Every once and a while you find one of those invaluable services on the Internet that makes your life or job easier. I'm not talking about email or the popular obsession with social networks, but instead a very simple service that does just one thing easily and quickly. One of these services for me is downforeveryoneorjustme.com. When you build and launch Web sites for a living, you also get the panic stricken calls from clients when they realize (or think) their Web site is down. One of the most frustrating things a panicked client can hear in response to them telling you their Web site is down is 'looks fine to me'.
In a moment in which they are convinced that their largest donor, biggest potential member company or a journalist from a national media outlet is at their desk and seeing nothing but 'This site is taking too long to respond' on their monitor... 'looks fine to me' just isn't going to cut it. This is where downforeveryoneorjustme.com comes in. It is a very simple service that checks that status of a web site and lets you know in plain English 'It's just you. http://www.yourwebsite.com is up' of course it also tells you when it is not just you. I think most people would be blown away to learn the number of connections, computers and networks it takes to connect their personal computer with a web server. And though I don't have the statistics to back it up right now, personal experience tells me that many (do I dare say most?) connectivity issues are local to the user. However Web sites do go down and there is a protocol for that. Before the next moment of panic, go ahead and bookmark downforeveryoneorjustme.com
Posted on
Thursday, February 18, 2010
by Shane Larrabee