Last winter I set off in a quest for the perfect Drupal web host. Originally I hadn’t conceived of it as a quest. My needs were modest:

• Drupal optimized (as opposed to any old host)
• Great customer service
• Reasonable cost – comparable to other shared hosts

Two months later, I have yet to find this holy grail — but I’ve learned enough about Drupal hosts to deem it worth sharing my findings.

Frankly I’m surprised this has been so hard. I’m reasonably good at web research and this host is for a modest site. Specifically it’s a redesign of Gilda’s Club Nashville. This is a small, low-traffic site to begin with, and all they want is a new look-and-feel using a simple content management system they can easily update themselves. Fairly basic Drupal will be more than enough. It doesn’t require any fancy-pants high-end Drupal coding.

My bet is in another year it will be much easier to find the kind of Drupal host they need. But for now, here is a quick summary of the pros and cons of the hosts I’ve looked at.

DreamHost

I have a soft spot for DreamHost — so soft it’s what I use for this very blog. Moreover, my first test Drupal install was on DreamHost. It worked like a charm. Nevertheless, my soft spot defies logic. DreamHost can be incredibly slow with MySQL-powered sites. I guess it’s because they are so much better than my previous host — plus they have excellent customer service and, even better, they are hilarious. One way of framing my quest is as a search for something better than DreamHost. I want a fast DreamHost that specializes in Drupal installs.

Bryght

At first blush, Bryght appeared to be the perfect match. Initially my biggest concern was that it was too dumbed-down. A certain amount of simplifying would be great — thinking of upgrades in particular. But it could easily be too much. So I used their contact form. I tried it a few times, but my sense was the form wasn’t working right. Sure enough. I never heard back from them. That did not auger well. So I crossed them off my list.

(mt) Media Temple

mt has a great reputation. I contacted them and heard back almost immediately. They even offer a one-click install for Drupal. That sounded promising, but it’s still (as of May 2008) only Drupal 4.7. Version 6 (not to mention version 5) has been out for quite some time. Ergo they must not care all that much about Drupal.

DrupalValueHosting

I came very close to going with DrupalValueHosting. They look ideal. In fact, they’re the reason I say it should be much easier to find a Drupal host in a year. My only hesitation with them is that they are very new. Since the host will not be for my own site, for now it seems just a bit too risky.

And the winner is…

pair Networks

pair was highly recommended at PodCamp Nashville, and like (mt) has an excellent reputation. I did discover one potential problem over memory caps in Cheny U’s thoughtful review of Drupal hosts. However, when I reached a sales person (right away) he knew about and acknowledged this issue quite openly. When I explained Gilda’s needs, he was confident it wouldn’t be an issue. He said they host an increasing number of Drupal sites. Also in their favor, he was able to quickly answer my questions about multisite installations (which means they really are used to Drupal), plus they offer a discount for non-profits.

So pair Networks it is — and I will let you know how it goes.

To my fellow web professionals: I can hear you groaning. “I’ve already had to learn so many technologies,” you say. “Why one more? Give me a good reason for yet another responsibility.”

There are two compelling reasons to carve out some of your valuable time and learn analytics.

1. Using analytics moves website improvement past opinions into hard data. No longer will site design and architecture be based on subjective viewpoints — not even on HiPPOs — the Highest Paid Person’s Opinions.
2. It bridges the communication gap between senior management and web professionals. It speaks to what’s happening on your website and what can happen in terms that are much more familiar to management, e.g. data to back up the ROI (return on investment).

A favorite scene from a favorite movie:

Daniel: You know, Sammy, I’m sure she’s unique and extraordinary, but… the general wisdom is that, in the end, there isn’t just one person for each of us.
Sam: There was for Kate and Leo. There was for you. There is for me. [holds up one finger] She’s “the one”.
Daniel: Fair enough.
-Love Actually

I have the devil of a time picking what to focus on about the web. The problem is I love it all: PHP, databases, XML, CSS, Flash, convergence, standards, and so on. But for the past six weeks I’ve been focused on one that shows strong signs of trumping the lot: analytics.

I can’t begin to share all that I’ve learned in one or two posts. Instead, I’m going to take it in bite-size chunks. And today’s topic is…

What the Heck Is Analytics?

Once upon a time (measured in web eons, meaning back in the 1990s) analytics meant geek aracana like log file statistics, hits, page views. In other words, it was all about the raw numbers.

Then it evolved to mean the application that gathered the numbers — typically Google Analytics.

Now, however, as it comes into its own, it means much more. In essence, analytics is the process of matching core goals with objective numbers.

For those wanting a more thorough definition, it’s the practice of collecting, analyzing and reporting meaningful numbers about website usage. The data must be analyzed in an objective way through testing and measurement by those responsible for the site. Then the resulting information is used to optimize the site to more effectively accomplish the organization’s goals.

In other words, it’s powerful web juju.

It’s difficult for me to imagine what it’s like in Zimbabwe now. I read in the New York Times how Zimbabwe’s Rulers Unleash Police on Anglicans or In Zimbabwe Jail: A Reporter’s Ordeal. And my thoughts return to a once beautiful country.

When I lived there as a girl (1963-1965), it was impoverished, but reasonably safe. More than anything, I remember what you never read of in the news.  I remember the countryside — the most beautiful flora and fauna I’ve ever seen, the spectacular sunsets, the dusty air and near perfect temperatures.

In retrospect, the seeds of what was to come were evident. The racism was palpable even to a child — much worse than anything I’ve witnessed in the United States. For example, I, a young white (“European” in their lingo) girl, was expected to call a grown African man “Boy.” I don’t think I ever did. You find ways to dodge things like that. But it was all around.

And look what it’s become.   I grieve.

Gerry McGovern once again hits the nail on the head — this time in Intranets are not information dumps. I couldn’t agree more. “The ‘top serious obstacles’ … lie with the intranet teams themselves who see their intranets as this vague way to ‘distribute information’, rather than make the organization more efficient and productive.”

The other misconception I run into with some frequency is that intranets are merely static collections of links to a random hodge-podge of applications and websites that might (or might not) be useful to staff.

Both of these misconceptions seem to stem primarily from those who have never seen, much less worked with, a real intranet. Unlike the web, an intranet almost by definition has limited access — typically requiring authentication to view it. Thus most people vaguely conceive them to be public websites adapted for insiders. While there might be a small component of this (e.g. directories and search engines), the good intranets I have seen are fundamentally different.  All they really have in common with public websites is the use of a browser.  Typically they are much more dynamic and application driven than a standard website.

For those wanting to learn how to build a great intranet, the best starting place in my opinion is the Nielsen Norman Group’s Intranet Design Annual.

LifeHacker asks, How Do You Organize Your RSS Feeds? I’ve been meaning to blog about this very topic for some time now. (It’s that inner librarian thing again.) So here it is….

First, after happily using FeedDemon for a year or so, and then switching to PulpFiction on a Mac, eventually I migrated to Google Reader because it’s so easy to access from machine to machine — including my iPhone.

Within Google Reader, I always put a new subscription into a folder. If it’s a topic I think important to monitor daily (or close to it) then I put it in one of my top five folders, which are cleverly numbered 1 to 5, with short explanations afterwards. The “1priority” folder is a peculiar mix of blogs I maintain and news from my host (e.g. server X is down). The “2vu-cancer-news” is the news I most need to monitor (“vu” meaning Vanderbilt) and the rest is self-explanatory.

It’s not a panacea, but it does help tame the monster that my RSS feeds inevitably become.

MIT does fashion? Apparently so. Battery-powered dresses, 802.11 apparel, and more. Check out some entertaining links about the Seamless Computational Couture fashion show held at Boston’s Museum of Science this past January.

• Media Lab video
• Wearable technology fashion show (YouTube)
• Museum of Science event announcement (with a couple more video clips)
• Power Dressing, Technology Review

Mr. Web Diva is the best. For my birthday last year it was an iPhone. And this year — ta dah — a Chumby.

For those scratching your heads wondering what on earth a Chumby might be, see David Pogue on YouTube in Pimp My Clock Radio. As always the intrepid Mac, New York Times, now CNBC geek captures the essence.

Me? I wondered first why I asked for it and later why I loved it so much. Was it the soft squishiness combined with wireless? Or could it be the dozens of widgets to check out instead of cleaning the house? Then I read a Wired article. “Generally speaking, the Chumby is meant to be a highly specialized second screen catering to those with acute internet addictions.” Busted.

For those interested in learning more about the Chumby, check out:

• Chumby’s home
• The Chumby Wiki
• Chumbysphere Forum
• Chumblog
• And best of all…. Developing widgets for Chumby with Flash Lite 3

Can you guess what’s coming in this blog?

First off, many thanks. Then my apologies for not responding lately. Life has been ridiculously hectic.

My dear friend Daisy assures me it’s an ebb and flow kind of thing, and I’m hopeful more time to blog will be flowing my way soon.

In addition, I have a sizable and growing backlog of things to write about, so one or two of those first, and then on to your comments….

I recently wrote some comment guidelines for the primary site I manage, and was surprised by the paucity of information on this topic. Of course you’ll pull up thousands of entries if you do a Google search. But I wanted authoritative, meaty stuff.

In fact, what I most wanted was a book covering the topic. However, neither of the blogging books I own did. One is even on corporate blogging.

The implication is that guidelines don’t matter that much — that things like search engine optimization are what’s really important. For many blogs, I expect that’s true, but not all.

I’ve used to manage a dicey blog (now history) where guidelines were a lifesaver. Early in that blog’s life, I opened my email one day and discovered about ten comments submitted the previous evening by one person. The first four were flames, but then came the fifth. It began, “I just read your guidelines….” and proceeded to be quite rational, even calm, after that, suggesting that I not post his earlier comments.

For others looking for meta guidelines, I did happen across one helpful summary. It’s several years old, but cuts to the chase with four rules used by all of the corporate blogging guidelines they reviewed:

• You’re personally responsible
• Abide by existing rules
• Keep secrets
• Be nice

From: Policies compared: Today’s corporate blogging rules

If your gut is telling you write guidelines, pay attention. Even though I couldn’t easily find a subject authority, there are plenty of good examples found with a quick search. Just add a dollop of common sense, and you should come up with something that will help you sleep better at night.