This week the latest patches have been release for Joomla, 2-5-9 and 3-0-3 so we're looking at updating your Joomla website to the latest patch version.
We also look at this thing called Facebook Graph Search. Lastely we have an exciting interview with Cory Webb from ManosCrafted, he recently just acquired a template shop called Joomla Praise and has some big plans for its relaunch.
Show Notes
This week we'll be looking at upgrading of your Joomla website to the latest patch as well as this new feature from Facebook called Graph search. Lastly, we have an interview from Cory Webb from Manos Crafted telling us about his newly acquired business.
Before we get into show lets start with some good news, inspiring Joomla leader, Andrew Eddie has just recently lowered his price on his Joomla tutorials at Learn the Art of Joomla, where you can learn how to be a master Joomla developer. Subscription is now FREE. Andrew was one of the founders of Joomla and he also contributed a large amount of code into the Joomla 1.6 base which pushed Joomla into the direction of where it is today.
http://learn.theartofjoomla.com
A Few Announcements
Joomla 3.0.3 and Joomla 2.5.9 have just been released so it is time to upgrade your Joomla websites. You can do this via the upgrade feature in Joomla 2.5 and Joomla 3.
Upgrading your Joomla website!
Why should you upgrade your Joomla website? These patches come out for a reason and they're actually packed with fixes, patches and most importantly security releases.
If we have a look at some of the patch notes from Joomla.org, we can see that in the new release of Joomla 2.5.9 there is:
1 Security issue fixed 22 tracker issues fixed http://www.joomla.org/announcements/release-news/5477-joomla-2-5-9-released.html
And in Joomla 3.0.3:
3 security issue fixed 2 new features 136 tracker issues fixed http://www.joomla.org/announcements/release-news/5478-joomla-3-0-3-released.html
It is quite easy to upgrade these patches simply by using the Upgrade manager in the backend of your Joomla website. Some things to look out for before you upgrade:
Backup your website before the upgrade and actually test that back up as well to make sure it works. I highly recommend AkeebaBackup as a backup solution for your website. If you've modified any of the core Joomla files including the core Joomla templates, you may find that the upgrade has overwritten your customisations. It isn't good practice to hack the core Joomla files to customise the CMS, you are better off to write a custom HTML override or template style which would inherit its styles from the main core Joomla template. Make sure you test your site after you upgrade and clean the websites cache. You may be testing against a cached version of your website right after upgrading. Another thing to look for is the database changes in the website versions.
From time to time the actual database scheme may change as well and you will need to update this to match the current version of Joomla that you are using.
It's quite an easy thing to do as well from the Extension Manager, Click Database.
database-errors
Fix it states that your database is out of sync and needs repair the hit the FIX button in the website and have your website updated to the latest database changes.
database-fix-button
You can use Joomla's upgrade manager in the admin area of Joomla but you can also use a tool called ADMINTOOLS from Akeebabackup. It's another way to upgrade your Joomla site within a few clicks and it also gives you the option to trigger a backup via AkeebaBackup before performing the upgrade.
https://www.akeebabackup.com/products/admin-tools.html
Two more backup tools worth mentioning. Upgrade and backup a range of websites at one time.
Admincredible Watchful.li There is also one more that I'd like to mention but I didn't do so in the show as I wanted to dedicate an entire show to called.
Update Since has been bought out by Watchful.li
MyJoomla I also highly recommend this as it's saved my butt so many times already. We'll worth the subscription.
Social Media Madness
Facebook have announced that they're releasing another major feature and that is the improvement of their search engine called Facebook Graph search.
It will be a social search engine that will base its locational searches off what people have recommended. For example if you're searching for a pizza bar nearby, it will not only search the area that you're in but also skew your results based on your connections in your social network. So if some of your friends have checked in to a particular pizza bar near you, it will come up as a higher listing result and suggest that particular result to you.
Interesting stuff, I'd like to see what sort of impact that it will have on the usage of Facebook and results for advertisers and also the impact of their share price.
http://newsroom.fb.com/News/562/Introducing-Graph-Search-Beta http://mashable.com/2013/01/15/facebook-graph-search/
Interview with Cory Webb from Manos Crafted
Cory Webb from Manos Crafted has been working in the websphere and with Joomla for many years. He founded originally, Cory Webb Media, five years ago. They recently rebranded to Manos Crafted in Nov last year. Starting out as a web developer in his spare time, he was working for a small software company, then was tasked with the building of the company website.
Coming up for Manos Crafted, They have recently finalised the deal to acquire JoomlaPraise, a longstanding Joomla template company. Now in the process of rebranding it to ThemePraise, with the idea of expanding beyond the Joomla market. This will help serve a broader market than purely Joomla. They will be providing html templates powered by bootstrap, Joomla templates and Wordpress themes.
Webb tells us he developed a joomla template framework about three years ago called, Motif. It is open source and available on GitHub. Using this framework to build the ThemePraise templates will enable end users to a simplified experience. Motif has a built in LESS CSS compiler to make things easier with nested styles and other features.
ThemePraise will be releasing template specific joomla distributions called packs. Which will be a micro distribution of joomla which includes a theme, template overrides and custom setup. Themes will be released with a website in mind, essentially a website in a box.
Another feature will be non-restrictive general public licensing for templates. Allowing for members of website to use themes on unlimited domain names, with more freedom.
Some template choosing tips from Cory:
Look for a responsive design, that work on larger screens, tablets, phones etc. Complements your brand and logo. Always test across multiple devices and browsers. When can we see ThemePraise launched? ASAP.
In the meantime check out:
http://themepraise.com & http://manoscrafted.com
Find Cory on Twitter: @corywebb
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