I manage another website, whdnmra.org. When it came time to find a new host because our original one went out of business, I really wanted to use DowntownHost.com, the company that hosts Touchground. I knew, however, that I would face some opposition from our BoD. So I tried to find a reasonable alternative.
At first, DH2.net seemed to be that alternative. The price was right and they got good reviews. I signed up and built our site on their servers. Everything was fine for about a year.
Then I discovered no one was receiving email from the site. I signed into the “Customer Care” section of the site and found a bulletin saying that they’d had to disable email forwarding because of spammers abusing the system. “Huh,” I thought. “That’s inconvenient. Our officers don’t want their ‘real’ email addresses on the site for the same reason.” No notice to us, the users.
I went along for a while. Then I tried to sign into the site using Dreamweaver, my usual method for FTP-ing to my sites. I couldn’t do it. The FTP login that had worked for over a year didn’t anymore.
I could still sign in through the web though, both into the Joomla install and the cPanel interface. Upon signing into cPanel, I discovered our FTP server address had changed. No notice from DH2.net, no email, no nothing. It didn’t affect the functioning of the site, but it meant that I was trying to sign onto the wrong server through Dreamweaver.
I changed the site info in Dreamweaver and everything was ok again.
Then I tried to use Joomla to upload a new component to add a club directory to the site. I couldn’t do it. “Uploads must be turned on,” the error message said. “What?” I thought. “This has always worked before.” I checked the configuration, and yes, uploads were turned on, but no joy in updating Joomla. I checked permissions of files and folders. I tried the “backdoor” way of uploading and installing a component. No matter what I tried, It WOULD NOT install.
I finally got mad and contacted our new BoD. I gave them the laundry list of issues and asked if I could move the site to DowntownHost. They unanimously said yes, despite losing some money to DH2.net - their hosting fees are non-refundable once paid. Our account with them doesn’t expire until September.
Now I’m trying to set up a new account with DowntownHost. So far it’s been pretty smooth (which I expected). I wanted to transfer our domain over to the new host to simplify things and cut all ties with DH2.net, but guess what - “Client transfer prohibited”. They have a freaking lock on our domain name through eNom. I can’t move it until it expires in March of 2009.
I would NOT recommend DH2.net as a hosting company.
I’m not sure how I feel about this. I’ve been on both sides: end user and (wife of) a freelance developer. It’s great when you can find something that’s free to provide functionality that the Joomla! core lacks, but sometimes you have to break out the wallet to get something that is stable enough for production.
I love using Joomla!. It makes sense to me.
What I’m worried about now is this: if it’s illegal to create a third-party extension and sell it, will it be illegal to create a website using Joomla! and charge for the service?
If that’s the case, I’m out of a job, and I’d better get my head wrapped around ASP.NET as quickly as possible.
EDIT: I was mistaken when I wrote that people can’t sell third-party extensions to the Joomla! code. What they CAN’T do is restrict access to their source code, or in other words, encrypt it to “protect” it.
A developer CAN sell their extensions, but they have to make their source available as well.
Can a business still offer Joomla site installation and design services and comply with the license that Joomla! is offered under?
The short answer is yes.
From Joomla’s Q&A:
Does the license allow someone to sell a copy of Joomla!?
Yes. The Preamble of the GNU GPL states “when we speak of free software, we are referring to freedom, not price. Our General Public Licenses are designed to make sure that you have the freedom to distribute copies of free software (and charge for this service if you wish), that you receive source code or can get it if you want it, that you can change the software or use pieces of it in new free programs; and that you know you can do these things.”
Also see: http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#DoesTheGPLAllowMoney
Can I remove the Joomla! Copyright notice in the footer region (and other related questions)?
Yes, you can remove the Joomla! copyright notices from any part of the output that the Joomla! application generates. You may not remove the copyright notice from the source code itself.
Can I remove the Joomla! Copyright notice in the Meta information of a Joomla! website?
Yes, you can remove the copyright notices from any part of the output that the Joomla! application generates. You may not remove the copyright notice from the source code itself.
Original page: http://www.joomla.org/content/view/3510/1/
After spending an afternoon trying to synch my Excel method of time tracking with the ADP reporting used by Bass, and the other Excel spreadsheet HunTel wants me to use, I went searching for some “normal” time tracking software.
After a couple of false starts, I found Timesheets Xpress Free. What convinced me was the nearly identical, intuitive way TXF uses to record time as I was using in Excel. I had blocks in half-hour increments, and I’d just enter the clients’ name and the part of the project I was working on. The nice thing is this will generate reports, and calculate hours automatically. While I’m familiar with Excel enough to make a simple spreadsheet, entering functions that work correctly seems beyond me.
I spent an hour entering my time for the last month into it, and double-checked my ADP entries with it. Found a couple of mistakes.
My gripe is that the site almost feels like a bait-and-switch. The page for the free version links to what they call “TXFreeSetup.exe”, which is, in fact, the trial version of the full software with an $80 license fee. Needless to say I was a bit miffed and shot off an email to the sales department.
Within a couple of hours, I had an answer: “After the 35-day trial, you’ll be able to register the software as the free version.”
Hrmmph. So I have to deal with the “buy me now!” nags for the next 35 days? It’s just not cricket, ya’ll.
The software, however, works extremely well for what I plan to use it for, so I suppose it’s a small price to pay for the convenience.
TouchGround.com will be taking a slightly different direction from here on in. I’ve been hired by a local consultancy firm to design Joomla!-based websites, so I am NOT available to take work on the “outside”. Granted, my site never really got to the point of advertising that my services were available to begin with, but…
So this space will be more personally-aimed that it was, with more of my meanderings about design, both web and everyday sorts of things. As I’m able to, I might add bits about working with Joomla!.
In this article, Scott Brinker explains why that hit counter isn’t giving you the full story, and that you can’t rest on your laurels when trying to sell your company via web ads.
One article called it a “shot across the bow” for other retailers. WalMart has started retrofitting their website. I’m sure others have as well.
I’ve only recently jumped on the accessibility bandwagon myself. I never knew much about it, and I’m not blind (well, not when I’m wearing my specs). What did it have to do with me?
Plenty, if this suit goes to its logical conclusion.
I don’t mind it. It’s The Right Thing to Do. What bothers me is that companies won’t do it unless they’re compelled to by law. Why can’t a company as “forward-thinking” as Target take the moral high road?
The lawsuit bears directly on the redesign of the Division’s website, and I’m worried. Am I compromising accessibility by using this complicated framework? I know it’s the end output that screenreaders interpret, but what if something gets jumbled along the way? How do I keep it from becoming a hopeless spaghetti bowl of code?
Accessibility is easy with plain CSS and XHTML where you can clearly see the page that the browser sends to the user. Add the appropriate “alt=” tags, arrange the content in a logical manner and you’re pretty much good to go.
A site like Target’s - the immensity of the task of making the entire thing accessible… It’s mind-boggling. They’d have to redesign it from the ground up.
I started designing websites way back in 1998 or so. I started with Netscape’s WYSIWYG editor, Composer. I used it because I didn’t know any better, and it was free. It was only a hobby, after all.
Then came the browser wars. Like a lot of people, I had a healthy distrust of Microsoft and its business tactics. I drifted toward the Open Source movement. I used LiteStep as a Windows Explorer replacement, I coded my webpages in only HTML and tiny bits of CSS. I stuck with Netscape until version 4, then went to Mozilla when it sold out. I still use use Firefox. I only use Internet Explorer to verify my designs and for Windows Update.
Then I met my husband, Jay. A self-proclaimed “Microsoft bigot”, he’s a .NET architect and Microsoft Most Valuable Professional. Yes, we had our arguments early on, but we’ve both come to respect the differences and strengths inherent in both systems. We’re also cynical enough to recognize that our own chosen way of crafting websites has its limitations.
As I’ve been considering opening for business, I’ve been wondering if I’d be in direct competition with him. I don’t want to be - I have to live with him. Our happy personal life isn’t worth the contention in our professional lives.
Is it really necessary to compete at all? Can PHP and .NET live in the same house? More importantly, can they do business together? I know DH2.net offers both a .NET portal and a PHP/MySQL one (that’s where the Division’s site will be hosted). Is it possible for one company to offer website design/programming services in both? Boiling it down, it’s sort of like comparing a suit bought at JCPenney and a custom-tailored one - I use pre-packaged stuff to build the architecture, Jay builds it himself.
Jay’s been doing business as T. S. Bradley for several years now, and I’m starting my own brand as TouchGround. Can they associate, or partner? Can one LLC cover us both, or will we each have to incorporate?
