Once again 1and1’s control panels have annoyed the crap out of me. This time it was when I wanted to cancel a few domains that we didn’t need any more since they had the year as part of the domain name.

It basically comes down to the fact that we have over a thousand domains in a single package and so when I went to contract.1and1.co.uk to cancel them, I scrolled through to page 137 of 156 and it wouldn’t let me procede to the next page! Very annoying.

After that I chose another package with less domains, got half way through choosing the domains I wanted at which point it decided to log me out as I’d been logged in for a whole hour!

At times I really hate 1and1

So 1and1.co.uk have an "Award winning Control Panel!" apparently… That would be wonderful if it worked.
 
The last couple of weeks has been nothing but a series of 404s, 500s and half-loading pages from the control panel. It´s driving me crazy.
 
I would email tech support but I know that will result in an automated email suggesting I look at the FAQ before a response from a real person who has no idea what they´re on about!
 
Oh well. Suppose I´ll do some work on my dedicated server that doesn´t use the Control Panel…

Seems that the php.net site is having a few difficulties. So’s the PEAR site as well now I come to think about it.

I’ve been getting DNS error pages for the last few days. It’s really annoying since I’m trying to get a massive program coded and need both the sites. I also use the php.net site every day when I can’t quite remember the syntax for a function.

Hopefully it’ll clear up soon.

We´re setting up a new site for students to go on and find fun stuff, put drunken pics and all that kind of stuff that I can´t do anymore since I have to wirk now. Dammit.
 
Should be up and running in a few weeks: Total Bollox. Have a look, I´ll probably be on it most days

We´ve decided to give our online reminder system, Eppointments.co.uk, a bit of a redesign. The reason being after being live for a few months, we found that people are using it differently than we thought they would. They seem to be using it more for the texting facility than its email or contact management systems.
 
It´s also split up into professional and personal systems. We´ve had a fair few signups for professional but not for personal. We think its because it seems too complicated to use so we´re gonna split it up even further. The home page will simply be a series of links to the other areas, effectively sub-home pages for the different types of customer, such as Student reminders, Teen reminders and so on.
 
This means we can tailor each section to that market, streamline it and simplify the process as much as possible. We´re also gonna add features to make the process smooth but able to access the more advanced features if they want to.

 
We´re gonna add things like mobile number completion if they have the number stored as a contact, and eventually a predictive text system for the messages similar to that used in the T9 dictionaries used in mobiles. Time to do some research since I don´t fancy writing my own!

I´ve been trying to register a domain name thats part of a series and for some reason when I go in and enter it in the 1and1 control panel it just comes up that the domain is not available. I´ve checked the various whois databases and it is available and has been for the last three months that I´ve been trying. I´ve also gone to a few other registrar´s sites and they are quite happy to let me register it but since 1and1´s firewall blocks mysql traffic then I can´t host anywhere else.

 
I tried playing around with the domain name and using different combinations, missing letters out and such, and finally determined that the control panel won´t let me register anything with "porsche" in it. Strange. I´ve also tried it in a number of contracts and accounts but can´t get it to work. So onto the next stage, contact technical support. The general phone line is useless as it seems to be one of those Asian based call centers where the staff don´t actually seeem to know whats going on. The premium support line is better but they refuse to admit that there is a problem! Emailing them just causes the same kind of replies but in an easy to read text form.
 
I´m gonna harrass tech support again to keep me occupied for a bit then gloomily sit here all afternoon thinking up complecated dns senarios to get around someone elses problem.

As a web design & development company, we frequently get asked to do a redesign on an existing site. As most clients of this size don´t need their own hosting package they usually get it hosted by whoever does the design. This is not a problem because if they come to us for design they are happy to let us host as well.

 
The problem comes in when we have to get the DNS moved over and their "helpful" design company registered it for them… in their name. This means it´s an absolute pain in the arse to go through to get it shifted over! So here comes the bit of advice for anyone who is new to domains (web addresses).
 
For the love of Jolene Blalock - REGISTER THE DOMAIN NAME YOURSELF!!!
 
Its not difficult to do. We even do it for our clients, registering the domain under a new contract in their name. It means that even if we have a little "kafooy" then they still have control over the domain name.
 

No matter what a web design company may say, if they are getting the domain registered in their name, it is either lazyness or an attempt to lock you into their service. They can set themselves as an administrative contact so that the client isn´t bothered by DNS updates or hosting offers from the registrar.
 
The secrets out! Behave boys…