Apache Tomcat is the world’s most widely used web application server, with over one million downloads per month. Tomcat originated as a Sun Microsystems project, with the goal of providing an example implementation of Sun’s newly created Java Servlet and JSP specifications. Sun developed Tomcat internally through Tomcat 2.x. In 1999, the project was donated to the Apache Software Foundation, where it was developed under the Jakarta project.
Since becoming a separate project in 2005, Tomcat has been developed through version 6.x. The next version of the project, Tomcat 7, is expected sometime in late summer of 2010, corresponding with the release of Servlet 3, which Tomcat 7 will implement.
2020Media has supported servlet hosting for 11 years now. It was the first to offer shared Tomcat hosting in the UK – before Tomcat, it offered J-Run.
2020Media has long recommended WordPress as a lot more than a blogging tool. But what else can you do with it? E-commerce is one function many retailers would like to add to their site. A good e-commerce package can also be used as a gallery to generate leads.
One such extension to WordPress is the free and open source Prestashop. Now Prestashop is available as a standalone e-commerce website but if you have a busy website that is already using WordPress, and perhaps leveraging social networking plugins, or a custom template, it makes sense to integrate rather than start afresh.
Prestashop can be loaded as a plugin to WordPress using the plugin here: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-prestashop/. There’s also a e-commerce plugin written just for WordPress (WP e-Commerce) which offers complete integration with the existing site, although many find this harder to use.
WordPress hosting from 2020Media (www.2020media.com/wordpress) will provide all you need to build a successful e-commerce website
It’s no secret that Google uses several factors to determine where a web site is “located” and thus determine its relevance to each individual searcher. But there has been a lot of debate about which factors are most important.
The two I hear mostly commonly are if the domain has a particular country code domain name and where the web host is.
One person asked a question that we forgot to make a video for: “Can you list in order of importance the things that make a site to be seen by google as a site from a particular country?” Since we didn’t make it as a video, here’s the answer as a quick bonus:
There may be other signals, but those are the biggies and the order that I’d put them in.
Matt Cutt’s post shows that the most important thing Google uses to determine what country your web site is in is the country code top level domain name. How this applies to USA websites or .com domains isn’t clear – is .com considered ‘USA’? Certainly hardly anyone uses the .us domain extension for USA websites.
2020Media.com already partners with Microsoft to offer web development software at no upfront cost. Now WebsiteSpark membership has been expanded to include a membership in the Microsoft Partner Network. With Microsoft Partner Network membership you get a community of fellow members, evaluation software, expert support, incentives, newsworthy articles and announcements about products and initiatives, lead generation, sales demonstrations, and training.
WebsiteSpark provides software licenses that you can use for three years at no cost. WebsiteSpark also provides a path to get exposure and participate in the developer community (through the Partner Program, BizSpark Camps, etc.).
This week, the owners of the datacentre where 2020Media colocates it servers officially opened their third building on the Docklands site. In a colourful ceremony involving Japanese saké barrels and glitz and glamour, we were reminded how Telehouse pioneered datacentres in the UK, and how they have maintained their status as the key networking hub of the UK. This is important to 2020Media, as we aim to provide the very fastest connection speeds for our servers and broadband customers.
The evening was rounded off with a speech by Mike Harris about technology pioneers who came out of the blue to disrupt the incumbent processes of the day (Twitter is the most recent). It was also great to hear Tim Berners-Lee described as the inventor of the internet yet again.
News, tips and reviews from one of Britain's leading web hosting companies
This week, the owners of the datacentre where 2020Media colocates it servers officially opened their third building on the Docklands site. In a colourful ceremony involving Japanese saké barrels and glitz and glamour, we were reminded how Telehouse pioneered datacentres in the UK, and how they have maintained their status as the key networking hub of the UK. This is important to 2020Media, as we aim to provide the very fastest connection speeds for our servers and broadband customers.
