Who Should Install Joomla and Why
Joomla is open-source content management system for building and managing personal blogs or small business and large corporate websites. According to a recent article by Joomla expert Benjamin J Davis, Joomla is used by roughly 3,000 government websites from more than 200 countries. Joomla is also an excellent choice for those requiring advanced features like SSL and e-commerce.
Installing Joomla... Can I Do it Myself?
In fact, Joomla is not difficult to install or manage. Beginners can get started quickly by referencing the numerous online tutorials, which provide expert instruction on Joomla installation, database management and website development.
What Does a Prospective
Joomla User Need?
Joomla is a development environment which requires both a web server and database management system. Most installations will use a LAMP server (consisting of Linux, Apache, MySQL and Php); however, Joomla can also be installed on a Php-configured Wndows NT-based web server such as IIS, using appropriate CGI modules. All of the required modules are free and open source. Once Joomla has been properly installed, the user can install the desired Joomla plugins and templates by activating them on the Joomla backend.
The large number of Joomla extensions extend the functionality of Joomla websites. These include image galleries and the associated gallery management plugins, video plugins, plugins for forums, as well as plugins for surveys and web polls.
A Local Joomla Installation...
Before going live with a Joomla site, users may want to install Joomla on their local machine for preliminary development and testing purposes. On a Windows machine, a user can install Joomla on top of the WampServer 2 platform, for example, which allows developers to run Apache, MySql and Php on Windows. WampServer is installed via a typical Windows installation setup program. Joomla can be installed from within the WampServer, after the database is created and the Joomla files are placed in the working directory.
A Remote Joomla Installation...
This is the installation that makes the Joomla site live and accessible over the web. This can be done manually via remote Shell Access; however, most users renting hosting space from a web hosting company will be able to initiate a 1-click installation and easy configuration from within their website control panel using a convenient program like Installatron or Fantastico.
Joomla 2.5 Can Handle Almost
Anything Your Sites Require
Joomla 1.5 was a very successful version. Since the Joomla project is open source and includes the expertise and knowledge of some of the real ballers in the software development industry, which ensures Joomla's continued excellence. Joomla 2.5 is the current stable release; among its new features are advanced search functionality, 1-click updates, CAPTCHA-supported form submission, custom text filters and support for both MSSQL Server and PostgreSQL databases.
Switching an HTML Site to Joomla
If you have a site built on some HTML templates, you may be considering a more modern site platform. You can begin the upgrade process immediately by building a parallel site on the Joomla demo site, which is available for a 30 day demo trial. During this period, you, an employee or outsourcer can migrate the content of your existing site to the Joomla demo, while gaining more understanding of the platform via the Joomla Quick Start Guide and training videos.
What Can Go Wrong?
Of course, it would be great if the answer to this was "nothing." Nevertheless, we have to recognize that sometimes, certain plugins and extensions may be incompatible with each other. Doing research on plugins before installing them will enable users to avoid the problems caused by these clashes. Also, by keeping extensions up-to-date, many of these problems can be avoided since the plugin developers have probably been made aware of any problems, and have subsequently issued upgrades. By joining some of the various Joomla forums and keeping abreast of the current developments, Joomla users' installations should continue to serve their business websites well for a long time.
