Archive for the ‘Websites’ Category
Sunday, July 20th, 2008 |
I decided that today would be a good day to start configuring Joomla.
I logged in and began at the “Site” section of the Global Configuration area. I took a quick look and noticed that there wasn’t all that much to configure. Here is what I did:
- Changed the editor from Tiny MCE 2.0 to no editor. I don’t like giving others access to HTML on my sites.
- Changed the Global Site Meta Description to Fiixer. (Just a fill in word to get rid of Joomla)
- Changed the Global Site Meta Keywords to fiixer.
- Switched the Search Engine Friendly URLs and Use Apache mod_rewrite from no to yes. Search engine friendly URLs using Apache mod_rewrite is pretty simple if your server and system support it. Some people say doing this enhances your website’s indexing and ranking in search engines. Basically, it changes “index.php?a=aboutus&b=andaboutyou” to “index/aboutus/aboutyou.” It’s cleaner and gives your visitors a chance to remember your URLs. It’s up to you if it’s worth it.
Next, I visited the “System” section of the Global Configuration area. In this section, I mostly kept everything set as it came, but did change two areas:
- Changed the New User Registration Type to “Author.” (I think this gives the registered members the ability to submit articles and web links, but they must be approved by an administrator)
- Turned Cache on. (speeds up page loads on heavy traffic sites)
In the “Server” section of the Global Configuration, I left everything alone.
Ok, that was fairly painless.
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Friday, July 18th, 2008 |
Ok, so on to the installation of Joomla 1.5.
Before I did anything, I bought a domain name and pointed it to my server. That is basic stuff. I set the domain up on my server and created a mysql database for this application. That’s more basic stuff.
After that was all good to go and the domain resolved to the server, I went over to Joomla for the latest download, which happens to be version 1.5.4. I clicked the link in the left navigation column and downloaded the “Joomla_1.5.4-Stable-Full_Package.zip” file and saved it to my desktop. I unpacked the zip file and placed the contents of it in my website folder. Since I already had the FTP account set up on my server, I uploaded to contents of my website folder to my server. Here is a word of warning…there are almost 4,000 files. If your host has file limitations, you should find out what they are. Since I have a dedicated server, I am not worried about that. Also, remember that your database is still empty. That will be populated during the install.
After all the files were uploaded, I headed back over to Joomla and clicked on the “New Installation” link about half way down their homepage. Since I am familiar with these types of installations, I skipped past all the upper links and clicked right on “Installation.”
Apparently, there are two different types of installs…one being the web browser method and the other being the manual install. In this case, I did the web browser installation.
In my case, I am did a remote installation to the domain root directory. I did not use a sub-domain, a local install or install the package in a sub-directory. If you would like to, there are instructions on how to go about this on the Joomla website (the same instructions I am using). Basically, you have to visit your domain and, if you have done everything correctly so far, you should see the first Joomla installation screen.
The first screen asks you to choose your language. Simple enough. Since I speak English, I kept the default “English” setting and hit the “Next” button.
The next screen checks the server to see if everything is set correctly and if Joomla is able to utilize it’s resources. In my case, everything checked out fine, but I was told that the “configuration.php” was not writable. After reading the instructions, I found out that this is a regular occurance. I actually didn’t see a “configuration.php” file. I clicked to the “Common Issues & Error Handling” page and read about it. The page gave a few options:
* Do a manual installation
* Create a completely empty file, name it as configuration.php and upload it to your joomla_root/ directory before commencing the installation. Joomla! will then enter the details as the installation proceeds as normal.
* Wait until the end of the installation when at Step 7 the Finished Screen is displayed a list of the variables and settings for the configuration.php file will be displayed. These should then be copied and pasted into a new text document and saved as configuration.php
* As with the last suggestion wait until the end and using the information provided in Step7 manually alter the content of the configuration.php-dist file (this is simply an example file and not a part of the functioning installation) included with all Joomla! installations. There is clearly a greater chance with this method of making mistakes so greater care should be taken. Once the variables have been correctly edited, change the name of this file and save it as configuration.php
I decided to go with creating an empty file named, “configuration.php” and upload it to the root directory. I also chmod the file to 777.
This time, everything checked out, so I clicked the “Next” button.
The next screen is nothing but the license agreement. I read the entire thing and understood it. Then, I clicked the “Next” button.
The next screen is the database configuration. Remember that empty database you have sitting there? Well, you have to fill in the required information.
I entered the information and clicked the “Next” button.
The next screen is the FTP configuration. This is the first time I have come across something like this, but I filled in the FTP information. They suggest to create a local FTP account and not use one that can control the entire server.
Since I am getting slow in my old age, I placed in the FTP username and password and then clicked the autofind path button. That worked and filled in the path automatically.
The next screen is the main configuration. I placed in the main (Super Administrator) email address and password. Then, I clicked the “Install Sample Data” button. I was told that the sample data imported properly.
A word of warning: My first attempt at installing this application gave me an error message that read, “Error: the XML response that was returned from the server is invalid.” on the FTP page and when I tried to install the sample data on the main configuration page. The reason for this had to do with the “configuration.php” file. I needed to upload one and set the permissions correctly. After I did that, I was able to pass those pages. You can read more about the issue here.
The last page looked like this…
Basically, the page gives you the option to view your site or log in to the admin section. I always like to log in to the admin section so I can get the URL. Also, the system says to delete the entire “installation” directory. Lastly, I like to download the now populated config file for backup.
To log in to the admin area, the username is “admin.” Obviously, you should change this.
You can take a look at the site I just set up at http://www.fiixer.com. Next up, configuring and customizing Joomla. Ye haw.
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Thursday, July 17th, 2008 |
For some time, I have been looking for a versatile CMS (content management system) that would allow my mind to wander. So far, I have set up some pretty nice systems. They are meeting my goals, but I wanted to see how things would be outside the realm of business. I mean, a new website would certainly be set up under the business name, but it would be sort of a hobby site in the beginning and we would see what it looks like after a year or two.
There is a blurry line between CMS applications and blog applications now. I understand blogs are becoming actual CMS applications, so who knows what will happen with that. I can see WordPress staying my favorite for a while, but I feel like learning something new.
Here are some of the top open source CMS applications I looked at:
- Joomla
- e107
- Drupal
- Plone
- Mambo
- PHP-Fusion
- PHP-Nuke
- XOOPS
After going over a bunch of these, I decided upon Joomla (along with about a million other people). Just to let you know, there is a really great website that lists many top content management systems, along with blogs, wikis, etc… All listed systems are open source and the website has a link to their homepage as well as a demo of the front page and the admin. This helped tremendously during my research.
I really don’t know what I am going to do with this website yet, but I am sure that once I go through all the plug-ins, I will start forming a plan. For now, I am just going to do the install and document the process here. After that, I will document all the exciting things I come across.
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Monday, July 7th, 2008 |
Web 3.0 - Could it unseat Internet giants like Google?
Microsoft’s acquisition of Powerset signals the building of a future when the world could have access to virtual “software agents” who “roam” across the Web, taking care of the day-to-day hassles of humankind. It’s called a “Semantic Web” and it really could change the Internet at a fundamental level.
Move Your Business from Windows to Linux
If the cost of Windows is getting your small business down, consider shifting to Linux.
10 Tips for Securing Linux Desktops
You might find these suggestions to be pure common sense, but maybe you’ll see a means of security you never thought of before. If you’re a new Linux user, these tips are a great place to start to ensure that your Linux experience is a good one.
Social Media Sites that Deserve Your Affection
There are so many websites out their that serve the same purpose as Digg, Twitter, and Myspace. The question is; which of these websites are actually worth your time? Since time is one of the most valuable resources that us humans try to utilize, I’ll explain some of the social media sites that are worth using, and why.
Why Don’t More People Use OpenOffice?
Why don’t more people use OpenOffice, the free and open source alternative to Microsoft Office? Microsoft has spent years and dollars engineering creative ways to keep people using its costly software and preventing them from switching to OpenOffice — that’s one explanation, writes Lou Dolinar.
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Wednesday, April 30th, 2008 |
Just in case you haven’t noticed your Google Pagerank lately, it is currently being updated as I type.
I was typing the last post in this blog a few minutes ago and noticed that it now has a Pagerank of 2. That’s twice of what it was at 1. The reason it’s only a 2 is because I have relatively few links to the blog and the domain name is very young. Some of my other sites picked up a few points.
Good luck and let me know if your site gained any PR.
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Posted in Blogs, Websites | 2 Comments »
Friday, April 25th, 2008 |
Back in the old house, we had DSL for about 2 1/2 years. It worked well with only a few minor issues. Towards the end, I did begin inquiring about more upload and download speed. I called Frontier and they said I was maxed out…that’s all they had. The reason I needed more speed is because I have a few weekly chores I need to do which required downloading about a gig’s worth of files. It has gotten pretty nonsensical.
Yesterday, we had the guy from Comcast cable come over to hook up the TV, phone and internet package. After a while, he got it all hooked up. I did some work last night and then some again this morning, but didn’t notice all that much more speed. I think the DSL we had before had a download speed of 1.5 Mbps (short for megabits per second). I am not sure what we have now, but I do know that a file that used to take about 10 minutes to download now takes about 3. That makes my life doing chores a heck of a lot faster. I think I heard something about 6 Mbps, but I’m not sure.
Come to find out, after talking to my hosting company today, I need a static IP address, not a dynamic one. This is for one reason or another. I called Comcast regarding this and was connected to the business area. I may have to get my package split up…the internet under a business account and the TV and phone under a residential account. They are going to call me on Monday.
What’s the point of this post? I think cable is faster than DSL.
Ok, bye.
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Sunday, March 30th, 2008 |
I know, for a fact, there is one tool out there that TONS of people need. The reason why so many people need this tool is because so many people are getting into online photo sharing, blogs, websites…
We have a lot of support requests that deal with photo resizing. People can’t upload their photos into our system because they are too large. That is a tough thing to deal with, because many people just don’t understand the many differences and variations of digital images.
Well folks, have I got a tool for you. This tool allows you to resize your photos online. Well, that is “shrink” them online. As I always say, you can’t make a photo bigger (while retaining the same quality), but you sure can shrink it.
So, next time you are trying to put a huge picture into your blog post and are wondering what the heck to do with it, visit this handy tool and shrink it to just the right size.
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Friday, March 21st, 2008 |
The more I look around, the more I learn that the domain name business is big business.
As I told you yesterday, I am trying to scoop up a bunch of different extensions for the domains I already have. It’s working out pretty well, but I have hit a little bump. I already bought up most of the available ones and now I have to enter the market of second (or third) hand domains. That is when it gets expensive.
Let me give you a little example…a guy called me a few years ago to offer a .com domain that he was selling. This was a hot name and he was looking for $50,000 for it. I almost started laughing when he told me that. I think I offered him $300 and went off and did something else. As it turns out, I am kicking myself. I have a feeling I am going to be seeing this domain in action soon because someone out in Las Vegas just purchased it at auction for $135,000. Why was, or is, it worth so much? Well, it was first registered in 1996, so it has some age. Also, it rolls off the tongue extremely easily and is two very powerful keywords. It’s also quite descriptive. Those things alone give it a lot of value. I talked to the seller last night and he mentioned that he does have another .com for sale that I would be interested in. He wants $50,000 for it. This one is definitely not worth what the other one was, but it does give me pause. Honestly, if you can get a well known .com that was born back in 1996, $50,000 is not too much. You do need to do a little research first.
Yesterday, I put a bunch of bids in for multiple .com and .net addresses. I did receive an email back telling me I could buy a .net for $2,688. I am going to have the name appraised today to see if it has been blacklisted or anything like that. I believe it was first registered back in 2002, which isn’t bad.
What’s the benefit of purchasing a used domain name? The answer is Google. Google likes “aged” domains. You can set up a site and not have to wait for Google’s aging filter to do its thing. Also, there may be links to the domain already. So basically, if you get a used domain, you could set up a site and have it indexed very quickly to start making money fast.
I am going to buy a few more today and then call it quits for a while. The guy I spoke to last night is also looking for $50,000 for a little known extension that will become very popular. This is for the same domain as I was talking about above.
What I do know is this…if I buy a bunch of these names now and sit on them for a few years and let them age, I can send them to auction and sell them for some $$$. From what I have been learning, I do have quite an investment already. Just remember…if you are going to get into this, you need to buy domains that people will actually want in a few years. I am not sure how many people would be interested in jaygaulard.com. There are also huge price variations with what the name consists of, like one word, two words, hyphens, etc…
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Thursday, March 20th, 2008 |
I have been purchasing quite a few domain names lately. At last glance, I own 78 of them. Over time, I am taking any confusion out of who owns the real domain by scooping up as many different extensions as I can. I have noticed a disturbing trend of domains being bought and sat on…or cyber squatted. Well, this has been going on forever, but now they are buying even the not-so-popular ones. Little by little, I keep on buying them, until I have them all. Sure, it may take years (it already has), but I will get there. I check what’s available every so often.
I do limit myself to the more popular ones though. I go after .com, .net, .org, .us, .info and .biz. I also grab often mistaken spellings of the same extensions. Some may think this is a bit extreme, but I have stopped listening to people. My extremeness has gotten me this far.
Anyway, today I bought eleven new domains. They were .info and .biz. As I shop for these things, I often wonder what they mean. Are they for specific purposes, like they used to be? I will admit, the requirements to purchase a particular domain extension are becoming quite relaxed. I learned a bunch by looking through the list of internet top level domains.
If you take a look at this list, you will notice that extensions that used to be for a particular purpose is now open to everyone. The .govs are still for the government though. I think that anyone can buy a certain domain extension, but if challenged in court, you need to provide proof that you are what the domain is meant for.
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Friday, March 14th, 2008 |
As you may have noticed, I have been out of the loop a bit lately. I have been up to some stuff. I will let you all in on it a bit later.
One thing I can tell you about is how hard I have been working lately. I think a good word for it is mind numbing. Yeah…mind numbing. One of the things I have been doing is website marketing, times 35. One website wouldn’t be too bad, but 35 gets a little hairy.
I thought I would share a little resource I found today on website marketing. About the other stuff, I will share later on. That should be worth about ten blog posts.
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