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Domain Registrar Review: Answerable.com Sucks

March 12, 2010 By Jay 1 Comment

This is a domain registrar review of Answerable.com based on my personal horror experience with them. They suck as a domain registrar for losing my domain and not getting it back for me. No, the domain did not expire — it disappeared from my Answerable.com account and ended up with another domain registrar. Read on.

I had a domain name registered with Answerable.com and, for the past six months, I was able to manage and point it to different nameservers from my Answerable.com account. I had a WordPress blog running on that domain name with quite a number of posts.

In January, I decided to switch to a different Web host, so I had to migrate my blogs from the old host to the new one. I logged into my Answerable.com account to point the domain to the new Web host, but I couldn’t find my domain in my Answerable account. I was sure it was there before and that I was able to manage it from my Answerable.com account. Here’s a chronology of what happened next.

  • January 28th: I created a support ticket via the Answerable.com support page and I requested them to look into why my domain was missing from my account. I received a reply within the hour and I was told that they’re checking with product management. I waited.
  • February 6th: A week after the created the ticket, I hadn’t received an update from them. So I send them another message via the support ticket.
  • February 9th: I received a reply and I was informed that they need some more time to figure out the issue. They closed the message with “Have a nice day!”.
  • February 12th: I received an update from them, telling me that the original registrar surrendered their accreditation so my domain was now under the control of another domain registrar. Doh! I thought they were the registrar — I was managing the domain name from my Answerable.com account. They said they’re trying to get in touch with the proper authorities and that they’ll update me when more information is available to them. They closed the message with “Have a pleasant day.”
  • February 13th: I replied to their message and requested them to fix the issue ASAP because it was impacting my online business. I was developing that blog as one of my first niche sites and I had already invested time and money on that blog.
  • February 15th: They replied with the same canned response — “we need more time” and “we’re still checking with the proper authorities”. And, of course, they ended their message with “Have a wonderful day!”.
  • February 22nd: I sent them another message and asked if they actually know what’s happening to my domain and when the issue will be fixed.
  • February 23rd: They replied that the situation is still the same. And that I should “Have a pleasant day.”
  • March 7th: I wrote, “Two weeks later… Any update on this?”
  • March 10th: They wrote “still the same”.
  • March 11th:  Surprise! They wrote me back without my bugging them. They said that my domain name is now with a new registrar. Dude, we knew that 30 days ago. And that I should contact the new registrar to be able to manage my domain name. Ugh! That’s your job, dude. You lost my domain name – you should get it back for me. As usual, “Have a nice day!” Yes, I am — especially with the excellent service that I am getting from the worst domain registrar I have encountered.

Answerable.com was my domain registrar and, technically, it still is since I did not authorize the domain transfer and the domain registration period for which I paid Answerable.com has not yet expired.

So what do I do now, besides this critical domain registrar review of Answerable.com? What else but beg the new domain registrar to give me access to my domain name, which Answerable.com lost.

Update (April 12th 2010): I got my domain name back! Not because Answerable.com got it back for me, but because I pestered the new registrar to give me access to my domain name. The blog has lost its PageRank and its search ranking. I’ll have to spend months again working on getting those back, all because my domain name registrar couldn’t do its job.

Have a nice day !!
Filed Under: Domain Names Tagged With: , , ,

Converting Font Sizes From Pixel-Point-Em-Percent

March 8, 2010 By Jay Leave a Comment

I wanted to change the default font type and size that the Thesis theme is using, but I’m not familiar with the point font size unit, which is the default in Thesis. What’s the equivalent of a 10-point font size in in pixels?  Of course, I had to ask Mr. Google for the answer.

I found a font size conversion table for different font size units that I think I can use. I’m posting it here to help others who are looking for the same. There is no exact conversion for these font sizes, so remember that the values in the table are approximate (not exact) values.

Points Pixels Ems Percent
6pt 8px 0.5em 50%
7pt 9px 0.55em 55%
7.5pt 10px 0.625em 62.5%
8pt 11px 0.7em 70%
9pt 12px 0.75em 75%
10pt 13px 0.8em 80%
10.5pt 14px 0.875em 87.5%
11pt 15px 0.95em 95%
12pt 16px 1em 100%
13pt 17px 1.05em 105%
13.5pt 18px 1.125em 112.5%
14pt 19px 1.2em 120%
14.5pt 20px 1.25em 125%
15pt 21px 1.3em 130%
16pt 22px 1.4em 140%
17pt 23px 1.45em 145%
18pt 24px 1.5em 150%
20pt 26px 1.6em 160%
22pt 29px 1.8em 180%
24pt 32px 2em 200%
26pt 35px 2.2em 220%
27pt 36px 2.25em 225%
28pt 37px 2.3em 230%
29pt 38px 2.35em 235%
30pt 40px 2.45em 245%
32pt 42px 2.55em 255%
34pt 45px 2.75em 275%
36pt 48px 3em 300%

Source: http://www.reeddesign.co.uk

If you find this post helpful or if you have comments, leave a note below. Also, if you know of a better conversion table (by better, I mean you have tried it yourself and it resulted in something good), let me know. I’m always looking for good stuff when it comes to design and WordPress use.

Filed Under: Web Design Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Easiest Way to Edit the Thesis Theme Footer

March 7, 2010 By Jay 5 Comments

If you are using WordPress for your blog like the rest of the world (except for my grandmother who doesn’t blog), you  may have already heard of the Thesis theme. In my opinion, it’s one of the most customizable and flexible themes ever built. It includes a lot of design, search engine optimization, presentation, and content options for your blog, which is why I decided to purchase it. Yes, it’s a paid WordPress theme, so you will have to shell out some cash to take advantage of the power it can add to your WordPress blog. I will do another post on why I think it’s a killer theme, but for now, we’ll focus on one of the things that you’ll probably want to customize after you buy the theme.

NOTE: If you are not using Thesis on your blog but you’re curious, go check it out at DIY Themes.

I’ve started customizing my Thesis installation — to make it more different from the default theme that I got when I purchased the theme. One of the first things that I wanted to do was to change the footer to link to metahead.com, instead of to diythemes.com.

Here’s how I did it (and this is very possibly the simplest way to do it).

What You Will Need

How to Edit the Footer

  1. Using a text or HTML editor, open footer.php that is located in the \lib\html\ folder of the theme.
  2. Make sure you view the source code.
  3. Edit the following text: Get smart with the <a href="http://diythemes.com/thesis/">Thesis WordPress Theme</a> from DIYthemes. to change it to your own footer. I changed the footer for metahead.com to: Copyright &copy; 2010 Metahead.com <a href="http://www.metahead.com/">Make Money Online</a>.
    See the highlighted text in the screen shot at the end of the post.
  4. Save footer.php.
  5. Upload footer.php to your Web host.

You have completed editing the footer of the Thesis theme for WordPress. Now go visit your site and check your new footer!

How to edit the Thesis theme footer

Filed Under: WordPress Tagged With: , , , , , ,

How to Show the Run Command on Windows 7

February 28, 2010 By Jay Leave a Comment

I like using the Run command on Windows to start other programs such as msconfig, regedit, and cmd. I find using Run faster and easier than clicking through the program menu. However, after I upgraded to Windows 7, one of the first things that I noticed was that the Run option on the Start menu was missing. I need it, so I had to find out how to make it appear.

If you’re looking for instructions on how to show the Run option, here they are:

  1. Right-click the Windows icon (used to be Start button in older versions) on the bottom-left corner of the desktop.
  2. Click Properties. The Taskbar and Start Menu Properties window appears.
  3. On the Start Menu tab, click Customize. The Customize Start Menu window appears and displays a list of options in alphabetical order.
  4. Scroll down through the options until you see the Run command option.
  5. Click the Run command option, and then click OK.

You have completed enabling the Run option on Windows 7. It should now be visible from the Windows menu.

Show Run Option on Windows 7

How to show the Run option on Windows 7

Filed Under: Microsoft Windows Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Is Trend Micro Software Blocking Your Internet?

February 25, 2010 By Jay 2 Comments

For a couple of hours earlier today, I couldn’t get online using my browsers (Mozilla Firefox and Microsoft Internet Explorer). My instant messaging applications were working fine though, so I suspected that the issue was probably a different port or protocol.

It wasn’t possible that Windows Firewall was blocking my Internet connection — it was disabled because my computer is using the firewall provided by Trend Micro Internet Security 2010. Since it wasn’t Windows Firewall, my next suspect could only be Trend Micro Internet Security 2010.

I disabled Trend Micro Internet Security 2010, and then I tried to connect to the Internet. I was able to connect, so it was indeed Trend Micro Internet Security 2010 that was causing the problem.

I kept Trend Micro Internet Security 2010 disabled while I searched online for a solution. I found a fix posted by a Trend Micro employee, but it didn’t work even though I followed the instructions to the letter. After wading through pages of customer complaints and trying various pseudo fixes from users, I found one that worked for me.

Note: My Trend Micro Internet Security 2010 is installed on Windows 7. If your Trend Micro Internet Security or Windows version is different, the fix should still work since it’s not version specific. Also, judging from the posts on the Trend Micro forum, this sounds like a recurring issue with some virus definition updates. The thread was started in November 2009. It’s now February 2010 and it’s still happening.

Here are the steps to fix this issue:

  1. Start the Trend Micro Internet Security main console, either by (a) right-clicking the  Trend Micro logo in the system tray, and then clicking Open Main Console, or (b) clicking Start > All Programs > Trend Micro Internet Security > Trend Micro Internet Security. The Trend Micro Internet Security main console appears.
  2. On the My Computer tab, click Other Settings & Subscription.
  3. Make sure the Trend Micro Smart Protection widget is expanded (see screen shot below), and then click Settings.
  4. On the Trend Micro Smart Protection popup window that appears, clear (or uncheck) the two check boxes for Share threat information with Trend Micro and Certified Safe Software Service.
  5. Click OK to save your changes.

You’re done! Start your Web browser, and then go right straight to your favorite Web site.

Trend Micro Smart Protection Network Widget

Filed Under: Computer Software Tagged With: , , , , ,
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