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Showing posts from April, 2011

Tips on how to Secure your Joomla Website

Joomla is one of the best content management systems in the industry today. With more and more websites taking to Joomla to build their sites, it has become very important to make sure that your website is configured properly so as to prevent any security issues. Here are a few tips to help you secure your Joomla website: Proper Hosting Environment: A well configured server is highly recommended for your site. You should also host your website on a server that runs PHP in the CGI mode with su_php. This way, the PHP will run under your account and not on the global Apache user. Change the Default Database Prefix: Always change the default database prefix to something else that is random. This will prevent hackers from retrieving your superadmin details. Disable the FTP Layer: When installing, never open the FTP layer as this gives rise to a potential security hole. Change you superadministrator username to something that is difficult for others to guess. Create a strong password to pro...

Structuring your Website with a Joomla Developer

Online businesses are getting more and more competitive today. And this is why an increasing number of people are designing their websites with a Joomla developer, as it works out to a more cost-effective solution. The Internet, as we all know it, is a platform that is used for publishing a variety of content from blogs and commercial sites to forums. A content management system or a CMS gives prospective entrepreneurs easy access to start their own websites without having to go through the whole complicated procedure of learning coding. Joomla is an open source CMS that can help you manage your content with ease. Apart from this, there are plenty of other benefits to Joomla, including its amazing features that make it very attractive to entrepreneurs. The user-friendly design will help you manage your site easily and you’ll also get the nest modules and admin support. Here are some advantages of using Joomla for your website: Helps to Save Time: Joomla helps to save a lot of time in t...

Joomla Vs Drupal

Both these content management systems are extremely popular and have both released newer versions recently. If you are planning on building a website and don’t know whether to use Joomla or Drupal, this article might be useful for you. Here we will discuss the features of both Joomla as well as Drupal so that you can make a choice yourself. As Content Management Systems: Drupal provides you with unlimited category levels, categorization and tagging as well as the ability to create multiple content levels with various features, whereas Joomla provides only three levels of content. This is why you require a Content Construction Kit. As a Blogging Platform: Both can be used as blogging platforms as they have the capability to support extensions and a WordPress Port. Shopping Cart: Drupal has a powerful and dynamic shopping cart that is loaded with features. Joomla on the other hand has one shopping cart that is loaded with difficulties. Admin Interface: Drupal is more geeky in nature and...

Which CMS handles Security best – Joomla or Drupal?

There are plenty of articles out there with regards to the strengths and weaknesses of various CMS’. But not many people talk about security. Here we will be discussing which CMS handles security best – Joomla or Drupal? Both these Content Management Systems have recently come up with new and effective releases and most developers aren’t yet familiar with these new versions. Yes, software security is a very important topic, especially since we use Web 2.0 activities where we expose our companies to content change access to non-employees. Both the Joomla and Drupal engineers and communities pay very careful attention to security issues. The Drupal community takes security issues very seriously and there is even a special security team to handle this area. The main goal of this team is to identify and then resolve any security issues. There are a few security concerns that reflect the CMS’ differing approaches: Joomla’s main focus is on content management and security is only about acces...

Tips on adding Articles in the Joomla 1.5

Joomla is a great CMS that is used by websites across the globe. It is used to manage all sorts of content on any kind of website. Being a free utility, it allows people to add, edit, remove, reorganize and even syndicate content. The best part of it all is that Joomla allows bloggers and web owners to do this even without having any HTML knowledge. Joomla makes it very easy to add articles to a website, but as far as Joomla 1.5 goes, the process is slightly different than all the other versions. Here are a few steps on how to add articles to the Joomla 1.5 version CMS: Start by logging into the admin control panel and enter your username and password. Find the “Add Article” button. In the older versions, there were buttons for selecting Static or Dynamic content. But in the 1.5 version, all of this is more streamlined and there is only a button titles “Add Article”. Clicking on this button will take you to the article composition screen. Once you reach this screen, enter your articles...

Install on how to Install Joomla Components

Components are basically Joomla’s content elements or applications that generally appear in the center of a three-columned Joomla layout, or on the right-hand side of a two-columned Joomla layout. Components are basically the core elements of any Joomla functionality. Some of the core components include: Banners Contact News Feeds Polls Web Links Members of the Joomla community are also producing third party components continuously. Here is how you can install a component: Start by choosing the component that you desire. On the menu on top go to the “components” tab and select Install/Uninstall. You will see a whole list of components that are already installed on your website. Under this list, you’ll see a section that says “upload new component”. Click on “browse” and then go to the package that you want to install. Select the package and then upload it. The next screen will tell you whether the component was installed successfully.

Is Joomla good for your SEO?

Scores of books and articles have been written about the Joomla Content Management System. Many of these have been written for it and others against it. The most common argument is that Joomla is not the ideal option as far as search engine friendly CMS’ are concerned. However, in my opinion, this view is not very well thought out and comes from amateurs who don’t how this CMS can be good for SEO purposes. Joomla is arguably one of the best CMS’ available today. And for those who doubt this, Joomla is also extremely search engine friendly if it is handled by SEO experts who know how to maximize the results from Joomla websites. Search engine optimization is a very important tool as far as Internet marketing is concerned, and although many people believe that Joomla sites are the toughest to optimize, this is not true. Professionals who really know their job can handle such a project easily. Here are some of the features that are loaded into the Joomla CMS and that help to make it searc...

Tips on Setting up your Joomla site for Advertising

Your Joomla website can bring in a lot of ROI for your business, depending on how much time and energy you invest in it. Here are a few ways to make sure that your website rakes in the money: Traffic: Now that you’ve prettied your website in the best way possible, what do you do next? If you have a Firefox or IE browser, then get yourself an Alexa Toolbar. Google Chrome is also a great OS but will not help you increase your Alexa Traffic rank, which is what is the most used on the Internet by advertising companies that sell legitimates advertising spots. If you have Firefox, you can also install an extension, Alexa Sparky, through the add-ons on your browser menu. Once this is installed, you will be enabling Alexa to track any web surfing patterns. People use Alexa for other purposes as well, including viewing Alexa rankings on the sites they are visiting. If you are an advertiser, knowing the Alexa ranking of a site can help you in making your advertising decisions. Social Networks: S...

Is Joomla an insecure CMS?

Various content management systems (CMS’) have various security levels to them. A recent report from HP has targeted some of the security risks of last year and has found that one content management system in particular is more vulnerable than most of the others. WordPress was found to have some of the least number of vulnerable installs that were found as opposed to Joomla, where all the installs were found to be vulnerable in one way or another. The report has shown that one of the biggest reasons why WordPress is considered to be a more secure and easy system is because it is a very easy system to update. Drupal and WordPress were observed in 2010 to have both done better jobs at patching up their overall core systems. But Joomla on the other hand, is one of the best Content management systems around. The Joomla developers say that they take security very seriously and that most of their teams and processes are in place. However, with the release of version 1.6 earlier this year, Jo...

The Joomla Dos and Don’ts for a beginner

If you are new to using Joomla, then there are few things that you should do and some things that you should avoid doing. Here is a list of Joomla dos and don’ts for beginners: The Dos Start by downloading and reading every single line of the Joomla installation manual. There are 2 basic versions – an online one and an offline one. Browse through the help.joomla.org site, which has been designed keeping beginners in mind. There are plenty of helpful resources and it is the best place to get free advice. Use a good search engine to find all the Joomla tips, tricks and tutorials you can. There are millions of free Joomla resources out there. Get yourself a good Joomla book. The Don’ts Never start using Joomla without first reading up on it. It is an extremely powerful SMS but it takes time to get used to it. If you are frustrated because things are not going your way easily, then don’t get disheartened – all developers have been frustrated in the initial phases! Hang on in there, and the...

The Best Features of Joomla

Joomla is a unique platform that allows you to build graphically appealing websites that are functional and can be customized to meet your website’s goals and needs. This web application is great whether you are building a site for business purposes or whether it is for personal usage. With Joomla, you can now build the website of your dreams! All you have to do is download this application on to your machine and then upload it onto your site. It is an open source platform that makes it very easy to build the perfect website. In short, this platform is absolutely free and is offered by application designers. What this also means is that although this platform is free of cost, its core code will never be available to you. Joomla will allow you to work from the backend of you site, by allowing you to make changes that will go live in just seconds. By using the FTP program, you can upload text content, images, user forums, chat programs, articles and videos, and even incorporate any files...

Joomla rules the CMS Market!

What with the first quarter of 2011 already come to a close, reports have shown that Joomla has been a top contender in the CMS market since the end of last year. The report compares various effective CMS solutions, and Joomla ranks high on the list. Idealware is a non-profit organization in the United States that conducts all sorts of software research for the non-profit community. The report was sent out late last year and compares all the Open Source Content Management Systems including, Joomla, WordPress, Plone and Drupal. This report not only gave Joomla the highest rankings but also claimed that Joomla was the market leader in the CMS industry, closely followed by WordPress and then Drupal and Plone. What’s more, Joomla also does exceptionally well as a community-driven platform and competed well alongside other corporate-supported platforms such as WordPress and Drupal. Referred to as the “Big Three”, Joomla, WordPress and Drupal dominate the market. The report has assessed near...

Tips to Build a Better Joomla Site

Whether you’ve never worked on Joomla before, or whether you are a Joomla pro, it can never do you any harm to learn a few tips on how to make your Joomla site and better and smoother one. If you’ve never used Joomla before, then it can be a bit overwhelming at first, what with all the new things you’ll get to see. But once you start getting used to it, you’ll find it easier to handle. Creating a good Joomla site can be a challenging task and is very different from creating a static HTML site. Joomla is very famous for its SEO-friendly URL’s. Most default URL’s are very dynamic and are looked down on by the search engines. This is why you need a Joomla extension to rewrite all these dynamic URL’s and make them more search engine friendly. RSS feeds have become extremely important for websites and blogs. Even if you don’t have the kind of demand for it, it is still important to create RSS feeds. Because it is so easy to change themes on your Joomla site, you might be tempted to keep cha...

Tips on adding articles on Joomla 1.5

Joomla is one of the most popular content management systems used today. Being a free utility, Joomla allows users to add, remove, edit and syndicate content. Joomla also allows website owners and bloggers to do all of this without any real knowledge of HTML. With Joomla, adding articles to your website is a very easy process, especially if you are using Joomla 1.5. Here is how you can add articles to your website by using Joomla 1.5: Start by logging into your administrator’s control panel. All you have to do is point your browser to the “yoursite.com/administrator/” tab and then enter your username and password. Now go to the “Add Article” button and click on it. You will be taken to the article composition screen. Once you reach this screen, make sure you enter your article’s title right at the top. You can also enter an “alias” or alternate title, but this is optional and will not be seen on your website. However, it can help to refine the search results. Next, use the two pull do...

5 of the Best Joomla Applications for your iPhone

If you’ve ever had experience in building a website or an online application, then you probably already know what Joomla is. While Joomla brings with it all the advantages of a good content management system, it still remains as a free and open source platform. Today, Joomla is one of the most used content management systems, and each day, more and more Joomla websites are going live. With Joomla, not only will you be able to access a wide number of extensions and customizations, but you will also be able to access your Joomla site on many platforms, including your iPhone. Here are 5 of the best Joomla applications to have on your iPhone: Joomla Admin Mobile! This application is also known as JAM! And is mainly directed towards admins. It focuses mainly on adding or blocking users, organizing forums and performing such tasks. With its advanced filtering and search options, it can easily help you find specific articles. BlogPress: BlogPress has a great lineup of loyal supporters because...

Why it is better to build your Joomla site locally

Developing your Joomla site on your own network is a great way to get things done faster. Building your Joomla site locally is simpler and faster than uploading and waiting for each of your pages to refresh on a remote server. Building your site locally also doubles as a sandbox test environment for when your site gores live, as it is important to refrain from updating or upgrading a live site. Depending on the Operating System that you are using, you will have 2 main options. But a great suggestion would be to use MAMP. If you use a Mac, like me, then the best option would be to use MAMP. MAMP has the ability to set up MySQL, Apache and PHP 4/5 in just a few seconds. It is however, not a Joomla-specific product so you will be required to manually install Joomla. But the product is a highly polished one with plenty of useful features and a basic version that is free of charge. The pro version on the other hand, allows you have multiple websites and can integrate with a dynamic DNS serv...

Joomla grows by nearly 25% in the last 4 months

At the end of 2010, Joomla has become nearly double as busy as it used to be, with more 6 million visitors visiting the site per month. With the latest release of Joomla version 1.6, the growth of the site has accelerated so rapidly that it has been established that the site has grown by a whopping 25% in the last 4 months itself! The new version was released in January 10th, which quickly became the busiest day for the site. But strangely, most of the real traffic build-up was seen in the coming days and January 12th was seen as the busiest day with a third of a million visitors. And what’s even more surprising is that the surge in traffic hasn’t even subsided yet! In the last month, Joomla’s website attracted over 7.5 million visitors. Joomla even had inquiries from Twitter about the browsers and platforms that people use to reach their site.