Knowledge Sharing » Joomla

Joomla in the Future

Dagu — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 07:42:56 +0000

As we know, Joomla is one of the best CMS in the world. It often uses to make websites. You can make a great website fast. You don’t need to know PHP or HTML to use it. You only need to understand Joomla.

I started using Joomla from version 1.13. The Joomla is very great, although it still has many drawbacks. After that, Joomla changed the core. Joomla released version 1.5, a version that is not compatible with previous version. Yes, that’s right, it’s a brand new Joomla. Although it is not backward compatible, but some Joomla 1.13 extensions and templates can run in Joomla1 1.5 by condition you need to turn on system legacy plugin. For Joomla 1.13 lovers, don’t stay there, move to Joomla 1.5 because Joomla stops the development of version 1.3. They no longer support it.

For web programmer, understanding Joomla is not enough. We need to understand more to extend or build template for Joomla. Now, Joomla releases version 1.6alpha. In general, alpha version is not recommended for production. It’s only for developer or hobbyist. What’s new in Joomla 1.6alpha? Take a look at the list below:

ACL: access management for global permissions as well as content item specific permissions, variable usergroups, users member of more than one usergroup, permissions are inherited, really fast (it’s the main feature I expect for a long time ago)
Extendable user profile, profile view in frontend, extendable user parameters
Tableless com_content layouts
Improved com_content modules (mod_articles_archive, mod_articles_latest, mod_articles_popular)
Article linker plugin for editors (Nice!)
New frontend template (atomic)
New backend template (bluestork)
New uploader for media manager

Other Joomla 1.6 improvements that existed in alpha 1:

Mootools 1.2
Refactored backend
JForm
Nested Categories and category parameters
New views in frontend: categories, category
Lots of small code improvements, almost cut the code size in half while adding to the functionality
PHP 5.2 required, huge performance improvements, partially eaten up by new features => 1.6 will be faster than 1.5

What’s next?
After alpha 2, the Joomla community can expect a beta release. There are no intentions for a 3rd alpha release. Hmm.. the stable version is coming up! Can’t wait to try it!

Future improvements will be developed by Joomla Team:

Commenting solution is going to be added (At last.. :D)
Additional DB drivers
Lots of small performance/UI/code improvements

Great! Hope they will win Best Open Source PHP CMS.

Joomla 1.5.13 Security Release

Dagu — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 03:11:05 +0000

If you are a Joomla user, please upgrade your web immediately. From Joomla Official website: This is a security release and users are strongly encouraged to upgrade immediately.

Joomla! Developer Vulnerability News

[20090722] – Core – Missing JEXEC Check

Posted: 22 Jul 2009 04:36 PM PDT

Project: Joomla!
SubProject: Framework
Severity: Moderate
Versions: 1.5.12 and all previous 1.5 releases
Exploit type: XSS
Reported Date: 2009-July-21
Fixed Date: 2009-July-22

Description

Some files were missing the check for JEXEC. These scripts will then expose internal path information of the host.

Affected Installs

All 1.5.x installs prior to and including 1.5.12 are affected.

Solution

Upgrade to latest Joomla! version (1.5.13 or newer).

Reported by Juan Galiana Lara (Internet Security Auditors)

Contact

The JSST at the Joomla! Security Center.

[20090722] – Core – File Upload

Posted: 22 Jul 2009 04:17 PM PDT

Project: Joomla!
SubProject: TinyMCE editor
Severity: Critical
Versions: 1.5.12
Exploit type: Image File upload
Reported Date: 2009-July-22
Fixed Date: 2009-July-22

Description

Tiny browser included with TinyMCE 3.0 editor allowed files to be uploaded and removed without logging in.

Affected Installs

Version 1.5.12 only

Solution

Upgrade to latest Joomla! version (1.5.13 or newer).

Reported by Patrice Lazareff.

Contact

The JSST at the Joomla! Security Center.

Download here

Click here to download Joomla 1.5.13 (Full package)
Click here to find an update package

Joomla Database Crash

Dagu — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 02:36:16 +0000

jtablesession::Store Failed
DB function failed with error number 145
Table ‘./joomla_database/jos_session’ is marked as crashed and should be repaired SQL=INSERT INTO `jos_session` (`session_id`,`time`,`username`,`gid`,`guest`,`client_id`) VALUES (’1ecb458814b53d190db10cafee822dc0′,’1237429551′,”’0′,’1′,’0′);

Error message above usually happens to CMS Joomla. One of Joomla tables jos_session (the table name depends on prefix) is crash. Don’t worry if you experience this problem. It’s easy to overcome this problem. Just truncate the table jos_session. SQL command:

mysql> truncate jos_session;

It’s done!

Viewing Joomla 1.5 Module Position

Dagu — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 18:56:05 +0000

A Joomla page consists of a few modules and a component. These modules have certain positions. To know module position in a Joomla template, we only need to append a query string tp=1. For the example:

http://blog.danigunawan.com/joomla15/index.php?tp=1

Screenshot (Click on the image for full size image):

Joomla module positions

It’s ez, isn’t it?

Joomla! Runner-up Packt Publishing Award

Dagu — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 03:11:24 +0000

Every year, Packt Publishing awards best CMS chosen by the Internet user. A year ago, Joomla achieved “Best PHP Open Source Content Management System”. Unfortunately, this year Joomla can’t defend their position after having the first place twice. For this year Joomla developer should be satisfied with the second position for “Best Overall Open Source CMS” and “Best PHP Open Source CMS”. For the first place in category “Best Overall Open Source CMS” was achieved by Drupal. Total prize won by Joomla project is $3500.

Besides CMS award, there’s a new category, that is “Open Source MVP 2008″. This category was won by one of Joomla developer, Johan Janssens. He achieved this award because of his outstanding contribution for Joomla development.

Rename htaccess.txt to be .htaccess in Windows

Dagu — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 02:00:26 +0000

In default Joomla 1.5 installation, there is a file named htaccess.txt. This file will be used if we use Joomla SEO, that is option Use Apache mod_rewrite. Before it can be used, this file should be renamed to .htaccess. In Linux OS, this case is not a big problem, because it allows creation this kind of file (file name is started with “dot” character). For Windows user this case is a problem, because Windows doesn’t allow creation this kind of file. If we force it, then a warning is appear like shown below:

Error while renaming htaccess.txt to .htaccess

In order to rename htaccess.txt to .htaccess, we could do it through command prompt. Syntax:

ren [htaccess.txt directory]\htaccess.txt .htaccess

Example:

ren DaGu\htdocs\joomla15\htaccess.txt .htaccess

That’s it!

Joomla! 1.5 SEO

Dagu — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 14:57:04 +0000

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. It is a great way to make our web “read” by the search engine. Many web owners hire SEO professional to optimize their web. But for the Joomla 1.5 users, they should be happy because in this version, Joomla had improved better features for SEO. There are three techniques for SEO in Joomla, they are Search Engine Friendly (SEF) URLs, mod_rewrite (only for Apache), and suffix. If you want to apply SEO, you should choose at least SEF option. If you wan to use mod_rewrite, SEF option must be choosen. It will much better if we use suffix too. With suffix, in the end of the URL will be added .html. Available combinations for SEO in Joomla are:

SEF
SEF + suffix
SEF + mod_rewrite
SEF + mod_rewrite + suffix (recommended)

The difference among combinations above are the URL produced. If we don’t use SEO, the URL will be:

http://blog.danigunawan.com/joomla15/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=19&Itemid=27

For the SEF option, the URL will be:

http://blog.danigunawan.com/joomla15/index.php/joomla-overview

The URL can be read easily than the URL without SEF. Notice that there is "index.php" in the URL. If we add suffix option, then in the end of the URL will be appended html extension like shown below:

http://blog.danigunawan.com/joomla15/index.php/joomla-overview.html

Compare if we use Apache mod_rewrite, the result is shown below:

http://blog.danigunawan.com/joomla15/joomla-overview

If we use mod_rewrite, URL will look nice and tidy without "index.php". Html extension can be appended by choosing suffix option. The result is shown below:

http://blog.danigunawan.com/joomla15/joomla-overview.html

SEO Implementation in Joomla! 1.5
SEO Implementation in Joomla 1.5 is very very easy.

Login to Joomla back-end as super administrator.
Choose menu Site > Global Configuration.
In Global Configuration there are three tabs that are Site, System dan Server. In tab Site, look at the SEO Settings. Choose the combination as you need.
Click Save or Apply.

Joomla! 1.5 SEO Settings

Remember!

If you want to implement option number two (Use Apache mod_rewrite), the web server should be Apache with mod_rewrite module is active (Read article: Activate mod_rewrite in Apache). After that rename htaccess.txt in the Joomla root directory to be .htaccess (Read article: Rename htaccess.txt to be .htaccess in Windows). If you get error message while implementing SEO option number two, try to edit .htaccess file, find this line:

Options +FollowSymLinks

Add "#" character. So the line will be:

#Options +FollowSymLinks

Restart your Apache web server.

Tobacamp Studio

Dagu — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 14:59:58 +0000

Tobacamp Studio (http://tobacamp.com), one of thousands web that provide extensions and templates for Joomla 1.5. Although this web using English as it’s default language, but the name “Tobacamp” reflecting that this company comes from Indonesia, especially Medan. Yes, that’s right, Tobacamp is one of the IT company in Medan that has vision to satisfy the client’s requirements. Tobacamp succeed to convince the clients to entrust web or desktop application development to them, because Tobacamp is supported by the finest designer and programmer in Medan.

Like I said before, we can see in Tobacamp website, their specialization are providing Joomla extensions and templates. May be that can be true, but the extensions and templates are the masterpieces from their programmer. They want to share their work to everyone on the Internet, especially for Joomla 1.5 users. That’s why much of their extensions and templates can be downloaded without a penny!

If you one of the Joomla 1.5 users, you should try their free extensions and templates.

Joomla! Won "Best CMS Award" (Again)

Dagu — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 04:46:00 +0000

On 31st October 2007, Packt Publishing announced Joomla as winner of “Best PHP Open Source Content Management System” for year 2007. This is second winning for Joomla. For this year, int the second position is Drupal, then e107 in the third position. Joomla first release is on September 2005. Since that release, Joomla is the most downloaded CMS.

A few factor that make Joomla win the competition is nice and simple front-end administrator. Besides, community responses to problems about Joomla is very fast. Joomla is in the big five for Overal Award, which will be announced on Friday, 2nd November 2007.

Congratulation Joomla!