Joomla

I noticed that after installing the Joomla 3.6.4 security patch, the background color of the /administrator control panel login screen changed.  It seems that with today's release of Joomla 3.6.4, and ease of which the exploit can be executed, it's really bad timing to make it so easy for hackers to see whether or not a site has been patched.  This latest Joomla exploit allows for a person to do two things:

I just encountered an issue after upgrading a client's site to Joomla 3.6.4.  I was presented with the following error message on both the front end and back end of the site:

Error displaying the error page: Illegal mix of collations (utf8_unicode_ci,IMPLICIT) and (utf8_general_ci,IMPLICIT) for operation '=' SQL=SELECT id, home, template, s.params FROM #__template_styles as s LEFT JOIN #__extensions as e ON e.element=s.template AND e.type='template' AND e.client_id=s.client_id WHERE s.client_id = 0 AND e.enabled = 1: Illegal mix of collations (utf8_unicode_ci,IMPLICIT) and (utf8_general_ci,IMPLICIT) for operation '=' SQL=SELECT id, home, template, s.params FROM #__template_styles as s LEFT JOIN #__extensions as e ON e.element=s.template AND e.type='template' AND e.client_id=s.client_id WHERE s.client_id = 0 AND e.enabled = 1

I put this video together to discuss some of the similarities and differences between Joomla, Wordpress, and Drupal.  In particular, I set up some sample content in a "plain vanilla" installation of each platform, and examine the underlying database structure.  Too frequently, I find myself reading peoples' opinions about which of these platforms is better than the other, and I can't help but think to myself, "You're just saying that because you learned (insert platform name here) first." 

If you already have a site built using one of these platforms and want to hire me, I'm happy to play the role of consultant.  If you don't have a site and want to engage me to design & build it, I can do that, too.  (I generally don't find the database structure by itself to be enough of a reason to switch from one platform to the other, but that's also an option if sufficient reasons exist.)  Get in touch today!

Building optimized sites has always been a major part of our strategy: they are easier to maintain, easier to upgrade, and they load more quickly.  I have never built a site using only Flash, and have always built sites using HTML-and-CSS based navigation menus.  They are search engine friendly and easy to expand or rearrange.

With that in mind, I have recently come up with a few other ways to speed things up.  A faster site will generally rank better in the search engines, plus it will have less people abandoning the site while waiting for it to load.

Before we begin, yes, K2 does have its own, built-in comment functionality.  And yes, there are plugins already built and available for this.  The reason I like this solution is twofold:

1. K2's comment functionality, while has many useful features (Captcha anti-spam, email notifications, admin approval process), people seem to like using Disqus because it supports logins from multiple accounts (Disqus, Facebook, Google, Twitter).  K2's inbuilt commenting feature can be set up to allow comments from anonymous visitors, which opens up your site to comment spam.
2. I don't like installing an entire plugin just to accomplish one little thing.  While I'm sure the plugin works, you have more customization / control when you handle the actual code.  This is similar to the plugins that allow you to add Google Analytics to your site - maybe it's just a pet peeve of mine - but I'd rather edit a (single, easy) file than install a new extension, which is a potential security risk.

Like I've discussed previously, just because the Joomla team releases a new version of the software, this does NOT mean that you are obligated to partake!  For me, I've still got dozens of clients still using the Joomla 1.0 platform, so it's worthwhile for me to keep these sites running.  And, part of my pitch for using Joomla CMS software is because it is OPEN SOURCE.  So, attached below are a few files that I've compiled:

This is a video walkthrough of a Joomla 2.5 site that I set up and did a bit of configuring / customization... for demonstration purposes.  I have been building sites with Joomla for over 4 years and am listed in the Joomla Resource Directory as a consultant. 

A few things I forgot to mention in the video, now that I've actually watched it myself:

• Joomla 2.5 comes with some handy "Add new" buttons that have already saved me a good amount of time.  They will let you get into the "Add New" screen for various sections of the control panel: menus, articles, categories, users, etc.
• When adding an "Image" in K2, you'll see that it resized and positioned my image automatically.  In addition, K2 creates five different sizes, so that you can easily use the various sizes throughout the site.  This is one of my favorite features of K2, it makes life simple for my clients!
• Shameless plug: If you're interested in hiring us to build, rebuild, or redesign your website, contact us today.  We will respond within 1-2 business days.

I've run into a few clients who have told me that other developers forced them into upgrading their Joomla installation (e.g. from Joomla 1.0 to 1.5, or 1.5 to 1.6).  I am hoping that this article will provide clarification and possibly save a few folks from going through this unnecessarily.

[Edit May 4, 2012]

• You do not need to upgrade to Joomla 1.7
• You do not need to upgrade to Joomla 2.5
• You do not need to upgrade to Joomla 3.x 
• Note: Upgrading is still a good idea!

Attached are a few files needed to create a "show-hide" action in Joomla's popular CCK extension, K2.

I noticed that the XMap for Joomla plugins are no longer available so I am posting them here.