About > Site Mechanics

Secure Hosting

Never has the old adage “You get what you pay for” run so true than in regards to web hosting. I have tried a myriad of hosting providers, from low-budget to high-end, with mixed results. Thankfully, I now host all my sites with FireHost, known for their emphasis on security. Pssh, security you say?

How secure are they? Let me put it this way: They host the business site of Kevin Mitnick. Once one of the world’s most notorious hackers, having served his time in federal prison, he now runs a reputable security consultancy. This makes him a target for other hackers. He trusts FireHost. That’s good enough for me.

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Content Management

This site is entirely built using the flexible, versatile, and (in all other ways) awesome Drupal CMS. Some have called it more than just a system, dubbing it a “content management framework.” I’m not one to split hairs over semantics, but I’ll tell you this: It lets me build sites without worrying about complexity or scalability. Meaning, I can say with impunity: “Yeah, Drupal can do that.”

I am using the following “contrib” modules. This just means they are contributed outside of core Drupal, but are well maintained. Anyway, here’s the list: Global Redirect, Path Redirect, Pathauto, Textile, Token, Views.

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Page Layout

I am eating my own dog food, so to speak. This site’s layout is built upon a CSS foundation provided by the 960 Grid System. I won’t go into great detail about how it works, but you can read my introductory article if you like. There are several tutorials listed on the 960 site itself, such as this screencast.

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Stats & Metrics

I use the fabulous Mint web analytics application to track visits to my site. A small bit of anonymous data is captured as well, such as operating system and browser version, as well as screen resolution. This helps me keep an eye on trending technologies. If you want to take a look at the info, feel free — View stats.