Clear Skys

Archive for April, 2009

When starting with Joomla, consideration should be given to the security set up for your new web site. Here are our top tips to avoid if you want your web site taken over by hackers.

Always update to the latest version of Joomla for any security patches

You can subscribe to the joomla security teams rss feed here. The critical fixes are essential. Of course you need to ensure that the latest joomla installation works OK with all your extensions that you have installed - best to try on a test or development site that you have installed before updating your live site.

Change the default administrator login

When joomla is first installed the administrators user name is admin, this should be changed to something less familar from an admin user. Your admin password should also be a combination of numbers,letters and special characters - more than 10 characters preferably. Best not to use this username or password on any other web site that you are regsitered for.

Get a good SEF component

If a hacker know your site is a joomla site, this can make it easier for him to find vunrabilities and exploit them. A good SEF Search Engine Friendly URL component will help mask the components and the folder structure of your web site. Artio SEF and sh404SEF.

Beware 3rd party components and templates

Most 3rd party components are there to help you build a feature rich web site, but beware there are some extensions that could potentially leave your site open to a hacker. Always source your extensions from a trusted source and check for updates to that extension. Similary with templates.

Backup backup backup your web site

Your no doubt the one responsible for backing up your own site, it is unlikely to be the responsisbility of the web developer or hosting company. So backup up your MySQL database and all your web files. This is normally carried out via cPanel or there are some commercial backup solutions for joomla.

April 2009 Free Joomla template from w4solutions.  Entitled Business Lite, this is a simple yet effective format for a business, looking for an uncluttered design and simple menu placements.  Designed for use with the open source content management system Joomla.

Business Lite Joomla

Features  3 columns, menu is placed top right hand corner above the header image, space for other menus within the left or right columns.

Check out the readme file supplied with the download, it outlines how to install the template and what menu positions are available. 

Business Lite Site Image

To download template you need to be registered.  Clear Skys registration

Once logged in. return to this post and the download links will be visible.

We have a new FREE wordpress template available for download to registered users. Just login and you can then download the template direct from this post.

FREE wordpress template - travellers journal

A wordpress template - aimed at the travellers amongst us. - travellers journal wordpress

Template has translations for German, French, Italian and Spanish.

“It’s one of the fastest-growing phenomena on the Internet.” New York Times

The world is tweeting mad, yes, everyone it seems has gone twitter mad.

What is it ?

Watch the video below, which explains what twitter is

What are you doing ?

OK - someone tweets you with the question What are you doing ? ….. You have 140 words to explain what your doing, and you have many options on how you update your twitter - online, from your phone - and everyone seems to be clamouring to plug their products into twitter.

The tricky part is explaining what you are doing in less than 140 words, so unlike a blog which can run into a thousand words or more and contain rich media content, you need to keep it short and snappy.

Is this a new way of communicating ?

Maybe so - its still too early to tell but there is a trend developing. Maybe its not that out of step with the way a fast moving business works - w4 find we are getting less and less time to pitch to customers - so we need to focus our efforts on the key points that are relevent to our audience - its the same with twitter - condense your thoughts and make your point snappy - keeping your audience engaged and informed.

Wheres my twitter ?

So where’s my twitter - well it does seem to be  addictive and appears to take up a lot of time telling the world that your sipping your tenth expresso of the day - so I’ll pass for the moment - I’ve got some real work to be getting productive with. But we are currently developing some products that we can see twitter being a use - on the customer service and marketing side.

Here is my top 3 all time best widgets and advice on how to get the most from them

1. “Never install a widgety widget on your desktop” from the Keep your Life Simple Inc. Never ever ever use widgets on your desktop - desktops should be uncluttered and used for shortcuts to your top priorties and most used applications.
2. If you don’t live in Scotland then maybe just maybe the Weather widgets may be of some use. I don’t need a widget to tell me that it is going to rain - it is a given - thanks to global warming the rain clouds all seem to meet over the highlands of Scotland and then make there way down to the lowlands. A widget that can stop global warming….now that would be in the top 3.
3. “IBM is a joke” widget, any widget devoted to poking fun at IBM. eg. IBM’s latest version of the email and application system Lotus Notes - now includes the ability to add widgets - how far behind a trend can one company get. Stop talking to each other and your large enterprise customers and see what is happening in the rest of the world…..JAVA is dead get over it. Also to run said bit of software requires a high spec PC with at least 2GB of RAM…..it’s an email client…yikes. 

OF course this is a bit of fun, but in all honesty the widgets are just gimmicks and should be treated as such….but I’ve an open mind  - so any suggestions as to a productive business widget I’m all ears.