...
written by Paul Pinella , February 27, 2009

Hi there,
This is a nicely done video and should prove very useful to anyone setting up Joomla -- either for the first time or if it's been a while.

One area that isn't discussed much in this brief overview is the database setup and configuration. A few more details and recommendations here would be nice. For a future podcast or video, I'd like to hear your thoughts on how to optimize the Joomla database for maximum performance. For example, are some Joomla sites faster than others because the database is in the same directory as Joomla (like you might get in a dedicated server or virtual shared server environment)? If you don't want to pay for a dedicated server or VSS what steps can you take to yield a faster site?

Keep up the great work, and thanks,
Paul Pinella
Radar Media Group, Inc.
http://www.radarmedia.com

...
written by Mike B. , March 01, 2009

@Paul: Thanks for the feedback. I'm starting to do more research on optimizing databases for Joomla and hope to bring that information out in the future.

Seems like caching is the poor man's way to bring about faster Joomla sites, but that has it's own set of disadvantages. Seems like a topic I could spend a whole episode on.

...
written by Jason Boyette , March 06, 2009

Nice video! One thing I do when I set up a site is change the Session Lifetime (Global Configuration | System) to something like 120 or 180 minutes. I'm constantly getting timed out otherwise.

Keep up the good work. I'd like to see more videos, too.

...
written by Tim Miller , March 06, 2009

Perhaps because I did not start at the basic Joomla installation, the Search Engine Friendly URLs do not work for me... the articles which have already been created show an error message when they are called.

Thanks for the video!!

...
written by Mike B. , March 06, 2009

@Jason: That's a good tip. I get timed out all the time too--it's really annoying!

@Tim: Look into setting up your .htaccess file. Generally, what you have to do is rename the htacces.txt file to .htaccess and it should work. Cruzio's web hosting does this for you automatically.

...
written by Tim Miller , March 07, 2009

Yes! That works- I changed the name of htaccess.txt to .htaccess Thanks!

...
written by Teija , March 08, 2009

This was VERY helpful. Having used Micro$oft FrontPage for years, learning Joomla is a bit challenging and your podcasts and this video have helped me a lot in the past couple of days. I hope you will keep posting more videos for us newbies. Thank you!

...
written by simon , March 14, 2009

Been learning/trying joomla/virtuemart for 6 months but there always something new to learn/try which is why i like the podcast. One thing i learnt recently was to backup my site a bit more frequently. Uninstalled something and the whole site went down (php, html sorry don't do that so couldn't fix it) but still in its infancy so although a problem it wasn't disastrous. Just started using joomlapack and it backs up with a few clicks to a folder in my site, which i can download as i feel. Anyone with a site they don't want to loose should install it and it should be another of those essential components to install on any install.

Keep up the good work

...
written by Andre de Villiers , March 14, 2009

Hi there, great tutorial, thanks
Defo would like to see more of those type of tutorials, I've just started and I find the VERY basic tutorials better to understand, just until I get my head around the concept anyway.

Im looking to create an online test onto my website, any ideas? or plugins? or extensions?
Im not really sure

Many Thanks

Dre

...
written by mike b , March 18, 2009

Hi all, I'll definitely be working on more video podcasts in the future. Glad you all dig them!

...
written by Rich Mathis , March 25, 2009

Mike,

Great tutorials. I am somewhat new to Joomla and there are some great timesaving tips. I also enjoy the podcasts you have put out there. It's great to hear inside information from en experienced user.

Thanks for volunteering your time to help the community.

Thanks

...
written by PufferMedia , March 29, 2009

I know you say at the beginning that you mean to investigate JoomlaPack, and I can't stress enough how much easier it makes setting up joomla installs, especially if you're on a host that doesn't have a control panel install interface (fantastico [?], or that one you're using).

First of all, JoomlaPack makes backing up your site dead easy, wrapping up everything, database and files, into a nice installer that you can use as you would a standard Joomla installer.

So, set up a blank canvas Joomla. Then run through your usual extensions and configuration settings. Then when everything is just the way you like it, pack it back up and Bob's your uncle.

Now when I go install joomla after the 10 to 20 minutes to get it up and running on my server, it already has JCE, configured just the way I like it, including its extensions, extplorer, a few of the necessary modules & plugins that I use, the AdminPraise template. I also have a few blank sections, catagories and articles set-up.

If you're running a localhost develop server on your computer, it makes developing sits a process that you can do locally, which when you're building templates and site/module structure saves you heaps of time, because you can do it all without having to worry about the issues of doing it on a live site, even if that site is 'hidden' in a subdirectory.

...
written by Jim Fredricks , April 22, 2009

I liked the vid. Now can you do about 10 more vids? What's next?

...
written by mike b , April 22, 2009

@Fred: I'll get right on that

Seriously, I'm planning more videos in the near future. Thanks!

...
written by Joomla Development , May 03, 2010

Well written informative article. Thanks for sharing this great post.