Useful features of a hosting plan

When looking at web hosting plans we are often so distracted by the absurd amounts of bandwidth and disk space on offer, that we often overlook several more important features which can be worth their weight in gold.  This article aims to take you through some of the more common features which you should look out for.

AntiSpam protection

Junk mail (spam) is a fact of life on the Internet; many of us spend hours training our junk mail filters to recognize spam in our inbox.  However, the vast majority of spam can be accurately detected and screened at the mail server, before it even gets to you.  If your web host provides good antispam protection then they can cut the volume of junk mail, which reaches your inbox by up to 80%.

One of the most common tasks required of any website used to collect information from the user and to deliver it to the Webmaster via e-mail.  This is achieved using a form to e-mail script.
If you are an accomplished coder you can probably write your own script using a programming language like ASP, PHP or Perl. However, if you are not tech savvy, or even if you are, you can save yourself a lot of time and effort if your web host supplies, a pre-installed script. Configuration is often straightforward and typically involves limited HTML knowledge.

Microsoft FrontPage Server Extensions

Whilst you can build your site in Microsoft FrontPage and publish to a server which does not have FrontPage server extensions installed, you may not be able to use some of the fancier features of Microsoft FrontPage without the server extensions being installed.

Persists ASP Upload & ASP JPEG

Persists ASP upload is an ActiveX component which allows you to upload files to your web server from a webpage.  It's an infinitely useful component, particularly if you are building a content management system, where for example you have to upload images for a product catalogue.

Persists ASP JPEG is the sister component to ASP upload.  It allows you to resize, sharpen, crop and optimise images programmatically, making it ideal for generating thumbnails of a larger image which has been uploaded to the web server.
Many Windows Web hosts support these two ActiveX components and they are very easy to use.  Therefore; you can develop your website around these components without tying yourself to a particular host. They are not however, supported by Linux/Unix web hosts.

Web stats

Website statistics are crucial in helping you identify what is working on what is going wrong with your website.  Whilst third-party packages a always available, a web host, which includes web statistics, as part of their package is preferable, as it is one less cost to consider.

Data backup

Does your web host to provide data backup services?  If not then your website is at risk, particularly if you run a data driven website, or if your content changes dynamically following user input (e.g. a guest book or a Blog which solicits user comments).

Note: most web hosts will back up their servers.  However, the backups will not always be made available to their customers, unless the data loss was the fault of the web host. In an ideal world, you should look out for a host who provides access to backups, even if the data loss was not their fault.