everything from standard web browsers to language interpreters and tools for scientific work.
6. RedHat Redhat offers some of the most popular enterprise Linux software. Available for both servers and desktops, the software offers a comprehensive suite of productivity software as well as easy-to-use and reliable options for managing multiple servers and mainframes for a price considerably lower than that of proprietary software.
7. GNOME GNOME is another free Linux-based desktop environment. Business owners can benefit not only from its cost, but also from its dedication to accessibility for the disabled, large amount of available software, and extensive development platform for building new applications.

Email and Instant Messaging

8. Evolution Evolution, designed as an open source alternative to Microsoft Outlook, gives users integrated email, an address book, and calendar functionality, among many other features.
9. KDE Kontact KDE Kontact is another freeware alternative to using Outlook. KDE Kontact provides many of the same features, plus some additional ones, which include email management, groupware, calendar and organization tools, sticky notes and even Google synchronization.
10. Thunderbird Thunderbird is Mozilla’s open source answer to a desktop email client. Thunderbird allows users to customize their inbox, easily search, and enjoy enhanced security and privacy measures that help protect your information.
11. Jabber Jabber is an open source instant messaging program. It has standard instant messaging chat features, but also gives users the ability to have VoIP conversations and transfer files.

Productivity

12. Tomboy Tomboy makes taking and keeping track of notes easy. Busy employees can save time looking for websites, emails, or ideas they jotted down by using Tomboy notes that are available at the push of a button anytime they’re needed.
13. Beagle Beagle is a desktop search application that can make it easy to find documents, emails, notes, calendar appointments, music and more. Any information that can be extracted from these and other types of data is available for you to search, making even the most disorganized desktop easy to manage.
14. F-Spot F-Spot can help you easily sort and manage your photos. It even comes complete with a basic photo editing system. Whether you’re using photos for design or just in your personal time, F-Spot can be a valuable tool for keeping track of your images.
15. Planner Planner is a great free open source tool for project management. Businesses can set up projects and use the program to track, monitor, plan, schedule, and even assign tasks to individual employees, making working together and managing a project easier than ever.
16. iFolderiFolder is also a valuable tool for those who need to work together on a project. Users simply save files to their system as they normally would, and iFolder enables them to be shared on any computer within your office by putting them on your network server. It can also be a great way to back up important information and documents.
17. K3B K3B provides businesses with an easy and free way to burn CDs and DVDs. The program allows users to compile data, music, video, and mixed media CDs, as well as the ability to create DVD projects. It’s a great way to quickly share and backup information.
18. RDesktop RDesktop is a remote desktop client. It can make it easy to share information remotely, or to access your own workstation away from the office. It can also be used to help interface Linux with desktops that are still running Windows.
19. Ekiga Ekiga, formerly known as GNOMEMeeting, is VoIP and videoconferencing software. It has numerous features and can be a practical way to meet with clients when you can’t meet face-to-face.
20. OpenOffice OpenOffice is the virtual holy grail of free business software. OpenOffice comes complete with everything you’ll need to do including word processing, spreadsheets, presentation, databases, vector drawing, and even edit mathematical formulas.
21. Horde Horde isn’t just one program, but a framework upon which a number of programs are built. This framework supports a number of applications that can be useful to businesses, including webmail, file managers, calendars, and managers for bookmarks and calendars.
22. Evince Acrobat Reader is a key application for any business, but the program isn’t always the best solution for reading documents. Evince provides an open source alternative, allowing users to view documents in a wide variety of formats with a much lighter and quicker program.
23. Automatix For those delaying the move to open source due to fears about the difficulty of installing new applications, Automatix may be the solution you are looking for. The program is designed to automate the installation of everything you could need, including fonts, applications, and codecs, making installation easy and painless.

Imaging and Design

24. GIMP GIMP is image editing software and can act as a slightly less full featured alternative to Photoshop for businesses looking to save. While it lacks some of the more advanced productivity tools found in Photoshop, many if not most of the basic features are the same and it can be a great open source alternative for businesses that need image editing software without the frills or the price tag of Photoshop.
25. Subversion Subversion was designed as version control system that can act as an open source alternative to CVS, giving business owners a free program to manage servers and edit code.
26. Inkscape For businesses that need an open source program for vector drawing, Inkscape can be a great choice, with capabilities that are similar to those of Illustrator or CorelDraw.
27. Scribus Scribus brings desktop publishing into the open source realm. Users can design and format page layouts and typesetting much in the same way as Adobe InDesign, making the creation of brochures, posters and books easy and much less costly.

Content Management

28. Joomla! Joomla! is an open source content management program, that allows businesses to easily upload and create a variety of different types of web pages. Features include page caching, RSS feeds, news flashes, blogs, polls, and website searching, making it a valuable tool for entrepreneurs doing business on the web.
29. PostNuke PostNuke is another option for businesses that want a content management system. PostNuke makes it easy to create and upload websites and can be customized by installing additional themes, modules and blocks to the existing program.
30. Xoops Xoops is a program that allows users to easily create web content and can be used to develop anything from large community portals to business weblogs. It has advanced features, including the ability to send email and instant messages within the program.
31. Exponent Even the less technologically inclined can make great websites using Exponent. Users don’t directly code web pages or manage site navigation, and instead create the page as they would see it on the web by typing, editing and rearranging in one simple window. It can be a better solution than more complicated programs for those who don’t know much coding but still need content management software for their business.
32. Smarty For users that will need more in-depth web editing abilities, Smarty can help you easily manage and edit the templates for your sites. It provides tools that can help automate tasks associated with the programming of the presentation level of webpages.
33. MySQL The most popular open source database management program, MySQL can provide businesses with a platform to create useful web applications. It’s often used in conjunction with popular content management systems such as WordPress. MySQL can also act as the database component for LAMP, MAMP, and WAMP style platforms. The company offers a version of the software created especially for businesses.
34. KompoZer KompoZer is an HTML editor based on the Nvu system that can provide web editing abilities similar to that of DreamWeaver. While aimed towards more advanced users, it can be a valuable tool when designing and publishing material for the web.
35. Eclipse For those working on developing software or web apps, Eclipse is a great open source program to try out. Eclipse is a software framework written and designed primarily for Java, but plugins can be added to make the software useful to other programming languages.

Web Tools

36. Firefox Firefox is popular even among businesses that haven’t gone completely open source because it’s packed with features and simply works well. Businesses may find Firefox’s numerous plugins and extensions useful.
37. ZenCart Businesses that want to sell products on the web can benefit from open source software like ZenCart. ZenCart is free software for creating an online shopping cart system. Unlike many shopping cart applications, ZenCart is easy to install and use, making life easier for both customers and merchants.
38. phpCollab For businesses that need to work and collaborate on projects over the internet, phpCollab is a possible solution. This fully featured program comes with tools to create team or client sites, assign tasks, keep track of workflow, discuss projects, create invoices, and send out notifications.
39. OpenAds OpenAds is used by millions of business and personal websites to sell, manage and serve ads. The interface doesn’t require any advanced knowledge of coding and can help you easily and simply create and sell advertising for your business.
40. Skype For businesses that make a lot of international and long distance calls, Skype can be a valuable and money-saving tool. It allows users to make calls through the Internet using peer-to-peer technology. The program is free and provides international calls at a greatly discounted rate. The program can also be used to set up a call center for customer support complete with links that can easily be placed on a business website.
41. phpESP phpESP is a great tool for non-technical users of php-based web applications to administer surveys, gather the results from them, and easily view the statistics. Businesses can use it as a tool to monitor customer service experiences, or gather input and advice on how to make their products and services better.

Network and Server Management

42. Asterisk Asterisk is PBX (Private Branch eXchange) software that can allow you to easily and cheaply control the telephone system in your office. Asterisk works with both VoIP telephony as well as old-fashioned telephone systems with the addition of some inexpensive hardware. It even comes complete with features usually only found in high end and high price PBX systems.
43. Zabbix Zabbix is designed to allow users to easily monitor and track the status of network services, servers, and other network based hardware. Businesses looking for a way to track and report status on network systems will find Zabbix’s easy-to-use mapping and graphing visualizations very useful.
44. Apache Apache provides some of the most widely used and stable HTTP servers available, open source or otherwise. Apache supports a variety of features including virtual hosting, SSL and TSL support, custom log files, and a proxy module, among many others. It can be used as a secure server for web pages or as a way to safely share files over the Internet.

Finances

45. GnuCash GnuCash can make keeping track of business finances easy and less costly. This free program allows users to track bank accounts, stocks, income and expenses with features to create reports, do financial calculations, and schedule transactions.
46. SureInvoice SureInvoice provides an easy system for creating and managing invoices. Businesses will find it useful in time entry, automated invoice generation, and customer self-service, as well as many other areas, helping them make sure they are paid fairly and on time for work.
47. EzyBiz EzyBiz is business sales chain management software for small to medium size businesses. It is highly customizable and allows businesses to track finances, including taxes with easy-to-use custom forms and magic menus.

Security and Tracking

48. Mantis Mantis is a popular bug tracking application that works in conjunction with the MySQL database system. It has a simple interface that allows users to monitor and track any issues with a color coded issue list, providing all the information needed to address and resolve an issue.
49. Snort Protecting computer systems is incredibly important, especially for businesses. Snort can be a valuable part of securing your systems. The program acts as a network intrusion detector and prevention system, helping you detect and deter a wide variety of network probes and attacks.
50. Firestarter When sensitive client and business information hangs in the balance, security is of the utmost importance. Businesses can make use of Firestarter to help protect their information and safeguard their data. Firestarter is a firewall application with features including real-time monitoring, whitelists and blacklists, and controlled access policies.

By Grace Rodriguez

These days, the dotcom crash seems more like a forgotten fender bender along the Information SuperHighway. If the record-attendance of 1,200 industry professionals at the recent HostingCon 2007 (the largest annual Web hosting conference and tradeshow in the U.S.) is any indication, then the online industry is booming for those who man the tollbooths along the ISH. Web hosting provider Verio was recently selected as a finalist for the “Best Customer Service Organization” in the 2007 American Business Awards - dubbed the business world’s Oscars by the New York Post - which has further enhanced the industry’s legitimacy and rise to success.

Hosting is a fast-paced and rapidly changing industry. Professionals involved in Web hosting are often left looking for the latest news and developments in order to stay up with (or ahead of) the competition. After sifting through the numerous squatters who have pitched hollow tents along the Highway, we selected the Top 50 blogs (listed in no particular order) that serve Web hosting professionals with useful tools, advice, and news.

General

1. The Whir delivers a smorgasbord of Web hosting information. It provides general news, expert opinions, and online resources for Web hosting, resellers, domain names, Internet Service Providers, and telecom professionals.
2. Quintextual - Site5 Web Hosting Blog provides in depth and fun to read articles on how to get started in Web Hosting, along with advice and tips that even the most seasoned Web Hosting professional will find informative.
3. Web Hosting Unleashed provides a little of everything for everyone, from newbies to old pros: industry updates, coupons, search and comparison tools, and reseller guides
4. Dan Grossman the owner of Awio Webservices.shares ideas about internet marketing and web development.
5. Web Hosters features breaking news, articles, and a multitude of helpful white papers for Web hosting professionals.
6. Matt Heaton tells it straight from the hoster’s mouth: As President and CEO of Bluehost.com, he uses this blog to share his personal thoughts and experiences regarding the Web hosting industry.
7. Jesse Rasch Good, though sometimes infrequent advice about the industry and entrepreneurship from someone who has actually founded web hosting companies.
8. Daw Web Hosting Blog was launched by Dimitar Avramov, a six-year Web hosting veteran who addresses provider and industry issues from a more personal perspective.
9. Tucows may be a massive Internet services behemoth, with a global network of over 7,000 hosting companies, ISP’s, other service providers, and provisioning of millions of email boxes and domains; yet it manages to provide an informative company blog with general industry updates and a personal feel.
10. JaguarPC is a company blog that includes industry news, as well as a few online open-source resources for webmasters.

Industry News

11. Web Host Blog gets straight to the point with frequently updated, no-nonsense Web hosting industry news, tips, and reviews from industry veterans like Ron Dunlap, Founder and CEO of Red Orange Incorporated.
12. Web Hosting Talk is the online version of “coffee talk”: “served fresh daily,” this blog compiles the most relevant Web hosting news and features from the industry’s most respected news organizations.
13. Isabel Wang, a 10 year Web hosting veteran who co-founded ISPcheck, served as Vice President Communications at EV1Servers, and is currently Editor and Publisher of Web Hosting Magazine, provides comprehensive, in-depth insight on the impact that emerging Web technologies have on the Web hosting industry and its related markets.
14. The Hosting News has daily hosting news including dedicated web hosting server reviews, data center information, reseller web hosting comparisons, virtual private server tutorials, web hosting news, tutorials and articles.
15. The PingZine Web Hosting Magazine blog relies heavily on articles written for “The Hosting News” by Derek Vaughan, Chief Marketing Officer with TechPad Agency (a marketing agency that caters to the Web hosting industry) for post content, but at least Mr. Vaughan does a good job of keeping both publications’ readers well-informed on industry updates.
16. Domain Name News claims to be “the industry leading source for daily information about domain sales, domain company news, and other domain industry news and views.” Started by Adam Strong and Frank Michlick, this blog features guest contributors from industry veteran domainers to investors to attorneys, who provide professional domain-related insight and editorial content.
17. HostReview’s “Editor’s Desk” by Maria Mitsova provides regular Web hosting industry updates in an easy-to-browse news headline-style format.
18. NetCraft, an English Internet services provider, publishes Web hosting and industry-related statistics and news on its company blog.
19. Hosting Diary offers a more international view of the industry, with coverage of both general and country-specific industry news.
20. Great Responder purports to deliver fast answers to readers’ Web hosting needs, but its strength is in providing industry news and updates.

Resellers

21. The Reseller Roundup Blog corrals numerous tips and resources into one spot to help resellers build and promote their businesses successfully.
22. Hosting Fu is the enlightening path to a blackbelt in Web hosting for resellers, with highly informative, detailed, and specific news and knowledge from Grandmaster software architect Scott Yang.
23. Reseller Guide serves as a comprehensive primer with everything you need to know about reseller Web hosting, from how to get started, to hiring, to setting up automatic account creation, to monitoring tools, to choosing a host.
24. BloggerHolic states its purpose is to help bloggers make money online, but its many marketing tips and online resources are just as useful for resellers who want to promote and maximize their business.
25. DoshDosh may seem like a KidRobot confection, but it’s really a good place for newbies to start learning about reseller business.
26. The Associate Reference is a truly helpful, comprehensive guide blog (by the mysterious “Raj”) for resellers who participate in affiliate programs.
27. Cirtex’s company blog helps resellers by providing marketing advice and tips with more universal applicability than many other companies’ blogs.
28. Robert P. Cichon, President of CrystalTechTM Web Hosting Inc., helps resellers and Web hosting providers alike with his Whir blog on customer acquisition, merchant services, affiliate marketing, and related issues.
29. Peter Damato, Vice President of Business Development at InternetMerchant, is Cichon’s tag-team partner at Whir, rounding out reseller and provider help with posts on charge backs, Internet fraud, merchant services, PCI compliance, and online security.
30. iPowerWeb’s company blog focuses on providing its resellers with answers to their FAQ’s, but much of its advice and tips can be used by any reseller for their own accounts.

Reviews

31. Reliable Web Hosting Reviews delivers on its title, offering company screenshots and site-by-site Web hosting reviews with a sidebar listing of top-rated hosts.
32. Web Hosting Review Blog gets straight to the point with insightful Web hosting reviews in an organized, regularly updated blog.
33. Web Hosting Handbook proviides very organized, no-nonsense Web hosting reviews by industry experts, rankings and comments by actual users.
34. HostJury attempts to avoid any hint of bias or kickback by borrowing the Amazon model and encouraging peer review rather than single-blogger posting.
35. Hosting Review is inundated with Google Ads; but if you have the patience to pick your way through them, you’ll find that this blog actually provides reviews of web hosting providers.
36. Free Website Hosting offers reviews of free Web hosting for newbies who want to try before they buy.
37. Veritas Web Design breaks the monotony of hosting reviews with a smattering of social news and non-profit cause postings.
38. WHReviews This site has a wide selection of reviews and comments to help you pick the right hosting company. You can also find actual customer comments about specific hosting companies as well as reviews.
39. Web Hosting Sites Reviews is a new blog with promise, as it does a decent job on reviewing its first few providers.
40. Web Hosting Info Zone is the tapas of hosting blogs, dishing up a little industry news and hosting reviews, sprinkled liberally with links to online resources.

How-To’s, Tips, and Resources

41. Helm Blog steers you in the right direction to start your own successful hosting business with practical and informative how-to’s, and a dash of industry news for good measure.
42. The Web Hosting Show is a refreshing break from traditional hosting blogs as it utilizes video clips and podcasts to provide industry news, tips, and discussions.
43. The Website Resource Blog features tutorials and news roundups for people who just getting their feet wet in the hosting business.
44. Web Hosting Blog Review provides insights from Web developer Andre White’s “real life experience” to help newbies make informed decisions when selecting a Web hosting provider.
45. Temi - Webmaster Internet Web Hosting & Domain Name Blog offers British and international information, resources, and editorial opinion on Internet related topics such as Web hosting, domain name registration, website marketing, and search engine optimization (SEO).
46. RK Web Portal is a Reservoir of Knowledge (not necessarily what the RK stands for, but if the shoe fits…) for Web hosters and resellers seeking tools and resources to improve and promote their services.
47. Web Geek 2.0 is another good resource for Web widget, gadget, and other tool tutorials.
48. Flizard Technologies is company blog that offers useful poststo help beginners select an appropriate Web host.
49. Web Explosion has pulled together some great Web marketing and SEO tips to help hosters and resellers promote their online businesses.
50. Lunartics may be the company blog for LunarPages Dedicated, but it focuses heavily on providing Web hosters with tips and resources on how to optimize their offerings.

If you are are new to the Web hosting industry or are considering entry, take caution when seeking information online. There are many sites that serve simply as AdWords delivery vehicles and just regurgitate information without providing any real insight. Your best bet to finding the most substantive and useful information on the web hosting industry is to start with the top three blogs on each categorical list, explore the resources within them, and work your way out from there…after all, content and linkage are what blogging’s all about!

By Christina Laun

Many individuals and business are doing their part to help the environment by using more energy efficient electronics, printing less, and recycling more. Yet it’s hard to be truly environmentally friendly when your web servers are emitting CO₂ around the clock to keep your website up and running. A growing number of hosting services are becoming aware of the huge impact they have on the environment and have taken measures to counteract their effect.

While going green may cost these companies a little more, the cost isn’t always passed along to the consumer. Most environmentally friendly web hosting services are competitively priced, allowing you to save money and your guilty conscience at the same time. These are a few of the companies that have taken the pledge to go green.

1. Rackspace:
   Rackspace is one of the UK’s leading web hosting providers. Because of their leadership, they are taking the initiative to become carbon neutral. Rackspace has opted to offset its energy usage by partnering with The International Tree Foundation, a charity that plants and preserves trees all over the world. For every server that Rackspace uses, a tree will be planted. At the current rate, this amounts to 200-300 new servers and trees a month. Rackspace has also vowed to help limit the amount of paperwork and direct mail they print and send.
2. WebHostingBuzz:
   WebHostingBuzz has, like Rackspace, formed a partnership with the International Tree Foundation to help offset the carbon dioxide emissions of the electricity they use. They are providing funds to a number of tree plantation projects worldwide.
3. Sustainable Hosting:
   Sustainable Hosting takes pride in being an environmentally responsible hosting company. Sustainable Hosting is powered in part by wind generated electricity, a renewable and more preferable source of energy than those that rely on fossil fuels. Presently, Sustainable Hosting purchases 23,364 kilowatt hours of wind energy each year. According to their calculations, this adds up to 32,521 pounds of CO₂ that have been prevented from entering the atmosphere, an amount that would take over 12 acres of trees to offset.
4. Coreix:
   Coreix is a UK-based hosting center that has taken steps to offset their carbon footprint. Coreix has partnered with the World Land Trust, a conservation charity, to help carry out the plans for their offset. On their behalf, the World Land Trust will work to repair degraded forests in Ecuador. This allows Coreix to not only take CO₂ out of the atmosphere, but also provide more habitat for wildlife.
5. DreamHost:
   DreamHost has not only taken into consideration the energy they use running their servers, but also the gas they use driving to work and the paper they use in their office to calculate how to offset their carbon emissions. While DreamHost doesn’t have the option to be directly powered by the wind or sun, they have opted to purchase what are called “Renewable Energy Credits.” The proceeds from thesecredits go towards funding renewable energy projects. Additionally, DreamHost is purchasing more energy efficient servers and processors.
6. HostPapa:
   HostPapa offsets their carbon emissions by purchasing green, renewable wind and sun energy to power their data center, servers, office and computers. This doesn’t mean they are powered directly by these sources, but that their total energy usage is offset by power from these sources being pumped back into the larger power grid when it otherwise would have had to have come from a less green source. They estimate that they have prevented over 10,000 pounds of CO ₂ from entering the environment by making this simple investment in cleaner technology.
7. TigerTech:
   TigerTech is a Northern California hosting company that has chosen to offset its carbon output in a variety of ways. TigerTech only purchases products with the EnergyStar rating, uses fluorescent lights, and encourages its employees to conserve energy by turning off anything not in use. Additionally, TigerTech makes a donation each year to the CarbonFund, a renewable energy program, to offset the electricity that they use. This money is used to fund zero-emission energy programs.
8. Iron Mountain:
   Iron Mountain is one of few solar powered web hosts. They have teamed up with solar energy company Value Solar to make their data center entirely powered by the sun. You can be sure that any energy they use will be coming from a clean and renewable source.
9. AISO:
   AISO has followed in the footsteps of Iron Mountain and chosen to power their entire hosting center with a system of 120 solar panels. They’ve also designed their offices with solar tubes to use outside light during the day and have invested in servers that use less than half of the energy required by a normal server.
10. Ilisys:
    Ilisys is based in Australia, the largest producer of greenhouse gases among developed nations. They’ve taken steps to start reducing their contribution. Ilisys gets its energy from renewable wind and solar power sources in Australia. They also donate to the CarbonNeutral program. Carbon Neutral plants trees on their behalf to help offset any additional CO₂ emissions produced by car and air travel.
11. AcornHost:
    AcornHost is another web hosting company that helps offset the emissions by purchasing green certificates. These allow renewable energy to make up a larger part of the total energy used by the larger power grid, and help invest in new innovations in renewable energy technology.

If you’re serious about reducing the carbon output of your business, using a carbon neutral web host can be a big step toward achieving that goal. Whichever service you choose, you can be proud of the fact that that you’re doing your part to support a more earth friendly Internet.