I'm not looking for people to tell me what the best web hosting companies are - I know that's verboten. But a lot of people need to choose one, and it's a real challenge. Many of the "review" sites are biased, many of the forum comments are anecdotal (with upset users more likely to post than satisfied ones), etc. Besides trial and error, what steps do/would you take if you were in the market for a new host?
My needs are dirt simple right now - just html/css, eventually some javascript - I'm not looking for much. But feel free to leave suggestions for qualifying any kind of web host - others may benefit even if I don't.