CMSGarden - The Open Source CMS Garden Festival at CeBIT 2013

CMSGarden - The Open Source CMS Garden Festival at CeBIT 2013

In September 2012 I got a call from Stephan Luckow, who is President of the German Drupal Association called "Drupal-Initiative". He told me about his idea of presenting all interested Free content-managment-systems at a common stand at the CeBIT 2013 event. CeBIT is the world's largest IT trade fair and takes place in Hannover, Germany, from March 5 - 9, 2013. He asked me whether I would like to represent the Joomla! project during the planning phase and work as a "hub" to inform the national and international Joomla! community about the project called "CMSGarden" - and of course I agreed immediately.

One could ask why I agreed to help in the project. The answer is quite simple: I strongly believe that every single participating CMS can benefit a lot from it. CeBIT is the world's largest trade fair for computer and internet technologies and offers us a unique possibility to reach people who are using internet technologies in their business every day. But even more important to me is this: a common project of multiple Open Source systems helps everybody understand that we're not really competitors. Instead, we have to be aware of the fact that our real competitors are closed source systems still used in web projects all over the world. We are one "big family" and should exchange our ideas, opinions and lessons learned so that everyone can benefit.

What is planned?

A total number of ten Open Source CMS's present themselves on a common, 100 sqm stand in the "OpenSource Park" at CeBIT 2013. Each system sends "ambassadors" who represent the system and are available for questions. The stand will be manned every day of the CeBIT week, which includes the professional-visitors-only days. An important part of the concept is that we abstain from "visible sponsors", and instead focus on presenting the strengths and unique features of our CMS. Another part of the concept is the "CMS-Competition", where all ambassadors get the same website to demo live onstage. Thereby the visitors will be able to get a feel for the different concepts of each system.

Currently the following CMS's are participating in CMSGarden: composite, Contao, Drupal, Joomla, Modx, OpenCms, papaya CMS, Plone, Redaxo und Typo3. You can find further information on http://www.cmsgarden.org

How is this financed?

Because we don't want any "visible sponsors" at the stand we have to find another way the finance our costs, which sum up to a combined group total of approximately 100.000 Euros. Our idea is to create an "infobook", with 30,000 - 50,000 copies printed and available at all areas of the stand. Everybody has the possibility to buy an ad or an entry in our service provider directory and thereby support the project and present companies and services.

If you are interested in placing an ad or directory entry, feel free to take a look at the different sponsoring opportunities: http://www.cmsgarden.org/downloads/mediadata_en.pdf

What's up next?

Unfortunately, we have to hurry up and get the project going as soon as possible. Contracts will be signed for the stand during the last week in December, by which time 50,000 Euros is needed. If the target isn't met the stand will have to be cancelled. In that case, all sponsors would be completely refunded.

So please help us make this project happen! Share the word, spread the idea and buy an ad to make this great idea possible.

WHAT IS NEW - LANGUAGES IN 3.0.3

Installation of language packs when installing Joomla!

After implementing the installation of language packs through the Extension Manager since 2.5.7 ( Seehttp://community.joomla.org/blogs/community/1668-first-time-in-joomla-history.html ), Javier Gomez completed his GSOC project by coding this new functionnality.

1. In the last page of installation, a new choice is proposed to install language packs

 

2. A list of available language packs is displayed. Tick on the language(s) you want to install.

Note 1: language packs included in custom distributions will not be listed at this stage as they are already installed.
Note 2: the version of the packs proposed will match the Joomla Major version (3.0.x, 3.1.x, etc.). If the minor version of the pack does not correspond (3.0.3, 3.0.4, etc.), one may have untranslated strings. When the packs concerned are updated by the registered Translation teams, the update will be proposed in the Control panel as well as in Extensions Manager => Update. The behavior is similar to Extensions Manager => Install Languages.

3. A progress bar will display while the packs are downloaded.

4. The default Administration and Site languages may be chosen among the packs installed.

5. The installation process may now be completed.

Extension of items associations to remaining core components

In 3.0.2 the multilanguage functionnality was extended from Menu Items associations to Articles and Articles categories.
(see http://community.joomla.org/blogs/community/1695-multilanguage-in-302-whats-new.html )
Benjamin Trenkle completed the process in 3.0.3 for all core Categories and items in Contacts, Newsfeeds and Weblinks.

If 2 items are associated, clicking on the Language Switcher chosen language will display the associated item, even if there is no specific menu item associated.

Example for Contacts:

1. An Associations tab displays when editing a Contact. Select a contact in another language.

2. The Contact manager displays the associated contacts. Hovering over the icon displays the list.

3. We are here in the French fr-FR Frontend. The menu item 'Contact fr' has been displayed.
URL is mysite.com/fr/contact-fr.html

4. If we have no associated Menu item for this in the English en-GB Frontend, clicking on the English flag displays the associated contact item.
The url is mysite.com/en/component/contact/contact/15-contact-cat-en/1-contact-en.html?Itemid=103

5. If we have a Menu item displaying the associated contact for English en-GB —even if the Menu item itself is not associated—, the URL we get in this case would be: mysite.com/en/contact-en.html

6. Conclusion

Native multilanguage implementation has been drastically improved in Joomla! since 1.6. From the possibility to switch only to home pages, it now lets associate any core items and nevertheless switch to home page when no associations.
To ease this, a patch in 3.0.3 is improving considerably the loading speed of the associations table when there are a large number of items.
( http://joomlacode.org/gf/project/joomla/tracker/?action=TrackerItemEdit&tracker_item_id=29845 )

It's quite easy for third party components to mimic this Items Associations behavior and we do hope many of them will introduce this functionnality as well as proposing improvements.

Read More: Joomla

Two Most Important You Can Secure Your Joomla Site

Two Most Important You Can Secure Your Joomla Site

Maintaining a secure web site is a top concern for many people. Everyone is looking for the one way to make sure their site is always running, safe, and secure. When someone expresses concern about the security of their site, I usually ask them how old their most recent backup is. Most don't know, or don't have any backup at all.

The harsh reality is that no system is ever going to be 100% secure. It doesn't matter what that system is, be it Joomla or the mainframe system that runs your bank account. It's important to keep your system up to date and to defend against hackers, but at the same time keeping your site up and running means defending against several other factors that include hardware failures, failed business relationships, and security issues beyond your control. For example, if your hosting company doesn't keep their control panel software up to date there's nothing you can do - short of switching hosts.

There's no big secret to this: the two most important things you can do to secure your Joomla site are to make good backups and use strong passwords.

The problem is that almost everyone knows this but not many do it. The Joomla security mailbox ( security@joomla.org) has a depressing number of reports from people who have a well maintained system but got hacked anyway. Sometimes they send in their admin login details and the problem is obvious: weak passwords (by the way, never mail your admin password unless someone you trust asks you for it explicitly).

Making a Good Joomla Backup

Start with a hosting company with a good backup plan. A lot of hosts will cut corners here by relying on RAID disks and skipping backups. Backups aren't cheap. They increase server load, drive up disk space requirements, require ongoing monitoring, and in the event that there's a problem with a site, usually need manual intervention to do a restore. If your hosting provider promises cut rate prices, fast servers, and reliable backups all at the same time, odds are they don't have a sustainable business and one or more of those variables will change sooner or later.

Which brings me to the second key point: even if you have a reliable host, don't rely on them for backups! Host backups are essential for a quick recovery of your site, but what happens if your host has a crisis? You may find yourself in a situation where you need to get your site up on another host, and that's not possible if all your backups are located on a server that's crashed. Akeeba Backup is a must have Joomla extension. It lets you schedule backups, and you should transfer copies of the backup files to a safe location on a regular basis. Akeeba Pro will do this for you automatically, pushing backups to another server, or to cloud storage services such as Amazon.

If your site isn't being backed up on a regular basis, get a backup plan in place. You can't do this after your site goes down, so do it now. Please.

Picking a Secure Administrator Login

Leaving the administrator account as "admin" and bad passwords are possibly the biggest security risk in Joomla. Every site is under attack by automated scripts that try "dictionary attacks" on passwords, and the simpler the password is, the more quickly the site is compromised. If you leave the default administrator account as "admin", you're doing half the hacker's job for them.

I had a client who insisted on making his password "Apple". After his site was hacked I urged him to pick a more secure private data, but he chose to blame Joomla and refused. After his site was hacked a second time, I convinced him to make his password more complex, but he insisted on "Apple1976". The third time I convinced him to add more memorable words to his password and he hasn't been hacked since. Good passwords are important.

I use a password manager to generate long, complex password strings. The password manager lets me paste passwords into login forms so I don't have to struggle with getting 32 invisible random characters right. But you don't have to go that far to be secure. The key to a good password is length. So if your daughter's name is Carol and she was born in 2003, don't just use "Carol2003". Add some other details. For example "CarolAnnSmithJan52003" is just as easy to remember and a little harder to type, but several billion times harder to crack.

Now You're Safe

I'll say it again: No site is ever 100% secure. But if you follow these two simple steps, the chances that you'll be hacked drop dramatically, and the chances that you'll be able to recover from a hack quickly are far higher. The worst calls I get are from people who have had their sites flagged as dangerous by Google and who have no easy way to recover. Take these simple steps now and the odds you'll ever have to make that phone call go way down. It's worth the trouble.

What is it about Joomla 3.0?

What is it about Joomla 3.0

Since slated, Joomla Three or more.3 will discharge inside the October, I think that many Joomla consumers are interested in this specific fresh Joomla version and also the scorching keywords and phrases tend to be “Bootstrap” as well as “responsive design”. Realize that issues, Used to investigation profoundly concerning Joomla Three or more.2 and also want to share along with you our information with this weblog.

 Additionally, I'll present the Joomla Three or more.2 trial that will JoomlaShine group suitable for Joomla customers being a play ground for many who wish to learn onpar gps.

Joomla Three or more.3 will probably be introduced throughout October, Next year

Joomla Three.3 completely new capabilities let loose

The modern version 3.0 can provide the brand new markup as well as Urinary incontinence, depending on the Bootstrap HTML/CSS/JS platform coming from Twitting. These types of adjustments can establish a fantastic general Consumer experience regarding Joomla internet site managers, and thus providing web site customers the identical. Furthermore, alongside Mootools, jQuery will likely be provided in order to Joomla Several.2, supply builders far more energy to produce user friendly back-end gui. A lot of extra features are generally applied which offers any remarkable development compared to present Only two.Five version. Let me bring in a few principal additional features because stick to:

Joomla Three.Zero -- Brand-new installation technician

While using phrases “Short and also simple” to spell it out with regards to Joomla Several.Zero set up course of action is really proper, as there are merely Three or more measures to setup a new Joomla Several.2 deal.

Brand-new tech user interface

Twitting Bootstrap

Bootstrap is really a no cost number of resources pertaining to making internet sites and also apps. It includes easy and adaptable Html code, JavaScript and also CSS-based style templates with regard to typography, types, switches, chart, routing along with other user interface elements.

Facebook Bootstrap -- will probably be incorporated into Joomla Three.2

In addition, Bootstrap provides standard typical Web page with regard to programmers. They are able to employ frequent graphical user interface aspects similar to switches, styles, inform emails, modal containers, dropdown food selection, tooltips, designs, dining tables, type components plus much more coming from Bootstrap composition.

Fantastic Buyer

The particular Joomla Several.Zero is recognized as pleasant Buyer (UX) because it is according to Bootstrap. Which means the particular template along with off shoot designers can easily build the merchandise which in turn starting for a passing fancy list of markup specifications as well as regular markup. You understand, determining your site will be easier while almost all extensions appear as well as are employed in the single style. Which means you don’t need to get to know brand new user interface upon every off shoot.

Cellular Responsive Design

You could have in mind the “responsive” function coming from a few Joomla templates. Today, it's contained in Joomla Three.Zero, as well. While using responsive design, you are able to take control of your Joomla internet site together with cellular phones easily. Any responsive internet site may re-size for the monitor it can be introduced upon just about any internet browsers as well as gadgets. Additionally, as it is often responsive, that shown superbly about portable not simply front-end, but the back-end. This assists consumers handle the actual officer effortlessly about the cell. By way of example, all of the listings they fit in a web page which makes it another way to manage.

Lug and also Drop*

Your lug as well as fall characteristic is used to produce the product operations quicker. All of the previous arrows for the buying line are already taken out, you can now drag-and-drop product openly in their classes to switch the actual buying regarding merchandise record.

To work with Lug & Fall function, you should click the Initial combination package from best correct regarding desk checklist, pick Buying regarding “Sort desk by”. Anyone can understand the “drag” image with prime correct order of each one product, make room to pull merchandise as well as decrease about place you want.

Your lug as well as fall function

Tooltip*

The actual tooltip within Joomla Several.Zero can be Boostrap dependent and gives an easy approach to utilize it throughout 3rd-extension.

Your Tooltip show throughout Joomla Several.3

Wording menu*

Databases throughout Joomla Several.2 could have the particular “context menu” for every merchandise, which assists you to definitely entry rapidly to be able to standard capabilities like Change, Publish/ Unpublish, Erase, Arranged fall behind and so on.

Your Circumstance selection within Joomla Three.2

All of the extra features using () are generally led to Joomla primary by simply Joomlashine group. We’ll very happy to provide the tiny energy to take a much more effective and simple to utilize Joomla to any or all customers.

Find out more about Joomla Three.Zero coming from OStraining

To find out more concerning Joomla Three.Zero characteristics, you should have a look at a fantastic post coming from OSTraining: The very best Ten Good reasons to Adore Joomla Several

Far more top reasons to enjoy Joomla Several.2

There exists a play ground in your case, give it a look!

JSN Start * a new template depending on Bootstrap construction and also Joomla Three or more.Zero primary capabilities

We’ve designed a Joomla Three or more.3 trial internet site which in turn referred to as JSN Shoe * any template determined by Bootstrap construction as well as Joomla Several.2 key functions. JSN Shoe might be a happy play area so that you can lots more revealed about Joomla Several.3 prior to the recognized launch. Following your very first 7 days introduced, it can be welcome with many different good suggestions through Joomla people.

So far, around Three or more,400 customers test your JSN Trunk, just how in regards to you? Visit JSN Trunk officer to test out, and many types of feedback with regard to JSN Trunk as well as any kind of conversation regarding Joomla Three or more.2 are usually delightful.

Joomla 3.0.0 Released

Joomla 3.0.0 Released

The actual Joomla! Venture will be thrilled to broadcast the actual instant accessibility to Joomla Several.Zero.2. Here is the following key launch of the actual Joomla CMS within the Common Time period Assist (STS) observe. Most Three or more.2 customers will have to prefer to revise towards the brand-new types accessible in your STS relieve never-ending cycle each half a year until finally version Three.Your five will be unveiled. These types of improvements are anticipated to get basic and back suitable.

That is this kind of discharge regarding?
Your standard-term secretes are equipped for people who are required accessibility latest features. Many customers together with present Only two.Your five.times web sites won't wish to up-date in order to version 3.0. Customers making brand-new websites may use possibly version A couple of.Five or even Three or more.3, determined by that matches the requirements. Make sure you look at the use of third-party templates as well as extensions whenever determining which usually Joomla version to work with. Furthermore, if you make use of version 3.0, must be treated that you will want to be able to remodel your internet site every single half a year (to three.A single, Three.A couple of, etc) till version Three.Your five is accessible. These kinds of improvements are hoped for being simple and easy in reverse suitable.

What's the standing associated with Joomla! Two.Your five?
Version Only two.Five with the Joomla! CMS can be a Long lasting Assist (LTS) discharge as well as help correctly continue until finally soon after the making involving Joomla Several.Five, timetabled regarding Early spring 2014. Customers in version Two.Five don't have to move for you to Joomla Several.3.

Is there a standing associated with Joomla! One.Your five?
Assist regarding Joomla A single.Your five can certainly after that the making regarding Joomla Three or more.3. It can be at the moment recognized just for stability concerns.

Can i have the ability to revise from Only two.Five for you to Joomla! Several?
Of course. Virtually any revise concerns is a main priority and can be solved at the outset of these.a discharge teach. Nonetheless, it's likely a large number of templates and also extensions pertaining to Joomla Two.A few need customization to do business with Joomla Three. Usually analyze ahead of moving as well as talk to the particular builders associated with a extensions and also templates you employ. Bear in mind that your complex demands pertaining to operating Joomla Three or more.Zero are very different. Along with demanding modern variations regarding application, selected options which were when recommmened have become needed for example demanding which wonder quotations will be away from. Start to see the Complex Demands site for that specs. Start to see the Joomla Several.2.3 Post-Release Frequently asked questions for additional information with regards to modernizing through Only two.Five to three.Zero.

Which are the latest features regarding Joomla! Three?
Increase regarding Twitting Bootstrap in a jui press bundle.
A whole new sensitive, mobile phone pleasant manager template--Isis-- and also software.
A fresh front template--Protostar-- created employing Facebook Bootstrap.
Up-to-date offered template referred to as Beez3.
The simple 3-step set up course of action.
PostgreSQL New driver. It is possible to own Joomla Three or more.2 websites while using the PostgreSQL data source.
Perl Memcached Car owner
Usage of JFeed with regard to supply operations instead of SimplePie
Installing of words offers from the particular expansion boss
Visitor consumer party found automatically
Keeping bare content articles granted
Brand-new manager data unit
Bring up to date TinyMCE in order to version Three or more.A few.Some
Ongoing clear associated with more mature rarely used signal, data files and also databases job areas along with dining tables and also increased standardization regarding furniture.
Changes for you to Intelligent Research
Substantial work with program code fashion standardisation as well as regularity
System tests inside the CMS
Up-to-date method assessments inside the CMS
Custom made lively food selection pertaining to menus unit
Allow SEF plug-in increase the particular canonical hyperlink to the top
Version Twelve.Two with the Joomla Program
This kind of launch comes with the existing version (Twelve.Only two) with the Joomla! Program, that features a great number of brand-new along with enhanced deals.

 Discover a lot more from: http://www.joomla.org/announcements/release-news/5464-joomla-3-0-0-released.html#sthash.02OspJCV.dpuf