Transifex, the translation portal used by our friends of OpenTranslators, has recently updated their website.  The website itself has been changed (drastically). Both the looks, lay-out and certain ways in how the site works have been altered. In general, we'd say the update was a succes - although some minor UX issues were noted. 

The second change is of a different nature: Transifex changed the domain name from transifex.net to Transifex.com. This sounds like a minor change, but developers need to be aware of this change. We've seen reports of some developers using (custom) scripts that stopped working because they were referring to the wrong domain name.

All in all, we can say that Transifex made a new step forward. 

And with the help of Akeeba Backup Professional
and Square One CMS...

As a site builder or web developer, you know creating back-ups of your websites is extremely important. You make sure that you frequently create back-ups of every site. With tools like Akeeba Backup Pro it's ridiculously easy to do this.

But what about your development environment? If you are developping locally or on a server, making back-ups is pretty important as well. Making a back-up of your sites is pretty simple on most systems. But what about your databases? I mean, you could export them every once in a while using PHPMyAdmin, or install some 3rd party tool to get the job done. But have you considered using Akeeba Backup to get the job done?

Have you ever been asked to embed something in a Joomla! article? Something from slideshare, maybe a Youtube video or a flipbook on Issuu? Was your first reflex to search the JED for a plug-in that did just that? You might end up installing multiple plug-ins that way. Sourcerer makes most of these plug-ins obsolete.

Joomlareporters’ Hosting Report (Part One)

Or “The definitive guide on why not to just buy any hosting.”

Introduction

“Quality Hosting! Huh! What is it good for? Absolutely nothing!”

The hosting for a website is, without discussion, the most important side of any web project. You can have the best design in the world, with the best and easiest to use CMS. You could have written truly epic content that will put a smile or tear on people’s face. You did everything right. You nailed it. This is the perfect site. You’ve done it.

But no-one will see your perfect site if it’s not hosted anywhere. You will need a place to host your website, so it can be admired by the rest of the world. This is something you can’t work around, no matter how smart you are.

So, hosting is pretty important. That’s why it’s so strange to see that people often make poor choices when it comes to hosting - often deliberately. People tend to choose the cheapest hosting, or buy hosting from that one company they saw in the last NASCAR race. Because it doesn’t matter where you host your site, right?

WRONG!!

If you have followed our advice, and upgraded as soon as humanly possible after we reported about the Joomla! hack, you might have noticed something strange.

If you used Admin Tools, you might have noticed that the Joomla! version number was shown multiple times in your website back-end. A strange sight indeed, but nothing you can't fix with some module surgery.  Here's how you get rid of those odd looking Joomla! 2.5.3 references in no time!

When you ask your clients what they expect of their site, they sometimes say the strangest things. Some time ago, one client had an interesting request. I wasn't there for the conversation but figure it went something like this.

Them: "We want to use an image of a tree on the top."
Designer: "Sure, no problem."
Them: "Great. We also want to change the image as the seasons change!"
Designer: "Ehmmm... let me see what I can do." 

After doing some research we found a way that makes this super easy to do.  It would be a shame if we didn't share that tip with you!  The trick is to use some module magic, powered by Advanced Module Manager by Nonumber. If you are insterested in finding out how to publish a different module for each season, then read on.

Earlier today, Joomla! users were urged to upgrade to Joomla! 2.5.3 immediately after a serious vulnernability has been reported.  Following simple steps, a user could gain access to your site and do all sorts of nasty things to you site. If you're using Joomla! 1.6, 1.7 or any 2.5 version PLEASE UPDATE TODAY.

Maybe you're trying to postpone it, by saying "How bad could it be?"  Want a demonstration? Then read on.

Hacked under 2 minutes

To hack my own site, I needed the following:

- Firefox in combination with Firebug. This is VERY, VERY BASIC stuff.

- knowledge of the exploit (obviously)

- An editor to create a "Hack site". (Just a harmless site).

In less than two minutes, the exploit allowed me to gain access to the 2.5.2 site that I set up moments before.  Once I had access, I managed to redirect visitors to a (harmless) site I control.  This page doesn't do anything, but try using some imagination following the steps below.

• Let's try to visit http://www.toralkoweb.net/joomla25nl , which is your business website.
• What's that? That's not your Joomla! site. It's a hacker site! And it's kicking your puppies!
• You're now panicking, worrying that ultra leet hackers hacked your site.

You'd be right to panick. Not so right on the leet part. Anyone could use this exploit to deface your site in 2 minutes. 

Update in less than two minutes

Know what takes less than two minutes, and which will keep your site safe? Updating your site to the latest version. We suggest using Admin Tools as it's the easiest way to do so.

He who hesitates, meditates on why he didn't do updates! 

Did you know that Joomlareporter isn't just using any hosting? No, we're using "Joomla! As A Service" hosting by CloudAccess. Shameless plug of one of the best Joomla! hosters? Yes.

We're mentioning this, because we've once again seen proof that it does matter which hosting you use for your Joomla! site. 

When reading my Twitter stream, I often hear a fellow Joomlaist moan that their client didn't make any back-ups. Their client thought their hosting company would take care of that.

It's true that many hosting companies advertize that they back-up your site. Most of them probably do. But is it wise to rely on their back-ups only?  Are the many people out there using Akeeba Backup to create back-ups themselves (including myself) wrong or just plain paranoid?

There's a saying in Beerland that goes a bit like this: If you want something to be done properly, you should do it yourself.  Let me tell you a story of a time, when I still thought relying on my hosting company was good enough.

Planning to buy a new template for your Joomla! site? Then watch out! Some template clubs try to sneak in hidden links - and possibly other nasty code - in their templates, to improve their ranking.  Which isn't a very ethical thing to do. But unfortunately, Joe or July average often isn't aware of this.

That's why we're pleased to see Brian Teeman has stepped up again, by allowing Norm Douglas (from TeachingJoomla.com) to point out Joomlaspirits' blackhat SEO practices.

You can read the full article on Brian's blog.