Blog

Does Your CMS Affect Your Traffic?

This site began on December 16, 2009 with an article on getting Windows Live Writer to recognize your Joomla! theme – as far as I know, it was the first article on the web describing how to do that because I’d searched and searched and couldn’t find any tutorial on how to do it. After […]

Blog

Ubuntu 11.10 – First Impressions – Not Positive

Background I’ve played with Linux for almost 20 years. My first experience was trying to compile it, in the early 90s, from sources (gotten off a CUG CD?), but Turbo C wasn’t able to compile it. By the mid-90s, I was playing with compiled distributables. While they were interesting and often had some neat features, […]

Web Tools

Disabling the Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS)

These instructions are for Windows XP with Service Pack 3. The procedure should be the same for other versions of Windows, but no guarantee is made. Some images may be clicked for full sized versions. Why would I want to disable the IIS? If you have installed Apache Server, either as part of a package […]

Web Tools

Creating a MySQL Database Using AMPPS

This tutorial assumes that you have AMPSS 1.2 installed. The procedure should be the same for other versions of AMPPS. An AMPPS installation procedure for Windows XP can be found here. Normally, you would not need to create a database in AMPPS because the setup script will automatically do that for you. However, if you […]

Web Tools

Troubleshooting the Apache Server Not Starting

This tutorial assumes XAMPP or AMPPS installed on a Windows XP machine with Service Pack 3. The instructions should work for other versions of Windows, but no guarantee is made. For non-Windows systems, the general causes and procedures should be the same, but adapted for whatever OS you are running. It is frustrating to install […]

Web Tools

How to Install and Run Multiple Versions of XAMPP on your Computer

These instructions are for Windows XP with Service Pack 3, but should be the similar for other OSes Why would I want to install multiple versions of XAMPP? When developing or testing software, it is nice to be able to test it on a variety of versions of Apache, PHP, Perl, and MySQL to test […]

Web Tools

Installing AMPPS – Apache Server, MySql, PHP, Perl with Installation Scripts

These instructions are for installing AMPPS 1.2 on Windows XP with Service Pack 3. It should work for other configurations as well. Some images may be clicked for full sized versions. AMPPS is an extremely easy to install and use Apache Server which comes bundled with MySQL (a database), PHP (server side scripting language), Perl […]

Blog

How to Get XnView to Open an Unknown File Format

Ok, XnView cannot open unknown file formats, but it can open many more formats than it enables during a normal install. See the full list of file formats it is able to open here. XnView is an excellent image viewing program that handles many graphics formats and allows numerous batch operations like: resizing, compressing, image […]

Web Tools

How to Change 'localhost' to a Domain Name

This tutorial is for XAMPP 1.7.3 running under Windows XP with Service Pack 3. It may be similar for other version combinations, but no guarantee is made. Assumes you have installed XAMPP. Instructions can be found here. UPDATE 17-March-2012:If you are running Windows 7 (and possibly Vista) the default security settings prevent you from running […]

Joomla

Adding Adsense to Your Joomla! 1.7 Site

This tutorial shows you how to display Google Adsense ads on your Joomla! 1.7.x website without installing an extension. Requires you have a Google Adsense account. Should work for other ad providers that provide you with a code snippet for ads on your site. Joomla! 1.7.0 has backend compatibility problems with IE 8 (and possibly […]

Joomla

How To View Module Positions in Joomla! 1.7

Joomla! 1.7 is now obsolete. Joomla! 2.5 is the newest release with long term support. Instructions for installing Joomla! 2.5 can be found here. Instructions for viewing module positions in Joomla 2.5 can be found here. In Joomla! 1.5.x you would append ?tp=1 to the end of the URL to view your module positions. For […]

Joomla

Installing Joomla! 1.7 Under XAMPP

Joomla! 1.7 is now obsolete. Joomla! 2.5 is the newest release with long term support. Instructions for installing Joomla! 2.5 can be found here. This tutorial describes how to install Joomla! version 1.7.0 and 1.7.1, 1.7.2, 1.7.3, 1.7.4 under XAMPP version 1.7.3 on Windows XP. The procedure should be the same for other version combinations, […]