This was long time coming: our portal was aging, the CMS running it was out of date and since we specialize in Joomla development, we needed to make the jump, bring on the latest and greatest version and see how the migration actually works.
I find it refreshing to see how good Joomla is. The migration from 1.5 to 1.6/1.7 is time consuming, but that's the biggest hurdle. Otherwise, it is uneventful, easy and safe. Some of the time consuming activities come from setting up the safety net: backups, backups, backups. If you have a very elaborate template, you might have to do some work around it to bring it up to date for the new system. The rest is simple: data seems to move without a glitch, which is the most important part, as you don't want to re-type all those blog entries.
Joomla! 1.7 is a gradual improvement from the previous versions. However, since Joomla has been an exceptional product for many years, the gradual improvement means the current version is safe, easy to use, extensible and flexible for the end users and administrators. As always, I would highly recommend it for any Web based project, from small to large.
Here it is...
Joomla! 1.6 is finally here:
This is big news, since Joomla! 1.6 promisses a whole spectrum of new features. It might not be as revolutionary as when version 1.5 had arrived, but it is a highly anticipated upgrade to the best Content management System available out there.
Among the new and noteworthy features are:
I will be upgrading all the Web portals I am responsible for as soon as possible, taking all the necessary precautions of course. There might be issues with older modules and components, and some templates might use a bit of redesigning to make sure they are fully compatible with Joomla! 1.6 (not to mention taking full advantage of all the new design features). However, given the great track record of Joomla!, upgrading should be mostly painless.
Our hosting provider will be moving to a new data center tomorrow night (3/17/2011 - 3/18/2011), so the site will be down for some time. No worries. We'll be back.
Great people at SmashingMagazine.com are always bringing us, the Web developers, some quality content, and the latest article on Ruby On Rails does not disappoint:
We want to bring Ruby on Rails closer to those who want to take a peek first, without going through an entire tutorial. So, this article is structured a little different from most other introductions out there; hopefully it is more useful because of this.
Article: Getting Started With Ruby On Rails and Beginner’s Guide To Ruby On Rails: Part 2
I have been using Ruby On Rails for a few years now, on and off, mostly for research purposes, to see how it performs, and how it can speed up development of simple and complex Web projects. I have to say, it delivers consistently. It is easy to learn, quick to implement and, when properly used, it makes the project flow. Its testing and deployment approaches make project management a breeze, which is important not only when your clients tend to change requirements frequently, but also when they like to turn them around 180 degrees.
Ruby On Rails, along with other Web-centric development platforms and frameworks (like Django), can make your life easier as a developer. It also adds tons of value to your customers, since your custom Web applications and systems can be delivered much faster, with considerably less effort, and cost.