Over the years I have written many blog posts about Joomla! websites being hacked. But that is nothing compared to the number of websites that I've been employed to fix.
Several years ago I came to the conclusion that it would not matter how diligent you are at ensuring that your server is correctly configured and your extensions are always up-to-date there is still the possibility that your site could be hacked.
After all there will always be a time between a vulnerability being discovered and a fix being released. In fact I coined a phrase "exploited yesterday, hacked tomorrow".
Okay so I haven't been blogging much lately, if at all, but if the truth be told I'm not really had much to say – shock horror!
Back in April when I redesigneded this web site, I emphasised the benefits of working with as many core components as possible or should that me working with as few extensions as possible. Today I decided to put that the ultimate test.
Joomla! 3 is scheduled for release sometime today but because I like to live dangerously, and the alternative was to do some real work, I thought I would have a go at upgrading my Joomla! 2.5 website to a test release of Joomla! 3.0.
I DO NOT RECOMMEND YOU DO THIS. There is no need to upgrade your Joomla! 2.5 website. I did it because I can not because it was the most sensible thing to do.
Many people will be aware that Kyle Ledbetter has been working hard over the last few months looking at the User Interface for Joomla 3.0 and the ways that we can make it more modern, consistent and usable. This is not just for the core of Joomla itself but also as a toolkit that extension developers and designers can utilise.
I have blogged many times over the life of this site about the "forgotten interface", beauty isn't just skin deep, joomla usability improvements, that drop down menus suck especially if you have sticky fingers and that developers and designers shouldn't feel the need to reinvent the wheel.
Kyle has written a great summary on what he is aiming to achieve at http://ux.joomla.org and he has graciously allowed me to republish it here to perhaps reach a wider audience.
What's the first thing you do when you decide to build a new website? Do you download and install Joomla!, do you go to a template supplier and select your template or do you do something else instead?
Whatever your process, it’s time to step back for a minute, grab a Pencil and Paper and start to Plan. You wouldn't dream of building a house without first drawing some plans and a website is no different.To build a successful website — and why would you want a failing website — then you need to follow these three Ps.
Welcome to the third incarnation of this blog.
When I first started this site - as well as sharing my thoughts on Joomla! and the web in general my intention was also to show how Joomla can be used to build a really great blog.
The first version was built with regular Joomla content and as soon as K2 was released the site was redesigned, rebuilt and given some K2 magic by the guys at JoomlaWorks. With the release of Joomla 2.5 it became clear to me that not only was it time to migrate my site to 2.5 it was also time for another experiment.
I have taken the opportunity with this rebuild to look at how you use this blog, how you find the content and the best way to satisfy your requirements. After studying the analytics and heat maps one thing was really obvious, the overwhelming majority of site visits are via Google and other direct links such as newsfeeds and social media. So did I need 15 categories, latest content modules, top content modules or tag clouds? It would appear that I did not.
Recently I have taken on some new work with an awesome little graphic design/branding house. They are great people and I'm really looking forward to working with them.
Previously they used their own in house employee for web work. The employee was a good person but probably lacked some real web skills and was at times out of his depth in regards to building sites with Joomla, which he used exclusively for all sites.
I was amazed to see that all the previous work done by this cool and funky design house were all completed using commercial templates and hence starts my first little "rant".
Well not just one site but one hundred all on the same server, all running under the same user and some defaced.
Shit happens and when it does you know you are in for some long hours fixing the problem.
On this server there were a mix of Joomla 1.0, 1.5 and 1.7 web sites some of which were live sites and others were old demo and test installations long since forgotten and woefully out of date.
Removing the defacement is actually pretty easy to do but that will often just mean that the naughty little toe rag will come back tomorrow and do it all again. You need to find the entry point to your server and kill it forever.
Joomla 2.5 was released earlier this week and I would like to publicly thanks everyone who helped to code and test this release. It truly is the next major step in the life of this awesome community software project.
The upgrade process from Joomla 1.7 is a very simple one-click process but there are a few things you should do immediately after performing the upgrade to ensure a smooth transition.
Of course it goes without saying that you should perform a full site backup before starting the upgrade process.
The advice below should be followed in this specific order.
"The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains.The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires."
William Arthur Ward
