We didn’t just tune a few dials. We rebuilt the engine.

Thanks to the efforts of our Infrastructure team,( and after months of testing next-gen technologies) we’ve made strategic upgrades that push DreamPress to the top tier of managed WordPress performance anywhere on the web.

From Virtual Machines to Containers: A Leap in Performance and Control

At the heart of this upgrade is a major architectural shift: we’ve moved from traditional virtual machines to a modern container-based hosting environment. What does that mean for your sites?

• Lightning-fast deployment & recovery: Containers spin up instantly, meaning faster launches and quicker restoration from any issue.
  
• More responsive sites under load: Containers use resources far more efficiently, keeping your WordPress sites fast—even during traffic spikes.
  
• Smarter disk management: A new system for handling storage reduces errors and improves stability, especially over the long haul.

Bottom line: your sites will run faster and stay healthier.

Next-Gen MySQL: Tuned for WordPress Speed

We didn’t stop at the hosting layer. DreamPress now runs on our most advanced MySQL configuration ever:

• Blazing-fast read/write performance: From queries to transactions, everything just runs more smoothly.
  
• Stronger under pressure: Our upgraded database stack is built to handle bursts of traffic and complex workloads without breaking a sweat.
  
• Built-in database redundancy: Key data is protected by a more resilient architecture, adding another layer of durability behind the scenes.

If WordPress is the engine of your site, DreamPress’ MySQL is its premium fuel!

True High Availability: Built-in Failover, Zero Intervention

Your site’s uptime is sacred—and now, DreamPress defends it with real-time failover.

Here’s how it works:

• Configuration files replicate instantly.
  
• Other files sync to a backup server within 5 minutes.
  
• If your primary server experiences even a modicum of downtime, DreamPress automatically flips to the backup with no action required on your part.

The result? Always-on availability, built into the platform!

Tested. Proven. Live Today.

This new stack is the result of deep, deliberate engineering. Our Infrastructure team tested countless configurations to land on what we believe to be the fastest, most stable, most scalable WordPress platform on the web.

And now that thousands of DreamPress customers are already running on it, the proof is showing up in real-world results:

• Faster load times (many sites have seen their load times reduced by over 50%)
• Improved Uptime and Increased Redundancy
• Smoother, snappier WordPress performance

The Most Performant Managed WordPress Hosting. Period.

We believe DreamPress now delivers the best WordPress hosting experience on the market, and we’re not done yet.

If you’re already a DreamPress customer, your site may already be running on the new stack. If not, it soon will be. If you’re new? There’s never been a better time to experience what premium WordPress performance really feels like.

Thanks for being along for the ride. We’re just getting started!

The post Introducing Our Fastest WordPress Hosting Platform Yet appeared first on DreamHost.

We looked at the entire DreamPress customer journey from top to bottom and realized that one of the most common challenges for fast WordPress website performance that often gets overlooked is global content delivery. You could have the fastest web server in the world, but if there are network issues between your server and your audience — wherever they may be on the planet — the end-user experience may not reflect your own web server’s stellar performance that you would typically see a little closer to home.

After thoroughly testing the top Content Delivery Network (CDN) providers in the industry, bunny.net stood out to us by delivering a remarkable 35-42% boost in performance for websites that use its unique global network of distributed Points of Presence (PoPs). That’s an extraordinary leap in speed and reliability that sets a new standard for WordPress hosting, and it’s exactly the kind of innovation we strive to offer.

For our DreamPress users, this partnership means you’ll experience lightning-fast load times and enhanced global performance — with absolutely no additional effort required on your part. In fact, we’ve already integrated bunny.net’s basic CDN plan directly into DreamPress, so you’re now receiving the benefit of features like:

• 10 strategically located Points of Presence to ensure optimal delivery worldwide,
• 500 GB of included monthly traffic to handle even high-demand websites, and
• Advanced image optimization for smoother, faster browsing experiences.

What’s especially exciting about this integration is its simplicity. There’s no complicated setup, and no additional configuration is needed. It’s ready to go as soon as you are! DreamPress users can visit their DreamHost control panels right now to enable Bunny CDN at no extra charge!

And to make things even more user-friendly, we’ll be rolling out new, intuitive tools in the DreamHost panel in the weeks to come that will give you full control over your CDN settings. These enhancements are designed to make managing your website’s performance effortless and intuitive.

But we’re not stopping there. In the coming months, DreamHost users will gain access to detailed CDN metrics within their account control panels, offering deeper insights into performance and usage. This kind of data empowers users to make informed decisions about their websites and how they serve content to their audiences.

Even more exciting, DreamPress users can look forward to expanded global coverage. Stay tuned for more information about future upgrade options that will take advantage of bunny.net’s full network of 119 Points of Presence, allowing your website to reach visitors faster than ever, no matter where they are in the world.

And if you’re looking for additional flexibility, we’ll soon introduce standalone CDN plans, making this powerful technology available to any website hosted at DreamHost, not just those hosted on our managed WordPress platform.

This partnership with bunny.net represents our ongoing commitment to innovation and customer success. By delivering world-class performance tools, we’re helping our users unlock their websites’ true potential. The digital landscape is competitive, and speed matters — not just for your overall user experience, but also for helping you grow your business. With bunny.net by our side, we’re giving you the tools to stay ahead.

Stay tuned, because this is just the beginning. There’s much more to come as we continue pushing the boundaries of what’s possible for WordPress hosting. I can’t wait to share these upcoming innovations that will help elevate your online presence.

The post DreamHost Teams Up with bunny.net to Turbocharge Managed WordPress Hosting appeared first on DreamHost.

We’re thrilled to introduce the WordPress Reinstaller, a new feature that significantly simplifies the reset process. Now, resetting your site is just a matter of a few clicks in your dashboard. 

The WordPress Reinstaller is designed to enhance your site management experience with seamless dashboard integration and enhanced security. You can directly reset your WordPress installation from the dashboard, making the process quick and effortless. Additionally, it eliminates the need for third-party solutions, significantly reducing security risks and creating a safer site management environment. Best of all, it leverages our WordPress Install Assistant flow, allowing customers to customize their new site and launch it with the theme and plugins they need to succeed.

While this feature is available to all WordPress users, DreamPress users enjoy the added benefit of an automatic backup before any reset, making restoration easy. But don’t worry if you don’t have a DreamPress plan; we’ll guide you through the manual backup process.

Whether you’re looking to overhaul your site for a new project or simply want to freshen things up, the WordPress Reinstaller is ready and waiting. It’s a powerful tool in your digital toolkit, designed to give you peace of mind and flexibility, no matter how often you use it.

This release underscores our commitment to delivering user-friendly solutions that evolve with the needs of our customers, ensuring that the WordPress Reinstaller is more than just a feature — it’s your partner in digital success.

The post Revamp Your Website Easily with DreamHost’s WordPress Reinstaller appeared first on DreamHost.

Rename Backups

Our first initiative focused on enhancing the DreamPress backup management experience. Recognizing the critical need for easy identification and organization of backups in one’s operations, we introduced a feature that allows DreamPress users to rename their backups at will. Whether based on content, date, or any other system, this personalized approach streamlines backup management, making it more efficient and user-friendly. This feature underscores our commitment to empowering our users with tools that enable them to shape their digital presence their way.

Lock Backups

Worried about losing vital backups? “Lock Backups,” another new feature, addresses this worry head-on! It gives users the power to safeguard — or “lock” — selected backups, significantly reducing the risk of accidentally deleting or rotating out critical older backups. By placing these backups in a digital “safe,” users can protect them from unwanted or accidental removal. This provides an additional layer of security for our users, keeping their valuable data intact. With the lock-a-backup initiative, users can confidently manage their backups, knowing their essential data is securely preserved.

Sort and Filter

With the ability to create and save multiple backups, sorting through them all can feel like searching for a proverbial needle in a digital haystack. To simplify this process, we’ve developed a feature that allows users to effortlessly sort and filter backups. Whether by creation date, type, or name, this function streamlines the search, optimizing users’ time and making their workflows more efficient. By empowering DreamPress users to manage their backups with ease, we make it possible for them to focus more on what truly matters: nurturing and expanding their digital presence.

Download Backups

Our latest enhancement enables users to take full control of managing their DreamPress backups. With the ability to download backups for safekeeping on local storage, users have direct access to their valuable data whenever they need it. This not only provides an additional layer of robust security for their data but also offers unparalleled flexibility in managing it. By blending security and convenience, we’re not just making data management more efficient; we’re putting users firmly in the driver’s seat of their digital assets.

These recent improvements have been implemented to provide DreamPress users with a more seamless backup experience. These updates reflect our ongoing commitment to delivering high-quality, user-friendly solutions that meet the evolving needs of our customers.

Managed WordPress Hosting

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The post Enhanced Backup Solutions: Inside Latest DreamPress Improvements appeared first on DreamHost.

Rename Backups

Our first initiative focused on enhancing the DreamPress backup management experience. Recognizing the critical need for easy identification and organization of backups in one’s operations, we introduced a feature that allows DreamPress users to rename their backups at will. Whether based on content, date, or any other system, this personalized approach streamlines backup management, making it more efficient and user-friendly. This feature underscores our commitment to empowering our users with tools that enable them to shape their digital presence their way.

Lock Backups

Worried about losing vital backups? “Lock Backups,” another new feature, addresses this worry head-on! It gives users the power to safeguard — or “lock” — selected backups, significantly reducing the risk of accidentally deleting or rotating out critical older backups. By placing these backups in a digital “safe,” users can protect them from unwanted or accidental removal. This provides an additional layer of security for our users, keeping their valuable data intact. With the lock-a-backup initiative, users can confidently manage their backups, knowing their essential data is securely preserved.

Sort and Filter

With the ability to create and save multiple backups, sorting through them all can feel like searching for a proverbial needle in a digital haystack. To simplify this process, we’ve developed a feature that allows users to effortlessly sort and filter backups. Whether by creation date, type, or name, this function streamlines the search, optimizing users’ time and making their workflows more efficient. By empowering DreamPress users to manage their backups with ease, we make it possible for them to focus more on what truly matters: nurturing and expanding their digital presence.

Download Backups

Our latest enhancement enables users to take full control of managing their DreamPress backups. With the ability to download backups for safekeeping on local storage, users have direct access to their valuable data whenever they need it. This not only provides an additional layer of robust security for their data but also offers unparalleled flexibility in managing it. By blending security and convenience, we’re not just making data management more efficient; we’re putting users firmly in the driver’s seat of their digital assets.

These recent improvements have been implemented to provide DreamPress users with a more seamless backup experience. These updates reflect our ongoing commitment to delivering high-quality, user-friendly solutions that meet the evolving needs of our customers.

Managed WordPress Hosting

Get DreamPress

Hassle-free, high-performance WordPress hosting to grow your business

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The post Enhanced Backup Solutions: Inside Latest DreamPress Improvements appeared first on DreamHost.

In mid-April 2023, we implemented optimizations to our PHP configuration — specifically, changes to OPcache settings. OPcache is a powerful tool that boosts the performance of PHP, an open-source scripting language used in web development, by storing precompiled code in memory. 

We also introduced Redis Object Caching for our DreamPress Pro customers in June 2023. Object caching greatly enhances the speed and efficiency of your WordPress site by storing the results of database queries in your server’s memory. By adding the Redis Object Cache plugin to our DreamPress Pro users’ WordPress admin dashboards, we’re helping them add an extra level of power to their sites. But we didn’t stop there! 

The cornerstone of our DreamPress site performance enhancement efforts is NGINX, a powerful, high-performance, high-concurrency software that serves as a web server and that surpasses other web servers in terms of speed and capacity. Our extensive early testing led us to be certain that moving DreamPress to NGINX would improve page load speeds across the board.

We were certain that transitioning tens of thousands of sites on DreamPress to a new system was the right move, despite anticipating some challenges along the way. Our deadline was early November 2023, coinciding with the then-upcoming release of WordPress 6.4, and the task ahead was substantial. We had to ensure the seamless operation of all sites before and after the switch, which included explaining the removal of features like IP blocks and page redirects managed via .htaccess. Additionally, we had to find a method to automatically migrate existing customer caching and .htaccess records. 

Moreover, we had to set up new DreamPress provisions to launch with NGINX rather than Apache, ensuring that new DreamPress customers received the best possible experience from the start. Despite the magnitude of the task, our preparations were successful. We managed to migrate all sites and set up provisioning to NGINX within a month, which is a testament to the team members’ expertise and diligence and their unwavering commitment to providing an unparalleled user experience for our DreamPress customers. 

Our efforts have paid off handsomely, evidenced by a significant milestone we achieved recently. Upon completing the rollout of NGINX to our DreamPress customers, we observed a substantial 67% reduction in the number of sites taking two seconds or more to load. 

The response from our DreamPress customers has been overwhelmingly positive. They’ve noticed a marked increase in their sites’ responsiveness, even for those who were already enjoying quick loading times. A testament to the impactful changes we’ve brought about, one customer anticipated a significant improvement in their site’s Google ranking as a direct result of our enhancements. This reaffirms our belief that our relentless pursuit of excellent user experience and turbocharged site performance is well worth the effort. 
If you’re ready to take your WordPress site to the next level and improve your site’s performance, upgrade your hosting to DreamPress in your account today!

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The post DreamPress Performance Improvement: NGINX for All DreamPress Customers appeared first on DreamHost.

A Look Back

Back in 2018, we created a new user experience for our DreamPress customers and moved away from our mod_perl back end to a modern Jamstack implementation. We replaced text-driven user experiences with clean, visual workflows. This allowed us to attract new talent to work with us and to move more quickly on new DreamPress features like staging and backups on demand. Eventually, we built on what we learned from the DreamPress dashboard to create the new “Manage Websites” section of our panel.

Why Did We Move DreamPress?

Fast forward to 2023 and “Manage Websites” is now officially taking over as the central hub for managing websites in the DreamHost panel. Keeping the DreamPress dashboard as a separate entity is no longer serving to streamline things for our customers, and with so many moving parts to keep track of, such as WordPress Admin, having another place to manage a website adds unnecessary complexity. 

This is why we’re taking advantage of the new and improved user experience under “Manage Websites” to manage DreamPress-hosted sites as well. This also gives customers better visibility on the special features available with DreamPress and creates a unified WordPress experience across all of our products. As we work on improvements to DreamPress, this will also allow us to move faster and more easily apply what we learn there to our other WordPress hosting options.

A Double Win for DreamPress Users

This move will pay immediate dividends for DreamPress users, as they will now be able to see which PHP is running on their live site at a glance on the list view and manage it as well. While different PHP versions have been available to test on staging to ensure compatibility with upcoming releases, there was no direct way to set that up early before we managed the upgrade for them. With this move, customers can now enjoy the latest, stable version of PHP or temporarily roll back to a recent version if necessary!

If you have any questions about this update, please don’t hesitate to reach out to our technical support team. They’re always standing by, ready to assist!

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The post Product Updates: DreamPress is Now Part of “Manage Websites” appeared first on DreamHost.

Fortunately, our team rose to the challenge and was able to adapt and move more quickly than ever before. That resulted in a slew of improvements for our customers.

We wanted to take this opportunity to share some highlights of what the team has accomplished so far as we gear up for even more in 2021!

1. Better Website Management

The Websites section of our customer control panel — the central hub for everything to do with your sites — got a complete overhaul. Out with the old, dated codebase that was difficult to develop for, and in with the new modular layout that has room for days.

The panel’s new, modern tech stack allowed us to create a more intuitive experience tailored to each user’s needs. It also allowed us to launch new features like Free WordPress Migrations, the ability to easily Change Your Domain used for any WordPress site, and a DNS Propagation Checker that shows your domain’s up-to-the-minute DNS status from different parts of the world.

But the improvements to our control panel didn’t stop at website management! We’ve also revamped our user management interface, introduced and updated the onboarding flow for new customers getting started with their first site, and reorganized our control panel’s primary navigation to put things where you’d expect to find them.

The direct customer feedback we’ve received from DreamHost users has been an invaluable resource throughout all these months of development. With each release of the panel, we immediately heard from you what worked and what needed some work. This phased approach to releases has allowed us to iterate and continually improve our control panel, avoiding any unnecessary surprises that might come from launching everything all at once with our fingers crossed.

Thank you for helping us build the DreamHost that you want to see!

2. ¡DreamHost en Español!

In 2018, we began expanding our support team to better serve our Spanish-speaking clientele. In 2020, we took another big leap forward in that area by translating our entire website, customer control panel, and knowledge base — along with all our other content — into Spanish.

News In Spanish

You Could Be Reading This in Spanish

All the great tutorials you’ve come to expect from the DreamHost blog are now available in Spanish.

Check it Out

3. Improved Email Performance

Email: Love it or hate it — odds are that you use it. Whether you’re corresponding with customers or staying in touch with the rest of your team, email is a vital tool for just about every business.

We’ve made email performance a priority at DreamHost, upgrading and updating our systems to make sure that your inbox is fast, reliable, and ready for whatever’s thrown at it.

DreamHost recently partnered with MailChannels to improve inbound and outbound spam filtering for all DreamHost customers, with features like customizable allow/block lists, compromised-account detection to guard against unauthorized senders, and intelligent quarantining that allows both senders and receivers to release blocked messages rather than lose them to the murky depths of the junk folder.

4. Upgraded Web Servers

There’s a lot going on under-the-hood of most websites today. Most folks don’t even think about the operating system on their hosting server, yet it plays a crucial role in a website’s overall health. But just like your smartphone, home computer, and so many Wi-Fi light bulbs, web servers need updates too.

There’s a constant cat-and-mouse game between attackers and DreamHost’s fearless admins, with software vulnerabilities and security patches leapfrogging each other until the end of time. Our infrastructure team has worked hard to plan and execute regular upgrades to keep your data safe with minimal disruption across our network. We’re just about done rolling out the latest and greatest version of PHP, with support for new features like OPCache Preloading to help boost site performance.

Related: How Do Websites Work?

5. New Tutorials to Help You Succeed

There’s a lot to learn when setting out to build a website, and not everyone has time to navigate the sea of information out there. Even figuring out where to start can feel like a lot!

We wanted to do something about that. We took our collective smarts, compressed them down to a series of wafer-thin layers, and launched DreamHost Academy, a set of tutorials that cover everything you need to know to get your website off the ground!

Step-by-step, detailed articles take you from building your site to driving traffic to it to optimizing all the little things that help your visitors have the best possible experience.

6. Pro Services to Shrink Your To-Do List

It’s fun to DIY, but sometimes you just need to get things done. Once you’ve covered the basics of creating a website for your business — domain registered, email set up, WordPress installed — there’s still more involved in taking a site from concept to success.

With our newly launched Pro Services, DreamHost can now help with a range of next-level tasks, from setting up your storefront to repairing a hacked site to helping you market your website on social media, and so much more.

Web Development

You Dream It, We Code It

Tap into 20+ years of coding expertise when you opt for our Web Development service. Just let us know what you want for your site — we take it from there.

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7. Additional Support Staff

Our customer support team is legendary, and it’s growing! Now, more than ever, you need an online partner who’s available when you are. To ensure we’re delivering the kind of service you expect from us, we’ve hired an army of online success experts to respond to your questions as close to instantly as is humanly possible.

Related: How to Successfully Deal With Tech Support (5 Simple Steps)

And We’re Just Getting Started

That’s just a handful of the projects that have crossed the finish line so far, and we have much more in store this year!

Within the next month, we will be rolling out some performance enhancements for our flagship Managed WordPress service, DreamPress, and a new search engine optimization (SEO) service to help customers drive more traffic to their sites.

Keep your eye on our newsletter and follow us on social media so you don’t miss out!

The post The Best Gets Better: 7 Ways We’ve Improved the DreamHost Experience appeared first on DreamHost.

But this redesign wasn’t just about looks — it’s already enabled us to add new features to the panel in record time! Free WordPress Migrations, Change Your Domain, and DNS Propagation Tracking are available to all DreamHost customers right now!

In our last post, we also touched on the history (namely the what and the why) of our new approach to helping you manage your websites, but we didn’t have time to get into the details on all that we’ve been able to accomplish already with the new platform! It’s a new day and a new blog post. Let’s get to it!

You’ve Got to Move It, Move It

Free WordPress Migrations have been a game changer for anyone with an existing website who wants to move it to a new home here at DreamHost. Migrating WordPress sites across web hosts can be tricky, with multiple opportunities for things to go sideways.

The decision to switch hosting providers is a big one and is often easier said than done! Our new custom migration plugin eliminates any pain and confusion from the transfer process and frees you up to focus on what matters. You won’t even have to think about futzing with hosts files and database entries, and you won’t have to hold your breath wondering if everything will work after DNS finishes propagating!

Simply install the DreamHost Automated WordPress Migration plugin, grab the migration token from your DreamHost control panel, and paste that token into the plugin. Our migration robots then go to work while you sit back, relax, and binge Ted Lasso. Once your site’s data is moved over, update your domain to use DreamHost’s nameservers, and you’re live!

Build It Now, Name It Later!

Let’s say you’re not quite ready to hit Publish with your website. Maybe you’re still searching for the perfect domain name. Maybe you’re working on a new version of your site quietly behind the scenes with a temporary domain. At some point, you’ll need to change the domain name that’s associated with your site. Sounds simple! Right?

Unfortunately, updating the domain on a WordPress site can be a complex, tedious task, fraught with peril and downtime if everything doesn’t go just right.

While it’s always been safe to use a free temporary domain (e.g., something.dreamhosters.com) for a site that’s not quite ready for prime time, the necessary behind-the-scenes WordPress configuration changes have been another matter. The site owner is normally responsible for updating their website to actually work with the new domain. Unless you’re the type that already knows their way around a .htaccess file, it can be a daunting experience.

We developed a site renamer function for our Managed WordPress offering, DreamPress, years ago. It handled the heavy lifting, updating a website’s details and databases to work with its new URL. The renamer proved to be such an essential tool that we wanted to share it with all of our WordPress users — and this project gave us a chance to make that happen!

While One-Click Staging is still exclusive to DreamPress, anyone can now stage a WordPress site using a temporary domain, thanks to the new Change Your Domain feature in the control panel!

See? That’s What I Was Talking About…

The most exciting new feature of our domain management tools came out in February 2021!

For years, our support team has risen to the challenge of educating customers about how DNS and domain name propagation works. While our customers’ general tech-savviness has steadily increased over that time, DNS is still a difficult concept to articulate via emails, chats, and phone calls. Most of the time, users want to know one main thing: Can the world see my website?

We set out to create a more visual way to provide real-time feedback on your domain’s status — and the new DNS Propagation Checker was born!

With this tool, users can instantly perform a DNS lookup against multiple nameservers located in different parts of the world. It will alert you when a site is not pointed to DreamHost’s nameservers, verify when propagation has completed, and enable you to check and view the status of any record type (MX, CNAME, etc.) in real-time on a map. No more wondering whether your DNS is good to go!

There’s Much More To Come!

We can’t get enough of the new Websites control panel, and we hope you love it too! From its new look and feel to the foundational improvements that are already helping our eager developers roll out additional features quicker than ever before, this is just the beginning!

We have more improvements and features for our new domain management system in the works, including tools to help you master your SEO and drive more qualified traffic to your site, a reboot of our popular DreamShield Malware Remover service, and a series of improvements to our flagship Managed WordPress service DreamPress. Check out the new Websites control panel now!

The post The DreamHost Control Panel Keeps Getting Better appeared first on DreamHost.

Good news — things are changing!

Domain management — arguably the most important function of your control panel — has an all-new look today! Right now.

You may be wondering why we’re changing a core component of the hosting experience here at DreamHost after it has fulfilled its purpose for the better part of two decades. In short: Times have changed!

The control panel was originally designed by developers whose no-nonsense sensibilities were a perfect match for DreamHost’s customer base at the time (also mostly developers). It was the early-ish days of the internet, and the panel was an effective, efficient way to manage your sites.

Over time, as we’ve added new features and advanced functionality to the panel, its layout has become a bit . . . cluttered. With so many hosting options, settings, and services, it can be a lot to process when you’re a customer coming in with a great idea who simply wants to get online as quickly as possible.

The Wishlist

What we needed was a platform that would better serve the customers we have now, and one that would have plenty of room to grow as we provide more of the services and features they’re looking for. At the same time, modernizing the tech stack behind the DreamHost panel would allow us to deploy code and launch products more rapidly and recruit even more talented developers to the team.

And, well, that’s exactly what we built.

A Stunning New Way to Manage Your Sites

Our first big update to the Websites control panel was Grid View, a beautiful new visual layout of all of the websites in your account. Grid View lets you browse your sites with a screenshot of their front page to quickly find and manage the one you’re looking for. You can see which features are enabled at a glance, so it’s easy to tell if email or malware protection is set up for a particular site.

Along with Grid View, we’ve added a more compact List View that displays your sites in a condensed format without the screenshots. Additional details about your domains can be toggled on and off, making this view a powerful and flexible option for anyone managing a large number of sites on their account.

Advanced Features When You Need Them

Of course, we didn’t want to cram everything about all your sites into a single view. Our second release introduced the new Domain Overview section — a detailed dashboard that contains more information and settings specific to each of your sites. From here, you can manage every aspect of your website, from email to PHP settings.

Room for Activities

Expandability was a must-have when designing the new control panel. And expand, it can. Our new WordPress migration service launched just in time to be the first live-action test of the panel’s new modular layout.

What would have taken weeks to develop under the old interface was a much simpler matter of:

• Create the API endpoint.
• Design the page.
• Celebrate.

This kind of flexibility was mind-boggling to the team and a welcome addition to our workflow. What’s most exciting? We aren’t limited to the current feature set and can expand to accommodate whatever our customers find useful — security, marketing, performance, and more!

Straightforward Site Setup

Finally, we wanted to improve the experience for customers when adding a new website. The old setup flow was full of niche, technical features that the vast majority of our customers found more confusing than helpful. Rather than forcing users to scroll through all of that, we want to let you focus on decisions that matter. By reducing setup to a few simple steps, we can get your site up and running in minutes, so you can get to work!

We Really Do Read the Feedback!

Thank you to all of you who kicked the tires, clicked around, and submitted your comments and suggestions for Grid and List View while they were still just beta previews in the panel. Your real-time feedback made it into each new phase of the project and helped us stay focused on the features that make your web hosting experience a little quicker, easier, and nicer to look at.

True story: One of the early versions of List View had missed the mark. We’d gotten a little carried away while decluttering the interface, and it was slowing people down, needing more clicks to get the same things done. Oh boy, did we hear about it, and we were so grateful for that feedback! We caught it quick, changed course, and even managed to host a handful of face-to-virtual-face interviews to learn more about how you’d like your control panel to look, feel, and function. It’s that kind of interaction that warms our hearts and keeps our to-do lists full.

There’s More in Store!

We’re excited to bring you all these updates with the new Websites panel and can’t wait to show you what’s coming up next. In the meantime, if you have any questions, comments, or moonshot suggestions for the panel, we’re still listening! The feedback form is built into the new dashboard, so let us know what you think!

The post We Revamped the DreamHost Control Panel to Make Managing Sites Easier appeared first on DreamHost.

But what if we could give them more?

Well, thanks to our friends at Automattic — the company behind WordPress.com and, like us, a WordPress contributor — we’re doing just that.

I’m excited to announce that customers on our DreamPress Plus and Advanced plans, along with everyone on our legacy offerings, will now have access to Jetpack Professional (worth $299/year)!

DreamPress

Get More with DreamPress

DreamPress Plus and Pro users get access to Jetpack Professional (and 200+ premium themes) at no added cost!

Check Out Plans

What does this mean exactly?

• Jetpack Professional includes VaultPress — the industry standard for WordPress-specific backup solutions. We’ll still provide a local solution for convenience, of course, but Jetpack gives our customers automated, real-time backups, unlimited storage, and one-click restores. Want to undo that minor flub you just made? No problem! Simply roll it back.
• There are some amazing security perks, including Jetpack’s own malware scanner. When paired with our built-in firewall, Jetpack alleviates the need for other security plugins. Plus, you’ll have access to Jetpack’s priority support whenever you need it.
• With more than 300 professionally-designed and supported themes included, it’ll be even easier to brand your WordPress site. This is a big deal since this includes 200+ premium themes that run from $35 up to $175 each! Now you can test drive as many designs as you like — without worrying about cost — to find the right look for your site.
• You’ll also get additional SEO tools, unlimited use of Jetpack’s high-speed video and image CDNs, and, well, more!

Jetpack is, simply put, one of the most powerful tools you can leverage when running a WordPress site. We’re thrilled to find a way to make it more easily available to our DreamPress customers.

Here’s how to activate Jetpack on your account.

Note: those who have already enabled Jetpack Premium plugin will get this upgrade to Jetpack Professional automatically.

We’re committed to making DreamPress the absolute best way to power a WordPress site. This is one way we can help make that happen, and we hope you love it!

The post Jetpack Professional Now Comes with DreamPress appeared first on DreamHost.

Cloudflare has been a partner of DreamHost’s for years, and our users have been able to take advantage of their advanced content distribution network all this time at no extra cost.

Related: How to Use a Content Delivery Network (CDN) with WordPress

New Update

Today the Cloudflare experience at DreamHost gets even better!

Any domain that uses a TLS/SSL certificate, like Let’s Encrypt, will now be able to use the basic free Cloudflare plan. (TLS is the new name for SSL.) It also means that Universal SSL is now supported, meaning when your visitors connect to the Cloudflare Edge (any of their points of presence), it will be done through TLS/SSL. (In order for Universal SSL to be enabled, your domain must support ‘www’, which is also selected on the domain settings page.)

This is especially important for our managed WordPress hosting service, DreamPress, as all new DreamPress customers have a Let’s Encrypt certificate pre-installed when their accounts are created.

Both of these two configurations are supported:

Your domain does not have a TLS/SSL certificate.

Your visitor <– SSL –> Cloudflare <– no SSL –> Your website

Your domain does have a TLS/SSL certificate, like Let’s Encrypt.

Your visitor <– SSL –> Cloudflare <– SSL –> Your website

Beginning now, this will only affect new domains hosted by DreamHost with Cloudflare enabled. Domains with or without a TLS/SSL certificate will work fine with the basic plan. In a few weeks, once we’ve ensured the new update is working well on new domains, we enable this retroactively for all DreamHost domains using Cloudflare.

The difference between the CloudFlare Basic and Plus plans is shown below:

Enjoy better performance and secure protection for your website with Cloudflare!

The post Cloudflare on DreamHost Just Got Better appeared first on DreamHost.