How to edit existing domain without going live

Flash · 06-07-2010, 09:27 AM

Hi guys. Let me first say that I have spent the last few days searching the net for a good web host, going half crazy in the process. Every host is 'the greatest', every service is 'the best'. All specs are 'unlimited' and the first thing you are encouraged to do is 'buy now'. What a mountain of commercial BS! And when investigated in the independent forums, almost every host comes with a truckload of very angry and often confused customers. Even HN has its fair share of distraught customers, usually for the wrong reasons as I now realise. However, bad PR is everywhere and very damaging. (Nexdog, you really should reply to this Host Nexus Review). I had no idea who to choose. Price was important, specs were important, but I was looking for something really special.

So I'm here!!

I was lucky enough to stumble on whreviews.com which listed a selection of 'honest hosts'. I was really impressed by their site's philosophy so I checked out every host on the list. And HN came top for me. I really like your attitude. I really like your customers' attitude (and loyalty). I love your web site. It's clean, clear and very informative, just like your forum which is probably my most important reason for choosing HN. I am NOT a tekkie and I'm going to need help with a whole array of subjects. I like the Plesk control panel (I hope, we'll see), your hardware sounds stable enough to manage a space station, and your pricing/specification structure is absolutely perfect for me. God, there's got to be something wrong with these guys...

Yes, I do have a criticism/observation. I've noticed that most of the negative customer responses in the forums are due to a lack of information. They are sometimes left just hanging on a thread. Sometimes for months. Occasionally threads are closed or abandoned before the subject/problem has been fully explored/resolved. Or maybe it has, but those who follow on, like myself, don't know that. It's just a question of tying up loose ends and paying more attention to PR. OK, that's my 10 cents worth. I hope it helps.

So, I have a couple of questions.

1. I have a tourist portal for a small town in southern Spain. It's ten years old, stuck together with html and chewing gum and hosted on a UK server. I want to completely rebuild the site from scratch with Wordpress on your server, leaving the original site functioning as is until it's time to go live with the new version. How can I best do that? Should I buy a dummy domain, work on that and then change domain names when finished? Or can I use the original domain name on your servers without going live? If so, how?

2. I'm not worried about uptime, downtime or in-betweentime, but I AM concerned about server latency. I don't want my customers (mostly in UK and Spain) waiting 30 seconds for a page to load. Or even 15. Can you assure me that I won't have this problem on a shared server due to saturation (ie too many sites on one server) or because of any other reason that is your responsability? I notice that server latency is a major problem with most hosts due to overselling and not limiting bandwidth. I am hoping that this is not going to be a problem with HN.

3. I want to install Wordpress 3.0 R1. Can this be done as an update from the wordpress control panel (once auto-installed) or do I need to do a manual install?

Look forward to hearing any responses or advice. Thanks for your help.

**NexDog** · 06-07-2010, 06:02 PM

Hi Flash,

Nice post, thanks very much. As for not replying to some threads, it's hard to keep up on every thread on the net that concerns HN. Sometimes I might participate in one but that doesn't mean that I'll always respond to it. Often I would simply forget and maybe sometimes I'd choose to no longer involve myself. However, threads on this forum are always replied to and support tickets always replied to.

1) You can use the Site Preview function in the control panel to test a domain before it goes live. A better way would be to purchase a dedicated IP ($12/yr) and test the domain on the IP.

2) You'll notice we don't offer unlimited domains for $1/mo. This allows us to keep a good ratio of domains to server. I also keep an eye on accounts and when one gets too large I often move them onto a VPS for free or maybe discuss getting a dedicated server.

3) For WordPress 3 you'd need to do a manual install. When v3 comes out of Beta it will be available as a one click install.

Flash · 06-08-2010, 04:42 AM

Thanks for the reply Nexdog - actually Laurence sounds much better. I really do understand your difficulty with keeping up with threads, posts and all the rest. The web's an infinite talkshop. And more than anything I am begining to be awed by your dedication. I wonder how you get time to sleep or go on skiing holidays!!! The point that I was making - and it's NOT meant as a criticism - is that there's a lot of negative press out there which could be helped by some proactive PR. If you don't have time yourself then maybe you could find someone to spend a few hours each month hunting down the bad reviews and bringing the worst to your attention so you've atleast got the opportunity of rebutting the misconceptions and/or lies being spread around about HN. OK, now I've had 20 cents worth so I'll say no more.

Look forward to being on one of your servers for a long time....

**NexDog** · 06-08-2010, 04:44 AM

Appreciate the feedback and the advice.