Anyone used 1&1?

[Harvest]

Hi,
I'm thinking to get a 1&1 account to create a new website - just wondered if anyone has any experience using it and how easy and flexible it is?

As I understand it, it's pretty simple to create a site from a template, add content and pictures etc, but I specifically want to do things like:
1) have a page where users can fill in a form and submit comments (which sends to my email for approval before posting)
2) create a search page so users can search for comments
3) have a login page where registered users can eg access additional areas of the site

Is all this do-able via 1&1 site building tools, or am I better off using something else ?

Any advice appreciated!!

 

[fisicx]

Hope you haven't been seduced by their adverts...

1&1 is an awful company. Steer well clear at all times. A simple search will reveal hundreds of people complaining about their appalling customer service.

 

[Posilan]

Hi,
I'm thinking to get a 1&1 account to create a new website - just wondered if anyone has any experience using it and how easy and flexible it is?

As I understand it, it's pretty simple to create a site from a template, add content and pictures etc, but I specifically want to do things like:
1) have a page where users can fill in a form and submit comments (which sends to my email for approval before posting)
2) create a search page so users can search for comments
3) have a login page where registered users can eg access additional areas of the site

Is all this do-able via 1&1 site building tools, or am I better off using something else ?

Any advice appreciated!!

I take it you have seen the TV ad

Quite a few hosting companies offer site builders (we offer RVSiteBuilder Pro) and other quick installers to help you create your website, so don't choose your webhost on that alone.

Steve

 

[MASSEY]

They are crap. Domains admin panel is rubbish, service is crap.

I cancelled a load of domains but they went ahead and reg'd them anyway, i never paid them so they lost 40 quid

 

[DesignerNick]

Hi,
I'm thinking to get a 1&1 account to create a new website - just wondered if anyone has any experience using it and how easy and flexible it is?

As I understand it, it's pretty simple to create a site from a template, add content and pictures etc, but I specifically want to do things like:
1) have a page where users can fill in a form and submit comments (which sends to my email for approval before posting)
2) create a search page so users can search for comments
3) have a login page where registered users can eg access additional areas of the site

Is all this do-able via 1&1 site building tools, or am I better off using something else ?

Any advice appreciated!!

DONT GO ANYWHERE NEAR 1&1!!!!!

I wouldn't say that this could be done with a Site Builder. They usually build static sites.

It sounds like you would need a bespoke option to make it have the functionality you need. It isn't a massive job though.

 

[Harvest]

Wow thanks all for your replies - and yes I was seduced by the tv advert which makes it all look very simple!

So where to now.. whats the best route for me to get a site set up with this kind of functionality? I have lots of hosting options, but it's the build part I'm struggling with... no budget so I need to do it myself, any tips or advice?

 

[DesignerNick]

It is quite basic PHP / MYSQL.

You will need to learn things like:

• How to enter data from a form into a database
• How to send emails using PHP to notify you
• How to make a backend where you can approve them
• How to make a PHP / mySQL search function
• How to display items from a Database
• Simple Login Script / Register Script

Then put it all together!

Tigzag is quite a good starting point

 

[Posilan]

Wow thanks all for your replies - and yes I was seduced by the tv advert which makes it all look very simple!

So where to now.. whats the best route for me to get a site set up with this kind of functionality? I have lots of hosting options, but it's the build part I'm struggling with... no budget so I need to do it myself, any tips or advice?

You can achieve what you want by installing Wordpress and changing the theme etc.

1) have a page where users can fill in a form and submit comments (which sends to my email for approval before posting)
2) create a search page so users can search for comments
3) have a login page where registered users can eg access additional areas of the site

There are many plugins available that will easily manage what you need - it also means that when you get your feet on the ground and can afford a designer, your site is already on a solid platform that a new custom template can be produced for.

Most cPanel web hosts have quick installers for Wordpress.

 

[Harvest]

Posilan - sorry for my lack of knowledge but do you mean I can get these plugins via wordpress? And are they free?

Also as I mentioned there's loads of hosting options available, but as I naively thought 1&1 might be good I'm questioning myself... any opinion on what the best hosting solution would be? Website would be for UK users only

 

[Posilan]

Posilan - sorry for my lack of knowledge but do you mean I can get these plugins via wordpress? And are they free?

Yes, once Wordpress is installed in your hosting account, you can search and install extra free plugins as the click of a mouse. There is a directory of them here:

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/

They basically extend the usability of Wordpress to add thousands of extra features.

Also as I mentioned there's loads of hosting options available, but as I naively thought 1&1 might be good I'm questioning myself... any opinion on what the best hosting solution would be? Website would be for UK users only

Well, I'm going to "plug" our own service (see my sig for link!) But there are a few hosts on here who would equally be able to assist you in getting up and running

Steve

 

[Dominic Taylor]

I almost always recommend Wordpress for anything a client needs - wordpress [requirement] plugin in Google always wins!

 

[webhostuk]

Website would be for UK users only

If you are website is for UK users make sure the company you select has servers in UK datacenter. That will surely help your website speed.

 

[marketingquotes]

I think it is fair to say that the adverts have not worked their magic on UKBF

Never seen their websites but used them for hosting many moons ago - no complaints.

Regards,

Marketing Quotes Support

 

[GravexWebServices]

I made the mistake of taking on an ASP.NET website for a client, and used 1&1 to host it. Their support is awful, expensive, and the hosting isn't even that fast.

I use a hosting company based in Ireland (their servers are based in a datacenter in Dublin) and I have found them to be extremely reliable, fast, and excellent value for money.

If you are website is for UK users make sure the company you select has servers in UK datacenter. That will surely help your website speed.

This isn't strictly true. I used Streamline (who are based in the UK) to host my websites when I first started out. I then switched to this Ireland based company and the speeds of the Irish servers are far better than those of the UK based servers.

What I would suggest is looking at the type of hosting you get. A shared platform will mean a slower website. To how slow your website gets is up for discussion, as it could be on a server with 5 other sites (which wouldn't impact on site performance) or it could be on a server with 50 websites (which would see a performance issue). Shared hosting is popular as it is cheaper.

With most things in life, the more money you throw at it the better the server package you can get. A dedicated server would mean your website was fast, as your not sharing your hosting space with any other website. Just yours. But, you have to decide for yourself if the cost of this type of server is worth the type of site your running. If it's a standard site (3/4 pages) then a shared hosting platform would suffice.

 

[chris147]

use moonfruit been with them for years and never a problem

 

[DesignerNick]

use moonfruit been with them for years and never a problem

Is that sarcasm?

 

[chris147]

er no think we have crossed wires or have i posted in the wrong section ?

 

[bdw]

1&1 support is the worst I have ever experienced in any discipline or any walk of life. 1&1 support is incredibly, unbelievably bad. I have held some accounts with them for about ten years and during this period I have complained several times and there has been no improvement. If anything it gets worse.

What makes this unacceptable is that they know how bad they are. As someone said already said there are stories all over the Internet about how bad they are. They should not be allowed to advertise on television. I have not seen their TV ad but if I do see and it makes claims that are untrue I will be reporting them to the ASA. I have a pile of evidence of bad service and problems from 1&1 support that I have received over the years. See this search (1&1 Support)

Regarding building your own interactive site, no one here can answer your questions properly because none of us know your capabilities. If you think you can do it go ahead but if this website is to be an integral part of your business get someone who knows what they are doing to build it for you.

If you are website is for UK users make sure the company you select has servers in UK datacenter. That will surely help your website speed.

1&1's servers are based in Germany. They are a German company despite what their adverts suggest but I have to say that I have had no speed issues with them. Their problems are mostly all about lack of support and accounts problems where they take money they are not due.

This post is about 1&1 support problems and how bad it can be.

 

[chris147]

ive used moonfruit for 5 years and if your after a website that you can edit or change yourself for next to no cost then they are very good,the customer support is good also,and for what you pay them overall you get a lot of stuff for your money.

 

[Posilan]

ive used moonfruit for 5 years and if your after a website that you can edit or change yourself for next to no cost then they are very good,the customer support is good also,and for what you pay them overall you get a lot of stuff for your money.

I think the main drawback of Moonfruit is (afaik) you cannot transfer the site elsewhere if you wanted to. If you want to leave them, you have to give up the site unlike normal hosting and website design.

Steve

 

[fisicx]

I think the main drawback of Moonfruit is (afaik) you cannot transfer the site elsewhere if you wanted to. If you want to leave them, you have to give up the site unlike normal hosting and website design.

Not only that, it's flash based which means poor ranking, inaccessible content and it doesn't work on apple products.

 

[chris147]

I think the main drawback of Moonfruit is (afaik) you cannot transfer the site elsewhere if you wanted to. If you want to leave them, you have to give up the site unlike normal hosting and website design.

Steve

but they dont give you a reason to leave as there service is fine,and if you did want to leave then a good website designer and tech head would be able to swap and copy things over if you needed to.

 

[bdw]

I think you missed the point about Flash, etc.

.

 

[ukwebhosting]

Hi,

Never tried 1&1 but we do get lots of their customers! and all mention a similar theme to what has been posted here.

You can try the free website builder that we offer our customers and after seeing the advert I would pit it against that any day!

It is free to try and we keep your "trial" site for 30 days so basically you can try it out and then if your happy purchase a plan and all your hard work so far will not have gone to waste as we can assign the trial site to you!

free website builder

Thanks

Paul

 

[hbcraen]

Despite what people say I have dealt with 1& 1 for five years and not had an issue. May be I am lucky

 

[Harvest]

Thanks all again for your posts.

I'm having a play with wordpress to see if I can get to where I want... finding it quite a learning curve but I'm sure it'll be worth it!! If anyone can suggest any useful wordpress reading material for the kind of functionality I'm trying to add I'd be grateful, there's loads of addins out there and I'm having a read-up but I thought it might be worth asking to seasoned users

ukwebhosting - I've sent you a pm for a few details, am just investigating wordpress before I start trialing more

 

[ukwebhosting]

Hi

You can get the basics here

http://www.pacwebhosting.com/pacweb/knowledgebase.php?action=displayarticle&id=449

Just had a quick look about and this may help with restricting to logged in users etc

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/pagerestrict/

With regard to submitting comments that is a fundamental part of wordpress so nothing special needed there.

Again searching is pretty fundamental also.

Hope this helps!

Thanks

Paul

 

[chris147]

Not only that, it's flash based which means poor ranking, inaccessible content and it doesn't work on apple products.

because its flash does not mean your ranking will be adversely affected ,if your content is good you will get results,and as for apple products then they should get there iphones and posh lappys to support flash properly,thats not moonfruits fault or any other flash based software,flash website products like moonfruit are good to use and easy to edit or change.

 

[DesignerNick]

because its flash does not mean your ranking will be adversely affected ,if your content is good you will get results,and as for apple products then they should get there iphones and posh lappys to support flash properly,thats not moonfruits fault or any other flash based software,flash website products like moonfruit are good to use and easy to edit or change.

Moonfruit is awwwfuuullll. I would love to be able to say "Tell them to get a decent phone" or "tell them to get a decent browser" then a client has issues.

Oh and Flash will affect rankings.

 

[chris147]

i disagree with the rankings bit but hey ho nevermind .

 

[GravexWebServices]

because its flash does not mean your ranking will be adversely affected ,if your content is good you will get results,and as for apple products then they should get there iphones and posh lappys to support flash properly,thats not moonfruits fault or any other flash based software,flash website products like moonfruit are good to use and easy to edit or change.

If the content on your website can't be accessed by everyone, then it will affect your ranking.

It's not just people on Apple products. (I dislike Apple as much as the next person, but there are merits to them not supporting flash). But you have to take people with poor/no sight in to consideration. For most of the time, they will either use screen readers to read the contents of the web page, or use a magnifier to enlarge the text on the website.

Screen readers can't (afaik) read content from a flash based website. Browsers also can't enlarge the text of the flash based site.

What your then left with, if your either on an Apple product or poor eyesight etc, is a website that you won't visit again because you tried to go on it and you found it incredibly hard to use (if you could use it in the first place).

For me, Flash is dying out. The only use it has to anyone is video and maybe games. But with HTML5 and Javascript improving all the time, even these two Flash staples will go by the wayside.

 

[fisicx]

i disagree with the rankings bit but hey ho nevermind .

Read the google guidelines. They tell you why flash based websites are bad juju.

I could create a plain HTML website which duplicates your content and rank above you in a matter of days.

 

[bdw]

because its flash does not mean your ranking will be adversely affected

This is typical of the problem with people who attempt to do things for themselves. They do not know what they do not know and they fail to recognise how potentially effective their website could be if properly optimised and designed.

Many people actually jeopardise their businesses through ineffective DIY websites that could have been built professionally for anything from about £400. It makes no sense.

http://www.businessinsider.com/google-hates-flash-too-2010-5

.

 

[DesignerNick]

This is typical of the problem with people who attempt to do things for themselves. They do not know what they do not know and they fail to recognise how potentially effective their website could be if properly optimised and designed.

Many people actually jeopardise their businesses through ineffective DIY websites that could have been built professionally for anything from about £400. It makes no sense.

http://www.businessinsider.com/google-hates-flash-too-2010-5

.

I totally agree, I have lost count the amount of people / clients who have disagreed with advice that is common sense when it comes to Web Design like Flash, like not having duplicate text, like page titles because they know best and will argue to the death that what they say goes (when they have no design / development experience but it is what they have been told by a mate in the pub so must be true)

 

[chris147]

Read the google guidelines. They tell you why flash based websites are bad juju.

I could create a plain HTML website which duplicates your content and rank above you in a matter of days.

look i get all of the folks points on here but many people cannot afford a web designer to build a site nor can they afford to pay said designer more money to add another page,many people are starting from scratch with little or no money especially now we have hit a thing called recession,if i wanted to build a site with e-comerce or it was total sense to build in html etc then fair enough but many people dont need that,a lot of business are just using a website to advertise a service so why pay upwards of 700 quid for a site when all they need is basically a business card online ,and thats where moonfruit comes in or similar good flash based stuff.
i can see the advantages of what you guys are saying but i can also see the advantages with flash

 

[fisicx]

On the other hand you could install wordtress get a template/theme, be able to edit on the fly, install widgets, link to facebook and twitter, host images and videos, set up contact forms, booking calenders and anything else you can think of all for FREE.

And google looooves wordpress.

 

[chris147]

Read the google guidelines. They tell you why flash based websites are bad juju.

I could create a plain HTML website which duplicates your content and rank above you in a matter of days.

so why are flash sites bad according to google,for me that sounds odd ,why should a different format be so bad when after all this is the world wide web and a mix of all things that are possible online .

 

[chris147]

On the other hand you could install wordtress get a template/theme, be able to edit on the fly, install widgets, link to facebook and twitter, host images and videos, set up contact forms, booking calenders and anything else you can think of all for FREE.

And google looooves wordpress.

moonfruit does all that

 

[fisicx]

so why are flash sites bad according to google,for me that sounds odd ,why should a different format be so bad when after all this is the world wide web and a mix of all things that are possible online .

Because google can only read text. Flash is all images which means as far as google is concerned it's an empty page.

moonfruit does all that

But does google gobble up all your moonfruit content and add it to the index seconds after you make any changes. I've seen wordpress posts appear in page one of google within a few minutes of them being published.

 

[DesignerNick]

look i get all of the folks points on here but many people cannot afford a web designer to build a site nor can they afford to pay said designer more money to add another page,many people are starting from scratch with little or no money especially now we have hit a thing called recession,if i wanted to build a site with e-comerce or it was total sense to build in html etc then fair enough but many people dont need that,a lot of business are just using a website to advertise a service so why pay upwards of 700 quid for a site when all they need is basically a business card online ,and thats where moonfruit comes in or similar good flash based stuff.
i can see the advantages of what you guys are saying but i can also see the advantages with flash

You don't need to pay £700, there are quite simple other methods that aren't Flash Based that people can used.

What is the point in having your service advertised if it doesn't bring you any work from Google / SERPs? (Unless you wanted to spend on PPC, but if you didn't want to spend on a website I doubt you would)

When using Moonfruit is it actually your website or do Moonfruit own it?