According to the official news of Joomla developer network, the JoomlaCode.org, a resource for the Joomla centered projects, would shut the service. The Joomla! developers have decided to do so as they received the intimation from Google webmaster tool about the spamming of blackhat content and links. Though, merely this problem is not the reason for shutting down the service, additional reason is also there.

For Not Compromising the Users’ Security is the foremost reason

They will have to take this step for protecting their users against security vulnerability, although they have said that, “No confidential user information was obtained, and quality hosted projects are not compromised.” The suspect is a sneaky SEO who have used any blackhat technique to generate good traffic for its websites, indulged in selling illegal pharmaceuticals, and this lead to the demolition.
The users don’t need to worry too much about this spam attack on JoomalCode.org since the folks have been working for cleaning the SPAM.

They have also accounted the additional reason

The additional reason that has been given by them is inability to run this platform due to lack of resources. Their long term software provider, GForce will not support them longer; therefore this service is being moved to the end. The developers have shown their inability to keep supporting JoomlaCode.org for long term, backed by the reason that they have been facing the lack of resources.
The project owners can move (host) their projects to the other repository hosting platforms. Indeed, for their convenience, Joomla! has made an action plan.

The Action Plan for Closing the Service

The Joomla! developers have made the strategy to shut down the service. According to that the projects owners will be informed via Email and an additional communication channel will be created with them. Besides, the websites’ home page will also be updated before closing. Apart from this, all the Joomla release packages and accredited translation packages will be copied to a new hosting platform along with the backup of download statistics. Specially, for the GitHub hosted downloads, analytics tools would be developed.

Source: https://developer.joomla.org/news.html

The biggest news about the content management systems has happened for this year with the announcement of Joomla.com service, launched by the Joomla development community. It is really very excited to see the new service from the Joomla. The enthusiasts have been eagerly waiting for the new version 3.6 of Joomla CMS, and here they get the surprise of Joomla.com service.

This service has been started in the partnership with the SiteGround. Alike WordPress.com, the Joomla will host the free websites with the subdomain- Joomla.com. The server structure has been fully established. Now, users can build and host their website with Joomla, free of cost.

The service is providing all the standard features of publishing. Several templates and extensions have already been given. Only the most preferred one extensions are given like Google maps integration, Google analytics, social media sharing options and inclusion of Disqus powered comments. However the expandability of the website is limited, yet one can create a good website using this latest service.

To begin with basic website development, it would be a nice platform. Later on, the website started with Joomla.com can be enhanced with custom code and extensions, which can be moved to any hosting service since there is no limitation on extendability.

With the introduction of Joomla.com it will be a matter of two minutes to make a Joomla powered website for the users. Indeed, the users who possess the little or no knowledge of website development will be making websites on their own.

In the end
Although, Joomla CMS is considered as the second choice for the many users since the first choice has always been “WordPress” being more convenient and flexible. Now, the users can see the Joomla.com as another good option which is as intuitive as WordPress.

Responsive web design is an approach of making web designs that automatically adapt to multiple devices. The word responsive signifies flexibility, hence responsive web design signifies flexibility of a web design to adapt narrower screen.

Catch on

Responsive web design adapts to small portable devices, which include mobile phones and tablets without getting deteriorated. It gets adjusted spontaneously and perfectly on distinct screen sizes.

What was there before the Responsive design?

When the concept of responsive was not there in the web world, developers has to create segregate websites for desktop and mobile phone. It was not that they had to face problems while making separate designs for a website, but website owners had to maintain separate websites, one for big screens and another for small ones.

Responsive web design is the need of hour. If you are owning a website which is not responsive, then you are losing a big part of visitors. It’s recommended to have a responsive website, thus.

Why Responsive web design is liked?

This approach solves design as well as content management issues. Owing to responsive design it’s worthless to get a duplicate website developed and maintained for small screens of mobiles and tablets. Not only need to set up segregate websites ends up, but also the need of managing content for separate websites ends up. Because owner has a single website to maintain, things get simplified. Web owner has not to be worry about Internet marketing and SEO for different websites when a standalone website would be there for every device platform.

Trend of Responsive themes

It’s obvious that if web design is made receptive then website will be responsive eventually. By responsive theme we mean responsive web design. Responsive themes are in high demand, consequently searches for them on internet are in heavy amount. Developers follow two approaches to make responsive themes, one approach is coding based and another is coding free.

In coding based approach developers has to write coding in HTML editors and corresponding theme builds up. Most interesting is the latter approach, which is coding free approach.

Coding free approach for making responsive themes

In this approach, developers make use of a dedicated web design software, which automates web designing or theme designing. One of heavily used software is TemplateToaster. While using software for making CMS themes and websites user has to select/apply options from GUI (graphical user interface) of generator and code, corresponding to those options, is automatically written by the generator. When designing gets completed, corresponding files are exported on the user computer, which are actual source code files of theme and can be uploaded to user’s CMS website. This is how responsive themes can be built without writing code.

All web designers have their own box of tools which they use to bring their design ideas to life. These tools have made the process of designing websites more creative than technical since in previous times, developing websites purely involved coding. These tools have provided more intuitive ways of generating websites through their graphical user interfaces. There are some cool tools out there which might not be well known by most web designers. Here are some of them.

Backbone:
All websites are built on HTML and CSS. These two usually go together since HTML which is a standard markup language defines the layout of the web pages while CSS defines the visual look and formatting of the various elements. The fifth version of HTML is even better with increased multimedia functionality. Any web developer should learn this language since it is very basic and easy to use and also other higher level web based languages such as PHP are well integrated with HTML.

Editor:
When designing websites, you might have to do some coding or scripting. One of the very best code editors is Notepad++. With numerous features such as Syntax Highlighting and Syntax Folding, PCRE (Perl Compatible Regular Expression) Search/Replace, customizable GUI, document map, auto completion and multi-language support, Notepad++ is definitely a top choice for easy coding.

Local Development Environment:
At times you may want to simulate a server on your computer for development purposes before loading your site on an actual server. In this case, XAMPP is a premium option. XAMPP is an open source package which enables PHP and MySQL development on an Apache server. It is very easy to install and completely free so you can develop sites without subscribing to a web hosting package.

Frameworks:
Despite knowing how to code, you may still want a quick solution for easy front-end web development. Bootstrap will help you with great tools for designing responsive sites. It accommodates developers of all skill levels and you can implement HTML, CSS and JavaScript. This greatly reduces the need of coding the front end of your site and as a result, you can focus more on developing the more complex hidden segments of your sites.

Content Management System:
We will consider WordPress, which is both a free blogging platform and a Content Management System. This is a household name in the internet world. WordPress has grown in leaps and bounds to become an internet phenomenon, powering over 60 million websites. These websites include individual blogs to mega corporation websites. What WordPress has managed to do very well is to combine simplicity with incredible functionality. What this means is that even people who are new to the World Wide Web become able to develop their own sites with great ease using world class themes and plugins. The WordPress dashboard is very intuitive and you can even develop a site without writing a single line of code. WordPress also offers great customization capabilities and as a result of this, you can personalize your web designs.

FTP:
FTP means File Transfer Protocol, which is user to transfer the files(in this case your entire website) to the hosting server. We will consider FileZilla, which is a leading File Transfer Protocol (FTP) application program.

Analytics Tools:
We are living in a data driven age where data from a variety of sources help in giving insights and perspectives. Using Google Analytics on your website will help you to find out a lot about your site. Most of these insights are not really obvious. It could be the most popular searches or the websites that have most backlinks to your site. This information, if used well, will assist you in making the best decisions that will boost your website’s ratings, which is usually the aim of any site.

Firefox Addons:
When testing your site on a browser, you may want a tool that will enable you to edit and debug your code as you browse your site. Firebug is a great option in this category. Firebug gives you a live view of the action as you edit your HTML, CSS or JavaScript. You can open it in a separate window or assign it a small section in the Firefox window so that it does not get in your way. You can find specific HTML elements by just clicking on a given section of the web page. Firebug also offers a great debugger for JavaScript. When developing the look for your site, you can edit the CSS with firebug, allowing you to tinker with various colours, backgrounds and effects so that the ultimate final product is the best.

Templates and Web Design Software:
The last tool, which probably covers all possible areas of web design, is TemplateToaster. This is a great program with which you can create templates and themes. It is a WordPress theme builder as well as a Joomla, Magento and Drupal theme creator. With this Joomla template generator, you can also design and develop HTML5/CSS3 websites. At first this may sound like it requires you to be a master of programming but it is entirely the opposite. This Joomla template designer has a great graphical user interface where you simply drag and drop whatever you want to add to your template or website. This software is very comprehensive and it caters for all your web design and development needs.

Now you have it! Make use of these tools to come up with the best websites possible. You will definitely be on top of your game when designing your websites.

As time progresses, new needs and requirements spring up. A website design concept that was popular 5 years ago may be ineffective in today’s internet space. Web designers are always coming up with new ideas and innovating. Some of these ideas really take off and become part of the internet’s popular culture. Other ideas may not take off immediately and may require some refinement for them to be accepted across the web design universe. Here are some of the trends which you should look out for in the coming year.

Flat Design:
This trend has exploded everywhere and not just in web design. You even see flat design in the latest releases of iOS as well as Windows. It follows the principle that less is more. It requires you as the web developer to come up with a great design with very little for a simple, less busy page. It may sound easy but this it is a very hard skill to acquire because we always tend to add more unnecessary elements. When designing such a site, you have to do some serious consideration on how to utilize the whitespaces you have and you should also make specific choices on where to place specific web design elements.

Increased focus on Typography:
Back in the middle ages of web design, people didn’t care much about the font styles used on their websites. They used the same old Arial or Helvetica. Things have changed since then and now in the modern age of web design, robust typography is a major tool for effective web design. The font market has grown exponentially where so many font families have been developed. These fonts can be acquired for free or at an affordable price. All web developers today should take advantage of captivating and unique font styles to attract the attention of users and enhance the overall experience of browsing your website.

Videos becoming the main means of divulging information:
In today’s fast paced world, people don’t have the time to read everything. This could be attributed to increasingly busy schedules but it could also be because people’s attention spans are getting shorter and also because the global reading culture is slowly diminishing. To accommodate these changes, videos are ideal for passing on the message. They are more effective if they are short and to the point. If done well, videos can be used as a tool for attracting attention to a given page.

Responsive Design:
Internet use has moved from being mainly based on computers and now most internet users access the web from their mobile devices (smartphones and tablets). The internet is also being accessed through more unorthodox means like smart TVs and gaming consoles. A new problem that arises from this is the diversity of the screen sizes which access the internet. Responsive design thus means coming up with websites which offer an optimum viewing experience on any device and screen size. The site should essentially adapt depending on the device that is accessing it. New techniques are coming up which easily enable you to do this.

Use of images as the central element:
Modern websites are very simple and you may see some which have very minimalist home pages, with a single image as the central element and a minimum amount of text. These images usually occupy the entire page and are very unique and beautiful. They are very helpful at keeping your website in the minds of its visitors thus keeping them coming back.
When you implement these trends, your website will definitely improve in all aspects including visual experience and number of users. There is no better software which can help you achieve this than TemplateToaster. This program is an intuitive drag and drop WordPress, Joomla or Drupal theme creator. You can also implement HTML5/CSS3. With TemplateToaster, you can generate simple, beautiful and responsive websites which are modern and keep up with the times. Download an unlimited trial version TemplateToaster.

First, we will look at HTML5, which is the fifth release for the Hypertext Markup Language. This is the major markup language used to define and structure content on web pages. All web pages in existence have implemented HTML in one way or another. For so many years, since 1997, HTML4 had been in use. In 2012, development of the latest version of HTML started. This development is still in progress and a stable version is scheduled to be released by the end of 2014. HTML5 is designed to primarily support more multimedia oriented web pages while maintaining its simplicity. One of the big differences between HTML4 and HTML5 is enhanced adaptability.

HTML5 has adopted some of the features that were present in HTML4 and even included additional features. For example, HTML5 has redefined some HTML elements like and replaced it with more ‘human-friendly’ elements such as ‘headers’, ‘footers’ and ‘sections’. There are also HTML5 APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) that enable you to add multimedia elements like audio and video.

We now look at CSS, which stands for Cascading Style Sheets. CSS3 is its third and latest release. CSS revolutionized how to define the layout of webpages, most of which were built on HTML. By defining pages on a separate file called a style sheet, a great deal of consistency was brought about. All web developers had to do is to link their web pages to a given CSS file. This CSS file contains definitions for different web page elements such as headers, footers, sidebars, links, menus and even text.

CSS3 has some pretty advanced styling capabilities which enable the web designer to manipulate backgrounds as well as font styles. With CSS3, you can also implement drop shadows easily and with all these styling from one file, you create a more clean-cut website which is also light in terms of storage space and bandwidth consumption and load time.

Web Pages built on CSS3 can easily be made responsive using media queries. This means that such web pages have an optimized look for different screen sizes and resolutions. This is of the most popular trends in web development in recent years. Modern websites have to adapt due to the variations in devices used to access the internet. These devices include smartphones, laptops, tablets and even gaming consoles. In order for you to accommodate all of the world’s internet users, responsive websites are a must. HTML5 makes development of such sites very easy.

When HTML5 and CSS3 work together, you get a powerful combination which enables you to create feature rich websites while using a very simplified coding process. HTML5 may still be in the development stage but it is sure to be a front runner in web development in the future with all the additions that will be implemented.

For the novice programmer, HTML5/CSS3 development will be much easier since the machine-like nature of the language has been reduced. For such a person, a HTML5/CSS3 template builder is the best option. These HTML5/CSS3 template designers don’t come in a better form than TemplateToaster. With TemplateToaster, you do not even need to know HTML or CSS to come up with clean and dynamic web pages. It is very easy to use and you have your canvas where you will add web elements in a very easy and efficient manner. Learn More about this HTML5/CSS3 template creator.

Joomla is a content management system (CMS). A CMS is software that basically enables you to access and control the content displayed on websites. They have gained great importance since they enable even non-programmers to set up and manage websites, which have become a must have for businesses and blogs. Joomla is free and open source, meaning that you can download and install it at no cost.

Joomla, whose name was derived from the Swahili word ‘jumla’, which means ‘all together’, had its first release in 2005. It has since grown into one of the leading CMSs in the world with a multitude of world class websites running on the system. So many different websites run on Joomla for example, corporate websites, government websites and ecommerce websites. Joomla has some amazing features including high end text editor with a rich media manager which you, as the web designer, use to easily add images, audio and video to your site to make it more media rich. This media manager is fully integrated into the Joomla editor so that you can easily add media files to your web content.

Next, is language management. With this nifty feature, you create your website in a variety of languages. You can also define the language to be used for your control panel. This accommodates a huge number of users from all corners of the world who speak different languages.

Joomla also offers a great menu management. You can easily set up menu hierarchies and styles. What is awesome about this is that you can create menus that are fully independent of the website content. You can add different menus for different segments of the website. In addition, you can style up your menus by implementing dropdown menus and flyouts, among other menu styles, to enhance the navigation experience for your website.

With Joomla, you have the power to generate the best look for your website with customizable themes. You are not fixed to one theme for the entire site. You can use different themes for different segments of the site. Joomla also gives you the ability to override existing themes so that you can add some of your personality and enhance the overall visual experience.

Joomla’s content management capabilities are some of the very best. With its WYSIWYG editor, adding content to your websites has been simplified by a large scale, you do not have to be a web guru for you to effectively add content. With Joomla’s content manager, you can organize your content and even archive it. You can also find out more about what your visitors are thinking through polls and ratings.

When building a website, Joomla should be one of the very first CMSs to come to mind. It is very easy to use and it gives you the capability to personalize and customize. At times, you may not be satisfied by a specific template or theme and because of this, you may want to develop your own theme from scratch. There are many template development programs on the market and one of the very best is TemplateToaster. You can create your own custom Joomla themes from scratch with its amazing drag and drop interface. You thus do not need to know HTML or CSS or even PHP. What is great about it is that it has an unlimited free trial. So why don’t you try it out and see just what you can do. Learn more about TemplateToaster.

What is WordPress? Simply put, the easiest way to create a website. It is the most popular website platform on this planet. Okay, let’s start from the beginning. If you’re wondering what is WordPress, what it does, and what it can be used for, then you’re most likely new to website development. And indeed your search ends here because, in this post, I will shed light on the basic fundamentals of WordPress that you should know about.

Since its inception in 2003, it has gained immense popularity and become one of the most widely used content management system (CMS). Nevertheless, when it comes to building and managing a website or a blog, WordPress is certainly the first name that would strike to any developers mind.

It meets the needs of both beginners as well as seasoned professionals. It certainly makes sense that to achieve a successful website you need to start with a strong and reliable platform. Since there are so many options available to choose from, it can be a little tough to decide which platform to start with that can serve better.

Well, I am not endorsing WordPress here and I won’t give you a biased opinion. In fact, you’ll see by the end of this post that WordPress is worth the admiration. It is the only platform which is close being a perfect option to construct a website, online store, personal profile or anything you could think of.

WordPress is a Powerful CMS

First and foremost a CMS stands for a content management system. It is an application that authorizes you to post, edit, manage, delete, amend, and maintain the website content effortlessly. Undoubtedly, there are numerous benefits of using a content management system. A CMS let you add any form of information such as videos, images, text, and audio to your website. You are free to display any information in any desired format.

Among all the available CMSs, WordPress is dominating the web world with a huge margin as compared to other two most famous CMSs Drupal and Joomla. A total of 59.9% people are using WordPress. And according to W3Techs technology survey report WordPress powers, 32.9% of all websites. A massive part, I must say.

It just so happens because WordPress is certainly an incredibly powerful CMS. Powerful in terms of functionality, flexibility, and scalability.

How does WordPress Work?

It’s not rocket science to catch up on its working. It’s actually pretty simple. First, you need to download WordPress (WP) software, install it on the web server, now connect it to the database, and finally, you’re ready to display or publish your content on the web. Do not worry if it still sounds a little complicated to you. Because the whole process won’t take more than 5 minutes.

After the successful installation of the software, you can anytime build a website and publish your first content using the simple, intuitive, and comprehensive editor. The latest version of WordPress 5.0 is coupled with advanced features to give you a complete working website.

Is WordPress free?

Absolutely! The WordPress is entirely free to use for personal as well as commercial use. Certainly no hidden catches. Since countless volunteers contribute to the open source programme to run WordPress hence, it’s completely free to use. It is not possessed by any organization or individual. All the maintenance, support, and development are taken care of by the volunteer team only.

WordPress has a vast community which consists of thousands of skilled professionals, who contribute on daily basis. Ranging from professional developers, designers, content creators, and site owners who invest their valuable time and effort in offering services for free to all users.

Learn the Difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org

WordPress has two variants; WordPress.com and WordPress.org. Whenever you explore the web and look for what is WordPress, your search most likely lead you to these two options. This can be confusing at first for any novice user. But here is a quick brief about the two. However, for more detailed explanation consider reading the WordPress.org Vs WordPress.com.

WordPress.com (Fully Hosted)

WordPress.com is basically a fully hosted platform that lets you create your website and provide free WordPress hosting for them. Since it is a browser-based application so you don’t need to download it to use it. You just need to sign up for an account, select an appropriate theme for your website, and simply start designing a website as per your needs and requirements. However, the free version has some limitation in terms of functionality, plugins, and themes. On the other hand, some of the paid services and advanced functionality are also there to boost your website.

WordPress.org (Self Hosted)

Well, WordPress.org is a complete self-hosted platform. It comes with an array of plugins and customizable themes to give your website your own personal touch. However, if you wish to create a WordPress theme offline from scratch, do that with TemplateToaster website builder. Since WordPress.org is an open source software so anybody can download it and use it however they want. You just have to buy the domain name and website hosting to run the website. And you get the full control over the website.

What you can use WordPress for?

WordPress is an incredibly versatile software which is freely available to create various distinct websites. With the colossal availability of plugins and themes, you can easily create whatever type of website you want. Likewise, WP is not only limited to blogging and business websites, however, creating an eCommerce is equally simple. It depends on what WordPress theme and plugins you are using for your site. You may read a complete guide to WordPress for better understanding.

The following list includes the variety of niche you can create a website for. Yes! WordPress is highly versatile and capable enough to deliver whichever website you want.

• Blog
• Business Websites
• Portfolio
• eCommerce Store
• Forum
• Resume
• Social Network and many more…

Reasons to choose WordPress

Those who are new to this platform must be thinking that what is making WordPress so popular in the first place. And why so many people are choosing it as a stepping stone for their website.

1. Free and Open Source

WordPress is totally free to use. It is an open source platform and over thousands of volunteers around the globe are constantly contributing to making it work perfectly. These volunteers are accountable for all the new features and updates. Just download the WordPress and use it however you like and it’s absolutely free. Nevertheless, it has a lot to offer in its free version. But at the same time with premium themes and plugins you can extend your site to the desired level. By default, it will be installed in the English language. Still, if you wish to change the WordPress language, even that is achievable as well.

2. Easy to use

WordPress has many benefits and the most prominent is simplicity. So, next time when you think of creating a website do it with WordPress and I am sure you won’t look elsewhere once you started using it for your projects. It doesn’t require you to be technically skilled to use it. Simply use it with ease. Creating any website, for instance, business website, blog, eCommerce store, etc. without any hassle. In fact, you are free to create an eCommerce website with TemplateToaster effortlessly.

3. Scalable

No matter what kind of website you’ve created with WordPress it’s pretty easy to expand it to whatever level you feel like. WordPress is coupled with various options to scale your website to another level altogether. Even if the website mounts up a hundred times more, WordPress can manage it pretty well. Scalability and flexibility are the two most countable features of WordPress. And this makes it the most dynamic CMS amongst the other available options. You may also like to read about WordPress Vs Drupal, Blogger Vs WordPress, WordPress vs Joomla vs Drupal comparison to have better insight.

4. Easily Extensible

WordPress has a huge repository for themes, plugins, and tools for WordPress admin and for your website which lets you customize WordPress admin dashboard and your website easily even if you’re not a professional developer. Simply by using the WooCommerce plugin, you can transform a normal website into an online store to sell your products. However, you can also learn to create a WooCommere theme with some easily available options like TemplateToaster website builder.

5. SEO-friendly

WordPress abides by best web standards. It has the elegant source code and that will in return help the search engine to find your website quickly. A site should be SEO-friendly in order to get a higher rank in the search query. And WordPress supports tags, meta-data, categories, SEO plugins, etc. to do so. In fact, you can use the best WordPress SEO plugins to make your site SEO-friendly. Likewise, you can design SEO WordPress theme for your site and get started.

6. Tons of Plugins

WordPress plugin storehouse is another indispensable factor that comes along with this robust CMS. Plugins are basically software applications that give you some extra functionality to enhance the website. There are many free as well as paid plugins available to extend the usability. You will get various plugins such as WordPress brute force protection plugins to protect your site from external attacks, WordPress email marketing plugins to market your product, WooCommerce plugins to convert your site into an online store and many more to improve the page load time, blocking spam, monitoring and managing site’s traffic, etc. Simply search for the essential WordPress plugins right from the WordPress admin and install them with a few clicks.

7. Huge Community

A community is as strong as its people. And this is something WordPress has a good grasp over. It connects people to share their views over the same projects. With the list of different social groups associated with WordPress, it gets really simple for its users to receive help for any problem they face. Every day more people join the WP community and share their knowledge with other like-minded people.

People from various regions and countries contribute to the community in terms of features, updates, bug fixes, support, etc. However, you can ask your queries at the support forum and get multiple answers for the same question. Because there can be multiple ways to solve a single query.

So, Is WordPress the best way to build a website?

Unarguably, WordPress is the best and the most popular platform to make a website. Whatever you want to build your website for, it is the perfect choice to launch any website with. Be it small-scale, large-scale or any other size website you aspire to have, it power all. There is an infinite resource to enhance your website’s functionality and ease the development process. In fact, to maintain your website, the plethora of plugins will serve you. And if you crave to design your creative themes for your WordPress website from scratch then do not waste any more time and get started with TemplateToaster today.

Your turn…

I believe now that you know a lot about WordPress, it’s time to try it for your next project. And if you are already using it then I don’t have to say anything because you must be already experiencing the magic of WordPress. Well, either way, I would like to know your thoughts in the comments below. Keep reading and keep checking this space for more updates.