OpenOffice.org 3.4.0 Latest News

 software  No Responses »
May 162012
 
openoffice-org-3-4-0-latest-news

Latest News: Finally Openoffice has released the long awaited stable version 3.4.0. You also have a choice of downloading LibreOffice which is designed in a very similar format to OpenOffice org.

OpenOffice.org 3.3.0 has been released. It is an open source office package just like Microsoft Office. The huge differences between both are the price tag. OpenOffice.org is free and Microsoft Office cost you an amount of dollars. You can’t compare both packages as Microsoft has a great reputation with it’s office package but if you can’t afford to spend the money buying Microsoft Office then I suggest that you try OpenOffice.org, you have noting to loose.

Just click OpenOffice.org if you wish to download the package. Also it is developed in many languages, so I am sure you can find it in your language. Best of all it can be used entirely free of any licence fees. OpenOffice.org is released under the LGPL licence. This means you may use it for any purpose – domestic, commercial, educational, public administration.

Another interesting factor is that you can also download the package in portable format from portableapps.com. If you have any questions in regards to OpenOffice.org, simply leave a comment here.

First time Blogging – Revision Update

 blogging, plugins, tutorial, Wordpress  8 Responses »
May 152012
 
first-time-blogging-revision-update

Donate for a cup of coffee :)


If you are blogging for the first time then this tutorial will help you.

Revision Update: Added two new plugin on Step 7 one of the plugin is about security

My host is Justhost, although some of the most common Host that work very well with WordPress are Bluehost, Hostgator. Bluehost is at the top of the list of host that wordpress.org recommends.

I am currently using the latest version of WordPress 3.3.2.

WordPress in my opinion is the simplest CMS “Content Management System” most widely used blogging platform in the world.

In this tutorial you are going to learn how to create a blog for the first time following these instructions. The more blogs you create, the better you will become. The more you use wordpress the more you will get to love it like I do. Experience will give you knowledge and the ability to develop very powerful blogs and in return you will become popular as a blogger. This is a learning curve and I am sure that you will enjoy it very much. That is why you are here reading this tutorial.

The following list applies to this blog and it is the same instructions I follow to develop my other blogs and websites.

The steps to follow:

  1. Think of a domain name
  2. Sign up with just host and register a domain name
  3. Install WordPress
  4. Setup your theme
  5. Add Categories
  6. Change permalinks structure
  7. Install plugins
  8. Create a Twitter account, a Facebook Page, and a Feedburner account
  9. Add links to these accounts on your sidebar
  10. Start adding some post
  11. SEO “Search Engine Optimisation”
  12. Change your privacy settings
  13. Backup, Maintenance and Security

#1 Think of a domain name

Buying a domain name using the correct keywords can be tricky at first but if you do it right from the beginning it can take you to the top in Google search and in time be ranked top 10. If you build the right foundations from the beginning using the correct keywords in your domain name people will find you much quicker.

Let me give you an example. Lets say you wanted to sell tomatoes at a special price and your name was Bob, the domain names that I would consider might be:

  1. www.bobstomatoes.com
  2. www.bobsspecialtomatoes.com
  3. www.specialbobtomatoes.com
  4. www.specialtomatoes.com

The above would be based on a search on Google and see how many searches come up with the words bob special tomatoes or any other combination. The results was astonishing 13,800,000 which tells you that you have a huge competition ahead based on that particular search query. This would mean that you might reconsider selecting another domain name to make life easier.

These are just examples, I think you are starting to get the message and remember that if you live for example in Spain then you might consider adding the .es domain especially if you only sell in Spain.

Joomla Backup and Restore

 Browsers, joomla, joomla 1.5, joomla 1.7, Joomla 2.5, software, tutorial  1 Response »
May 142012
 
joomla-backup-and-restore

This tutorial teaches you how to backup and restore joomla using Akeeba Backup. Akeeba backup is one of the best software to backup your joomla installation. I have used it for a few years now without a problem and I always recommend it to everyone that runs Joomla and would like to use a free backup software. I can tell you that it has saved my site many times.

Hint: Click on an image to see a larger size

First download Akeeba Backup and install it as you would normally install a module or component. Login to joomla as the administrator and upload the zipped file you downloaded above and configure it according to your requirements.

Hint: It is recommended to use jpa compression format. Have a read about the difference between zip and jpa format from Akeeba Backup user guide online

Once you have configured Akeeba backup click on Components >> Akeeba Backup and then click on Backup Now. See images below:

Step 1) Click on Akeeba Backup

Akeeba backup now

Step 2) Click on Backup Now

Click backup now

Step 3) Click Backup Now! and you can enter some description.

akeeba backup and enter description

Step 4) View the backup in process

Important: Do not brows to another page while you are in backup mode unless you see an error

Akeeba backup process

Step 5) Administer your backup file

Ckeck completed backup akeeba

 Step 6) View the file details including the size and you can download the file.

Hint: I prefer to use FTP to download any files from the server

Akeeba backup completed and option to download

Backing up is very simple as you can see from the instructions above.

In the following steps you will learn how to restore your website to the same server:

Step 1) Unzipped the file you downloaded in Step 6) using akeeba extract wizard above and zip the content in a format that your server can read i.e. .zip format. Hint: Only use akeeba extract wizard if you zipped your file in jpa format.

Step 2) Log into your server and delete your old website files from the root of your site 

Important: Delete only joomla files and joomla folders, no other files. You can keep a copy of .htacess but rename it to something like htacess.txt and after the success of the installation make sure that you rename it back to .htaccess only if the zipped .htaccess is corrupted for some unknown issue.

Step 3) Upload the zipped file to your server and unpack the content to the root of your website where you deleted the joomla folders and files

Step 4) After unpacking make sure that all the folders and files are there or else you will get errors when you start the installation process

Step 5) Now open your web browser and type the URL of your website i.e. http://www.example.com/installation/index.php click enter on your key board and follow the onscreen instructions.

Important: Make sure you select to remove the installation directory automatically. See images below:

Remove the installation directory akeeba backup

Installation directory deleted, click OK

Installation directory deleted Akeeba backup

 Step 6) That’s it, your joomla website should be up and running. It is as simple as that :)

TIP: Make sure that you have access to your password and database name which you documented when you installed joomla for the first time and kept in a safe place. This is very important just in case something goes wrong and you need to add the username and password.

I Hope these instructions can assist you, if you have any questions send me an e-mail or post a message here.

Good luck ;)

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