Before you even think about reading this you should familiarize yourself with the primary migration document.

Issue 1

The problem

The latest migrator release wouldn’t upload to my site. I tried this throught the Joomla! 1.o admin uploader numerous times. With every attempt the had to manually remove the files from my server (the physical upload worked – it just showed as failing in admin).

The solution

As a last ditch attempt I tried to upload the first stable release of the migrator (I was trying to upload the latest – 1.4). It worked perfectly!

Issue 2

The problem

After I ran the migration script I couldn’t download the MySQL database dump. The download button simply didn’t work in Safari and in Firefox it downloaded an empty file.

The solution

I figured that the dump had to be on my server somewhere and went hunting for it. Here is where it was for me…

/public_html/administrator/components/com_migrator/dumps

Issue 3

The problem

I actually had a few issues after I ran the Joomla! 1.5 installer but the most persistent had to do with the front page. For some reason it used the default Joomla! template while the rest of the site used the new template I had uploaded and chosen in the template manager.

The solution

Almost at my wits end I decided to have a look at the database. I went into my cpanel’s phpMyAdmin and navigated to my database. Under ‘jos_templates_menu’ I noticed that there was an entry for the default template. Deleting it gave me control over my Joomla! front page again!

I hope these humble tips may help you in some way. The upgrade process took me about 3 full days of rouble shooting. In all fairness, I was also switching hosts to BlueHost at the time and that may have caused some of the issue.

Please feel free to leave your comments or questions below. If this tutorial did help you in any way, why not give devDisko a quick linkback?!

I have a natural aversion to most email clients and you will never catch me using Outlook, AOL, Postini etc. So, when I found out that I could manage my email through Gmail, while using my domain name (the end result looked like this… zwj@devdisko.com), I immediately set up an email for each of my websites.

Here is a basic run down of what you will need to do.

1. Go to the sign up page for your free Google Apps account.

2. Follow all of the prompts. You will be asked to upload an file to your domain root.

3. Log into your server. The particulars at this point may vary somewhat. Google has a detailed list of instructions by server. As I use cPanel I added the new email address under Email Accounts.

4. Also under the Mail heading click MX Entry. You’ll see a list of email accounts associated with your account. You will need to add ASPMX.L.GOOGLE.COM to each email account you’ve created with Google Apps.

That’s it!

Let me know if you have any questions!

After letting the Anon fall into a state of neglect for a month or so I checked the traffic stats and was pretty shocked to see that it was getting a few hundred page views a day. Ah, the magic of Google Images! That was incentive enough to give it a fresh coat of paint.

This tutorial will focus on one CSS feature that I attempted for the first time – hovers with a background image.

Let’s start with some basic CSS hover code for your nav bar…

nav a {
color: #000;
}
nav a:hover {
color: #ff0000;
}

The first part of the code will make each link blank while the second part will change them to red when the cursor hovers over. That pretty basic stuff and doesn’t include any dimensions or positions – a simple hover effect.

Let’s add an image to the hover. Create an image that is proportionate to the link you want to attach it to. By proportionate I mean that the image shouldn’t be insanely large, but it could be if you don’t mind working through the code to get it to work, and by image I mean a graphic file with whatever you like on it. Upload it to your themes images folder.

Replace the code above with this in your stylesheet…

nav a {
color: #000;
}
nav a:hover {
display: block;
background: url(images/here.gif) no-repeat scroll center top;
}

That little bit of code works well if you want the hover image to appear above the link like I have in the nav bar on Anon. If the image doesn’t show entirely you could try tweaking the padding of the link a bit.

The code works equally well for sidebar links. I added a hover bullet to all of my tags…

.wp-tag-cloud a:hover, .wp-tag-cloud a:visited{
background: url(images/bulletback.gif) no-repeat right;
}

.wp-tag-cloud a:visited leaves the image there after a person clicks on it. I also tweaked a couple of individual tags…

.wp-tag-cloud a.tag-link-5 {
padding-right: 45px;
}
.wp-tag-cloud a.tag-link-5:hover, .wp-tag-cloud a.tag-link-5:visited {
background: url(images/flag.gif) no-repeat right;
}

The code above placed an American flag beside the Obama tag upon scroll over while the code below added a peace sign beside peace. Both overrode the default bullet image.

.wp-tag-cloud a.tag-link-38 {
padding-right: 25px;
}
.wp-tag-cloud a.tag-link-38:hover, .wp-tag-cloud a.tag-link-38:visited {
background: url(images/peace.gif) no-repeat right;
}

In all cases you have to identify the unique name in the code that you need to alter. I use the webmaster plugin for Firefox to view the style information. Let me know if you have any questions or need help tweaking something. If you use the code and it works for you – why not link back to devDisko?!

Please see the Preface for the directory.

The Basics

So you want to build your own website? Great! Here is a rundown of what you will need. A lot of these points will be elaborated upon in further posts but this should give you a good idea of what you’ll be getting into.

1. Your own computer with internet access! This isn’t a deal breaker but it will make your life a lot easier. Also, keep in mind that for security reasons having a secure internet connection is very important.

2. You will have to decide whether you want to use a hosted service (your site is hosted on their server – but usually with limitations to you) or a self hosted service (you purchase server space and a domain address from a host but have essentially unlimited freedom).

There are dozens of popular hosted services. Some require that their domain be appended to yours (yoursite.wordpress.com) while some make their money from ad revenue on your site.

A couple examples of hosted services are:

• WordPress.com
• Blogger.com

Hosted services, on the other hand, allow you to work within the limits of the particular service you use. Most are infinitely flexible and use a plug-in system to extent a light weight core. There are also dozens for you to choose from. In fact, the bar has been set so high by the free packages that I will rule out any that charge.

Here are a few examples of self hosted services:

• WordPress.org
• Joomla!
• Movable Type
• Drupal

The package you choose will ultimately depend on your needs. It’s perhaps one of the most important decisions you’re going to make, so take your time and review all of the links above and any that you come across elsewhere. I will go into greater detail on the subject in the next couple of posts.

I should also mention that Devtronik is powered by WordPress.org and hosted by Bluehost.

3. Once you’ve decided upon a service (we should probably be using the term CMS – although it might not apply to the most basic blogging software) you will have to choose a template, or theme. Chose a theme that fits your needs the closest as you will have to make the least amount of customizations. There are some fantastic themes out there. Generally, each CMS will have a theme directory to help you select a theme that works with their product.

4. You will need some kind of editing program. I use CSSEdit for CSS (I’ll elaborate upon this later) and TextWrangler for HTML and PHP code.

5. Some kind of image editing software if you plan to include custom images on your site. You can go with Photoshop on the high end or any of the free packages, such as Gimp. A lot of great websites don’t use any image editing software at all. Things like font color and size, header color can all be changes using CSS.

6. Most of all, you will need patience and persistence. Stalk the forums for information. Use Google. If you are stumped on something and can’t find a solution ask on the forums.

So, in summary, to begin building a website you will need…

• a computer with internet
• a CMS and perhaps a host
• some style and code editing software
• some graphic editing software
• patience!

Please feel free to post any questions or comments below! The next installment will be about choosing a Host.

Each of the posts will be linked to from this page and posted when I’ve finished writing it. So, if you see the post title, but no link, check back soon as I’ve just not completed it yet.

All of the articles will take into consideration cost, time and technical ability.

1. The Basics – the minimum that you will need to start a website
2. Choosing a Host
3. Choosing a CMS and Theme
4. CSS, PHP & HTML
5. Customizing your theme
6. SEO and all things Google
7. Increasing your traffic
8. Monetizing your site
9. Protecting your site
10. Additional resources

Please see the Preface for the directory.

So you’ve made it unscathed through the previous summary of tools needed to build a website and you’re ready to look into hosting? Great!

As I mentioned before hosting your website yourself (and by this I mean using one of many paid hosting services) is an alternative to the kind of service offered by WordPress.com (not to be confused with WordPress.org), Blogger, Type Pad and others. The benefits include unlimited gain from ad revenue and maximum flexibility. Your host literally does just that: hosts your website on their server. Let’s get you set up in a few easy steps.

Choosing your host

I spent quite a while on this step when I was starting out. There are a tonne of hosts out there. If you ask 5 webmasters who they use you will most likely get 5 different answers. Massive websites either use dedicated servers or host themselves but you shouldn’t have to worry about that for a while.

In an attempt to be fair I’m going to outline some of the criteria that you should keep in mind, provide you with a list of hosts that I generally recommend and tell you who I use.

• By far the most important feature to me is free and toll free 24/7 customer service.  This is non-negotiable.
• A lot of hosts advertise that they host unlimited domains but cap your MySQL databases. Since you will most likely create a new database for each subsequent site and perhaps for each forum or gallery you add the amount of sites you host is essentially restricted by the number of MySQL databases you can create. They are right to say that you can host unlimited domains though – if all you are doing is hosting them.
• Make sure you have unlimited or very high gigs of site transfer. If someone Diggs you, you don’t want the whole thing to come crashing down!
• Some hosts throw in some amount (usually $50) of Google Adwords, or Yahoo Search cash. This can be a great way to promote your new site.
• Look for a number of add-on domains that is high or unlimited.
• Low domain registration fee. $10 is about right.

Keeping the above points in mind it’s time to shop around for a host. Here is a list of 5 hosts that are considered to be leaders in the industry.

BlueHost – I run 6 websites from a single BlueHost account. I think the yearly fee breaks down to a total of $6.99 a month if you commit to 36 months and slightly more if you commit to 24 or 12 months. You can see a full table of the pricing here. I’ve never had a problem with BlueHost and recommend it fully.

DreamHost – They claim to be a “green” host. They are very popular and offer essentially the same features and prices as BlueHost.

GoDaddy - Again, another one of the most recognized hosts.

This is the third part of a ten part series called; Building Your Own Website. This part will deal with CMS – Content Management Systems. As always the focus will be on simplicity and cost efficiency.

Please see the Preface for the directory.

The most important thing you need to keep in mind when choosing a CMS is that depending on your choice you may need to be self-hosted (see my tutorial on hosts). You will also want to have some idea of the size and scale of your planned website as certain CMS’s better suit larger sites.

I will focus only on free and self-hosted software.

Choosing a CMS

Let’s have a look at some of the better known CMS’s.

WordPress – Started as blogging software, WordPress has exploded into a full on CMS in recent years. I very happily use it for all of my sites. I the case of my art gallery site I use WordPress along with bbPress (forum software by the same folks as WordPress and ZenPhoto gallery software. WordPress has an extremely helpful support forum and well established community. Recently it has introduced an instant upgrade feature that has saved me a lot of headaches. More than anything, though, I get the sense that the folks behind it are very dedicated to it’s continual improvment.

Joomla!

No matter which of these you choose you will not go wrong. Most people who swear by their CMS have never tried another. The most important thing is to spend a little time getting a feel for each system and to go with the one that best suits your criteria.

Raquo or » or » is as loved as it is hated. On WordPress, it is often the default symbol set in the theme of your installation. Let’s look at how we can remove or replace it.

1. Have a look in the header.php file of whatever theme you are using. You should see something like this within the code.

<?php bloginfo(’name’); ?> <?php if ( is_single() ) { ?><br /> » <?php<br />
foreach((get_the_category()) as $cat) {<br /> echo $cat->cat_name . ‘ ‘;<br /> }
 ?> <?php } ?></p> <p><?php wp_title(); ?>

2. Look for either » or ». Replace it with a | or whatever you like.

3. We also put a | in this line of code to give us a | after the title. Have a look below to see what we did on phauxshow.com

<?php bloginfo(’name’); ?> <?php if ( is_single() ) { ?> |<br /> <?php<br />
foreach((get_the_category()) as $cat) {<br /> echo $cat->cat_name . ‘ ‘;<br />
} ?> <?php } ?></p> <p><?php wp_title(’ | ‘); ?>

The effect is a | between our site name, page, category or archive. We think ‘Phauxshow | Artists | Elizabeth West’ looks a little better than ‘Phauxshow » Artists » Elizabeth West’, don’t you?

For more information on raquo check out raquo.net

Let us know if you have any questions!

This tutorial will explain how to take your live site and make a fully functional local backup – a backup on your computer. I use WordPress and a Mac, however these steps should work for any platform and operating system. Some of the particulars may be slightly different.

At a minimum the tools you will need are…

• A FTP tool such as FileZilla or Cyberduck. I use Transmit on my Mac
• Administrative access to your server
• A local server utility such as Wamp or Mamp
• A code editor

Take a moment to familiarize yourself with the tools. And FTP is simply a method for transfering files. The local server utility allows you to run a CMS such as WordPress or Jomla! on your computer. Most of the tools I mentioned are free and run on either Mac or Windows. So, let’s get started!

Getting the files and folders onto your computer

1. Log into your server through the FTP and navigate to your File Manager. Download the entire root folder of your site. If you have loads of images and videos it may take a while.

2. Log on to your actual server account and navigate to phpMyAdmin.

3. Chose the database you want to back up. From the navigation bar at the top select Export.

4. Under Export select SLQ

5. Under Options select Structure, Add DROP TABLE / VIEW / PROCEDURE / FUNCTION, Add AUTO_INCREMENT value, Enclose table and field names with backquotes, Data

6. Finally, under Save as file, select Zipped and click GO!

Congratulations! You’ve made a full backup of your site! Now lets get it working on your computer.

Running your site on your computer

1. Get your local server up and running. Go into your local phpMyAdmin and create a database using your site’s name. Make note of your local url. It will most likely look something like… http://localhost:8888/yoursitename. Place the site folder you downloaded to the location specified by your local server application.

2. Open the SQL file you downloaded and replace any occurrences of your live url with your local url. Save the file.

3. Navigate to the database you created in your local phpMyAdmin and click Import. Choose your file, make sure SQL is clicked and hit GO. It may take a while. Be patient. Don’t refresh.

4. Open the config.php file within your site folder. Make the appropriate changes to the database info. In my case I changed the live database name to the local database name, the password to root and the username to root.

5. In the past I’ve had problems with the .htaccess file not being included in the root folder download. I just created a new one, copied the info from the live one and made any changes to reflect the live setup.

6. Navigate to your local url (http://localhost:8888/yoursitename). You shouldn’t have to run the CMS setup. Everything should be in order. Login as you normally would by appending the login part of your live url to your new local url. You may have to adjust plugins and posts to reflect the changes.

Thats it! Let me know how everything went.