Tempted by my BFF Shen who runs her own empire figur8 on her very own domain host, I decided to try setting up my very own on my 2 currently existing domains with Wordpress, which I had heard rave reviews about. While Wordpress has its own recommended list, I wanted to also see what else was out there.

Now Atspace, with whom I had hosted for free with had been very good to me the past few years. While offering ad-free domain hosting, they unfortunately did not support Wordpress integration if I wanted to meddle with a Wordpress blog. Their customer service was a bit sketchy when I asked for help as well so I decided to look further.

In searching for web hosting over the past few years I have always looked for information aggregators and reviewers. One I would highly recommend is Web Hosting Geeks which boasts a strong brand (albeit a rather power-hungry looking geek attached to a server - don't we all wish), a good clean text-based design - loads fast on mobile, and great information design.

The first two are no-brainers. Any designer/front-end developer team can come up with that. But offering a crisp short blurb placed in the highest real estate zone of your webpage, which tells your visitors what you offer, using gray text instead of black to vary emphases, plus giving them what they want, namely, the best ratings and reviews of a web host - what they came here for - is hands down, great information design.

Too many websites hide this crucial information behind too many clicks stealthed behind what they think people want to see - gaudy Flash start pages and/or relevant/and/or irrelevant images. In this age of mobile surfing, people want the information they seek quickly and I for one, who spends most days and nights surfing on my mobile, loathe the "roll-eyes waiting time" (I can roll my eyes several times waiting for the page to load - yes and on broadband) of webpages on mobile.

Web Hosting Geeks cleverly implements peer-based web hosting reviews, promising unbiased reviews and on the landing page, the most highly recommended rating is reflected with a percentage. They have also included some useful web hosting articles for those who want more information.

Fabulous clean design for the geek in all of us. Two thumbs up.

So your computer's dead in the water and using your brother's computer to Google for solutions doesn't help, what do you do?

When there is no solution, it is time to call for professional computer technical support.

So stuff the hardware bits back into their casing, make a coffee, and wait for them to arrive. Fret not, these guys know what they're doing. They're the pros after all.

Technorati: computer technical support

Online Coupons are a must-have for all smart money netizens. You know who you are. You cut coupons from the newspapers, ask which credit cards offer a discount before paying for dinner, remember which item is cheapest at which supermarket. Yup, that's you. In this age of increasing inflation, there is no smarter option to manage your money: spend less.

If you want to save money online too, here is the way. I've blogged about other online coupon sites before but this one, Rather-Be-Shopping, includes a neat bonus: a blog which offers you advice on how to save money and be frugal. This double deal is one I haven't seen before and the blog is written in a friendly down-to-earth manner that is easy to read and relate to.

My first impression of Rather-Be-Shopping itself, to my information architect's eye, is that there is too much information there. The centre column, which is the most precious real estate on any site, would have done great with a feed from the blog, instead of the Macy's and Home Depot promos (et all). Those can easily be placed below the fold and the list culled to show the most recent 5.

The "informational info", by which I mean the About Us and How Coupons Work section should ideally be moved to one side (traditionally the top left side) to "humanise" the site, while promos and categories be put on the right. Since the top navigation bar already has an All Coupons link, the categories can be moved below the fold.

That said, the brand is very strong, clear, and unequivocal. The Save $ logo is what gives it an oomph. Props to the designer who made it! Still, it looks a little squished at the top and it should be clickable back to the home page. A bit of white space (perhaps 10px) on the top would give it more of the space it deserves and more prominence, as would moving the promos in the centre to the side.

People come to coupon sites for one reason only: to get the coupons. Hence to ensure the eyeballs return, the Email List is aptly placed above the fold on the right. While it looks a little lost right now, swooping it one step up above Coupon of the Week would make it harder to miss. That and the Bookmark Us now star.

The blog itself is well-designed. My only concern is that the duplication of the title is wasting precious above the fold real estate. Perhaps using Photoshop to add the word Blog to the already nicely-designed logo would suffice, removing the text title above.

Design aside, there's lots of good advice there and I could spend all day reading it. But for now I have bookmarked it because I'd really Rather-Be-Shopping. :p I see a few coupons already calling my name: the American Eagle Coupons, JCPenney Coupons, and the Expedia Travel Coupons. Oh yes, there are also Printable Coupons for those who need them. Don't forget to use recycled paper on an ink jet.

The key difference between this site and other coupon sites I have seen so far is the love that is put into it. It cares that you save money. It wants you to. Hence the blog is so critical. The human face to a site is often what makes the difference between one that succeeds and one that doesn't. And you know, the Washington Post and MSNBC agree.