Suguay Productions

I finally took the time to download and install Joomla! 1.5.6 on my Linux machine. It turned out to be something of an adventure though not that tough. My challenges had more to do with the fact that I am running Ubuntu 8.04 (Hardy Heron) and the way it handles the root account and the access my account doesn’t have to certain folders.

With regards to Joomla! it was very easy to download and small by comparison to many other software products. Those of you accustomed to the commercial products will understand. Joomla! downloads as a zip file and thus needs unzipping. This was easy.

It has an installation folder and in the root of the Joomla folder is an installation or install .php file. To get that to run you will need a webhost running on your system. I chose xampp for linux which was known as lampp. I’ll get to that in another article. I’ve used xampp on a pc and so am familiar with it that’s why I chose it. Once the webhost is running and you have Joomla unzipped it becomes a bit of a challenge to get the installation php file to run. This seems to be a little quirk of xampp. So you put it in the right place open your web browser and go to the joomla folder on the localhost and there you are ready to follow the installation prompts.

Before you do that, you might want to create a database in MySQL and an account for Joomla! to use. It’s going to need it as part of the install. Make sure to have the name of the database and the username and all handy as you go through the Joomla! install. You will need it. So then you just follow the prompts. Fill in the info it needs and you are all set.

Now to a little issue that came up as a result of the way Ubuntu handles the root account and my account’s permissions. At the end of the install the installation process creates a configuration.php file well because my account doesn’t have permissions to do anything other than view and navigate the folders where xampp and Joomla! are installed, the installation was unable to write the file.

Fortunately the nice development people with Joomla! anticipated something like this and the provide the information in a window that you can copy and past into a text document and place it where it needs to go. All the instructions are there. If you have managed to get this far in the process you already know how to work around the root issue and so it won’t be a challenge.

I was successful in getting the site up and running and was able to log in as the admin and even create a user. This tells me that I got the database info right. I tried to install a different template and ran into the same problem regarding the root account and my account on Ubuntu. 

Even with the need to learn how to use the terminal and the commands for copying and learning the pathing for Ubuntu and dealing with the root issue, even with all that the install turned out to be fairly easy. My issue were not Joomla! related they were OS related. This is such a cool app. My next step is to fix my write issues with the particular folder and add templates and modules and extensions and the like and just see what all I can do with it.

Happy Joomla!ing

 

Originally published at: suguayproductions.com/joomla which has been discontinued.

 

This is an open source CMS program and it is amazingly robust. I have seen a couple of reports that it is one of the top CMS applications right now and it is in the top 3 of the open source CMS suites. What can I say. I like this one. I am using it for this part of my test site. It is available as part of Go Daddy’s Hosting Connection software suite.

Installation-

With this being a part of the Hosting Connection software through GoDaddy the install was very easy. I can’t speak to how difficult it is to install on your own however, I have plans to setup an Ubuntu box with MySQL and Apache and Joomla!. When I do I will be better able to evaluate the install process. On this install I wasn’t very creative in the folder name I chose for the installation. I was originally only setting it up for a test and to have a look at it. The nice thing is you have a choice at the install to load the demo content or a blank site. I loaded the demo software so I could see how it’s all put together.

Upgrading-

I had to do this recently as a patch came out that closed up a fairly significant security issue so I had to upgrade from 1.5 to 1.5.6. It was very easy and the site has instructions.

Customizing-

Wow, is this not only easy to customize there are all kinds of modules, plug-ins and templates to assist in the customization process. You can learn to write these for yourself, you can download free ones, you can even pay someone to create it for you. The installation of templates is very easy. There is an install and un-install function in the Administration module.

Administration-

This is a little more involved than say the Simple Machines Forum. It’s not difficult it just takes a little understanding of how things are organized and then how to get them to show where you want them to. The nice thing is, if you install the demo site files that it comes with then you can pick and choose and click buttons to figure it out. I “cheated” I bought at book. Even with the book it’s much better hands on.

Ease of Use-

More intuitive than Drupal though not as intuitive as Simple Machines Forum. I have read about and had a glimpse of the CMS system from Microsoft and I’ve also looked into Drupal. For someone new to CMS software this is a great application.

Support-

This is open source, the support comes from the community. In the case of Joomla!, the community is huge and active. There are the developers and volunteers and they are there to answer your questions. They seem to be pretty on top of things as well. When the security vulnerability was brought to light, they were out with a patch in a fairly short time. I noticed as well that the site of at least one person who develops and consults around Joomla! sent out a notice to keep people who had signed on with him informed of the patch. The resources on the website are to be admired. And for those of you like me that like to have books to flip through or read because the latest novel only puts you to sleep, well there are about 20 books on Joomla! out there of an amazing variety and expertise level.

Conclusion-

I really like this software. It’s amazing in what it can handle right out of the box. The amount of templates and custom modules and plugins you can find is staggering. There are several sites on the web that are related to Joomla! I plan on recommending this as a solutions to a few people that are needing a robust website.

Originally published at: suguayproductions.com/joomla which has been discontinued.

This is an open source CMS program and it is amazingly robust. I have seen a couple of reports that it is one of the top CMS applications right now and it is in the top 3 of the open source CMS suites. What can I say. I like this one. I am using it for this part of my test site. It is available as part of Go Daddy’s Hosting Connection software suite.

Installation-

With this being a part of the Hosting Connection software through GoDaddy the install was very easy. I can’t speak to how difficult it is to install on your own however, I have plans to setup an Ubuntu box with MySQL and Apache and Joomla!. When I do I will be better able to evaluate the install process. On this install I wasn’t very creative in the folder name I chose for the installation. I was originally only setting it up for a test and to have a look at it. The nice thing is you have a choice at the install to load the demo content or a blank site. I loaded the demo software so I could see how it’s all put together.

Upgrading-

I had to do this recently as a patch came out that closed up a fairly significant security issue so I had to upgrade from 1.5 to 1.5.6. It was very easy and the site has instructions.

Customizing-

Wow, is this not only easy to customize there are all kinds of modules, plug-ins and templates to assist in the customization process. You can learn to write these for yourself, you can download free ones, you can even pay someone to create it for you. The installation of templates is very easy. There is an install and un-install function in the Administration module.

Administration-

This is a little more involved than say the Simple Machines Forum. It’s not difficult it just takes a little understanding of how things are organized and then how to get them to show where you want them to. The nice thing is, if you install the demo site files that it comes with then you can pick and choose and click buttons to figure it out. I “cheated” I bought at book. Even with the book it’s much better hands on.

Ease of Use-

More intuitive than Drupal though not as intuitive as Simple Machines Forum. I have read about and had a glimpse of the CMS system from Microsoft and I’ve also looked into Drupal. For someone new to CMS software this is a great application.

Support-

This is open source, the support comes from the community. In the case of Joomla!, the community is huge and active. There are the developers and volunteers and they are there to answer your questions. They seem to be pretty on top of things as well. When the security vulnerability was brought to light, they were out with a patch in a fairly short time. I noticed as well that the site of at least one person who develops and consults around Joomla! sent out a notice to keep people who had signed on with him informed of the patch. The resources on the website are to be admired. And for those of you like me that like to have books to flip through or read because the latest novel only puts you to sleep, well there are about 20 books on Joomla! out there of an amazing variety and expertise level.

Conclusion-

I really like this software. It’s amazing in what it can handle right out of the box. The amount of templates and custom modules and plugins you can find is staggering. There are several sites on the web that are related to Joomla! I plan on recommending this as a solutions to a few people that are needing a robust website.

Originally published at: suguayproductions.com/joomla which has been discontinued.