Anyone using IMhosted as JSP/Servlet Host?

[Jessica Sant]

So... earlier this week I signed up with IMHosted.com to host a site I'm building for my dad's non-profit organization.
I signed up on Dec 31st and immediately recieved an email stating I'd get another email within 24 hours detailing my login info blah blah blah and if I paid by credit card (which I did) my site would be all set and ready to go at that point.
So 24 hours came and went (I wasn't too worried 'cause it was New Years and I figured they'd be out). Then the next day... So I checked out their "24x7 support" thing -- they don't have a phone # -- but you can submit an online support probelm and supposedly you can reach them over AOL IM, MSN Messenger, Yahoo or ICQ ---> none were online (and since then I've never seen them online).
Anyway -- I finally got my 24 hour email on evening of Jan 3rd -- but the site isn't active 'cause they haven't run my credit card through -- so they say I still owe them $$. Again... they're supposed 24x7 support doesn't exist through the online channels.
I was wondering if anyone else uses them, if this is the kind of support I should expect later when I actually have a problem when my site is finally live -- or if this is just some random problem.
blah... I'm a little frustrated...

[Frank Carver]

I'd never heard of them before but they seem to offer some pretty good deals. I assume you have chosen the tomcat offering ?
Let us know how you get on !

[Jessica Sant]

so... my lil site is live... I'm still not impressed with their 24x7 support -- but I'm only signed up month-to-month -- so if it turns out it really sucks -- I can always change.
I still can't get into the admin portion of the site... but at least my content is up... hopefully the admin issue will be resolved soon.
If you're bored -- you can check out the site -- it doesn't have all the content there yet. But its a start. I used taglibs for the header and sidebars. I'll put a DB back end on soon and use servlets to hold all the info of past events and past award winners.
http://www.designawareness.org

[Frank Carver]

Cool.
I don't know how much control you have over the site design, but I found the "front page" pretty irritating. My browser spent about 2 minutes sitting there with just an empty central image and a few mildly-baffling buttons while it loaded the (huge)pointless intro.
Have you tried it on a slow modem connection or a slow PC ?
Please reconsider the use of an animated intro. Effective site design is all about catching people's interest immeidately, and giving them somthing that they think they want as soon as possible. This front page does none of the above
Why not put some actual information about the event and the organisation, and maybe some late-breaking news on the front page instead? That way there is an incentive for people to bookmark it. Think about sites you have visited which gave you what you wanted with no messing.

[Balaji Loganathan]

Hi,
As suggested by Frank, if you want to remove the flash and add something more communicative but static, you can try something like this http://www.axonie.com/axonie_solutions.html
Regards
Balaji

[DC Dalton]

I really have to aggree with Frank on this main page. Im running a cable modem & even that took a good 20-30 seconds to load this intro. Im really starting to see a large lashback from the public on this flash intros. Remember most of the publics attention span is VERY short & if they get bored they go elsewhere. You also have to remember that only 20-25% of the world has broadband at this point so NOT testing your site on a 56k modem is automatically shutting out 75% of your potential clientel..... The golden rule is 15 seconds to catch their eye & get them interested or they will go elsewhere.

[Gregg Bolinger]

I have been using IMHosted for about 2 months, however not for JSP/Servlets.
I am really happy with them so far. I have had no problems at all.

[Jessica Sant]

excellent feedback -- I've been in the process of revamping the front page (a la no flash) -- but of course as soon as I uploaded it all JSP pages on the whole site stopped working... HTML is fine -- but JSPs are dead. grrrr.
put in a support call -- their FAQ and KB don't say anything about it.

[Frank Carver]

their FAQ and KB don't say anything about it
You probably need to restart Tomcat. It's supposed to be able to reload changes itself, but in my experience it's not very good at it.
Does the FAQ cover giving Tomcat a kick ?

[Frank Carver]

Balaji Loganathan wrote: if you want to remove the flash and add something more communicative but static, you can try something like this http://www.axonie.com/axonie_solutions.html
That still seems a bit light on content to me. I was thinking more of somthing like: http://www.efsol.com/ or http://java.sun.com/ or (not so good, but it's about a convention, so it's a bit more appropriate) http://www.genconuk.com/
Do you have an aversion to words on your front page? I like sites where the information I want is right there as soon as I arrive. That way I don't have to stop and guess if the phone number for event enquiries is behind the "event" button or behind the "about us" button (for example).
As an excercise, try seeing what happens if you put all the information you have at the moment onto a single page. Do your best to lay it out nicely, but no links, no "navigation", no menu items which exist only to justify the presence of the menu. Just the facts Ma'am.
If, after this excercise, you find that some information really doesn't sit right. Then consider moving something out to another page. But only move the least important or least commonly needed, and provide several links to it with different descriptions to cover different approaches and needs.
The job of a web designer is to make a readable, useful, engaging site. That doesn't always mean that it has to be a complex site!
Oops! looks like that turned into a rant. Sorry.
[ January 06, 2003: Message edited by: Frank Carver ]

[Jessica Sant]

[vent]
Ok... so I cancelled my account with IMHosted.com
After trying to upload a new front page on Monday... all the .jsp pages on the site stopped working. So I submitted a support call. Didn't hear anything...
Tuesday afternoon I tried calling and left a message on their "voice box" that they have set up -- explaining my problem -- the fact that no one had answered my support call (even though they claim 24x7 support and all calls replied to within a day).
Wednesday night I opened another case -- asking for help on the first one -- as well as another problem I was having.... nothing.
I cancelled the account today and in the process of trying to find someone new -- but am asking lots of questions before I just sign up.
www.digitalspace.net seemed to have great support -- (the actually have interactive online support, don't just claim to have it)
but they use JSP 1.1 and Servlet 2.2 -- and I don't want to rewrite my code to use the older spec.
www.solidwebhosting.com looks good too -- they use the current spec also reasonably priced. My first pre-sales inquiry was answered quite promptly. We'll see how they answer my follow-up questions.
I've looked at www.ejip.net (hosts the javaranch) but they're lowest package is $95.00/month!
[/vent]