How to install Joomla 1.5 on your webserver

Step-by-step instructions for installing Joomla 1.5 RC & nightly build.

These instructions assume that you:

• have basic computer skills


• know how to use FTP


• have access to your webhosting account

Download Joomla 1.5

1. Download Joomla 1.5 from Joomla.org

Extract the download to your computer's website directory

2. Open the file and extract the contents to the directory or folder on your system where you'll keep your website backup. If you want to install it in a special folder on your site do so. It isn't recommendable to install it in the same folder as another web program, so if you have already installed WordPress or another program in your public-html directory then put Joomla in another directory like /joomla or /yoursitestopic.

Upload Joomla 1.5 via FTP to the web server

3. Upload everything to your webhost's server's FTP account. I use Dreamweaver for normal HTML coding and it has FTP included so I use that but any program that lets you upload a folder or directory is fine.

Some webhosting companies let you upload .zip files for later extraction online but many do not. That is why I don't tell you to upload the compressed file. If your host lets you do so then extract the file online to save time.

Take a break

4. While your Joomla files are uploading, watch something on TV, play a video game, call your mom, or whatever.

Go to your uploaded directory on the server

5. Once the files have finished uploading and they DID all upload, go in your favorite webbrowser, mine is Firefox, to http://yourdomain.com/yourjoomladirectory

Substitute the domain that you have registered and the folder you put the Joomla contents in.

If you installed Joomla in the public_html or main web directory on your server then just go to: http://yourdomain.com

again substituting your actual domain.

Verify that the Joomla! page appears

6. If you typed the address correctly then you'll see a page with "Joomla! Installation version 1.5" in the header.

Choose your installation Language

7. First you have to choose your installation language. En-GB for British English is selected. You could select a different language in the list and click the 'next' button. The next button is to the right of the language list.

Pre-install Check

8. The next page is the Pre-installation check. The Pre-installation check checks your PHP and Mysql settings.

This depends on your webhosting company and the server software that they installed. If your system fails a check then you'll need to let your hosting company know and see if they can change the software or if they can help you modify your php.ini. I have been using Bluehost and by default my system passed the Pre-installation check.

You know you are ok if all the settings are in green, so click on 'next'.

License Agreement

9. This next screen has the License agreement. You can read it and click on 'next'.

Database page

10. This screen has fields for the Mysql database. You need to create a database for use with Joomla. If you haven't already just open a new window or tab in your webbrowser, login to your webhosting account, and create a database and user. Write down all this information so you can enter it into the Joomla window that is still open.

• In the hostname field type: localhost


• In the username field type the username for the database as you setup via your webhost.


• In the password field type you username's password for the database that you setup.


• In the database name field type the name of the database.

Click on 'next'

Joomla! FTP

11. This page asks for you to configure Joomla 1.5 with FTP. Use the same settings that you used to upload the Joomla files to your server OR create a new account with your webhost and enter it instead.

Click on 'autofind ftp path' and it will test your FTP settings and enter the actual directory path from your account root.

Click on 'next'

Main Configuration

12. This page is called 'Main Configuration'

Enter the name of your site.

Enter the e-mail address that you will use.

Enter your administrator username and password (and write it down in a txt file or on a sheet of paper).

If you have a new install keep the dot in the 'install the default sample data'.

If you are upgrading, use the option to load the migration script and add the required information.

click on 'next'

Finish

13. You are now on the 'finish' page. This means that Joomla 1.5 is installed. Wasn't that easy?

Delete your Joomla installation directory

14. Using your FTP program or your webhost's control panel or file manager, delete the installation directory inside your Joomla directory. You could also rename it but you should delete it for security reasons.

Log in to your account as administrator for further configuration

15. Log in as administrator so you can configure it to your heart's content.

warning: If you enable the 'wrapper' module you must add a URL to its URL field or the system won't open in Internet Explorer and you'll get an error message in Firefox saying that the URL is not valid.

As long as the site's URL is entered OR the wrapper module is disabled you won't have a problem.

Joomla 1.5 Problem isolated: The URL is not valid and cannot be loaded or http:///

If you remember from earlier posts I had started with HTML many years ago, I've updated my HTML knowledge but now I'm learning PHP and Javascript and I'm looking for a way to integrate or at least harmoniously have Wordpress and a CMS on my sites. Wordpress is powerful, and easy to use however it isn't Javascript or external PHP friendly. It also doesn't work with Iframes so that work around isn't available. I have made the comment in the Wordpress website how an integrated IFRAME option for pages would work around many problems and I have my fingers crossed. ;-)

I had tried Drupal but due to several issues including confusing options, overall bad administrative design, and posts that got cut off half way through, I have decided to drop Drupal until I feel like torturing myself.

I had stopped my adventure with CMSs, Content Management Systems, after installing Joomla 1.5 and getting the following error in Firefox:

The URL is not valid and cannot be loaded

I had posted the error in the Joomla forum hoping for an answer and I started working on other projects. I finally realized this morning that I still didn't have a solution so I reposted the error.

I quickly got a reply from a forum moderator to try a nightly install version. I deleted Joomla from the server, downloaded the nightly 1.5 version and uploaded it all into a new folder, /business.

I checked it and I didn't get the error. I was so happy I went into configuring the installation. Joomla has a very nice graphic menu system so I am able to check those settings quickly.

I marked SEO friendly URLs, Modrewrite, and I enabled a few modules that were preinstalled but by default deactivated. I tried again to log in and guess what?

Firefox gave me: The URL is not valid and cannot be loaded

When you get this message you can later click on OK and change settings. IE doesn't let you do anything.

and Internet Explorer gave me http:/// with a white page.

I went back to the admin options and tried changing the normal settings and I disabled all but the Wrapper module.

I got the error again and then I realized I hadn't tried disabling the Wrapper module as it was by default. I did so and the error went away. I went back into the wrapper module and I saw that there is a field in the right 'parameter' column called URL:

The URL field was blank. I don't know what it is supposed to do but I added the URL for my Joomla install. I reactivated the wrapper module and I don't get the error anymore.

Joomla 1.5 Question: Can upgrade from Joomla 1.13 to 1.5?

I discovered that you can't do a typical upgrade install. You'll have to backup your database and any special configurations and do a clean install of Joomla 1.5 and then reimport everything. You can find the exact steps to take to switch from 1.xx to 1.5 on the Joomla website.

• The Joomla Forum


• Joomla Help


• Joomla Extentions

Monetize your website experiment: AuctionAds

AuctionAds: Increase the bid on your site's income!

Today is August 16th. I've just signed up for AuctionAds. Why? well my Adsense isn't sufficient to be able to dedicate as much time as I'd like on my websites and I have heard that it makes some people money.

I've added AuctionAds to my 10 most popular landing pages on my main website and I've added it to this blog's sidebar.

I will also modify my main site's Dreamweaver templates and replace one Adsense link ad block with an auction ad. I've been using the maximum link ad allotment and I don't think it would make a difference.

My first impressions about their system is good. I was able to sign-up quickly and it wasn't difficult to get the code and put it on my site. I tested it and I later noticed that AuctionAds is reporting those Ad Impressions.

Like most webmasters, I like to see frequent updates.

If you are interested in trying out AuctionAds on your site click the following link: Try AuctionAds

AuctionAds is different from Google Adsense in two ways:

1. It is not contextual. It uses keywords that you place in each ad.

2. They pay you per action so it is more of an affiliate program than an advertising program.

Someone has to register, or bid on ads for there to be any earnings.

They are similar because:

1. You can select the colors that are displayed

2. There are different ad sizes to fit your site.

I'll later post an update on how responsive it is and if any income is generated using it.

Make an outline and mindmap of your website

Now that you have all your objectives, features, considerations, and analysis, it is time to organize it.

Define possible organizational structures that could be used on your website. What kind of menu would be appropiate for the information and categories you'll provide?

How many menus & where?

How many menus deep should your site's menu go?

A technological information site could have several levels of information in many categories however a site for children's games should not.  In some cases a long list might be more appropriate than a menu.

How many side bars will you have?  Will the menu be in a sidebar or horizontal above the content?

You could even have more than one menu.

For example:  The education web site could have a teachers' section and a student section.

It could have a horizontal menu to select if you are a teacher or student and submenus for the level or subject being taught. The submenu might become a separate menu in a sidebar.

Perhaps there will be a separate menu to handle logins and profile information.

Once all of your must-have features are included in the design and you are happy, you can finally start installing your CMS and code HTML.

Analyze the competition before designing your business website.

Check out the competition

Before you start writing that first page of code or installing Wordpress, Joomla, etc., go see what other companies in your industry are doing. Also check site for related industries.

How are their services and products better or worse?  How expensive are they?  Can you offer the same product or service at a better price or quality?  Can you do more promotions or give more of a sense of loyalty or added value?

What do you not like about the competitors' web sites?  Are the colors confusing or hard to read?  What about the page layout and font size?

Is the website for eyeglasses and contact lenses written in a small font?

Compare each competitor site with the others and make a list of good and bad features. Write down how that bad feature could be fixed or replaced.

Rank each feature accordingly

After you write down all of the above, start ranking each feature that you liked according to necessity. Keep in mind your objectives and target audience.  Make the most important features essential to your site design.  Integrate them before adding others.

Consider which products and services are best suited for your business website

Not all products and services are easy to sell online.

Some difficult to sell products

Farmers are not likely to buy a tractor online because they will want to check it out, test drive it around the show lot, and see all of the controls.

Eyeglasses are difficult to sell online because people want to see what they will look like with them on.

Groceries are also difficult. People like to select fresh goods and they'll be concerned that the could receive food that is past the expiration date.

When selling clothing you must include pictures of models wearing the clothing. Information about sizes are essential.

Consider catalog sales. Catalogs have similar limitations.   The difference is that your website can be interactive.

Plan to add interactive features to show off your products

What interactive features can you add to your business web site to enhance your products and services?

• You could allow visitors to rate the products and add their own reviews.


• You could add a wish list feature for each registered user.


• You could allow them to recommend a product to a friend.


• You could add e-mail reminders for important events that could use a product or service.


• You could provide sample texts, sample images, and limited use software demos.


• You could  show video clips of the homes your real estate company is selling.

Consider the tecnological level of your target audience when designing a business web site

Choose an appropriate resolution according to your target audience

What would happen if you designed your website for a 800x600 resolution?

It would be easy for anyone to read but what if your audience is computer game and graphic designers?

Do you think that 800x600 would be the appropiate resolution?

What if you were writing for school children in India. Do you think that they'd have the same level of technology?

Most people seem to use 1024x768 or 1280x1024 but there are also many people using smaller sizes, so it makes sense to use 'sidebars' which are left or right hand columns next to your main content. Yes, some people never change their monitor's resolution after they buy it so you could have a 19" monitor set at 800x600.

Consider the target audience's internet connection type and speed.

Technology is cheaper and faster in Western Europe, Japan, and the United States so you can expect that most people in those regions have faster connections than people in eastern Europe, Latin America, Asia, and Africa.

While Mexico City has easy access to technology, the prices are much higher for computers, internet service providers, ISPs, and Webhosting. In fact, we recently switch from a Mexican web hosting company to Blue Host in the U.S. It was about half the price for much better service.

People in the U.S. will have a faster internet connection than in Mexico for the same price or cheaper so it is difficult for economically challenged families in Mexico city to have the same access.

If you are going to have sound and video on a website for a country or region with more limited access then consider compressing the sound and video files so that it will still be playable on a slower connection.

Even in the United States you can find people without access to high speed connections. Many rural areas don't have anything faster than typical dial-up. Remote locations might even have to call long distance to connect.

So if you have a site about farming and ranching, a video heavy site might not be appropiate.

This is slowly changing due to new wide area wireless networks, but they probably won't become common in most rural areas for another 10 years. They are still not common in large cities. In reality, Wide area wireless networking ISPs are still considered experimental.

Divide your business website content & design according to different target groups and demographics

When you start to determine what content will be added to your business's web site, consider dividing the content according to the type of visitor you'll have.

 Divide content according to target demographics and consider their needs and what they are looking for.

An educational site could divide its content into levels of knowledge, classes, or divide teachers and students. It could even divide the content into subjects.  By determining this before you start writing and coding your site, you'll save time.

After you divide your market, say  teachers and students, ask yourself  what their goals and needs would be.

You could determine that teachers need teaching ideas, lesson plans, and activities whereas the students need activities, tips for learning, reference and practice material.

How would you divide your target users? What are their goals, needs, and what are they looking for?

How would your website design be different for different visitors?

Would a site for children and a site for teenagers look the same as a site for 55+?

Would a site for mechanics look the same as a site for accountants?

Consider both page layout and colors when designing your business web site.

Things all good business websites should include SEO, Search Engine Optimization, opt-in marketing, dynamic content, interactivity, and good links/navigation

All business web sites regardless of their primary objectives, should be:

• 
  

  designed considering search engines; search engine optimized

  
  

A website designed for search engines will have descriptive titles, headers, page titles, image alt tags, and descriptive meta tags. It can be a big task but it can greatly increase traffic to your web site.

• 
  

  easy to navigate.

  
  

A site map, clear and consistently placed menus, and menus with titles will all help. Menus should be organized logically.

• 
  

  interesting enough that the visitor has a reason to return later.

  
  

A forum, an advice column, contests, personalized user accounts, games, and a blog can all motivate people to return.

• 
  

  opt-in friendly for Newsletters or e-mail notifications for different products

  
  

Visitors should be given the opportunity to select information that they'd like to receive later.

An opt-in list of services, newsletters, blog subscriptions, and RSS feed subscriptions will keep them informed. Also give the visitor the opportunity to recommend your site, product, or page to a friend. Referrals bring more customers than search engines because there is automatically a little trust established by the referrer.

• 
  

  interesting enough to guide the user from one section to the next though links and menus.

  
  

A web site will be more successful if it leads the visitor from one section to another. On a blog you could include related articles to the end of a post. There could be a page grouping the articles as a series. Give the visitor navigational clues on where to go or they might just leave.

• 
  

  designed to encourage loyalty

  
  

You could reward new users who register, allow them their own opportunities to help and get involved.

A site could have a members only area or a blog could have members only articles. You could send them holiday and birthday e-mails and incorporate autoreplies and e-mail visitors who comment on your site or e-mail you.

Plan your Business web site before you start coding

So you've got a business plan but do you have a business web site plan?

Many companies today treat their web sites as insignificant extras, but a company's web site should be an integral part of its business planning.

Web site planning

To plan your business website you need to first consider your business objectives for having the web site. These should be similar to your business's general objectives. Additionally, you should consider your audience, or targeted demographics, and what products and services your company is offering or going to offer.

Web site goals

What are the primary and secondary goals for your web site?

Who will be using the web site internally and externally?

Here are some common goals:

• 
  

  Advertising your product or service

  
  

When your goal is advertising your product or service, you want to let people know about what you are offering.

The purpose isn't to make the sale but to pre-sell, or generate interest. You will want to include elements in your web site design that will help it spread virally. You could add social bookmarking and referral links.

Perhaps you could add video or pictures to show your product more clearly. If it works then the visitor will be interested in your product or service the next time he has a need. You might even create the 'need'.

• 
  

  Selling your product or service

  
  

There are several differences here. When selling the product or service, you will be giving specific details about the product or service. You will need to give a secure, simple, and easy way for the visitor to turn into a customer. If the visitor doesn't understand or gets confused, he or she will most likely cancel the order or leave it incomplete. You'll want to add information about any guarantees and warranties, return policies, shipping options, etc.

• 
  

  Providing customer service

  
  

If you are going to include customer service, then you will need to add text-based chat and a F.A.Q., frequently asked questions. You could include steps to solve common problems. Perhaps you could integrate help-desk tracking software.

• 
  

  Providing information about your company.

  
  

Who is your audience? You should provide information according your potential audience.

It might include press releases, news, media kits, a telephone and e-mail directory. You might even include a newsletter.

• 
  

  Providing information about your service.

  
  

Here you could provide technical documentation, product demonstration videos, news about new products and product updates, white pages, and more.

• 
  

  Creating or establishing brand recognition or awareness.

  
  

When creating or establish brand recognition or brand awareness you must provide a very consistent look. You should have professionally designed logos and images. It would be essential to use a CMS, Content Management System like Joomla, so that any changes to the web site theme will update on all pages. If you need a less complex site then Wordpress is more than adequate.

• 
  

  Advertising another company's products or services.

  
  

If your company will do outsourced sales and marketing then your focus is on the image and products of the other company so you'd want to downplay who you are and provide more information, and advertising so that the user will be ready to click on over to the main company to buy their product or service.

Become a millionaire by moving your online business

Are you currently starting an online business or have you had it for a while now?

If you have been working online for a while now, you've probably noticed that you aren't having to 'go to work' because 'work' has become the kitchen table or the desk in the quiet corner next to the big window.  Perhaps your office is now a converted basement or perhaps your home or apartment has a spare or guest bedroom that you have taken over.

Just maybe you have been seeing a slow but steady progress from investing in your online business (computer, internet, scanner, camera, printer, graphic design, website design, software, etc.) to actually making some money through selling your products or services online as well as using online advertising and affiliate sales.

Unless you have been working hard on your business for a year or more, your income is probably very limited and you are still eating cheap foods and wondering how you are going to pay the rent or your mortgage.

Remember that Profit is Income-expenses , right?

One thing you should consider is moving to some place cheaper to live.

Rent is for most of us, the biggest expense followed by food and transportation.

Before you take the plunge...

Here are some issues to consider:

• Do you like the place your are considering moving to?


• If you have a family, will your children have access to good schools?


• Is there access to places where you can see your friends or make new ones?


• Is there access to shipping for your non-digital products?


• Will you have place to store your physical goods?


• Is there access to health care?


• Is there access to always-on or fast Internet service?


• Is there a market or grocery store nearby?  How expensive is it?


• How much will it cost me to move?


• How long will it take me to recover my moving expenses?


• How much of a down payment or security deposit do I need to have?

If you're single or don't have children, moving can be an easy decision to make for your online business. You don't need that expensive downtown apartment to write in your blog :-)

If you are considering buying an apartment in a central area consider the outskirts of the city or suburbs off the main highways.  For the cost of the condominium downtown, you probably can buy a house in the suburb.  Instead of having your office on the kitchen table, you could have a room for your office.   You'll also have less noise to distract you.

My personal situation

One of my personal concerns as an English teacher is to be able to get to my classes. I often have class at 7 in the morning. Obviously I need to live in or near downtown near public transportation, but if I only do translations then it won't be very important where I live. I'd only need to drop off the invoice. Perhaps I'd have to meet with a new client in person. It definitely wouldn't be a weekly occurance.  When I looked into the possibility of buying a condominium, in the area of Mexico city I am currently renting in, I found it would cost me between 550,000 and 650,000 pesos to buy for between 45 and 62 square meters, no parking spot included.  However if I were willing to live in the suburbs to the north of the city, the same real estate company could sell me a small house for the price of the cheaper apartment. Oh, yeah, I'd have a parking space in front :-)

I of course had to say no, since my teaching income is higher than my online and translation income.

I know clients who live in that same suburb.  It takes them about two hours to get to work and home because of the heavy rush hour traffic. If you have an online business you don't have to go shopping or visit clients at rush hour.

 So what does it have to do with becoming a millionaire?

Well lets say you move and buy that small house. You don't have to use that extra bedroom for your office. You could rent it out and use that income to help pay your mortgage bill.  You could buy or rent only a condominium in the suburb and discover that you have an extra $200 dollars a month that you used to spend on that expensive apartment downtown.

By investing that 'new money' you have through lowered living expenses, you'll become a millionaire in only a few years. If you buy a house instead of renting an apartment, your home equity will make you a millionaire even quicker.

Monetize your website experiment update: NewsRoom, Amazon.com Affiliate, Google Adsense

Here is a mid-month update regarding my experiment on using Amazon.com and Newsroom news videos on my websites.

The News Room

The News Room looked very promising. I wanted to add video to our main site, portallanguageservices.com, so it seemed natural to include their videos however I am so far very unhappy.

I'm unhappy with the news room for the following reasons:

1. Slow updates

The news feeds are updated very slowly. I had added a news feed for world news and I even had it on the front page of my site for 10 days. I only noticed one new video added for that entire period. I don't know if the feed system is messed up or not, but it isn't my problem. There should be an easy way to pick a topic and have that topic appear.

2. One-by-one

It seems that the only way to add text news is to go to their site and select them one-by-one.

Do I really want to spend 30 minutes everyday to go to their site to select news and then post it on my site when I could be working on adding my own content? Only if the compensation is high enough which it isn't.

3. The compensation is low

The idea is that you are sharing ad revenue, but even though there is a video ad, you get very little money. Even though the world news video feed was on my front page on my most important site, it only registered views for a fraction of visitors so I made less than half of a dollar for a third of a month.

I can make more with Adsense ads. They mention that you make money for referrals but there is no code to be found for having referrals. So how to I refer people to use it without a referral link or button?

4. Their reporting system is flawed.

If I have over 60 visitors to my main site on average and at least 20 of them go to my main site then I could expect that at least half of them 'saw' the automatically playing news video. The system didn't even register that many. Since there is no FAQ to explain how all this works I don't know what to think.

The revenue reporting option that appears after logging in only reports about one out of 6 or 7 days. The rest of the time it tells me that it is 'being updated'. I want to know if it is working or not. I have a sinking feeling that these 'being updated' days don't report when videos are being watched.

Because of the above reasons, I don't recommend trying TheNewsRoom even if Problogger.net is advertising it.

I removed the 'video feed' from portallanguageservices.com 's front page and I left it on the 'video activity pages' as a supplemental activity. I'm not giving it a prominent location anymore, since the videos aren't getting updated by keyword as they were supposed to. I will leave the system there for at least a few more months or until I find a better option for giving students and visitors videos for practicing their listening comprehension skills.

If TheNewsRoom improves their services, I'll let you know in another post.

Amazon.com's Affiliate Report

I haven't had much luck so far. I've gotten a few clicks but no sales. I haven't been pre-selling any books yet. I have only made them available.

A-Store advertisements don't work

One problem is that there was supposed to be a way to put advertisements on your site that would show products that you're offering in a blended way and that when clicked on, the visitor would be sent to your Amazon.com A-store. Well that system doesn't work.

I put the ad code on pages in my main site. I thought it would be a good fit since most people who are learning languages also need reading material. They need supplemental books. The ad code only shows a generic Amazon.com ad so I get no traffic and I lose potential Adsense clicks because the visitor has already left my site for Amazon.com.

The generic Amazon.com ad doesn't not blend well. In fact, it is a bit garish. I think it looks like your typical banner ad.

I of course tried e-mailing Amazon.com's Affiliate support. I e-mailed them twice.

The first time the answer was " I went to your A-store, and the links work". I had told them by e-mail that the ad links TO the A-store weren't working not that the A-store itself didn't.

The second time I e-mailed them was a reply to the first reply. I clarified that NO it wasn't the A-store but the ads that were supposed to be blended and referring to your A-store that didn't work. They replied that they were 'aware of the issue'.

If they were aware of the issue, then why didn't I see a warning on Amazon's Affiliate site next to the option for this kind of ad? They could have just posted a message in big bold letters saying. This service doesn't yet work so you'll see a generic ad instead.

I like that they did reply to my e-mails but I didn't like wasting my time configuring the blended A-store advertisements and adding the code to my site to later find out that they 'were aware of the issue'.

I'm not saying I wouldn't recommend Amazon.com but I think you'd either need thousands of visitors a day or you'd need to pre-sell books through reviews or other promotions.

Google Adsense update

So far it appears that I'll get 25% more from Google ads this month. Last month I made about 16 dollars in Google Ads. So far this month I've made $10.96. Yes I know it isn't much but it is increasing every month. I have been getting many many clicks but the money/click isn't very high. I do like Adsense though and I do recommend it. The ads blend with the content so they never look bad.

Check out Google Adsense to earn money on your websites:

Check out Google Adwords to promote your website:

Conclusions

I think that if you have a high volume of site traffic, Adsense could make you a lot of money. I also like Google Adsense because its reporting is pretty accurate and it updates frequently. I can check several times a day and see updates.

Amazon.com's Affiliate program reports once a day and you don't see the previous day's report until the next morning.

I've been waiting several days to see TheNewsRoom update its report.

16 Excuses people make for not saving or investing their money.

1. I have to pay for my children's private (not university) school so I can't save or invest any money.

If you can't save money because you are spending all your money on their private elementary school, how do you expect to pay for their University which will be much more expensive? Wouldn't it be better to save money by having them study in public elementary school so that you'll have the money to pay for their private university?

2. I don't make enough money to save any money. If I earned $X/per month I would.

The problem here is that the more money we make, the more we spend on upgrading our lifestyles.

This is part of the idea that we compete with our neighbors, coworkers, and people in our social groups.

If Billy buys a new car, I all of a sudden, NEED a new car.

Just maybe, Billy is using his home equity loan and credit cards to buy all that stuff. Why do you want to be like him anyway?

If you always wait until you make more money, you will not save a dime, peso or even a euro.

You just have to start. The best way to do it is by saving or investing a percent or two of your money everytime you get paid then when you get used to it just increase by a percent or more. The longer you wait, the higher the percentage of money you'll need to save to be able to retire at 65 or 67.

3. I don't need to save money. I will work until I die.

I'm glad you love your job, but depending on what you do you might not be able to or want to keep doing it when you're at a retirement age or older. In fact, many people because of injuries or just getting older are not capable of working their job at the 'ripe old' age of 55. If your job now makes you occasionally do heavy lifting or work irregular hours, you'll probably find that at 55 or 65, or 75 you won't be able to do it. Just perhaps you'll want a career change, but who wants to hire a 60 year old with no experience? I don't know about you but even if I work part time when I'm 55 or 65 years old, I want to have the option to retire and go on cruises or whatever.

4. I wasn't taught to save money when I was a child.

You don't have to be a child to be taught, and you don't have to be a child to learn. This excuse is lame. Perhaps the old dog can't learn new tricks but I have news for you, you aren't a dog! Dogs can't read.

You can take a course at a Jr. college, go to a seminar, read about investing and saving online, or ask someone WHO HAS BEEN saving or investing for help. If your mother doesn't know how to ride a bike, why would you ask her to teach you?

It would be better to ask that 'successful' friend you've been secretly jealous of, how he or she does it. You might think it is luck. It is probably a lot of goal planning and money management.

5. What little I save will be insignificant/not enough, so why bother?

Lets say you are dirt broke, you have credit card debt, and you can't pay your bills.

I bet you don't follow a budget and you spend a significant portion of your money on Entertainment, clothing, cell phones, or cars that you can't afford. If you only make minimum wage, consider moving in with relatives or sharing an inexpensive apartment with friends. Get a roommate or two. Put in bunk beds, and cancel the cable television. Only use the most basic cell phone plan if you need one. Cook at home instead of eating out.

The amount you save by checking your expenses will be incredible after a few years.

6. My husband will take care of me.

Have you asked him? What if he dies tomorrow? What if he becomes disabled? Do you have permanent disability insurance? Is your insured income sufficient for both of you to live off of? What if you get a divorce? Why should he have to take care of you?

7. I'm too impulsive to save anything.

There are many strategies for impulsive people to save money. You could set up an automatic withdrawal from your bank account every month or twice a month. You could have you paycheck direct deposited. Be creative and find a solution.

8. I'm not smart enough to save money. I didn't study Business or accounting at school.

You don't have to be a rocket scientist to save money. Just start saving or investing in something that doesn't have a high barrier to entry, high minimum balance, and then start learning more about your options. You could start by opening a savings account in the bank for an emergency fund and then later invest it in anything that offers you better returns.

9. I don't have enough money to open an account at my bank.

No problem, go to another bank, check out investments in money market fund using automatic withdrawal, or put your money in a safe place until you do have enough.

10. I won't save anything because I could die tomorrow ... and then what?

Why eat, clean, cook, sleep, or do anything at all because you could die tomorrow. If you plan to fail, do you think you will win? Do you think money falls from the sky or grows on trees? Do you want the rest of your life to be just as mediocre as it is today... if you do keep it up. You'll be as unsuccessful as you plan to be. Besides, if you died tomorrow, who will bury you? Death is expensive!

11. I'm too young to save money, and I need to be free and enjoy life.

If you have a full time job and you're not in the university then you are old enough to save money.

Yes, I agree that you should enjoy your life, however you'll enjoy it more by saving young and retiring early.

12. I would have to sacrifice everything to save money and I don't want to suffer.

Who told you that you'd have to suffer? You'll suffer more when your car breaks down and you can't pay to get it repaired. You'll suffer when you have that accident and you can't pay the hospital bill!

13. I have no reason to save any money.

Do you want to own your own condominium or house? Do you want to pay off your car loan? How about a vacation cottage in the mountains for your extended family? Do you want to donate to charities? Would you like to pay for your child's or nephew's education? Do you have money to pay for graduation, wedding, baby shower, or birthday gifts?

14. I' m too old to save money.

Do you have a job? Do you have any goals? Is your house or condominium 100% paid off? Are you current on your health insurance premiums?

15. I will live off of social security.

If you want to live off of social security payments you'll have to take a huge lifestyle cut. You'll probably have to get a part time job to pay for those incidental expenses and medicine. Most people take medicine on a daily basis for a variety of reasons. If you get a part time job when you are old you won't make as much as you did before you quit.

16. My children will take care of me and I will live off of them.

Can I say grow up? Won't they be busy taking care of their own children? If your children live in another city or country, will you be willing to move in with them and adapt to their lifestyle? Perhaps you're planning on not letting your children leave home, but at what price?

Make a plan and keep a record of your expenses to get rich.

How much money do you have, right now?

Do you know how much you earn every month after taxes? I mean do you really?

The same goes for your small business. Many small and micro business owners don't know and yet we say everything is under control.

Many businesses fail because of simple cash flow issues.... In simple terms, they spent more than they took in.

That can happen due to bad planning and due to bad record keeping.

Where is your money going?

What about your personal finances? Do you have a budget AKA spending plan?

Do you know where your money really goes every month? Do you buy things impulsively which you never need nor use.

These things don't add any value to your life. They do reduce your savings and investing potential.

Making a budget or spending plan

Budgeting is not difficult. It only requires a little effort and occasional modifications.

1. Budget for good not for evil... Budgeting gives you the control over your money.

Budgets are not for beating yourself up. They are not torture. They are to help you know what you're doing with your money so that you stay in control.

2. Income - Expenses

Just make a list of income sources and a list of expenses that are incurred.

If you forget an expense just add it later and revise the numbers. Subtract the expenses from the income and hope the number is positive. If you own a business don't forget to consider the taxes that you'll have to pay as an expense.

3. Keep your budget simple

You don't have to count every little expense. You don't need to make an entry for gummy bears, and another for Jolly Ranchers. An entry for candy or better yet Junk food is fine. Better yet include junk food in your entertainment expense category.

4. Give your self an allowance

Put your money for food in one pile or envelope and the money for entertainment in the other. When your budget for this item runs out you can't spend any more in that area until the next month.

5. Add an expense category for investments

The goal of budgeting isn't to break even at the end of the month. The goal is to be better off than the previous month.

So add the expense of your investments to the expenses. If you are struggling to survive start with 5%. If you are making a good salary then start at 15% or 10% if you are in your lower 20s. The more money you save on a regular basis, the richer you become. Being rich isn't how much money you make. Being rich is how much money you keep (and earn interest & more money).

Why should I do all this? I don't want to get rich! Money isn't important to me!

You'll need that money later for emergencies, the new baby or grandchild, your family's inheritence or for you to enjoy when you are older. If you invest enough, you'll be able to retire or retire early.

You never know when there will be an emergency. Could you pay the costs of surgery? Ok, You have comprehensive health insurance... what about your dog? If you had savings you could pay for his operation.

You could give your income from investments to charity or start a grant to disperse that money after you die. You could fund research for Malaria, AIDS, and Cancer. If you spend all of your money every month you won't be able to any of that.

Making Money online with an online business (and get rich?)

Here are different types of online businesses you could start with a blog and Wordpress plugins.

1. Be a critic!

Some people just love to criticize everything they come across. They don't like the new Harry Potter book while they rave about the last episode of Oprah... or was it Montel?

If you are a critic, you could set up a review site. Give the pros and cons for everything. Can you recommend it?

Even if you can't recommend it people can check out what you reviewed.

Just pick a topic: celebrities, health care, internet services, books, restaurants, etc.

How to make money by being a critic: One option is to sign up for affiliate networks. When you review a product, add a banner ad and a text link to it so people can see the product or service. If your visitor makes a sale during a specified time, you'll get a commission.

2. Be a buyer's guide

The difference here is that you don't offer an opinion. Just list the pros and cons of each product in your topic and provide links. Make a table comparing different features and let the reader form his or her own opinion. Text-based links would be great for this as well as Google Adsense. Ad some posts listing criteria they should use in selecting a product or service.

3. Be a consultant

By consulting online or in person for your area, you blog is just your PR representative.

Add pictures, a stunning biography, some audio clips, and provide links to related complementary services that will only indirectly compete. Use a contact form, and a newsletter to keep people informed about your changing services.

Put examples of your work online. If you are a writer, promote your book with a landing page and offer an excerpt.

If you are a photographer, put thumbnails of your work online beside your text.

If you are a business consultant, try to get some testimonials added. Can you get permission to mention a successful project and how it benefited your client?

4. Be a writer

The idea here is to write about your passion, your heart's desire. If you are passionate and knowledgable about your subject people will come. Your text should dominate the page, and any advertisements should only be secondary.

I think that if you write many pages of text you should consider contextual in text link ads. There are several programs available to do so. In text link ads will appear automatically after signing up and inserting special code in your website or blog. When a user's cursor hovers over a linked word, a pop-up-ish box appears with a mini advertisement.

Some programs pay per click while others pay commissions on sales. There are different requirements for each program.

An advantage to using in text link ads is that you will only need one sidebar not two.

This allows your content to take up more space. You could even select a Wordpress theme that has a larger text size, which is easier for those of us with larger monitors to read.

My current monitor is 19"wide which is natively at 1440x900, When not playing games, I drop it down to 1280x960. Why? Because everything just looks too tiny otherwise! If someone is going to read pages of your text and you only have one sidebar, consider increasing the text size in your theme's CSS file.

5. sell goods and services online

Some services like graphic design could easily be done online. Web hosting reselling also can be easily setup.

You could sell your homemade crafts, carving, crochet, knitting, carving, etc.

What about selling silk screened products? Profit margin is a little low but you could make them very personalized.

6. Sell digital downloads online

These could be your digital downloads or through a sales agreement you made with others.

Just make sure the agreement is written and signed.

Anything that can be digital, can be sold online with good landing pages.

If you are a programmer, sell software. If you are a writer, sell e-books. If you are a photographer, sell photographs.

If you are a mechanic, make how to videos for repairs. If you love to garden, why not record tours of botanical gardens and sell it online? Record basic things that are hard to explain. How to prune a tree, how to repot a plant, how to plant bulbs, etc.

7. Build a community

Most people who blog are at a disadvantage since blog forums are not that good. You can hover make sure comments are turned on, use plug ins or links to a good forum that you've designed, invite guests and experts to guest blog.

Use Google Adsense with community sites and change ad positions and colors over time so that ad-blindness is reduced.

The advantage of community sites is that once you have visitors, new visitors make the new content for you.

You only have to keep the ball rolling . The disadvantage is that it is difficult to get those first few visitors to post so that your site will show up in Google searches.

Trying out Joomla 1.5RC: Part 2

I have been a little busy so it took me a couple days to go back to my Joomla 1.5RC install and see what works and what doesn't.

First of all I went to my /joomla folder and I noticed something that I suppose occurred before. I got an error message saying "the URL is not valid and cannot be loaded".

I did a search for the error message in the built in help and found nothing.  I posted a message in the Joomla forum and am waiting for a reply.

I did a search and some people mentioned seeing 'http://' when using Internet Explorer. I use Firefox almost exclusively and I tried the URL in IE and I see the page start to load and then a blank page with http:///

Sounds strange, doesn't it?

So I decided to go back to the Joomla forum because I remember seeing blank page after install with http:// which wasn't my problem at least with Firefox.

I saw that someone else had the same error but no one had replied with a solution.

It seems like a nice program and everything else looked interesting in Firefox, but since most people use IE I can't use Joomla 1.5RC.

I might try the older version but since they aren't compatible I'll be causing a lot of work for myself.

Trying out Joomla 1.5RC after using Wordpress and trying Drupal: Part 1

Trying out Joomla 1.5RC after using Wordpress and trying Drupal: Part 1

As you can read in previous posts, I had attempted to use Drupal as a blog and I tried to get to know the different features it has. After finally noticing that it cut off my long posts after about a page I decided that enough is enough! If it is going to cut off my text without warning then I can't even use it as a CMS. I still haven't deleted it from my system.

I am of course still using Wordpress for blogging. I think it is great. I have only come across three problems:

1. You can't insert javascript.

2. You can't properly insert iframes. I tried two plugins but neither would display correctly.

3. You can't easily modify the menus. They are handled by the themes.

What I mean by changing the menus would be a way to do it through the administration or page writing menus. It would be nice to be able to select a list or category and a type of menu and move it over as a widget.

These limitations are the reasons why I am trying to use an additonal program for site management. If I could do those things then I wouldn't install anything else.

Remember that the less time you have to manage your site, the more time you'll have available for adding more content, making sales, and other activities.

So finally I'm going to try testing Joomla 1.5 RC. I didn't want to do it yet since it is still technically a beta version and there are limited modules/plug-ins available.

Why test with 1.5 when there are the 1.x versions?

If you check the Joomla site, it tells us that Joomla 1.5 and 1.x.x versions are incompatable. This is to say that you can't easily patch the upgrade on top of your 1.x system.

When new features and patches come available I will be able to use them with 1.5, but that isn't the case with the 1.x.x versions.

Yes, there aren't many modules avalable for testing but I hope that if I decide that I like the system, I will be able to get the updated modules as they come. If I don't like Joomla 1.5 either then I will probably wait another 6 months or so for significant updates and keep using Dreamweaver with templates even though it isn't dynamic and a pain to upload changes (templates in dreamweaver are modified in each page so if you make a change you have to reupload every modified page. It is simple but slow).

I downloaded Joomla 1.5 from its website and I extracted the files to /joomla, and uploaded them to the server. I then went to my webpage URL + /joomla to see what would happen since normally you have to type in the full installer addresses when putting new programs on a server.

I was surprised to find that it went directly to the installer and I had no conflicts. My php configuration was ok. I later had an option to install sample data which I selected. I of course had to enter my database name, host name, database user name, and database user password. This is normal for any installation of a program online.

Once the installer finished, it told me to delete the install folder. Once the installation folder is deleted or at least renamed, you can enter Joomla.

It showed me the sample data on a page with a lot of blue and a white background and a column layout. There were no instructions, so after reading the sample data I found a log in box in the lower left hand corner.

I entered the administration user name and password that I had entered in the installation stage and a new menu 'box' appeared in the left sidebar.

I clicked on 'administrator' and I got a log-in screen which later took me to an attractive and organized control panel screen.

This was a big change from my attempt at using Drupal! Drupal was messy and hard to read. The admin stuff only appeared as a menu on the side bar.

For a Release Candidate (beta) version, it seems less of a beta than the Drupal version I had tried.

There is a horizontal menu bar on top with:

Site, Menus, Context, Components, Extensions, Tools, and help.

I can tell right away that I can easily modify menus through the menu menu.

Using Drupal after using Wordpress. Part III: Other quirks for using Drupal as a blog.

I hope you like these posts regarding the use of Drupal as a blog after first using Drupal.

I will probably stop cross posting my entries to the Drupal blog. I will however continue to test it for making web pages since that is the original purpose. I am however seeing that it is very inadequate as a blog when there are superior products like Wordpress out there.

Other quirks (issues) when using Drupal's blog.

1. Viewing posts.

I don't know why I didn't notice it earlier, but the titles of my posts in Drupal are not capitalized even though I typed them that way. Yes, I'm sure there is a configuration setting somewhere to fix that buy please tell my why would they program it to do that? It seems idiotic.

In Wordpress, the post titles and their corresponding categories appear as you entered them or as you edit them.

2. Posts are not automatically organized in Drupal so the URLs look messy.

In Drupal, I enter a name of how a post should appear in the URL. You'd think I'd like it. Well, I don't.

It isn't elegant and it makes my posts look like an advertisement.

In Wordpress I can choose to view my posts' URL in different ways using the administrative options and then they will automatically appear using that method.

I currently have it set to file posts by date and name which I consider to be elegant. Better yet, it is automatic once set.

3. What happens

Ok so I filed my last post in Drupal as 'drupalwordpress2' and I logged out to see how it would look to a visitor. So far so good except my Google ads in the content were weighted to be one above and one below the posts and well they are both below. *pulls on hair in frustration*

I saw a summary of the posts I've made and I think well it isn't so bad is it?

And just think the people in the Drupal forum when I searched for Wordpress said that a plug in 'wasn't needed since Drupal did it all, well I disagree. Dupal seems to be a nice and flexible system but Wordpress has beaten it so far on every round!

Anyway, I digress. I clicked on the post and first I notice that the sidebars disappeared! That's right, one moment I see my recent blog entries with the sidebars and the next they are gone by a single click to view the post. Yes, I know that there is probably a setting I need to check to have the sidebars NOT disappear but again I ask WHY 'on God's green (and blue) Earth' would it be by default set up to do that?

It isn't as if the post takes up the entire space because it doesn't I have the post in the content area and a big empty space where the sidebars should be. It isn't logical.

Let's say that someone visits the Drupal version of the log and reads this post but wants to read another or see other related posts (still not categories but Drupal with modules does have a recent post option for sidebars).

Since the sidebars are no longer visible, the visitor can't see the other posts and will most likely leave the site completely.

That is a blogger's nightmare!

Configuring the sidebars in Drupal vs. Wordpress

1. Adding items to the sidebar in Wordpress

Ok, almost everything in Wordpress can be added to a sidebar using a widget or through the option menu.

Widgets are great because you can drag and drop them in the Presentation menu so that they appear in the order that you want them to. It is fast and easy.

2. Adding items to the sidebar in Drupal

It really feels like pulling teeth when compared to Wordpress, but it is still easier than coding a 'sidebar' on a normal HTML page.

I had to go to the 'sitebuilding menu' and then choose 'blocks'. This is where you go in Drupal to configure the positioning of Google ads and all the other stuff. As I mentioned before, you don't have direct control over the order in which the items appear except through their 'weight'. You can set the weight of an item and in which section it should appear then cross your fingers and hope it puts everything in the correct order.

In the 'blocks' section I have to select an item from the list, choose a section to put it in through a menu and then save it. Then I can choose some settings and save again.

Using Drupal after using Wordpress. Part II: Configuring a site for Google Adsense and posting to the 'blog'

I hope you are enjoying my posts about using Drupal as a new user after using Wordpress 2.2.

I am of course still using Wordpress for this blog. I am only crossposting the articles to make a valid comparison being a a relatively new user of Wordpress as well.

I want to clarify that I am doing this without first checking the help files on either site. Why? I didn't check first because almost no one will search for a help file except to handle the installation. We look for help when we get stuck or we'll watch a video tutorial.

Posting to the blog function of Drupal vs. posting in Wordpress

1. Posting to the blog was easy.... hey wait, where is the visual HTML editor?

I selected the blog function that was hidden in the big mess of management links that appear on the Drupal installation when logged in to my Drupal installation and stated typing...

So far so good, right? Well I wanted to set a few words as a header. Yes of course I could do <H3>This would be a subheader</H3> but it seems a bit silly that I shouldn't have an option do to so 'out-of-the-box', doesn't it?

In fact, Wordpress lets me set those basic functions and of course I can copy & paste basic html code into the text as well as edit html in the post I'm working on.

2. HTML editor for Drupal

The Drupal had a module for adding an editor which was two part.

A. install the module files, and

B. install the actual editor inside that

I did all that but it still isn't working right so I have to experiment more.

3. Editing my posts in Drupal compared to editing posts (and pages) in Wordpress

When logged in, and viewing my blog, I am able to see an option to edit my posts, but I don't see it as being as easy as using Wordpress.

With Wordpress, my most recent posts appear in the administration panel in the 'dashboard menu'. I can click on them, edit, and click on save. With Drupal it seemed like one extra step.

4. Inserting special code into Drupal's post.

In my previously post I added a button for Google Adsense like the following:



Only it didn't work. It mangled the script so it wouldn't show!

Check out Google Adsense to earn money on your websites:

Check out Google Adwords to promote your website:

With Wordpad, I can click on the 'code' tab in the post and page editor and paste my code. I can then either switch back to the visual editor by clicking on the 'visual' tab, or I can finish editing in the HTML.

5. Call them what you want, I can't easily see where the Categories are!

I still am not sure where they are if at all in Drupal. I can assign keywords using Drupal but it seems very inferior to the categories side menu that appears when editing a page or post in Wordpress.

6. How to use Wordpress categories

Wordpress categories are very simple to use. If I write a post about Startrek Voyager, which is only of my all time favorite series, I can on the right type in the text box, Voyager, and click on the Add button. The newly added category will be automatically checkmarked (ticked for the British). I can repeat the process for the term Startrek. Later when I write another post about Voyager, I only have to click on the box to the left of the category word to select it.

Lets say you write a post and you forgot to select a Category? No problem edit the post and select the category and click on save.

Sorry Drupal, you're not doing very well in part II.

Adding Google Adsense to the blog & pages in Drupal vs. Wordpress

1. I want to pay the bills!

I wanted, of course, to add Google Adsense to my new Drupal install. As I had mentioned in Part I, I installed the Adsense module from Drupal's website.  It is much easier to get someone to click on an ad than have them give a donation.

I had also done the same for a plug-in that I downloaded from Wordpresses website.

2. Both seem to work.

Both modules/plug-ins seem to work but I like the Wordpress one more since I can do all of my ad configuration in one page.

Then I can use the Widget function for sidebars to place the ad. (advert for Britsh :-) )

In Drupal there are currently no widget options, but I was able to select in which part of the screen I wanted to place the ad.

I can place an ad in the header, footer, content area, or in one of the sidebars.

3. Disadvantage of placing Google ads in posts and pages in Wordpress.

Here is finally a point for Drupal. While adding an ad to Drupal doesn't have widgets I AM ABLE TO put them in the content area without having to edit the template files. In Wordpress you can insert them in your posts using simple code but there isn't a way to automatically have them appear in your content area unless you ad simple PHP code into the template.

4. Disadvantage when inserting Google ads in Drupal.

Since Drupal doesn't have widgets which allow you to precisely place the ad before or after other widget items (Wordpress), Drupal has a less elegant, weighted approach where you have to choose a weight for the ad and the system compares the weight value with the others. It makes it more complicated and I'm still trying to use it.

In Wordpress using a sidebar widget I just drag and drop the ad before, after, or between the others and I know exactly where it will appear.

Earning money online, monetizing the web: Testing with Amazon.com's program, Google Adsense, Paypal donations, and The newsroom

Hello everyone!

I have been trying to pay for my hosting, registrations, and other expenses through Internet programs. Why?
I have always wanted to help others and I want to have many activities online to help my students practice and improve their language learning and business skills. That is why I currently have two websites. http://portallanguageservices.com for people who want to learn English, and http://crucialbusiness.com which is for business and personal finance issues.

I want to mention that I got many of the ideas for this article from problogger.net.

I recommend visiting that site if you are interested in someone who has been making money online for several years.
I'm at the other end. I've been teaching English classes and going Spanish-English translations. So If you'd like to to follow my progress please do so here.

I am currently testing the following programs:

1. Google Adsense

Most people seem to be advertising using it but the returns are low unless you have your ads optimized and many visitors. If you only have a few visitors don't expect to make more than a dollar a day if even that much. It should however with minimal effort pay for the costs of an inexpensive web hosting account.

I signed up in mid-May and earned a few cents.
I made less than 5 dollars in June,
I made a little more than 16 dollars in July.
This also corresponds to an increase in visitors as reported by Google Analytics.
I currently have an average of 60 visits per day for the last 30 days.
You don't get paid until you have $100 dollars or more in your account.
You also have to be careful not to accidentally click on your own ads.

Click the link on my page for more information.

Check out Google Adsense to earn money on your websites:

Check out Google Adwords to promote your website:

2. Amazon.com A-Store

After reading a post on problogger.net I decided to sign-up for Amazon.com's Associates program.

The good thing is that there are many options. The bad thing is that if you choose to receive your payment as a check they'll charge you a fee! They also have an option for getting paid in Gift certificates.

I signed up at at the beginning of August and I added an a-store with books. So far I haven't had any sales.
You can also place advertisements on your web pages but they only pay you for sales not per click or per impression.

3. Paypal donations

You can get paid online using Paypal but you can also setup a donation button using Paypal. Just go to your Paypal account online and follow the instructions. There are also many modules and plug-ins available for the Blog or CMS of your choice that make it easier to accept paypal.

4. The Newsroom

I got this idea from problogger.net

I have http://portallanguageservices.com a website for learning and practicing English as a second language.
I have been in the process of adding many different activities including sound, reading, vocabulary games, etc., but one thing I didn't have was video! Problogger.net mentioned that not only do they distribute free news videos but that they also share the ad revenue with you!
So now my students and visitors can enjoy the listening practice but they also can help me support my site and the time it takes to put everything up!

Update:  You won't be buying your Dell computer any time soon with the Newsroom. I only made about 50 cents in a month with it!

Go to http://www.thenewsroom.com/ to sign up.

Using Drupal after using Wordpress. Part I: first impressions

Hello everyone!

I am trying what I was trying to find out about, and after many hours of searching, didn't find.
What it is like going from using regular HTML pages with some PHP applications and Javascript games to using Wordpress and later Drupal.

Background

First of all, I am not new to using the internet, computers or websites.
I made my first web page in 1995 or maybe 1994 on a free site. I used HTML and I coded it in a basic text editor. It had hyperlinks and photos and some profile info. It was on a university server.
After leaving the university I didn't really make an effort to have a website since for one hosting was very expensive and 2. I didn't have an internet connection at home. I did try once to have an Angelfire free site but the URL was so confusing I would keep forgetting to log in and I didn't bother giving it out so I forgot about it in only a few months.
I am as I said not new to computers. I first used them around 3rd grade. My parents bought an Apple IIgs when I was in either middle or high school (I can't remember), and I got my first computer, an Apple Powermac, when I was 18.
I even had two jobs in the computer industry more than a few years ago. I worked 18 months for Apple Computer when I lived in Austin Texas doing Technical Support. After that I worked for Dell Computer, now just Dell, doing technical support. First in telephone support, then in e-mail and internet based support and I finally got bored and quit and moved to Mexico City where I've lived since January, 2001. I've been teaching English as a second language. I also do the occasional Spanish-English translation.
I put up a website a year ago to promote my classes and mostly to have an e-mail address as a 'company' which I legal have, even if there are only 3 of us working. I have been using Dreamweaver as an editor along with free opensource applications I find and later adapt. So far it has worked well but I decided to make some changes.

1. Getting back to making a website

For a basic website a normal editor and HTML files along with a PHP send mail script are really perfectly adequate if not exciting, but over time things got difficult to update. In fact it was fun at first. I felt like a 18 year old again! :-)
Later It got frustrating. I eventually stopped using tables and started using CSS with DIVs. Keep in mind that CSS and DIVs didn't exist when I started. I now use CSS for everything. It does make things easier but not dynamic.

2. Website programming languages and their frustrations

I looked into Java, Javascript, and PHP but I really am not a programmer. If you don't make it perfect a PHP file just gives you a blank page! I don't see how checking for the missing quote or misspelled variable or extra bracket is supposed to be fun.

3. The need for more dynamic content that can be updated more quickly and easily

I really started to want something more dynamic
I noticed that we have CMS and LMS, and blogs... .whatever those are. I know that they existed but the first time I heard blog was around two years ago when once of my students asked what they were. I thought they were just glorified profile and picture pages for teenagers ... and I was right...
However I was also wrong. Blogs can also be independent programs used for many topics not only your rantings and trip journals but also news and review sites, etc.

4. Choosing Wordpress

I finally took the plunge only a few days ago and I decided to install Wordpress on my hosted server. I did it because I was posting updates to my website on a table which at first sounded good but really it became a pain. I'd have to add a row, type the date, save it and upload the file using FTP through Dreamweaver. First of all that is a slow process and second, it doesn't look very nice.
I thought I could do this with a blog!

5. Taking the blog plunge with Wordpress.... absolutely no regrets

So I had read up on different types of blogs. I knew I didn't want it to be hosted separately. I want to be in control and I want to be able to change the configuration as needed. I also didn't want to have to pay more for it since my funds are limited. I am very happy I went with Wordpress.

6. Wordpress is easy to install and configure. Use widgets to save time and write more!

Wordpress is easy to install and setup. You literally can be 'blogging' in minutes with only minimal configuration. The theme templates use CSS fil es, and there are lots of free themes available on the Wordpress website.
Wordpress also uses widgets. Widgets allow you to add special plug-in programs to modify the code and make it more dynamic. Widgets are great because it means you spend less time editing files and more time doing what you want to do.
It would have taken me all year programming to set up a working blog with many plug-ins in what took only a couple days using Wordpress. Best of all it is free! Using the blog I can post the 'updates' to my website and they automatically appear with the date and the category I choose.

7. Wordpress allows you to make 'pages' which you can link to your main page.

I noticed that you can also create 'pages' with static information and links which got me thinking.... If I can change the appearance, organize my pages, and make it more dynamic using Wordpress, why don't I see if I can do that for the rest of my site?

8. Wordpress has limitations, and other CMS, Content Management Systems, exist.

While I love Wordpress, I can see that it is limited when it comes to website development. I started looking into CMS, Content Management Systems (which also didn't exist years ago). I see that most people use either Joomla, Mambo, or Drupal. Yes, I know there is others, but if you use one that isn't popular, you'll have to wait longer to get updates and plug -ins supposing you get any at all.

9.  Joomla, Mambo, and Drupal ... oh my!

I read that Joomla came from Mambo and that they are very similiar but that the new version is different. Unfortunately the 'new' version that is supposed to fix all the problems I kept reading about, is only in beta. That leaves me with Drupal. Who names these things?

10. Joomla will have to wait since it is still in beta.

I really wasn't convinced by what I read online either. It really sounds like the developers don't care. There isn't a plug-in for integrating it with Wordpress either. I did read it is flexible and small and like Joomla there are many plug-ins. I can try Joomla CMS when the 'new' version is finally released.

The installation

1. Drupal installed using Fantastico

I used the fantastico installer provided by my webhost and it went well. I did have to download the update from the Drupal website and ran the upgrade.php as instructed. This is because the fantastic installer was one minor version off.

2. Minor upgrade and modules were installed.

The minor upgrade went without a problem.
I made sure I could log in and then started looking at the different modules (plug-ins) available for download.
I saw the ones I needed. I needed one for paypal, for donations and for translation payments. I needed one for google adsense to more easily work with that and I needed one for Amazon since I love reading.
I still have to test those to make sure they work. I'll let you know in another post how they go.
The modules seemed to more or less install and I went on to looking for themes. Those seemed to install ok too.

 3. The lack of Drupal themes

There aren't many themes if your compare Drupal with Wordpress.
I couldn't really find a theme that I liked much for Drupal whereas Wordpress has many wonderful themes to choose from. I want my blog and my website content to match even if they aren't integrated.

4. Chosen theme doesn't match but at least the colors do ... for now.

I picked one theme I had installed and stared playing with the CSS using Dreamweaver and I changed the colors to match a blog for the same site. The Theme's layout doesn't match at all. Only the colors match.
I edited the pictures to make a custom picture for the name of the site.

5. Which site is being used for the Drupal test?

I forgot to mention that I am testing Drupal on my new page http://crucialbusiness.com
Don't bother going there yet (if you aren't already) . I'm currently only using it for testing blog plug-ins and Drupal.
If it works, I will configure it Drupal for use on my main website which is http://portallanguageservices.com
which has activities for helping people learn and practice English.

6. Drupal's administrative panel is not very intuitive compared to wordpress.

One thing I don't like is the way you manage Drupal. While Wordpress has an intuitive administration panel that is very fast. I found Drupal's administrative options to be unorganized and unintuitive. It was like going from A Macintosh to IBM compatible computer all over again.

7. Adding links and categories is much more complicated using Drupal compared to Wordpress

While it is very simple to add a link or page to Wordpress I saw that I had to choose more options to add a link to Drupal.
What link? I linked The blog to the Drupal page. I will have to do the same later in Wordpress.

I noticed that Drupal doesn't have a WYSIWYG editor. What is the point of using it if I still have to edit my pages in Dreamweaver?
There was a module for installing one but It seemed awfully silly that one wasn't already integrated.

This message was written originally using Drupal's blog option but I copy/pasted  it to my Wordpress install since I actually know how it works :-)

I couldn't find a way to put in categories for the article in Drupal while Wordpress made it easy to add Drupal as a category.

Please let us know by commenting what you think about the layout and colors for this site.

Please let us know by commenting what you think about the layout and colors for this site.

Welcome to Crucial Business

This site is new, in fact it was just installed a few hours ago. We hope you like it and will give us your feedback.

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